Hugs and Kisses: The Beginning
by DCFanatic4life
Summary: The beginning of Hugs and Kisses that was deleted, so this is just a repost of the first 234 chapters of that story. For the rest, check the title, "Hugs and Kisses."
1. Welcome Back, July 18, 2002

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the real people, Vince McMahon and the WWE do.  
  
After Jericho walked out of the room, his face turned from a smile to a scowl. How could she have done that to him? He didn't want a match with Edge next week, what kind of reward was that? He had been nice enough to give up his match for Vengeance, nice enough to give up his main event, and his reward was a match on SmackDown. This was so unfair. But that wasn't what was weighing on his mind. He could deal with that later, and he would, something else entirely was bothering him.  
  
Jericho walked back to his dressing room, and sat down on one the benches. He sat there for a while thinking about what had just transpired. While he was staring off into space, Kurt walked into his dressing room.  
  
"Hey I just saw what Steph did for you, that was pretty nice of her," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah, whatever Kurt."  
  
"What's the matter, I thought you wanted to face Edge?"  
  
"Well, yeah, I did, I mean I do, but it's just I was thinking about things."  
  
"Well, I guess that's my cue to go," Kurt said before he left.  
  
Jericho sat there thinking for a few more minutes, and then put a determined look on his face. He got up from where he was sitting, and walked back to Stephanie's dressing room. He didn't bother to knock, but walked in unannounced.  
  
"What do you think you're doing barging into my dressing room?" Stephanie said angrily.  
  
"Why wouldn't you hug me?" Jericho asked, with just as much anger in his voice.  
  
"That's what you came in here to ask?" Stephanie asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to ask. I don't have cooties Steph, and I thought we were friends."  
  
"We are friends."  
  
"Really, well then why are you acting as if I have the plague or something? Who was the one to help you when your husband turned you away? It was me, and who saved you from the Pedigree time and time again? That was me Steph, or have you forgotten?" Jericho said getting more and more angry with every word.  
  
"And just how did you help me when we were in that Triple Threat match, huh Jericho? I got pinned and I had to leave, do YOU remember that?"  
  
"Stephanie, I apologized time and time again for that, and you accepted my apology, I thought we moved past that."  
  
"Did we, it hurt you know, it hurt to have to leave the ring....and to leave you," Stephanie's voice trailed off.  
  
"What?" Jericho asked, his voice dripping with confusion, "What do you mean it hurt to leave me?"  
  
"Jericho are you really that dense, did you not see the signs I was sending you?"  
  
"Signs, what signs?"  
  
"Ugh, men, Jericho the reason I partnered with you wasn't because I wanted to get back at Hunter," Jericho gave her a look, "Ok, that was part of the reason, but not the entire reason. I liked you Chris, ok, I liked you, I wanted to be with you, when I gave you that robe and you went to hug me, I was so hoping that you would kiss me, but you never made any move on me, so I figured you didn't want me."  
  
"Not want you? What man on Earth wouldn't want you? Stephanie, I thought the only reason you wanted to be my partner was to get back at Hunter, I didn't know you had feelings for me, maybe if I had known, things would be different...but that still doesn't explain why you refused my hug."  
  
"I didn't want to fall for you all over again, and you rejecting me. I'm just getting over a divorce, and I knew if I let myself fall back into a partnership with you then I would be stuck in slump. I can't do it Chris, I can't be around you, but not with you."  
  
"Well then, how about we move forward," Jericho said as he moved closer to her.  
  
"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked as she eyed him.  
  
"I mean this."  
  
And with that, Jericho took Stephanie into his arms and gave her a hug. She closed her eyes, and reveled in his touch. She felt like she was finally where she should be. It had only taken five months, but she was finally in the arms of Chris Jericho.  
  
"I missed you, you know," Jericho whispered into her ear.  
  
"I know. I missed you too," Stephanie whispered back.  
  
"Welcome back."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They pulled away from the hug, and Jericho's lips seized Stephanie's. They kissed for a long moment. They both pulled away at the same time, and Stephanie's lips turned up into a small smile.  
  
"I guess this changes things," she said.  
  
"I guess it does."  
  
"Good. And I'll never turn away from one of your hugs again."  
  
"You better not." 


	2. Who is It? July 25, 2002

Chris Jericho walked into the hotel room, throwing his key card on the vanity table. He looked to the other occupant of the room as they paced from one side of the balcony to the other. The other occupant ignored him, and he walked over to her, sensing that she was anxious about something.  
  
"Hey baby, what's wrong?" Jericho asked the pacing Stephanie.  
  
"It's nothing," Stephanie said curtly.  
  
"And that's why you're pacing around this balcony like a madwoman?"  
  
"It's just......... I don't know who was in that limo. I mean it could be anybody, well except for you and Kurt I suppose. I hate not knowing what's going on. I'm the boss, I should know everything."  
  
"Always have to be in the know, don't you Stephy?" Jericho asked with a smirk.  
  
"Jericho, now is NOT the time to be making jokes! I'm in a real mess right now, and you're standing there smirking! This is serious! This is my job!" Stephanie yelled impatiently.  
  
"Steph, Stephy baby, calm down sweetie," Jericho put his hands on her shoulders, "It's ok, everything will be ok. Whoever it is that was in that limo, it's their loss, cause they're not going to be on the better show," Jericho said wrapping his arms around Stephanie's waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.  
  
"And if you want, I'll kick there ass if they ever step foot in a SmackDown arena again."  
  
"Really?" Stephanie craned her neck to look at Jericho's face.  
  
"Of course I will."  
  
"Good, but that'll be nothing compared to what I do to them." Jericho laughed at her as he looked down at her face.  
  
"Moving on to happier things, what was this asking if I was happy bit you pulled tonight?"  
  
"I just wanted to know," Stephanie said trying to hold back a laugh.  
  
"Yeah, so I'm one of the biggest superstars on SmackDown?"  
  
"Well, I had to make sure you stayed, and I didn't know how else to stroke that massive ego of yours. But why in God's name would you give me your CD?"  
  
"Just in case I'm not around and you want to hear my glorious voice," Jericho said, as Stephanie started laughing.  
  
"Were you born with that ego?"  
  
"Yes, as a matter of fact I was."  
  
"Why does the song 'You're So Vain' keep popping into my head whenever I'm around you?"  
  
"And why does the song 'Bitch' pop into my head whenever I see you?" Jericho said cheekily.  
  
"Hey! I resent that," she said as she smacked his chest with her hand.  
  
"Ouch! What was that for?"  
  
"Being a complete jackass that's why."  
  
"So I saw that little meeting you had with Edge. He sure wanted to look good around you............stupid suck-up," Jericho said with malice.  
  
"Jealous?" Stephanie said with a smirk.  
  
"Me? Never. I just wanted to know why he was being such a brown-noser around you. I mean if he sucked up any more he'd be a Hoover," Stephanie turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"It's all right sweetie, I don't feel anything for Edge. He's nothing more than an employee."  
  
"Steph, I just said that I wasn't—" Stephanie covered his lips with a kiss. When they pulled away, Stephanie looked up at him with a grin on her face.  
  
"You didn't have to say anything, I know you too well."  
  
"Well, I know you well too."  
  
"Oh you do, well if you know me so well, what am I thinking right now?"  
  
"You're thinking about who was in that limo," he said laughing. She glared at him with a scowl on her face.  
  
"Damn it, why must you always be right."  
  
"Because I'm the king of the world," Jericho said with a wink. Stephanie laughed before turning serious.  
  
"I just want to know who would go with that slimeball."  
  
"Well Princess, I guess you'll just have to wait til Monday."  
  
"I guess we'll all find out Monday." 


	3. The Plan, July 29, 2002

Jericho walked into his hotel room, well aware of the person who would be waiting on the inside. He knew that she would want answers, and he was ready to give them to her. His night at the RAW tapings had been very informative, and he was sure that Stephanie would be appreciating that, and he would definitely be rewarded later.  
  
"Hey babe, did you see my triumphant return to Raw?" Jericho asked her.  
  
"Of course I did, what else would I be watching?" she replied.  
  
"I don't know, I hear they have porn you could buy, maybe you decided to watch that," Jericho said with a wink.  
  
"Eww, gross, why do you have to be like that, it's disgusting," Stephanie said as she got up to give Jericho a hug.  
  
"I'm sorry, forgive me," he said before lightly kissing her.  
  
"Always."  
  
They walked over to the balcony of the room, and Jericho sat on one of the cheap lawn chairs that were sitting outside. He pulled Stephanie into his lap, and together they watched the city lights. He was glad that he could help her with her plan, and was glad that she was with him, even if no one knew about them.  
  
"I'm so pissed that Lance, Christian, and Test left," Stephanie said breaking the comfortable silence, "why would they do that?" she looked to Jericho.  
  
"Well, I was talking with them, and they said Bischoff made them a very good offer, I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I think it was money, either that or they get more time to go on about how much they hate America."  
  
"And Bischoff believed you when you told him you wanted to go to Raw?"  
  
"Yeah, he didn't even question it, he said I was smart getting away from a bitch like you. I had to restrain myself from hitting him. I really can't stand that guy in the first place, and then he insults you.........asshole."  
  
"But you made it convincing, right?"  
  
"Of course I did baby, you need to stop worrying about this," Jericho said before capturing her lips in a deep kiss. After they broke apart, Stephanie sighed and rested her head on Jericho's shoulder.  
  
"I just want to beat him at his own game. He thinks he can swoop in to my show, to my family's business and be top dog. I want him to go down, just like his damn company did," Stephanie said with barely concealed hatred.  
  
"And he will go down, I promise you that, when this is all over, you'll be the one left standing."  
  
"No, WE will be the ones left standing," Stephanie said, as a smile broke out on Jericho's face.  
  
"If you insist."  
  
"I do insist. You do know if there wasn't this whole big plan, I would be yelling our relationship from the mountaintops, don't you?"  
  
"The mountaintops?" Jericho asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Well, from the ring at least," she said with a laugh.  
  
"I know you would baby, but this is more important right now, and I'm willing to take a backseat for a while."  
  
Stephanie looked at him for a moment, and she smiled knowing that he was hers, and that he understood her better than anyone else, understood her need for this plan. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She pulled away and smiled at him.  
  
"You're the best."  
  
"I know," Jericho said as Stephanie's laughter rang out.  
  
"So back to the plan, it was a good idea to hit Ric Flair tonight, I'm glad you targeted him."  
  
"Yeah, I didn't like doing it, but I figured if I wanted to get noticed, and seem like a serious threat, I would have to target someone big, and it happened to be Ric."  
  
"You know maybe we can include bringing down Hunter as part of our plan," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"Hmm, I wonder why you would want that?"  
  
"Hey I think he deserves to be knocked down a peg or two."  
  
"I'm not gonna argue with you on that one," Jericho said with a laugh, "But I think the guy's got problems enough right now, what with the whole accident with Michaels."  
  
"Oh yeah that, for some reason I have no sympathy for any one of Hunter's friends."  
  
"So do you think Bischoff will show on SmackDown?"  
  
"I really don't know, he might come to gloat that he got the Un-Americans, and you on his show, little does he know that you're SmackDown through and through," Stephanie said as a conniving grin graced her face.  
  
"How could I not be with you in charge?" Jericho said with a smirk.  
  
"I can't wait until we bring him down."  
  
"I can't wait until he finds out it was all a set-up," Jericho said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.  
  
"Yes, a very good set-up," Stephanie said with a smile. 


	4. Discovered, August 1, 2002

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story, I'm glad you are enjoying it.  
  
I know that SmackDown is filmed on Tues. but for the purposes of my story, let's all pretend that it's actually filmed live on Thurs. :)  
  
"I'm going to kick his ass," Jericho said angrily, as Stephanie sat in her locker room holding the cell phone to her ear, "How dare he go into your dressing room, and proceed to insult you, and that comment about peaches, who the hell does he think he is?"  
  
"Sweetie, it's ok, I'm fine, and I kicked his ass out of the arena," Stephanie said trying to calm Jericho down. He had been so angry that he threatened to come down to the arena and kick Bischoff's ass.  
  
"Yeah, but I still don't like what he said."  
  
"Well, I didn't either, but it's over now, so let's forget it," Stephanie said, trying to get the subject away from Eric Bischoff, "So you're watching SmackDown right?"  
  
"No, of course not, why would I want to watch my beautiful girlfriend on TV, when I could be doing more fun things like ironing or cutting my nails," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh shut up Jericho, you're gonna get it later, I can promise you that," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
Stephanie was so oblivious to anything but Jericho that she didn't notice Kurt walk into her dressing room, and standing listening to her speak to Jericho.  
  
"So what are you wearing right now?" Jericho said jokingly.  
  
"JERICHO!!!!" Stephanie said before giggling uncontrollably. Kurt cleared his throat and a startled Stephanie dropped the cell phone and turned towards the door, seeing Kurt standing there.  
  
"Steph, Stephanie?" Stephanie could hear Jericho yelling at her from the other end of the line. She shakily picked up the phone.  
  
"Um, Chris, I've gotta go," Stephanie said nervously.  
  
"Steph, is everything ok?" Jericho asked worried by the tone of Stephanie's voice.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I just have to go," Stephanie said eyeing Kurt who was still in her doorway, only now he had an amused smile on his face.  
  
"Ok, so I'll see you when you get back to the hotel room right?"  
  
"Yeah." Stephanie hung up the phone, and took a deep breath before turning to Kurt.  
  
"I bet you're wondering what exactly I was doing on the phone with Chris Jericho?" Stephanie said looking at Kurt.  
  
"Well, I've got a pretty good idea what you were doing on the phone."  
  
"It's not what you think Kurt, it's-it's hard to explain."  
  
"You can try."  
  
"Kurt, you have to promise that this does not leave this room, and I mean really promise."  
  
"Of course," Kurt replied.  
  
"Chris and I have been together since I came back, and became the general manager."  
  
"Well, it's about time, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner," Kurt said laughing.  
  
"What? Really?" Stephanie asked in shock.  
  
"Well, everyone knows you two liked each other, it was just a matter of time really. But why are you guys hiding it, and why is he on Raw?"  
  
"This is the part you have to keep top secret Kurt, Chris isn't really a defector, he's just on Raw because he's getting inside information for me so I can bring Bischoff down."  
  
"Why didn't you guys tell me, I could've helped, I'm your friend after all, and I'm Chris's best friend too?" Kurt said, looking a little hurt.  
  
"We didn't want that info to leak out, it could get Chris in trouble, and that's the last thing I want."  
  
"I understand, but if there's anything you guys need me to do, don't hesitate to ask."  
  
"Thanks Kurt, I think I can speak for Chris and I in saying we really appreciate this, and sometime soon we might take you up on that offer" Stephanie said before walking over to him, and giving him a hug.  
  
"Now don't you have a match to get ready for?" Stephanie said pulling away.  
  
"Oh yeah, I get to face Grandpa, good for me," Kurt said sarcastically before leaving Stephanie alone.  
  
Later  
  
Stephanie walked into her hotel suite later that night, exhausted after the night's events. She just wanted to put her pajamas on, get in bed, and sleep for a week. She noted Jericho sitting on the couch watching some late night infomercial.  
  
"Hey Chris," Stephanie said, getting Chris's attention.  
  
"Hey baby," he said getting up and enveloping her in a hug, which she gladly returned, "Are you ok?" he asked looking down at her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm just exhausted."  
  
"Aww, poor baby, need me to take care of you?" Chris said as he leaned down and kissed her.  
  
"Let me just change into some pajamas first, then you can take care of me," Stephanie said with a yawn.  
  
"Ok," he said as she went into the bathroom and changed. She came out and went up to Jericho who was pulling his hair back in front of the mirror. She went up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He turned around in her embrace.  
  
"Wanna watch some TV?" he asked.  
  
"I would love that," she said as he led her over to the couch to sit down. She cuddled into his embrace, letting her head fall on his shoulder  
  
"So what happened tonight when I was talking to you, you sounded panicked?"  
  
"Um, well, Kurt found out about us, he walked in when I was talking to you."  
  
"And what happened?"  
  
"Well, you know how Kurt is, he was fine with it, actually he thought we would get together sooner," Stephanie said with a laugh.  
  
"Well, I guess we were just too oblivious to see what was right in front of our eyes."  
  
"So have you found out anything else from Bischoff?"  
  
"No, I'm sorry baby, I'll be sure to try to get some more information on Raw."  
  
"It's ok Chris, I don't want you to try too hard."  
  
"I might have a hard time restraining myself around Bischoff though, especially after the way he treated you tonight. I mean the nerve of that guy, what was he trying to prove giving you that flower, and practically leering at you? He's such a disgusting human being, I'm sorry you had to go through that baby," Jericho said, waiting for a response from Stephanie.  
  
When he got no response, he looked down at her at realized that she had fallen asleep. He carefully untangled her from his side, and got up from the couch. He took her in his arms, and led her to the bedroom. He carefully laid her down on the bed, and proceeded to climb in the other side. He took her in his arms, and fell asleep thinking of what was going to happen on Raw. 


	5. Confrontations, August 5, 2002

Stephanie waited outside, standing next to her limo. She was outside the arena where Raw was being held, waiting for Bischoff to show his face. She had sent him that cute little note, and with the added message that she was indeed here she knew the stupid idiot would show his face.  
  
As if on cue, Bischoff came out of the side door and walked purposefully over to her. She could see the disgust in his eyes, and knew that her own eyes held the same emotion. She hated this man, and she'd be damned if he took her family's company away from her and her own.  
  
"Well Bischoff, took you long enough to show, afraid were we?" Stephanie said snidely.  
  
"Steph, Steph, Steph, when are you gonna learn that I'm not afraid of anything, least of all you."  
  
"Well, you should be afraid of me Eric, because I fully intend to make SmackDown ten times the show that Raw is," Stephanie shot back.  
  
"And tell me again how you're going to do that? Last time I checked I was still up on you five to three," Bischoff said with a mean smirk.  
  
"You don't know who you're messing with here Bischoff, you have no idea what I'm capable of," Stephanie said confidently.  
  
"Oh, and just what is the little Princess capable of huh? I'm shaking in my boots just thinking about it."  
  
"I better scare you Bischoff, you don't know what you're dealing with," Stephanie replied stepping up to face Bischoff eye to eye.  
  
"I know what I'm dealing with. I'm dealing with a little girl who wants to play with the big boys. Face it Steph, you'll never be half as good as me, so why don't you give it up, and go back to something you're good at, lying on your back," Bischoff said with a laugh.  
  
Fed up with his behavior, Stephanie took a step back and slapped him hard across the face. Bischoff looked at her in shock at what she had just done, while Stephanie had a satisfied smirk on her face. Filled with rage, Bischoff grabbed her by the arm, hard, and Stephanie let out a whimper as she felt her arm being clutched enough to leave a bruise. He hauled her close to his face and she could see the fury in his eyes, and frankly it scared her.  
  
"Listen here Princess, and I'll only say this once, you better stay the hell away from me, before I do much worse to you, do you hear me?" Bischoff said, his eyes filled with an untamed hatred. Stephanie was frightened beyond words; she knew he meant everything he had just said.  
  
"I suggest you let the lady go," a voice from behind them said.  
  
Bischoff and Stephanie both turned their eyes towards the side door, only to see Chris Jericho standing there, already in his ring gear. A look of unmitigated anger flashed across his face, and his jaw was set tight.  
  
"This isn't your business Jericho, I suggest you go inside," Bischoff said dismissingly.  
  
"I said let her go Bischoff and I mean it," Jericho said, his fists clenched at his sides. His anger was fueled by the frightened look on Stephanie's face.  
  
"Why do you care anyways, you left the bitch's show to come here, what's it to you if I rough her up a little?"  
  
"The fact that she's a woman, she's smaller than you, and you're practically assaulting her."  
  
"Woman? Ha, that's a laugh, I wouldn't classify her as anything but a two- dollar slut trying to be classy."  
  
Jericho could feel the hate rising up in his throat, could almost taste it. He wanted nothing more than to kick Bischoff's ass right now, and make sure that he never even thought about Stephanie again. But the plan was too important, and he could see the silent pleading that Stephanie was doing, asking him not to blow it for them.  
  
"Bischoff, if you really want to get to her, than get her through your company, now leave her alone, before I come over there and forcibly make you do it," Jericho said as calmly as he could muster.  
  
"Why do you care so much?" Bischoff asked, looking somewhat suspiciously at him, "Do you actually care about this bitch or something?"  
  
Jericho wanted to scream out yes, but he knew that he couldn't. As much as he wanted to yell it from the rooftops, he couldn't say it and risk everything they had planned.  
  
"No, I don't care about her, but I do care about her telling Daddy Dearest, and I don't really want to get fired for not stopping this little fiasco. You may run Raw Bischoff, but you don't run WWE," Jericho said, lying through his teeth.  
  
"You're right," Bischoff said simply, before letting go of Stephanie's arm. She started rubbing it, trying to make the pain go away. She looked gratefully at Jericho before getting into her limo and driving away.  
  
"Thanks for that Jericho, wouldn't want to lose my job right after I got it would I?" Bischoff said patting Jericho on the back as he walked past him and into the arena. Jericho turned around and looked at him in disgust and hatred. When this was all over, he would be sure to kick Bischoff's teeth in. Nobody called his Stephanie a bitch.  
  
Later that evening  
  
Jericho finished up his match, and got his stuff together as quickly as possible after his shower. He didn't want to arise suspicion, but he wanted to get the hell out of there and back to Stephanie.  
  
He got back to the hotel as quickly as possible, and walked up to his room. He already had his key prepared, and walked into the room quickly. He quickly scanned it, and found her sitting on the balcony just staring out into the city. He walked over to her, and realized she had been crying. He grabbed a chair and sat next to her.  
  
"Hey Stephy, you ok?" he asked, putting his hand on the back of her neck. She looked over at him. It broke his heart to see her in tears.  
  
"Yeah, I'm ok, just a little shaken up," Stephanie replied. He gathered her in his arms as best he could.  
  
"I'm sorry you had to go through that sweetie."  
  
"It was my own fault, I was the one who wanted to meet him, and I was the one that provoked him."  
  
"No, this is not your fault, he's the asshole who tried to hurt you," Jericho said stroking her hair. He was so glad that she was all right, he had been so scared when he walked upon the scene outside.  
  
"I was so scared when he grabbed me, the look on his face, it was like pure hatred or something," she said shakily, "I thought he was seriously going to hurt me."  
  
"I would never let that happen baby," he said kissing her forehead, "I would never let anyone hurt you in any way."  
  
"Thank you for saving me," she said looking up at him.  
  
"Don't thank me, you're my girl, it's my job to protect you," Jericho turned serious for a moment, "Stephy, maybe this plan is too risky. If it involves you getting hurt in any way, maybe it's not worth it."  
  
"No, we have to go with it, I'm fine now, and besides once the plan is over, he'll be gone, and no one will be around to hurt me."  
  
"And until then, what if he tries to hurt you again and I'm not there?" Jericho looked at her in concern. Stephanie thought for a moment.  
  
"I think it's time to call in a favor from Kurt." 


	6. Favors, August 8, 2002

Kurt Angle walked into his dressing room, fuming from his loss to John Cena. Sure, it had been by DQ, but the fact remained that he had lost to the Marky Mark look-a-like. What nerve did Benoit and Guerrero have coming out there during his match anyway. Everyone knew that he was going to win that match.  
  
Kurt took a towel and began wiping the sweat from his arms. He barely had any time to rest, he had another match he had to get ready for. He wanted to get that stupid rookie, and show him who the real poster boy of Ruthless Aggression was. Just as he was about to sit down and rest for a second, his cell phone rang. He answered it without checking who was calling.  
  
"Hello," Kurt answered the phone a little perturbed.  
  
"Hey Kurt, it's Chris," Jericho said from the other end.  
  
"Chris, hey, did you see what happened to me out there, I was robbed of a victory."  
  
"Yeah, I saw Kurt, I hope you kick that stupid wannabe Marky Mark later,"  
  
"And did you see Benoit say that he was the Master of Submissions, I mean come on, if anyone's the Master of Submissions, it's me."  
  
"I know Kurt, you're one of the greatest, and Benoit doesn't know what he's talking about," Jericho said feeding Kurt's ego, "But listen, I need you to do me a favor."  
  
"Favor?" Kurt was curious.  
  
"Yeah, a really big favor, it's about Stephanie," Jericho said, a serious tone creeping into his voice  
  
"What about Stephanie?" Kurt asked, suddenly concerned by Jericho's change in tone.  
  
"I know that she probably wanted to ask you this herself, but knowing her she's probably busy with paperwork or something like that. I figured it'd be all right if I just called you."  
  
"Jericho, would you get to the point already."  
  
"Ok, here's the deal. Last Monday, Stephanie went to Raw, and she had a confrontation with Bischoff. He grabbed her, and threatened to hurt her—"  
  
"WHAT?!?" Kurt said cutting Jericho off, "Is she all right, did he hurt her in any way?" Kurt asked, worried about Stephanie.  
  
"She's fine, thank God. I got out there just in time and stopped his sorry ass," Jericho said with bitterness thinking about Stephanie's frightened face.  
  
"That's good to hear," Relief evident in Kurt's voice, "So what's the favor?"  
  
"I want you to protect her, at least while she's at the shows. I can't be there for obvious reasons, and I'm afraid of what might happen if Bischoff shows up unannounced. I don't want her to be vulnerable around him."  
  
"So you want me to be like her bodyguard?"  
  
"Well, kind of. Just watch out for her, but try not to make it too obvious."  
  
"Sure man, anything I can do to help you guys."  
  
"Thanks a lot Kurt, this really means a lot to me," Jericho said, thankful that he had such a good friend in Kurt, "You're really a good guy for doing this."  
  
"Hey what are friends for? You and Steph are my closest friends."  
  
"Well, I know you have another match to get ready for so I'll let you go, good luck."  
  
"Luck, I don't need luck, I'm the Master of Submission."  
  
"Ok, Kurt, of course you are, bye," Jericho said before hanging up, leaving Kurt to prepare for his match.  
  
Later in the show  
  
Stephanie sat in her dressing room after listening to Paul Heyman spout off something about Brock and Hogan. She hadn't really been listening. She was still a little shaken up from Monday night, but was trying hard not to let it show. She was wearing a shirt with sleeves to cover up the bruise Bischoff had left on her arm. She was so grateful Jericho had shown up, he was like her knight in shining armor, always ready to save the princess. She smiled at the thought. Suddenly she heard a knock at the door.  
  
"Come in," she said, hoping that it wasn't another person wanting to bother her. Kurt walked in, and she smiled brightly.  
  
"Kurt, what are you doing here, don't you have a match coming up next?"  
  
"Well, I just wanted to come see my friend, is that a crime?" Kurt said, with a bit of concern in his voice. Stephanie picked up on it immediately and looked at Kurt in confusion.  
  
"Kurt is something the matter, you seem kind of off or something?"  
  
"I just wanted to make sure you were ok."  
  
"Ok? Of course I'm ok, why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"Jericho called me up, and he told me everything Steph," Stephanie's gaze dropped down, "I wanted to see for myself that you were ok."  
  
"Chris called you, but why?"  
  
"To ask me to protect you when he's not around. A job I gladly accepted."  
  
"I thought I told Chris I would take care of asking you."  
  
"Well, he knew you'd probably be too busy to ask, so he asked instead."  
  
"That's so sweet of him," Stephanie said, a smile breaking out on her face.  
  
"I heard Bischoff attacked you."  
  
"Well, not attack really, he just grabbed my arm really hard."  
  
"Is that why you're wearing that shirt?" Kurt said, looking at the top she was wearing.  
  
"Yeah, there's still a bruise, and I didn't want to arise suspicion."  
  
"Ok," Kurt said satisfied by her response, "I better go now, have a match and all, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be around from now on."  
  
"Thanks Kurt, this really means a lot to me," Stephanie said, her smile turning into a grin.  
  
"You know, you and Jericho are really starting to turn into one of those old, married couples, you're starting to say the same things," Kurt said laughing as he left.  
  
Later that evening  
  
Stephanie walked up to her hotel suite grumbling about what had happened on SmackDown. Dawn Marie had been nowhere to be found, and had left the building before giving her the documents from her father. She really needed those documents. And to add onto all of that, Dawn Marie had probably been headed to have a rendezvous with Vince. God, how disgusting.  
  
Stephanie walked into her suite, still mumbling discontentedly about how she hadn't received those documents. She didn't see Jericho in the living area of the suite, so she put her purse and things down, and went off in search of him.  
  
"Chris," she called out as she walked into the rather spacious bedroom.  
  
"Hey babe," Chris said coming out of the bathroom in only a towel.  
  
"Hey, hope I wasn't interrupting something," she said leaning up to kiss him.  
  
"Had you come about ten minutes earlier, I would have gladly let you interrupt," he said smiling cunningly at her.  
  
"Mmm, don't give me ideas," she said with a snicker.  
  
"So how was your night?" he said, taking her in his arms.  
  
"Well, first and foremost, I would like to thank you for calling Kurt for me, it was very sweet of you," Stephanie said snaking her arms around his neck, and running her fingers into his damp hair.  
  
"I aim to please mademoiselle. And I want you to be safe."  
  
"And I will be sweetie, thanks to you," Stephanie said, kissing along his jaw.  
  
"And the rest of your night?" Jericho said, starting to lose focus, Stephanie's lips feeling so good on his skin.  
  
"Miserable," she said bluntly. Jericho pulled away for a moment.  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"Ugh, Dawn Marie was supposed to drop off some papers from my dad, and she never came. When I asked Stacy about it, she said Dawn Marie had come to my office when I wasn't there, and then left, and she was going to go see my dad."  
  
"Baby, I hate to break this to you, but Stacy hid those documents in your office, and after you left, she gave them to Bischoff," Jericho said, preparing himself for Stephanie flying off the handle.  
  
"WHAT!?!" Stephanie screamed, Jericho winced at the pitch of her voice, "That little bitch, that stupid, snotty little bitch, she's working for Bischoff? Oh, she is going to pay, she is going to pay dearly!"  
  
"Steph, let's forget about it for now, let's just focus on us.........right now," Jericho said kissing her cheek, trying to calm her down, "There's plenty of time to worry about this later."  
  
"But—"Stephanie was cut off by Jericho's kiss. She moaned as he kissed her and slid her shirt off, "Jericho, this is my job we're talking about," she managed to stutter out as his kisses moved lower.  
  
"You want me to stop?" Jericho said looking at her innocently. She looked at him only clad in a towel. She pushed him onto the bed, grinning wickedly at him.  
  
"Hell no."  
  
A/N: Thanks to all of you who are reviewing this fic, it's so nice of you to take the time to review it. :) 


	7. A Comfort, August 12, 2002

A/N: This is dedicated to all my gals over at FF, especially my fellow BTWD fans, you guys are the best, and we all know who's responsible for Jericho getting depantsed. ;)  
  
Jericho sat backstage totally and completely pissed off by the night's events. He hadn't minded being paired up with Big Show, even though he knew he was vastly superior to the giant of a man. But then he had gotten his pants pulled down. It was beyond embarrassing. He just wanted to get the hell out of the arena, and forget that tonight had ever happened.  
  
"Hey Jericho, nice underwear you got there," he heard HHH call out to him as he was walking down the hallway. He turned around abruptly.  
  
"Well, at least I don't go out there every night in my damn leather underwear," Jericho shot back at him.  
  
"Ooh, look who's gotten all high and mighty all of a sudden."  
  
"Oh yeah, but not as mighty as you huh Hunter? Oh look, I'm going to go around and interrogate all these people when I'm really the one who beat up my best friend," Jericho said doing an impression of Hunter.  
  
"Shut up Jericho, you don't know anything about it," Hunter said angrily.  
  
"And you know what, I don't want to know anymore," Jericho said before walking away, ending his conversation with HHH.  
  
As he walked down the hallway he spotted Stacy and decided it was time to make nice for the plan. He just hoped he could get some information without Stacy thinking he wanted anything from her. That was the last thing he wanted.  
  
"Hey Stacy," Jericho said as brightly as he could.  
  
"Chris, hi," Stacy said with a smile that sickened Jericho. This was going to be harder than he thought.  
  
"So you decided to leave SmackDown too?"  
  
"Yeah, I couldn't stand working for Stephabitch anymore, and Eric is much nicer to work with," Stacy said giving a seductive grin. Jericho had to resist the urge to vomit.  
  
"Yeah, neither could I, that's why I left, that was genius of you getting those documents away from Stephanie."  
  
"Yeah I thought so, Eric lets me handle all the big documents that come through his office," Stacy said grinning widely.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, he says I'm important to him." Jericho stifled a laugh. Bischoff didn't think anyone was important except for himself.  
  
"Any important documents come through lately?" Jericho asked, seeing if he could get any inside information that Stephanie could use.  
  
"Yeah, actually, he got some documents earlier, it has something to do with acquisitions that he wants to make in the near future."  
  
Jericho kept thinking about how big an idiot Stacy was for just giving him this information, he wanted to ask more, but it would be too suspicious, so he refrained. He wanted to get out of there now, and go see Stephanie.  
  
"Stacy, I gotta run, but I'll be sure to talk to you later," Jericho said in a flirty tone, so as not to blow his cover.  
  
"Ok, bye Chris, I hope to see you soon," she said smiling smugly at him.  
  
Later  
  
Jericho finally arrived at his hotel, after hearing about his pants getting pulled down about five hundred times. He was tired of hearing about it now, and just wanted to get to his hotel room, and not think about the humiliation he had suffered. And he would be with Stephanie, and it wasn't like she hadn't seen him in less than his underwear.  
  
He opened his hotel room door and was confronted by a plethora of candles all burning brightly, casting deep shadows on the walls. He looked around in shock at everything that was in front of him. Stephanie had really gone overboard this time. He noticed a bucket of champagne on the table, and two crystal glasses, but no Stephanie in sight.  
  
"Steph?" he called out looking around. She came out of the bedroom wearing a very skimpy, very see-through lingerie and a pink silk robe. Jericho's jaw dropped to the ground.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Stephanie said walking over to him.  
  
"Wow," was the only response he could muster. She walked closer to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"I saw what happened tonight, and I thought you might need a little pick-me- up," she said smiling seductively at him.  
  
"Well, something is up," he said before leaning in to kiss her deeply.  
  
"That was awful what Ric did to you."  
  
"Ugh, don't remind me."  
  
"If it's any consolation, I thought you looked cute with your pants around your ankles," Stephanie said laughing, Jericho glared at her.  
  
"Yeah, you and about 4 million other Jerichoholics, especially these chicks in the front row, they were screaming like crazy."  
  
"Well, then they have good taste," she said starting to take his T-shirt off.  
  
"Oh, before I forget, I got some information tonight." Stephanie looked up at him with interest.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, apparently Stacy gets all of Bischoff's documents, and she said that he wants to get some people, I don't know who, but someone."  
  
"Well, this is interesting news, too bad he's not going to get whoever he wants," Stephanie said with resolve.  
  
"It's hard to think when you're wearing that though," Jericho said eyeing what she was wearing.  
  
"Oh really," she said taking off the robe.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well then, how about we move this into the bedroom," she said grabbing his hand and leading him to the bedroom, he grabbed the champagne as he walked by.  
  
"Am I going to get my pants pulled down again?"  
  
"You can bet on it." 


	8. Anniversaries, August 15, 2002

Stephanie sat in her dressing room, pleased with the fact Matt Hardy was on her show. He wasn't as big an acquisition that Benoit or Eddy had been, but any way to stick it to Bischoff was fine with her. And if he wanted anyone else, well, he'd have to go through her first. She wasn't backing down from any of his challenges.  
  
Her thoughts wandered to Jericho as they often did, and how much fun they had had on Monday night. She hadn't really minded that he had gotten his pants pulled down. She had rather enjoyed it, but well she liked him without pants. Stephanie heard a soft knocking on the door, and got up to open it.  
  
"Hey Kurt," she said as she let Kurt Angle into her room, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Just thought I'd stop by for a while, see what was up?" Kurt said, as he sat down on the couch in her dressing room. Stephanie sat down next to him.  
  
"Kurt, you don't need to watch over me every five minutes, Bischoff's not even here," she said laughing at him.  
  
"Well, then think of this as a friendly visit."  
  
"Fine," she said giving in.  
  
"So I imagine Chris wasn't too happy about what happened on Monday."  
  
"Were you happy when it happened to you Kurt?" Stephanie replied, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Touché," Kurt snorted, "So acquiring Matt, pretty smart of you. At least you'll get more female viewers."  
  
"Well, I figured he didn't want to be a part of Raw anymore, I'm glad I was right."  
  
"So what's up on the Jericho front anyway?"  
  
"Well, he got some information off of Stacy, of course the little tramp also tried to hit on him, but well, who didn't think that would happen?"  
  
"Someone seems a little bitter."  
  
"Me? Bitter? That's not a emotion I'm familiar with," Stephanie said as innocently as she could muster, Kurt burst out laughing.  
  
"Ok, Miss McMahon, if you say so."  
  
"Jericho's gonna try to get some more information on Monday. He was talking to Big Show on Monday as well, that's what they were showing on TV. Cause Big Show is kind of close to Bischoff."  
  
"It's pretty risky don't you think?"  
  
"Yeah, which is why I tell him not to try too hard, I don't want him to get found out, but you know how Chris is, he loves the challenge."  
  
"Yeah, I know, well, tell him I said hello," Kurt said as he got up to leave.  
  
"Will do," Stephanie said as Kurt stuck his head out of the door, furtively looked both ways, "Kurt what are you doing?"  
  
"As your bodyguard it's my duty to make sure the premises are safe," Kurt said, trying to be serious. Stephanie took a tube of lipstick from her purse and threw it at him.  
  
"Go away Kurt," she said laughing.  
  
Later in the show  
  
Stephanie sat fuming as she saw the enormous banner that Bischoff had ordered to be walked across the arena for everyone to see. And that commercial that he threw right in her face. For every one thing that she did, he had to do two things. She hated the man so much, but at least he was a challenge for her, and she liked challenges.  
  
Stephanie was never one to back down from a challenge, and now was no exception. Bischoff thought she was a little girl, well she'd show him just how grown up she actually was. No one messed with Stephanie McMahon, NO ONE. When the time came, she would love to laugh in his ugly face, or maybe spit in it, both seemed like a good idea. Oh, she would take him down, she would take him down good. Now to think of ways to get him back.  
  
Later that evening  
  
Stephanie opened the door to her hotel room, and for the first time in a long time she was without Chris. He was home this weekend, so she was alone on the road. She hated being without him, not because she felt she wasn't safe, she just missed him terribly. She had gotten so used to being around him, that when he wasn't there she felt this kind of emptiness.  
  
She walked to the bedroom, and put her things down on the vanity table. She noticed a light flashing on the hotel phone, indicating she had a message. She sat down on the bed and picked up the phone, choosing the option of listening to her messages. Chris's voice came over the line, and she smiled as she listened.  
  
"Hey sweetie," the message started, "Sorry, I couldn't be there tonight, but well you know how it is. I watched you on TV and you looked great, loved the hair. Except you seemed to get really intense with Benoit, kind of scared me there," he laughed, "Well, I guess I'll talk to you later, oh and don't call here cause I won't be here, bye baby."  
  
Stephanie laughed at his Benoit reference, she had figured out by now that intensity was the way to go when talking with the other Canadian Chris. She wondered where he was going tonight, and why she couldn't call him at all. He carried a cell phone, so it wasn't like he was totally inaccessible.  
  
She shrugged and started to go into the bathroom to take her make-up off when she heard a song softly playing on a radio. She ignored it at first, but then noticed that it seemed to be coming from her room. She didn't remember turning on the radio, and went into the main room to investigate. Standing in the middle of the room, holding a rose in his hand was Jericho.  
  
"Chris, what are you doing here, I thought you went home," she said as she walked over to him.  
  
"Well, I wanted to surprise you, it is our one month anniversary after all," he said, handing her the rose.  
  
"Really, I've been stuck with you for only a month. It seems much, much longer," she replied smirking at him.  
  
"Funny Steph, real funny."  
  
"Well, I try."  
  
"May I have this dance?" Jericho asked, holding his hand out to her. She put her hand in his.  
  
"Yes, you may."  
  
Jericho took her in his arms and guided her across the room, as they danced to "Something in the Way She Moves" by the Beatles. Jericho stopped for a moment, and looked down at her.  
  
"Steph, I have something I have to tell you," he said seriously. Stephanie was a little worried by his tone.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I love you." Stephanie looked up at him looking into his eyes seeing if he was telling her the truth. Jericho looked at her, his eyes filled with adoration. Stephanie beamed at him, and kissed him soundly on the mouth. She pulled away, and looked him in the eyes.  
  
"I love you too.........Oh, and Chris?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Kurt says hello." 


	9. Just Too Simple, August 19, 2002

Jericho walked angrily out of his locker room, displeased by the reaction the fans had given his performance. He was a great front man, and if all those people failed to see it, well they could kiss his ass. He thought that his band had performed very well, they had even been preparing an encore. That is, until Flair had come in and ruined it all.  
  
Jericho was almost regretting targeting Flair for the plan, but he had to admit it did have the desired effect. And interrupting HHH of all people, well if he had to make an impact going after HHH was going to get him attention. Of course if he hadn't gone out there he probably wouldn't have had a garbage can put over his head. Oh well, you take the good with the bad.  
  
He walked down the hallway, and he could smell Stacy even before he saw her. Her perfume could suffocate someone to death. She turned the corner and spotted Jericho, and immediately she grinned. Jericho noticed that she was wearing a bikini under a skimpy black robe, and she had gotten rid of all the mud that she had been covered in earlier. Jericho stifled a laugh when he thought of her covered in mud.  
  
"Chris, hey, I'm glad that I ran into you," Stacy said sidling up to him. Jericho withheld the look of repulsion that threatened to grace his face.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I thought that we had a great conversation last Monday, and I was hoping that we could have another one." Jericho started to walk away, hoping that Stacy would get the point and leave, but of course she didn't, instead lacing her arm around Jericho's and following him down the corridor.  
  
"Well, I'm kind of busy right now--" Jericho started, but Stacy cut him off.  
  
"I was so angry with Trish tonight, as if it wasn't bad enough that we were wrestling in mud, she beat me," Stacy said pouting, Jericho instinctively rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'm sure it was devastating," Jericho said his voice dripping with sarcasm, which of course Stacy didn't pick up on.  
  
"It was," Stacy said stopping Jericho in his tracks, "Of course you can help make me happy again," she said with a suggestive smile. Jericho bit back a scathing remark.  
  
"Um, as tempting as that sounds," Jericho lied, "I'll have to pass on that tonight."  
  
"Oh, but why?" Stacy said pouting again. Jericho couldn't help but think she got even more desperate as the seconds tick by.  
  
"Because I'm tired and want to go back to my hotel."  
  
"Well, if you want I could go back to the hotel with you, and try and help you sleep," Stacy said seductively. Jericho kept thinking about how Stephanie would react if she knew what Stacy was doing, he figured that kicking and hair pulling would have something to do with it.  
  
"I just want to go back and sleep, it's been a long day, and besides don't you have to go back to Bischoff?"  
  
"Well, he only needs me some of the time, the rest of the time, I'm free."  
  
"What exactly do you do for him Stacy?" Jericho asked her. If he was forced to talk to this skank, he might as well make it worth his while.  
  
"Well, I get his documents for him, make sure they're all nice and legal before I hand them over to Vince or whoever needs them."  
  
"So you look at all the documents?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
  
"I'm sure you see a lot of top secret information," he lifting an eyebrow.  
  
"Definitely. Why? Do you want to see some stuff?" Jericho couldn't believe how easy this was. Was she really that dense to just let him look at these documents? She started leading him to an office. Apparently she was that dense.  
  
"Are you sure this is ok?" Jericho replied, pretending to play dumb.  
  
"Well, as long as we keep it our little secret," she said giggling. He fake smiled at her.  
  
She took him into an office, and displayed what appeared to be files. She handed them over to him, and hung around his side as he looked them over. There was quite a bit of good information that Stephanie would love to know. It outlined things Bischoff was planning on doing, ideas he had, and matches he wanted to set up. It was like gold, and it had been too easy for him to read it. He had to keep from laughing out loud at how utterly simple the whole thing had been. He should've paid Bischoff for hiring this idiot to work for him.  
  
He read over them, and decided that now was his time to make his get away. He had all the information he needed for a while, and telling Stephanie was the first thing that he wanted to do. Maybe if she had this information, then they could reveal that it had all been a set-up, and he and Stephanie would be free to have a normal, non-secretive relationship.  
  
"Stacy, I really appreciate you letting me see this, but I've really got to go," Jericho said, handing the documents over to Stacy.  
  
"Anytime Chris, and maybe sometime you can repay me for letting you see them."  
  
"Whatever," Jericho said, before leaving hastily.  
  
Jericho walked out to the parking lot, and started looking for the rental car that he had taken to the arena. He had ridden with Lance Storm and Christian, and was hoping they were already at the car so he could leave immediately.  
  
He was walking in the general direction of his car, when a limo driver came up to him. Jericho figured the guy was waiting for someone else, and needed directions.  
  
"Mr. Jericho?" The guy asked him.  
  
"Yeah, is there something you needed?"  
  
"You're ride is waiting," he said gesturing towards the sleek black limo.  
  
"Ride? I don't understand," Jericho asked confused, he hadn't asked for a limo, he didn't really have a need for it any way.  
  
"Well, I was commissioned to pick you up."  
  
"By who?" If he said Stacy, Jericho would turn around and walk right back into the arena, and hide out until she was gone.  
  
"Miss McMahon, she's waiting in the limo." Jericho turned surprised eyes towards the limo. What was Stephanie doing here, didn't she know how dangerous it was?  
  
"Well, in that case," he said before heading over to the limo. He would call Lance later and tell him not to bother waiting for him. He opened the door and slid in. Stephanie was sitting on the opposite end of the limo. He closed the door behind him.  
  
"Stephanie, do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here," he said slightly agitated.  
  
"Well, I didn't get out, did I? Now, why are you all the way over there when you should be over here," she said patting the seat next to her. Jericho made his way across the seats, and sat next to her. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.  
  
"Still, what if someone knew you were here? You could've gotten in a lot of trouble."  
  
"I made sure to keep a low profile."  
  
"Promise me that you won't come here without letting me know first, ok?"  
  
"Ok.........even though I don't like following orders," she said reluctantly. He put his arm around her. She leaned her body against his.  
  
"Yeah, but this is your safety, not some silly little thing that doesn't matter," he said kissing her temple.  
  
"When you put it that way, how could I not promise?"  
  
"Well, I've got good news that you're going to like."  
  
"Really, what is it?" she asked anxiously. Jericho loved it when her eyes became full of excitement; they made her face even more beautiful than it already was.  
  
"Guess who got a look at Bischoff's secret documents?" he said teasingly. Stephanie squealed and clapped her hands together happily.  
  
"You got to see them, oh my God this is great," she gushed, "Tell me what you found out."  
  
"I'll tell you later, I promise. It's going to take a while to tell you everything."  
  
"Ok," she answered before a suspicious look crossed her face, "Wait, how in God's name did you get to look at them, you couldn't have just asked for them."  
  
"Well, I kind of had to cozy up to Stacy Keibler, well she cozied up first and I just took advantage of the situation."  
  
"Eww, you had to cozy up to that two-faced slut, poor baby.........she didn't try anything funny did she?"  
  
"How would you define funny?"  
  
"Did she hit on you?" Stephanie asked bluntly.  
  
"Yeah, you could say that, if you consider her trying to invite herself to my hotel room 'hitting on me'?" Stephanie's eyes flashed with rage.  
  
"I'm glad she's on Raw, cause if she was on SmackDown I'd kick her ass," Stephanie said, not concealing the hatred she felt for Stacy Keibler.  
  
"Did you catch the show tonight?" Jericho inquired, changing the subject. When Stephanie got mad, she got scary, and the last thing he needed to see was Stephanie's "evil" look. That look could traumatize someone.  
  
"Yeah, I saw you interrupt my ex-husband, I think you guys have a lot more in common than you think," she said mischievously.  
  
"And just what would that be?"  
  
"Well, you've both been with me," she said with a smirk. Jericho groaned.  
  
"Don't remind me, I hate to think you had to be stuck with that bastard."  
  
"How do you think I feel?" They both laughed. Jericho pulled her close with an arm, and kissed her. She ran her fingers through his hair.  
  
"I love you," he told her, kissing her lightly.  
  
"I love you too," she whispered back with a smile, "And I have to admit that you looked great out there tonight, the song is catchy, of course I've heard it like a thousand times."  
  
"Yeah, I'm a huge rock star what can I say?"  
  
"And I know you're going to beat Ric Flair at SummerSlam," she told him, kissing him on the cheek, "He'll never know what hit him."  
  
"We'll see Stephy.........we'll see." 


	10. Questions, August 22, 2002

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the reviews, I really appreciate them. :)  
  
"Stealing the show at SummerSlam. That's a pretty lofty goal," a voice said from the doorway of Stephanie's dressing room.  
  
"Well, it's what I intend to do," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Shouldn't that be up to the wrestlers?"  
  
"You'd think that wouldn't you, but it's really leadership they need."  
  
"Well, I guess you're the person for the job."  
  
"Is there anything you needed Edge?" Stephanie asked, wondering just why the blonde Canadian had decided to pay her a visit. She was quite busy making sure all the matches were set for SummerSlam.  
  
"No, I just wanted to come and thank you again for the tag match you made tonight. It gave The Rock and I a measure of revenge," Edge said with one of his very toothy grins.  
  
"Well, that's my job Edge, I want to make sure that I keep my wrestlers happy."  
  
"Yeah, I understand. Unlike those idiots the Un-Americans, and Jericho," Edge said with disgust. Stephanie looked up at him with a slight look of disbelief.  
  
"How can you say that? Christian's your brother."  
  
"But he turned on me, he's different now. He's not the guy I once knew."  
  
"But still he's your brother, shouldn't that count for something?"  
  
"What about you and Shane?" Stephanie thought for a moment about her brother, and their relationship over the past few years.  
  
"Despite our differences, I've never actually hated Shane. He's my brother, I could never really hate him."  
  
"Well, never mind that, it still sucks that they left you high and dry. I can't believe Jericho would go over to Raw, of all people I thought he wouldn't be cowardly enough to run away from me," Edge said with a chuckle. Stephanie's eyes narrowed as she looked at him.  
  
"What do you mean by cowardly?"  
  
"Well, he obviously knew he would have to fight me, so he left for Raw to avoid confrontation." Stephanie bit back a laugh, he actually thought he had driven Jericho away. Obviously behind that bright smile was a lack of brains.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. He might have left because he doesn't like me all that much," Stephanie countered, knowing full well that Jericho did like her. He liked her a lot.  
  
"How could anyone not like you?" Edge answered, taking a seat beside her. He threw her another one of his patented grins, and Stephanie had the urge to put sunglasses on because of the intense brightness.  
  
"I don't know," she said coyly.  
  
"That brings me to the real reason I came here," Edge told her. Stephanie looked at him befuddled. What could he possibly want with her?  
  
"And just what is that? Do you have a concern or something?"  
  
"No, it's nothing like that."  
  
"Then what is it?"  
  
"I just wanted to see if you would like to go to dinner sometime."  
  
"With you?" Stephanie asked shocked.  
  
"Well, yeah, with me," he said with a laugh, "That's generally what's meant by 'dinner with me.'"  
  
Stephanie sat there, trying not to laugh hysterically. If only he knew that she was taken, and by whom. She knew that smug grin on his face would soon turn to one of fear, because she could only imagine what Jericho would do if he walked in on this little scenario. The possibilities were endless. But only Kurt knew about her and Jericho.  
  
"It's very nice of you to ask Edge, but I'm going to have to turn you down," Stephanie said smiling as apologetically as she could. She didn't want to seem rude and just shoot him down, but she didn't want him to think he had a chance. She was very happy with Jericho.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Um," Stephanie said trying to think of a viable excuse, "Well, it's just I want to be on my own right now, seeing as how I just got divorced. I hope you understand," Stephanie ended, hoping that she sounded truthful.  
  
"Yeah, of course, maybe some other time," he said getting up.  
  
"Maybe," Stephanie said, knowing full well that was a lie.  
  
"Cool," Edge said, before leaving.  
  
Stephanie gave a sigh of relief as soon as he walked out the door. It wasn't that she didn't like Edge, they used to be friends, but ever since he became all noble, she found him just a tiny bit weird. She went back to her papers, looking at the page of notes that she had written down after Jericho had told her everything he had found out. She gathered up her things, and went to leave.  
  
A short time later  
  
Stephanie put her keycard in the door, and waited for the little green light to come on so she could open her door. She reached to turn the knob, when the door flew open. Stephanie took a step back, startled, and Jericho stepped out into the hallway.  
  
"Hey you," he said grinning widely at her. She got a suspicious look on her face.  
  
"Hey," she said peering at him, "What's up with you?"  
  
"Nothing," he said, still smiling as he gave her a soft kiss.  
  
"Yeah, right, I know that smile, you're up to something."  
  
"No, I'm not," he said defensively.  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"Fine, I just wanted to go take a walk with you, I saw this great park a couple blocks down," Chris said grabbing her hand.  
  
"But Chris, what if someone sees us?"  
  
"Come on Stephy, no one's gonna see us in a dark park. And if they do, I can hide in some bushes, and I brought these" he said laughing as he pulled out a couple of hats, "Now come on," he said, tugging on her hand.  
  
"Well, ok, I guess," she replied letting him pull her to the elevator.  
  
They took the elevator to the bottom floor, and ran through the lobby like two giggling teenagers. They had to be careful that no one saw them, even though they both had hats covering their faces. They walked out into the warm North Carolina night holding hands, heading towards the park. Jericho pulled her close, and let go of her hand, instead wrapping his arm around her waist as they walked.  
  
"So how was your night tonight?" He asked turning to her.  
  
"It was pretty good. I feel a lot more secure now that I have so much information on Bischoff."  
  
"I'm glad I could help."  
  
"Yeah, you're good to have around," she said with a soft giggle.  
  
"Anything else interesting happen?" He asked as they walked into the park.  
  
"Well, Edge asked me out," she said looking at him to see his reaction. He turned to her, surprise in his eyes. She turned her head to the front and concentrated on the pathway.  
  
"He did?" He asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, it was an honest mistake, since only Kurt knows about us."  
  
"And you turned him down right?" Stephanie face turned into disbelief, stunned that he would ask her that. Didn't he know how much she loved him? She looked to him, ready to claim her love when she saw the smirk on his face, realizing that he was joking with her.  
  
"Oh shut up you idiot, of course I turned him down, I told him some lame story about how I was still so depressed over my divorce, and I needed time to myself."  
  
Jericho laughed at her, and stopped her in the middle of the park. He kissed her deeply, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She laughed as she pulled away. He gave her a sparkling smile in return.  
  
"I love you," he said.  
  
"I love you more," she returned.  
  
"I'd like to see you try and prove that," he said giving her a playful wink.  
  
"Hmm, maybe I'll do something at SummerSlam, since we'll finally be on the same show."  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot."  
  
"Finally I can be there to see you win," she said her eyes gleaming in the streetlights.  
  
"How can you be so sure I'm going to win?"  
  
"Because I believe in you," she said kissing him. He beamed at her.  
  
"Good to know." 


	11. Can't Always Win, SummerSlam, August 25,...

A/N: Despite my intense anger for WWE, and all who contributed to the fact Jericho lost tonight, I thought I'd give, what I hope is a chapter that will put a smile on your face. :)  
  
Jericho walked dejectedly back to his locker room, upset by his most recent loss. He kept losing at Pay-Per-Views and it was starting to piss him off. It seemed like he had some sort of jinx or something. Ever since he had lost to HHH at WrestleMania, he had been nothing but downhill. And now his latest loss to Ric Flair, it was getting too much.  
  
Stephanie sat quietly in the dressing room, keenly aware of Bischoff who was sitting very close to her. She was a bit nervous sitting there with him, given the encounter they had had a few weeks ago. And the looks he kept sending her were really creeping her out. But she wasn't about to show her fear, that's just what he would want.  
  
She watched Jericho lose, and felt really terrible that she couldn't go out there for his match. She had planned to go out there, and maybe interfere a little, under the pretense that she wanted to sabotage the Raw matches. Unfortunately, Bischoff was keeping such a close eye on her and she hadn't been able to leave without arising suspicion.  
  
"Excuse me Bischoff, but I have to leave," Stephanie said turning to him.  
  
"And where are you going?"  
  
"I don't think it's any of your business," Stephanie said, getting up and leaving the room, and Bischoff behind.  
  
She discreetly made her way to Jericho's dressing room, making sure not to look conspicuous. She knew he probably needed a little TLC after losing the match. She had really thought he had it won, but the stupid ref had been knocked down had clearly hadn't seen that Jericho had won. If it had been one of SmackDown's matches she would have made sure to go down there and make them keep going.  
  
She walked up to his door and knocked lightly on it, looking both ways to make sure no one was around. She could hear a rustling inside, but no one telling her to come in. She knocked again, a little bit louder. This time she heard Jericho's voice.  
  
"Go away!" his voice yelled from the other side, "I don't want to see anyone right now!"  
  
"Chris," Stephanie said quietly, "It's me."  
  
Jericho came to the door, a look of anger clear on his face. Once he saw Stephanie his face softened, and he opened his door wider, letting her come in. As soon as she closed the door she went up to him and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"I'm sorry honey," she said burying her face in his neck. Jericho returned her embrace.  
  
"Stephy, I'm all sweaty, I haven't even showered yet."  
  
"I don't care, I just needed to see you," she told him, pulling away for a second to press a kiss on his lips. Jericho sighed as he pulled away.  
  
"So where have you been?" He asked her curiously.  
  
"Watching the show.........with Bischoff," she replied hesitantly.  
  
"WHAT???" Jericho asked alarmed, "What are you doing around him?"  
  
"It's not my fault Chris, there's not enough room for separate dressing rooms."  
  
"So then you leave."  
  
"Chris, I can't do that. That would be like admitting I was weak, and I'm not weak."  
  
"I know you aren't baby," he said leading her over to the couch and sitting down letting her lean on him with her back to his side, "But have you forgotten what happened?"  
  
"No, I haven't forgotten, but I'm not going to let him win, even if I do have to share a dressing room."  
  
"And there's no convincing you to not share?"  
  
"No, no there isn't," she said laughing at him. He took her hand and kissed it.  
  
"You're so stubborn you know."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Well, promise me you'll be careful."  
  
"Of course I'll be careful. Now how do I make you feel better," she asked looking up at him.  
  
"You're here, I'm better," he said smiling down at her.  
  
"I wanted to go out there you know."  
  
"What?" he looked at her confused.  
  
"I was going to go out there, and interfere on your behalf. Or at least try to."  
  
"And just how would you have explained those actions?"  
  
"Well, I would just be sabotaging the Raw matches, and you would have just been the lucky recipient of my help."  
  
"You're a genius, have I ever told you that before?"  
  
"Yeah, when you told me you never meant any of the mean names you called me," she said smiling up at him.  
  
"Ah yes, I remember that. I did mean those things I called you though," he said smirking at her.  
  
"No you didn't," she said pouting.  
  
"Yes, I did."  
  
"No you didn't."  
  
"Ok, I didn't," he said kissing the top of her head. All of a sudden they heard a knock. They both look startled at the door.  
  
"Who is it?" Jericho called out as calmly as he could muster, already trying to plan where Stephanie could hide.  
  
"It's Kurt, can I come in?" Jericho and Stephanie both sighed in relief, relaxing once again.  
  
"Sure, come on in," Jericho said. Kurt came in and saw Jericho and Stephanie on the couch. His eyes widened, and he closed the door quickly. He turned back to the two of them, who both had wide smiles on their faces.  
  
"Are you guys crazy? You could be caught you know, and the whole plan would be ruined!" Kurt said in a panicked voice, sitting down on one of the chairs.  
  
"Kurt, Kurt, it's ok. The plan wasn't ruined, everything's ok," Jericho said trying to calm down Kurt.  
  
"Yeah Kurt, I was just trying to cheer Chris up after he lost," she said leaning her head on Jericho's shoulder.  
  
"That's why I came in here, just wanted to say I'm sorry you lost, it really sucks, you had that match won."  
  
"Yeah, I know, and it does suck, but well, you know life goes on, but congratulations on your match" he said, grasping Stephanie's hand in his. Stephanie grinned up at him. Jericho kissed her forehead as Kurt looked on with a big goofy grin.  
  
"You know, this is the first time I've actually seen you together."  
  
"This is the first time anyone's actually seen us together," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"You guys do make a cute couple."  
  
"We know," Jericho and Stephanie answered together. All three of them laughed.  
  
"Oh God, you guys are going to turn into one of those couples that end up dressing like each other," Kurt said cracking up.  
  
"Hey, we are not," Stephanie said defensively, "I'm not going to dress in any of the ridiculous get-ups he wears."  
  
"Hey!" Jericho said, pouting.  
  
"Aww, you know I love you anyway."  
  
"I guess I love you too," he said bending down to kiss her. Kurt averted his eyes.  
  
"Sorry Kurt," Stephanie giggled, noticing how Kurt was a little uncomfortable.  
  
"It's ok," he said sighing dramatically, "So what's going to happen with you tomorrow?"  
  
"I don't know, but it'll be good," Jericho said, thinking about Raw. 


	12. Smart Moves, August 26, 2002

Jericho was walking around backstage, getting his things together, and preparing to go back to the hotel. Stephanie had called and said that she had already booked a hotel room, and that she would be there when he got off. That way he could just drive to the hotel and not have to be bothered with checking in or anything.  
  
He had been ruthless tonight, not caring who or what he attacked. He wasn't really all that angry with his loss the night before, Kurt and Stephanie having cheered him up immensely. It did feel good to let out his frustrations though, even if it was on Jeff.  
  
He was walking down the hallway when he noticed Stacy walking down from the gorilla. He tried to walk away faster, so she wouldn't see him, but it was too late, he had been spotted. Stacy walked briskly over to him, even though he kept walking hoping that she got the point and left him alone.  
  
"Chris, Chris, wait up!" Stacy called out to him. Jericho kept on walking, pretending not to hear her. He could hear Stacy speed up her pace.  
  
"Chris wait," she said putting her hand on his shoulder. He sighed and turned around, trying to put a smile on his face.  
  
"Hey Stacy," he replied unenthusiastically. She smiled at him.  
  
"Did you see what just happened out there?" She asked him excitedly. Jericho rolled his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, it was great," he said trying to sound excited for her.  
  
"I thought so, I mean I really stuck it to Howard, it was great!"  
  
"Yeah, you're really tough."  
  
"I know, and I put some sting in that slap too."  
  
"Uh-huh," Jericho said bored out of his mind.  
  
"So do you like my outfit tonight?" Stacy said suggestively, taking a step back so he could get a better look at her. Jericho gave her the once over. It reminded him of the outfits Stephanie used to wear, but of course Stephanie managed to pull them off, while Stacy just couldn't.  
  
"Um, yeah, it's really.........nice," Jericho said for lack of a better word. He didn't think "slutty" would have been right for the situation.  
  
"Aww, you're so sweet," she said, wrapping her arms around him, and giving him a hug. Jericho stood there frozen, resisting the urge to peel her off of him and shoving her away. She pulled away, and all of a sudden shoved him against the wall. Jericho stood startled, looking at her in surprise.  
  
"Um Stacy?" he asked perplexed by her behavior.  
  
"So Chris when do I get my reward for showing you all that information?" She put one of her hands on the wall beside either side of his head.  
  
"Um, I haven't thought of a reward yet," he said ducking under her arms to get away from her. She moved to stand in front of him again, putting her hands on his chest. He stood there uncomfortably.  
  
"I can think of something," she said seductively. She looked like she was going to lean in and kiss him, and Jericho stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, they both heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Stephanie standing there looking angered.  
  
"Excuse us Stephanie, but we were in the middle of something," Stacy told her, annoyed that she had been interrupted.  
  
"Well, I hate to interrupt your little rendezvous," Stephanie sneered at them both, "But if you could keep your hands to yourself for five minutes Stacy, I want to see Bischoff."  
  
"Fine, whatever," she said, then she turned to Jericho, "I'll see YOU later," she finished, kissing him on the cheek before leaving to find Bischoff. Stephanie watched her walk away with daggers in her eyes. Stephanie turned to Jericho.  
  
"Jericho," Stephanie said with venom in her voice.  
  
"Stephanie," Jericho said bitingly, understanding what Stephanie was doing, "To what do I owe the displeasure?"  
  
"So I see you've decided to go for girls with no brains."  
  
"Too bad I'm not seeing you, you're the one with the least amount of brains," he said giving her a wink, "I think they dropped down to your.........enhancements."  
  
"Shut up Jericho! I'm glad that you left SmackDown, it gets you out of my hair," Stephanie snapped at him. They didn't know who could be filming them, or who could walk by and they didn't want anyone to find them out.  
  
"Oh, please, you know you miss me."  
  
"Yeah, just like I'd miss a hole in the head."  
  
"Well, it would be an improvement."  
  
"Ugh, I hate you Jericho!" she said shoving him. He grabbed her by the arms and steadied her, looking into her eyes.  
  
"Don't you ever try that again Princess," Jericho said trying to sound like he was threatening her. He pulled her close to his face, "And always remember that I hate you MORE."  
  
"See you at the hotel," she whispered, almost inaudibly.  
  
"Of course," he whispered back just as quiet. He let go of her and she took a step back glaring at him. They both wanted to start laughing hysterically, but they kept it bottled in. Stephanie walked away to go talk to Bischoff. She had a plan to execute.  
  
Back at the hotel  
  
Jericho stood waiting for the elevators when someone came up and stood next to him waiting for the elevators as well. He looked over and was surprised to find Stephanie standing next to him. She looked over at him and smiled.  
  
He thought that she would have already gotten back, but he guessed her meeting with Brock and Heyman had run long. The door dinged and they got into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed they broke out in contagious laughter, as Jericho went over and wrapped an arm affectionately around Stephanie.  
  
"I wish you could've seen your face when Stacy was coming on to you," Stephanie said laughing at him.  
  
"I wish YOU could've seen your face when you walked up to Stacy coming on to me."  
  
"Well, she's a dirty slut, I'd have a good mind to rip her hair out," Stephanie said, anger flashing in her eyes.  
  
"Wow, vicious aren't you?"  
  
"You knew that before you became involved with me," she said laughing.  
  
"Yeah, it's just one of the reasons I love you," he said kissing her cheek. She grinned at him.  
  
"I hated having to see her kiss you," Stephanie said pouting.  
  
"You know I didn't want or like that right," he said turning to her. She looked up at him, and kissed him thoroughly on the mouth.  
  
"Of course I do, I know you love me," she said caressing his cheek, "And besides the look on your face pretty much cemented the fact that you hated her. It was the same look HHH had when he was like, 'Don't hurt my dog', it was pure anger or something." Jericho laughed at her expression. (A/N: Shout out to Karla ;) )  
  
The elevator opened on their floor and they got out again, looking both ways to make sure there was no one coming so they could walk together. There wasn't, so they made their way down to their room, and entered quickly.  
  
"Good, I'm glad. Now, let's talk about a little comment you made about peaches. Bischoff better not ever know what your peaches taste like," he said giving her a look.  
  
"No, he'll never know, you can believe that," Stephanie said determinedly, "But I think another thank you is in order."  
  
"Thank you? For what?" Jericho asked baffled.  
  
"If you hadn't gotten the information from Stacy, I would have never known what Bischoff's next move would be. So I got to outsmart him and make a move on bringing him down. Now he can't have the Undisputed title. And I have you to thank," she said lacing her arms around his neck.  
  
"Well, you're welcome, I guess," Jericho told her, "Even though this means I can't win the title."  
  
"Don't worry, once this is over, I'll make sure you get a title shot, it's just one of the perks when you date the boss's daughter."  
  
"And dating you just gets better and better," he said smirking at her, "So do I get a reward for getting you the information?"  
  
"What did you have in mind?" She asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"I think you know."  
  
"Well I guess it's time for me to pay up," she said giggling. 


	13. Unwanted Surprises, August 29, 2002

Stephanie fumed as Matt Hardy left her dressing room. How dare he just barge into her office and start demanding things left and right? She was the boss, and her employees should recognize that fact.  
  
She had been trying to cement a business deal that would really put her in front of Bischoff. She hoped her secret acquisition wouldn't hold it against her that she had been cut-off from him. She got up and decided to get some fresh air.  
  
She was walking down the long corridors, trying to walk off her anger. She tried thinking of happy things to make her feel better. Jericho's laugh, and how he made her smile when she was down. As she thought about Jericho her mood became lighter, and she could almost forget the annoyance she had felt just minutes before.  
  
Edge saw her, and couldn't help but smile. He really liked her, and now that she was divorced and single, he really wanted to ask her out. Sure, she had turned her down last week, but he was sure that he could wear her down. He had always thought that she had been interested in Jericho, but once he had left he was sure she hated him, and he finally saw an opening.  
  
"Stephanie, hey," he said as he watched her walk past him. She turned around and smiled.  
  
"Hey Edge."  
  
"I'm sorry about Matt Hardy hanging up that phone call you were making."  
  
"Why? Did you tell him to do that?" she asked him laughing. He laughed as well, and couldn't help but love listening to her laugh.  
  
"No, Matt and I, well I guess we're kind of friends, but there's so much bad blood between us, I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye."  
  
"I understand. I was just angry that he hung up on the person I was talking to."  
  
"Who were you talking to?" he asked curious.  
  
"Someone who I want to sign to SmackDown," she told him, not being specific, not wanting to give away her secret.  
  
"I see, and it's supposed to be a secret." She nodded at him.  
  
"Yeah, it's better that way if you want to make an impact."  
  
"Well, I was just going to come find you and see if you were ok, but you seem fine now."  
  
"Yeah, I just needed to walk it off."  
  
"So have you thought anymore about what I thought about last week?"  
  
"What?" she asked confused.  
  
"Going out with me, am I any closer to getting you to say yes?" he threw her a grin. Stephanie sighed as she thought about going out with him. She couldn't tell him the truth, but she had to tell him something to get him off of her back.  
  
"Edge, I told you last week that I really want to be on my own right now. It's been so long since I've been alone without following a guy around. I really just want to be alone. I hope you understand."  
  
"Of course, I just really like you, and was hoping we could go out," he looked at her almost pouting. Stephanie felt bad, but not bad enough to accept his invitation. Besides she had Jericho, and she loved him very much.  
  
"Well, I'm flattered, really I am," she said smiling genuinely at him. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. Stephanie froze, unable to move. He lingered on her cheek for a moment, and Stephanie pulled away. Edge looked up at her.  
  
"Edge, please don't ever do that again," she said walking away quickly without saying goodbye.  
  
Kurt came around the corner, having seen what had just happened, and walked up to Edge. He tapped the man on the shoulder, and Edge turned around, looking into Kurt's angry eyes.  
  
"What do you want Angle?" he asked, irritated. Stephanie heard them from down the hallway and turned around to see what was going on.  
  
"I saw you kiss Stephanie, and it didn't look like she wanted you to do that."  
  
"What's it to you dork?"  
  
"Stephanie is my friend, and I watch out for my friends" he said defensively. He also thought about how Jericho was his friend, and he wasn't going to let Edge get away with kissing his friend's girlfriend.  
  
"I was just being friendly."  
  
"She said she wanted to be alone, and you disrespected that."  
  
"Fine, whatever Kurt, I'm sorry I did, will that make you happy?"  
  
"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Kurt said before Edge walked the other way. Stephanie was still standing there, having witnessed the whole encounter. She walked back towards Kurt. She was thankful she had someone like Kurt on her side, he had always been the first one to defend her, even before HHH.  
  
"Thanks Kurt," she said gratefully. Kurt turned towards her, not having noticed she was there the whole time watching.  
  
"Just glad I could help Steph, it seems like Bischoff isn't the only one who's after you."  
  
"No, I guess not, but I think they're both after me in different ways," she smirked at him. Kurt shook his head at her laughing.  
  
"Yeah, although I think a certain someone isn't going to be pleased with what just happened."  
  
"No, but I have my ways of calming said someone down," her smirk became a suggestive grin.  
  
"Well that's more than I ever needed to know," he chuckled.  
  
"Oh, before I forget, Kurt you're in the #1 contender series tonight. You're going to be in the last match."  
  
"Really?" he asked grinning widely.  
  
"Of course, you're one of the best there is, how could you not be in the contest? I'd be a really big idiot not to put you in."  
  
"Well, thank you Stephanie," he said hugging her. She returned the hug.  
  
"You're welcome Kurt, and thank you too."  
  
"Just doing my job."  
  
Later in the show  
  
Stephanie stared down at the contracts that had just been signed by her new acquisition. A broad smile crossed her face. She was pleased with her handiwork, it was another stake into the heart of Eric Bischoff. Dawn Marie signaled that Eric was on the phone, and she took it from her.  
  
"Hello Bischoff," she said.  
  
"What do you want Stephanie?" She could almost see the sneer he had on his face.  
  
"Just wanted to tell you to that you might want to tune in to SmackDown. There's a little surprise I want you to see," she said smugly, before hanging up on him. Then she smiled. She couldn't wait to tell Jericho. Hopefully that would soften the blow when she told him about her little encounter with Edge.  
  
She prepared herself to go onto the ramp and tell the world of just one more way that she was better than Bischoff.  
  
Later  
  
Stephanie walked happily down the hallway of the hotel that she was staying at. She was legitimately glad by the show tonight. The crowd had been really hot for Undertaker's appearance, and despite the fact that she had wanted Kurt to win, she was still glad by the outcome.  
  
She opened the door to her hotel suite and noticed most of the lights were off except for a small desk lamp. She looked around wondering where Jericho was. She put her things down on the couch, and heard the television on in the bedroom. She walked in the bedroom, ready to tell Jericho everything.  
  
"Chris—"she started, when she noticed that he was asleep on the bed.  
  
He was laying on top of the covers, facing the wall. He had obviously fallen asleep watching television since it was still on. There was soft light coming from the partially open bathroom door, gently illuminating him. She walked over to the television, and she turned it off walking to the side of the bed he was laying on.  
  
She couldn't help but notice how cute he looked while he was sleeping. Usually she was the first one to fall asleep, so she never got to see him sleeping. He really was adorable. She kneeled by the side of the bed, and tucked a stray strand of hair out of his face. He stirred and opened his eyes.  
  
"Hey," she whispered. He moved to sit up, "No, don't get up."  
  
"Hey, how was the show, I fell asleep."  
  
"I'm not sure that's a good thing if you fall asleep during my show," she said laughing softly, "It was a great show though, Undertaker did sign."  
  
"He did, that's good," he said smiling gently as he grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I'm glad you got him to sign."  
  
"Me too." Jericho noticed she seemed to be uncomfortable kneeling on the ground, and he scooted over on the bed and patted the spot next to him.  
  
"Come here," he told her. She happily obliged and climbed into the bed next to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and she lay her head on his shoulder, "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"  
  
"No, but thank you," Stephanie paused, "Chris, there's something that I need to tell you."  
  
"Hmm, this sounds important," he said looking down on her.  
  
"It is."  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned. She turned her head and put her hand on his cheek.  
  
"You have to promise not to fly off the handle Chris." Jericho thought for a second, and then nodded slightly, "Ok, well, Edge kissed me tonight."  
  
Jericho eyes shot open, and he sat up quickly. He looked down at her in shock, mixed with a wild fury.  
  
"WHAT!?!" He said practically yelling. Stephanie grabbed his shoulder and brought him back down to the bed.  
  
"Chris, you promised," Jericho relaxed a little, "He didn't kiss me on the mouth or anything. He just kissed me on the cheek, but I felt that I had to tell you, no secrets and all that."  
  
"Well, I'm glad you did," he kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around him. She was glad that he didn't seem too upset. "I will be forced to kill him if I ever get him in the ring."  
  
She lay back next to him, and cuddled close to him. He stroked her hair, and she sighed softly in content. He kissed her forehead, and she smiled softly.  
  
"Just don't hurt him too much."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"I love how you get jealous over me."  
  
"Well, I have to stay on my toes, don't want to lose you to the next Joe that comes around."  
  
"You'll never lose me," she said leaning up to kiss his chin, "Besides I don't know any Joes." He laughed at her.  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I know.........Kurt came to my rescue again"  
  
"That man deserves an award or something."  
  
"I think he's good with just the medals," she said giggling quietly.  
  
"So what do you think Bischoff's next move will be?"  
  
"Probably try to get back at me by making a new belt or something, but let's not think about that now." She closed her eyes and snuggled up to Jericho.  
  
"Whatever you say," he said, closing his own eyes, as they both drifted to sleep. 


	14. I Really Hate That Guy, September 2, 200...

Jericho walked up the ramp, pissed by the situation he had found himself in. Of all people that he had to team up, it had to be HIM. They could have put him with anybody else, and he would have been fine. But of course not, he had the worst luck.  
  
He had been pretty psyched for his Intercontinental title match. He knew that he could have good matches with RVD. But that was scrapped because that idiot Crippled H wanted another match. God, couldn't the guy step out of the spotlight for two seconds? Jericho couldn't help but feel distaste for that prima donna.  
  
"Hey Jericho!" Jericho heard HHH call out behind him. He turned to the other man.  
  
"What the hell do you want?"  
  
"Thanks for watching my ass out there," HHH said sarcastically.  
  
"In case you didn't notice since you were getting your ass royally whooped, I was kind of occupied on the outside," Jericho shot back, annoyed.  
  
"That's not an excuse asshole, I shouldn't have been pinned, not by that twit Rob Van Dam."  
  
"Well, excuse me Mr. World Champion—"  
  
"Damn right I'm world champion," HHH said, patting the belt that hung from his shoulder.  
  
"Oh, and you really earned that title didn't you, man it must have been hard walking down the ramp to accept it, I pity you," Jericho spat out.  
  
"Jealous aren't we Jericho? You can't stand that I'm the champ, and you're nothing."  
  
"Shut up jackass, I've done more than you have to deserve that title, not that I'd want it, it means nothing anyway."  
  
"You know what kills you about me Jericho?" HHH said leaning close.  
  
"Oh, is it already time for me to be enlightened by the all-powerful Hunter Hearst Helmsley?" Jericho rolled his eyes in boredom.  
  
"You're damn right it is."  
  
"So tell me and get it over with, I've got places I need to be."  
  
"You hate that I've had everything you've ever wanted. That's why you hate me."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jericho asked skeptically. What could HHH possibly have that he would really want? The title didn't mean all that much to him.  
  
"A couple things Jericho. First of all, you hate that I have the title—"  
  
"I don't give a shit about the title asshole, it means nothing anyway. You got it handed to you." HHH ignored the comment and proceeded.  
  
"Second, you hate that I had Stephanie," HHH smirked at him.  
  
"Ok, now I know you're crazy, what do you mean by that?"  
  
"You think I didn't see it when Stephanie and I were married, you think I was blind Jericho, huh? It was never Kurt I had to worry about, it was always you."  
  
"Care to explain?" Jericho replied, if only HHH knew the truth. And when this plan was over, he would be sure to invest in a camera so he could get a picture of HHH's face when he learned the truth. It would serve the bastard right.  
  
"You've always wanted Stephanie, and it killed you that I had her."  
  
"I've never wanted Stephanie," Jericho tried to sound as convincing as possible.  
  
"Like hell you haven't. You kissed her.........twice. You wanted her, but she never wanted you because she had me," HHH's smirk turned into an evil grin.  
  
"Yeah, and look how that ended up."  
  
"Well, if she wasn't a manipulative bitch, hell I'd still be married to her."  
  
"Thank god that she came to her senses and realized you only married her for the power, not because you loved her."  
  
"Oh, and you just jumped at the opportunity to be with her once I was out of the picture, didn't you? But look how that ended up, is that why you left SmackDown Jericho?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You couldn't stand that she hated you," Jericho looked confused for a moment, and HHH picked up on it, "She didn't want anything to do with you, that's why she didn't hug you, and you probably saw her getting all buddy- buddy with Edge, and you couldn't take it, so you ran away."  
  
At the mention of Edge, Jericho clenched his fists. He was still angry about what had happened last week with Edge and Stephanie. He wanted nothing more at this moment than to bash HHH and Edge's heads together. That way he could kill two jackasses with one stone.  
  
"I couldn't stand her that's why I left, I can't stand her now. I've never liked Stephanie McMahon a day in my life."  
  
"And that's why you were basically her bitch right?"  
  
"Well, at least I wasn't her personal bitch for two years, how'd you get suckered into that one?"  
  
"Boys, boys, boys," another voice sounded. They both turned to Eric Bischoff, "There's no need to fight."  
  
"Go away Bischoff," Jericho said angrily, he wanted to rip into HHH some more. It made him feel so much better.  
  
"I just wanted to say how very sorry I was about you two losing, and I'd like to make it up to you both," Bischoff said as sincerely as he could, which wasn't very sincere at all.  
  
"How?" HHH spoke up.  
  
"You'll see guys, you'll see," he said walking away laughing. Jericho turned back to HHH.  
  
"I'm outta here, bye you Cerebral Ass," with that Jericho left HHH behind. He had better things to be doing.  
  
At the hotel  
  
Jericho walked into his room, still pissed about his little encounter with HHH. He seriously hated that man. If anyone deserved to be put in his place it was HHH. He had been the real thorn in Jericho's side since he started.  
  
He saw Stephanie lying on the couch, her knees drawn up, and looking at some papers. Her back was to him, so she didn't notice him walk in. She also had headphones on, and was listening to a CD, and singing along.  
  
"And who am I.........to kill a stranger.........Darkness has engulfed all the light in my life," Stephanie sang to herself. Jericho started laughing when he realized she was listening to his CD. He snuck up behind her, and took the headphones off.  
  
"Enjoying the CD?" he whispered into her ear. Stephanie jumped and turned around. She caught sight of Jericho laughing at her and she turned a little bit red.  
  
"Immensely. I love listening to you." He came and sat next to her.  
  
"So see the show?"  
  
"Yes," Stephanie tried to hold in a laugh. Jericho noticed and raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"And just what exactly is so funny?"  
  
"Nothing," Stephanie said stifling her laugh. Jericho grabbed her by the waist and started tickling her. Stephanie couldn't hold it in, and started cracking up.  
  
"C'mon Stephy, tell me."  
  
"Fine, fine," Stephanie let out. Jericho stopped tickling her, "It's just funny seeing you and Hunter team up is all. You guys like actually worked together."  
  
"Yeah, doesn't mean I liked it," Jericho muttered. Stephanie sighed and looked at him.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"We just had an argument after the match. I really hate that guy."  
  
"Join the club," Stephanie said, laying her head on his shoulder. Jericho pulled her closer, "What did he do this time?"  
  
"Oh, basically blamed me for losing the match, saying I was jealous of him........."  
  
"Jealous, of what, that he has that stupid belt?"  
  
"That, and the fact that he had you, when I wanted you." Stephanie looked up at him.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"He thought that I was jealous that he had you, and I never would. Said that was why I left SmackDown, because you hated me, and I hated you were getting friendly with Edge."  
  
"Well, little does he know," Stephanie snorted.  
  
"You aren't getting friendly with Edge are you?" Jericho said seriously.  
  
He couldn't help but worry about the whole Edge situation. He knew that Stephanie loved him, but could she be persuaded by the other blonde man? He and Stephanie had this intensely secret relationship, and he knew that if she were with Edge then she wouldn't have to hide it. Maybe she wanted something like that, and would leave him for a relationship she didn't have to hide.  
  
Stephanie noticed how he seemed to have drifted off. His face looked kind of sad, and she hated the fact that it was because of her. She turned to him. His gaze dropped down.  
  
"Chris," she said, he didn't look at her, "Chris, look at me," she told him, grabbing his chin and turning his face towards hers.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"There is no one for me, but you. I DO NOT want to be with Edge. Do you hear me? I DO NOT want to be with him. I don't even really like him all that much. It might be the teeth, they're kind of scary," Jericho smiled slightly, Stephanie noticed and smiled softly at him, "I know what you're thinking, you're thinking I might be tempted by the thought of having a relationship that I don't have to hide, but I don't care if no one knows about us. I love you, you know that, I know that, and we're the only ones who count."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"I know you do.........so don't listen to what Hunter says, he's an asshole anyway," Stephanie kissed him on the cheek.  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Good."  
  
"You make a very convincing argument Ms. McMahon."  
  
"It's the genes."  
  
"So Crash?"  
  
"Oh, don't even ask me about that one. He just wanted to come over, and well, it's family I had to."  
  
"I see."  
  
Stephanie noticed that he still seemed a little bit off. She stood up and stuck her hand out for Jericho to grab. Jericho looked at her hand confused. He looked up at her. She grinned at him.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Come on," she said grabbing his hand and pulling him off the couch.  
  
"Again.........what are you doing?"  
  
"I just want to show you how much I love you."  
  
"You're too much Stephy, have I ever told you that?" Jericho said shaking his head.  
  
"Yeah, but what would you do without me?" She said giggling.  
  
"Be miserable."  
  
"Then you're lucky you have me."  
  
"I am," Jericho said letting her pull him along, "I am," he whispered to himself as he looked at her. 


	15. Surprise Visits, September 5, 2002

Stephanie walked briskly down the hallway. The face-to-face meeting had been pretty intense to say the least. Of course, that was how she had wanted it. Why else would she have held it in a dark room, with one light and one table? She had expected it to get out of hand, but not in the way it had.  
  
So Undertaker's wife was pregnant. Stephanie couldn't help but be a little bit jealous. She had faked being pregnant earlier that year, and she be lying if she said she really wanted to lie about it. She had wanted to get pregnant, but not because she was just trying to hold on to Hunter. That would be for all the wrong reasons, and she didn't want to bring a child into the world if it was only to save a marriage.  
  
Stephanie sighed to herself and saw Kurt walking down the hallway. He saw her and smiled, walking over. She stopped walking and waited for him to catch up to her.  
  
"Hey Stephanie," Kurt said cheerfully.  
  
"Hi Kurt, what's up?"  
  
"Oh, nothing much, I was just going to go to the locker room and meet up with Eddy and Benoit before the match."  
  
"Oh I see, good luck in the match, don't get the stink face," Stephanie smirked at him.  
  
"Bleh, those are the worst," Kurt laughed out loud.  
  
"Trust me, I know," Stephanie thought back to when she had received one, and shuddered at the thought.  
  
"Yeah, I'm still a little mad at Benoit though."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, after last week, I should be the number one contender, not Undertaker. I was robbed," Kurt said glumly.  
  
"I'm sorry Kurt, I really did want you to win."  
  
"I know, oh well, there's always next time," Kurt shrugged.  
  
"Yeah," Stephanie replied nodding.  
  
"Well, I've got to go, but tell you know who I said 'hello,'" Kurt said as he began to walk off towards the dressing room.  
  
"Will do," Stephanie called out.  
  
She resumed walking down the hallway, not paying much attention to any of the wrestlers, or other crew. She had papers she needed take care of. She had to file Crash's new contract, and make sure the match was properly set- up for the Undertaker/Lesnar match for Unforgiven. She didn't want Bischoff to somehow find a loophole, and try to meddle in any of her matches.  
  
As she was thinking about all she had to do, she hadn't realized that someone had come up to her and was now practically right beside her. Edge cleared his throat, and Stephanie, startled, looked at him with big eyes.  
  
"Sorry Stephanie, I didn't mean to scare you."  
  
"It's all right," Stephanie said a little bit impatiently. Edge wasn't on her favorites list right now, not after what had happened last week, and how that had made Jericho feel.  
  
"Stephanie, I just wanted to—"  
  
"Edge, I'm really busy right now, and I've got things to do, maybe we can talk some other time," Stephanie interrupted. She was growing rapidly annoyed by him, and just wanted to leave.  
  
"Sure," Edge said, as Stephanie walked away. He stood staring at her walk off. This didn't deter him; he was going to eventually get her out on a date. It was just a matter of wearing her down.  
  
Later that evening  
  
Stephanie walked into the hotel room, and did a quick scan before she saw Jericho sitting outside on the balcony, staring out. That was one of their favorite things to do, just sit on their balcony and take in the city around them. Most of the time they had beautiful views of the scenery and they just liked to enjoy them together.  
  
She set her things down on the table in the room, and proceeded to walk out on the balcony. Jericho had his feet up on the railing, staring out into the inky blackness of the night sky. Many dots of light of different buildings and streetlights could be seen below them, and they blotted out the stars in the sky, almost as if they were replacing them.  
  
"Nice night isn't it?" Jericho asked, not turning around, sensing her presence.  
  
"How'd you know I was here?" She asked from the sliding door.  
  
"I always know when you're around me," he told her, turning around to look at her. She smiled and walked over to him.  
  
"Is there any room on there for me?" She asked gesturing to his lap.  
  
"Always," he said, putting his feet down from the railing, and letting her sit on his lap. He kissed her before turning to look out at the city again.  
  
"I love watching the city at night," Stephanie said quietly, as she rested her head on top of his.  
  
"I know, it's oddly peaceful," he whispered.  
  
"I assume you caught the show."  
  
"Your assumption is correct. Interesting show you had there."  
  
"You're telling me," she said laughing softly. He laughed with her. She stopped, and paused before speaking next.  
  
"Sweetie, can I ask you something?" she asked thoughtfully.  
  
"Of course you can Stephy. Shoot."  
  
"Do you ever think about marriage?" she asked him seriously.  
  
It wasn't that she wanted to get married right now or anything. She was only recently divorced after all. She just wanted to know his opinions on the subject. After tonight's show, she couldn't help but have marriage on the mind.  
  
"Marriage in general, or marriage to you?" Stephanie thought for a moment before answering.  
  
"Both, I suppose."  
  
"Yeah, every once in a while. I like to think that maybe someday I'll get married. It's a nice thought, you know, having a home and kids, and sharing all of that with someone else."  
  
"Am I that someone else that you think about?" she asked pulling away to look into his eyes for a moment.  
  
"Well, yeah, of course, you are my girlfriend, and the woman I love," he said, as he leaned up to kiss her. She smiled, as they broke apart.  
  
"I think about it too," she said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Well, I mean, I don't think we're ready for all that yet, but someday, yeah, I want to get married again. And have kids, the whole deal."  
  
"So you do want kids?"  
  
"Yeah, don't you?" She asked curiously.  
  
"Yes, I do. I just wasn't sure you did, you know the whole lying thing........." his voice trailed off.  
  
"I only lied to save the relationship, I don't even think I was ready for a child then."  
  
"And you are now?"  
  
"I wouldn't be adverse to the idea," she said truthfully.  
  
"Me neither," he said honestly, "But we have plenty of time for all of that, we don't need to rush."  
  
"Yeah," she agreed.  
  
"What brought on all this marriage talk anyway?"  
  
"What else? The whole Billy and Chuck thing tonight, and then with Jamie Noble and Nidia, and then with Undertaker, and his wife Sara. I couldn't help but think about it," she laughed out.  
  
Before Jericho could respond, a knock sounded at their door, and Stephanie and Jericho's heads both turned towards the door. They didn't know who would come and see them, especially at this time of night.  
  
"It's probably Kurt or something," Stephanie said, turning to look at Jericho.  
  
"Maybe, you should check to make sure though."  
  
"Ok."  
  
They both got up and walked towards the door, Jericho hanging back a little. Stephanie went up to the door and looked through the peephole. She gasped when she saw who was out there. She pulled back and looked at Jericho with wide eyes.  
  
"Oh my God, it's Edge," she whispered so Edge wouldn't be able to hear outside.  
  
"What the hell is he doing here?" Jericho whispered angrily, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"I don't know.........but you have to hide," Stephanie whispered frantically, searching for somewhere Jericho could hide.  
  
"Baby, calm down, I'll just go into the bathroom," Jericho said laughing softly at the panicked look in her eyes.  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said relieved.  
  
Jericho went into the bathroom, and partially closed the door. He left it open a bit so he could see what was going on outside. Stephanie looked at him one more time then turned to open the door. She opened it to see a grinning Edge on the other side. No matter how many times she saw that smile, she couldn't help but want to break out the sunglasses.  
  
"Edge, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Hey Steph, I was just bored and wanted to see if you wanted to hang out for a while, maybe go down to the bar?"  
  
"Um, thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Stephanie said politely, trying to get rid of him as soon as possible. She knew that Jericho was very pissed at Edge for the whole kissing thing, and she didn't want him to reveal himself.  
  
"Aww, come on, why not? It doesn't look like you're busy doing anything," Edge gave her a puppy-dog look. Stephanie fought the urge to roll her eyes at his pathetic look. Jericho, however, was free to roll his eyes, which he did.........twice, for good measure.  
  
"Actually I am, and I was just about to go to bed," Stephanie said quickly, faking a yawn. Jericho held back a laugh from the bathroom.  
  
"Well, can't I just hang out for a little while?" Edge said, trying to worm his way into the room.  
  
"NO!" Stephanie said loudly. Edge took a step back, startled. "Oops, sorry, it's just I really want to turn in as early as possible tonight, and.........maybe some other time."  
  
"Um, yeah, ok," Edge said a little confused by her outburst. He turned to walk away, and Stephanie closed the door, before Jericho came out of the bathroom, laughing.  
  
"Nice way to cover-up," he said fake yawning, then laughing.  
  
"Shut up, I couldn't think of anything else to say or do," she scowled at him, "And would you have wanted him to come in here, and you would have to stay in the bathroom the whole time?"  
  
"Ok, you've got a point."  
  
"I always have a point."  
  
"God, does that guy ever give up?"  
  
"So far.........no."  
  
"You'd think he'd get the point already," Jericho said annoyed, a frown on his face. Stephanie leaned up and kissed his frown away.  
  
Outside  
  
Edge walked confused to the elevator. Stephanie had seemed a little jumpy when he was talking to her. Why would she be jumpy? And why had he struck out again? It wasn't like him to get turned down so much.  
  
Something was up, and he wanted to find out what. 


	16. Hard Day's Night, September 9, 2002

A/N: If this chapter really sucks, I'm sorry, I'm in a cold medicine induced haze, because I have a horrible cold. :)  
  
Stacy walked down the corridor purposefully. She noticed a mirror off to the side, and she stopped for a moment to check herself out. She had picked this outfit special, and it showed every one of her curves. Chris Jericho wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off her in this outfit.  
  
She was determined to get him all to herself tonight. She had been after him for a while, but that bitch, Stephanie McMahon, had always preoccupied him. Well, now he was all alone on Raw, and she wanted him all to herself. She knew that he wouldn't be able to resist her in this outfit.  
  
She ran a hand through her hair, then continued walking down the hallway in search of Jericho's dressing room. She had just caught his interview, and she knew that she could get him if she just played up to that ego of his. This was going to be too easy, she thought as she giggled softly to herself.  
  
Stacy reached his door, and smoothed down her outfit as she prepared to knock on his door. She raised her hand to knock, when the door opened and Jericho appeared before her. He looked surprised to see her there, and she noticed that he had a cell phone up to his ear. She smiled seductively at him, and he closed the door in her face. She stood surprised for a moment.  
  
"Hey baby, there's a skank at my door, so I'm going to have to go," Jericho told Stephanie over the phone.  
  
"Oh, is SHE there?" Stephanie asked, rolling her eyes, even though she knew that Jericho couldn't see.  
  
"Yeah, but I'll see you later, ok?"  
  
"Yeah, ok, and don't do anything that I'll kill you over later," Stephanie joked.  
  
"Funny Stephy, funny."  
  
"I love you."  
  
"Love you too," he said before he hung up.  
  
He really didn't want to talk to Stacy, he really couldn't stand her. And ever since she had shown him the information Bischoff had, she had been trying to get into his pants all the time. She was like a pathetic little puppy always following him, looking for attention. It almost made him pity her. ALMOST.  
  
Jericho sighed, and went over to the door. He had to prepare himself for some mind-numbing conversation. The things he went through to help Stephanie. Luckily he loved her enough to put up with stuff like this. He opened the door, and Stacy's smile brightened.  
  
"Hey Chris," she said brightly.  
  
"Stacy," Jericho said nodding in response.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you how funny you were earlier," she said giggling.  
  
"What do you mean?" Jericho asked blandly.  
  
"With the apple, and the spitting, it was just so funny," she said, trying to sound flirty, "Terri deserved it."  
  
"Yeah, you know me, such a joker," he said mildly.  
  
"You are," she said giggling again, "And I'm going to kick her ass later, when I'm in the tag match."  
  
"Good for you."  
  
"It is isn't it?" she said coyly. Jericho couldn't believe how blatant she was trying to flirt with him. She was so obvious, it was sickening.  
  
"Um, yeah," he said for lack of anything better to say.  
  
"So, how do you like my outfit?" she asked, giving him a little twirl.  
  
When she wasn't looking Jericho rolled his eyes. If her shorts were any shorter, her ass would be falling out of them. Well, more so than it already was. It was disgusting really; did she actually think that this was going to sway him? He had Stephanie waiting for him at the hotel, and she looked twenty times better than Stacy, even if she was wearing a sweatshirt and sweat pants. There was no way he would want someone like Stacy, when he had someone like Stephanie. It would just be trading down.  
  
"Where did you get the shorts, Gap Kids?" Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh, you're so silly, I had the outfit specially made for me," Stacy said, not picking up on his sarcasm, thinking he was joking with her, "It shows off all my best features, don't you think?"  
  
"If that's the look you were going for than you sure succeeded."  
  
"I wore it just for you," Stacy said, moving a little bit closer to him.  
  
"Well, you shouldn't have."  
  
"Aww, but don't you like it?" she said pouting.  
  
"Maybe if you were actually clothed, I wouldn't mind."  
  
"How about if I were unclothed?" she asked suggestively.  
  
"Um, what would the difference be from what you are now?" Jericho said indifferently.  
  
"Jericho, why don't you want me?"  
  
"Because I have taste," he said before walking away, leaving Stacy behind.  
  
Stacy scowled, and vowed that somehow she would get Chris Jericho. She just had to try a little harder. He would be hers, she was sure of it. Now to think of a way to get him.  
  
Later that evening  
  
Jericho walked into the hotel room, as he did every Monday night after Raw, and just like every Monday night since he had debuted on Raw, Stephanie was in their hotel room waiting for him. It had become almost routine for them to travel together, he figured it was the closest thing to living together that they could get.  
  
Stephanie was sitting at the large round table in the room, looking over some documents for SmackDown. She had some things she had to iron out for the show. Jericho looked at her, in a tank top and pajama pants, her hair messily pulled up with a pencil stuck through it, and he thought she looked better in that moment, than Stacy could ever hope to be.  
  
"Hey gorgeous," he said to her. She looked up at him and smiled, before returning to her papers.  
  
"Gorgeous? And why am I getting such flattery tonight?" she asked not looking up, but Jericho could see the smile she had on her face.  
  
"Well, after looking at girls in trashy outfits all night, you look so spectacular just the way you are."  
  
"Gorgeous? Spectacular?.........Did you sleep with Stacy or something?" Stephanie looked up, and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What me?" he said feigning shock, "And I thought you trusted me. My heart is ripped to shreds, that you would think I could be unfaithful to you," he said over dramatically.  
  
"Oh, get over yourself," she said laughing.  
  
"So whatcha doing?" he asked her as he pulled up a seat and started skimming over some of the papers sitting on the table. She swatted his hand away.  
  
"Don't touch those," she said pretending to be mad.  
  
"Touchy tonight aren't we?"  
  
"I just have a lot of work, that's all."  
  
"I'm sorry," he said leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.  
  
"It's not your fault. It's Daddy's."  
  
"Well then damn him for making you work so hard." Stephanie laughed in response.  
  
"Nah, it gives me something to do. I would hate it if there was nothing for me to do when I'm waiting around for you to come back."  
  
"If only we could tell everyone," Jericho said seriously.  
  
"Yeah, but we can't.........yet, anyway. There are probably a few people we could tell."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"I guess, we could tell my family, and maybe a few select people.........like Stacy," Stephanie finished bitterly.  
  
"Or Edge," Jericho said, his own tone bitter.  
  
"Yeah, man we must be really desirable, all these people after us."  
  
"Luckily I got to you first."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean? You would be with Edge if he asked you first?" Jericho asked, very curious to find out her answer.  
  
"I'm not attracted to Edge, but if he asked me, I probably would have said 'yes'..."  
  
"WHAT?!?" Jericho asked, shocked by her answer, cutting her off in mid- sentence.  
  
"Would you let me finish sweetie?" Jericho nodded, "But the second you showed me any interest, I would have been all over you in two seconds flat."  
  
Jericho breathed a sigh of relief at her answer. Stephanie kissed him, then went back to her work. Jericho was just content to watch her work. He thought she was so beautiful when she was concentrating, biting her lip a little, and her brow furrowed.  
  
"Sorry about the match," she said, still working.  
  
"It's ok, I'm not too bothered by it, of course I'll play it up like I am, but I'd rather get Flair again, so I can beat him this time."  
  
"You will beat him next time."  
  
"Thanks for the boost in confidence."  
  
"No problem sweetie.........I can't believe what Bischoff tried to pull tonight."  
  
"Hmm?" Jericho brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear so she could see her work. She smiled at him, and then went back to the papers she was writing on.  
  
"HLA. I mean, it's not my fault Billy and Chuck are on my show, and they wanted to have the ceremony. I didn't plan it, and now Bischoff thinks he has to show me up with this HLA shit."  
  
"I know you didn't plan it."  
  
"You didn't like the HLA, did you?" she said looking up at him suspiciously.  
  
"Now why would I want HLA when I can have HSA," Jericho told her smirking.  
  
"HSA, what the hell is HSA?" Stephanie asked confused. Jericho leaned over and whispered in her ear.  
  
"Hot Stephanie Action," he whispered.  
  
"Oh shut up," Stephanie said giggling in embarrassment.  
  
"What, what did I say?"  
  
"Nothing sweetie.........nothing," she said shaking her head, before kissing him soundly on the mouth. 


	17. Attacks and Revelations, September 12, 2...

Jericho sat in his and Stephanie's hotel room, watching the commitment ceremony. He kept his gaze on Stephanie the whole time. She looked so beautiful tonight, in her tasteful pants suit. As he watched the ceremony, he let his mind wander, and he found himself thinking about what a wedding between Stephanie and him would be like.  
  
He was suddenly brought back to reality as he heard Stephanie's scream from the television. He turned towards it, and his eyes grew wide as he saw Bischoff holding a struggling Stephanie. He watched in horror as the Island Boyz decimated Billy and Chuck.  
  
He moved to the edge of couch, his eyes transfixed on the screen. Bischoff wouldn't try to actually hurt Stephanie would he? The man couldn't be that evil. He watched as Bischoff threw Stephanie towards Jamal, and watched in terror as they slammed her to the ground.  
  
He stood up, and watched as Edge, Mysterio, John Cena ran out to chase the Island Boyz away. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, and Jericho willed them to show Stephanie, he needed to see if she was alright. They cut back to her, and he saw as Kurt leaned over her, and checked to see if she was ok. He was grateful that Kurt was there.  
  
He looked pointedly at his car keys that lay on the desk. He wanted to go so badly. He had just watched his girlfriend attacked, and he couldn't go to her. It was agony trying to not go and see if she was ok. He looked at his car keys again. He made a decision, Stephanie was more important than any plan.  
  
He grabbed his car keys and went out the door.  
  
At the arena  
  
Jericho drove to the arena as fast as his car would take him. Luckily their hotel was only about seven minutes away from the arena, so he able to get there fairly quickly. He drove into the parking lot, and got out of his car quickly.  
  
He walked furtively into the arena, making sure there were no video cameras around. He walked into the arena, and walked around looking for Stephanie's office. Luckily he had been to the arena before or else he would have been lost in the labyrinth of corridors.  
  
At this point he was beyond caring if anyone saw him. He wanted to get to Stephanie as fast as humanly possible. She was his top priority, and he needed to get to her. Damn the plan, he didn't care about it at this moment. He would worry about revenge later.  
  
He was walking down one of the hallways when someone's voice called out to him.  
  
"Chris," Kurt whispered loudly, looking at the other man. Chris turned around and saw the Olympic gold medallist looking at him worriedly.  
  
"Kurt, I'm glad I found you."  
  
"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Why do you think I'm here Kurt, I'm here to see Stephanie."  
  
"But it's too dangerous."  
  
"I don't care," Jericho said determinedly.  
  
"But the plan?"  
  
"The plan doesn't matter, Stephanie is what matters."  
  
"She wouldn't want you here Chris, and you know it," Kurt said trying to reason with him.  
  
"Damn it Kurt, my girlfriend was attacked tonight, and you expect me to just sit in a hotel room and watch?" Jericho asked, his voice rising slightly.  
  
"I'm sorry, you're right."  
  
"Yeah, sorry I got pissed. I wanted to thank you for being the first guy to check up on Stephanie."  
  
"She's my friend, I'm sorry I didn't get out there sooner though so I could have stopped it from happening," Kurt said bitterly.  
  
"Hey, it's not your fault, you didn't know that it was Bischoff under the mask. He had a very good disguise."  
  
"Still I should have gotten out there when he was holding her back."  
  
"Kurt, don't beat yourself up about this.........now if you could please show me the fastest way to her dressing room, I would be very appreciative."  
  
"Sure," he said as he started to walk down the hallways. Jericho followed silently behind him.  
  
Meanwhile  
  
Stephanie was lying down on the couch, unconscious after the attack she had suffered at the hands of Bischoff and the Island Boyz. The trainer had already been in there and said that she was pretty much ok, though she was probably a little woozy, and would have to rest. She was unconscious because she had fainted in the ring.  
  
Edge came into the room silently and had stood watching as the trainer looked her over. He had been frightened for her when Bischoff had revealed himself, and stood watching in the back. He had waited to run out there, thinking that Bischoff wouldn't stoop so low as to actually harm Stephanie. He was very wrong.  
  
The trainer left, and suddenly he was alone with Stephanie. The trainer had informed him that she would wake up any time now. So, he went over and sat on the floor next to the couch she was currently laying on.  
  
He sat there looking at her for a few minutes, and he thought she was so beautiful, just lying there sleeping peacefully. He had vowed to make her his, and now more than ever, he just wanted to kiss her, and take all her problems away. She started to stir, and Edge kneeled beside her.  
  
She slowly opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. Her vision was blurry, and her head was spinning, making it almost unbearable for her to keep her eyes open. She looked up and saw someone with blonde hair kneeling over her. Her first thought was of Jericho, and she smiled hazily.  
  
"Chris," she whispered almost inaudibly.  
  
"What did you say?" Edge asked softly, brushing some hair out of her face.  
  
She looked up at him again, and her smile became just a little bit wider. Edge had been waiting for this moment. She was finally returning his feelings. Obviously she had known he was the first one to rush out when she had gotten injured.  
  
"Chris," she said softly but happily. Edge still had to strain to hear her, but just thought she was mumbling incoherently.  
  
Her eyes still weren't focused, but she really thought that Jericho was here, and he was watching over her. She reached up and ran a hand through his soft hair. She just let her fingers run through it. Edge stood there, stunned by her reaction to him. This was too good to be true.  
  
"I knew you'd be here," Stephanie said, even though her mind was still foggy, and the room still spinning.  
  
"Where else would I be?" Edge asked softly.  
  
"I thought you'd be at the hotel," she told him. Edge looked at her, confusion written plainly on his face.  
  
"The hotel? No, I had to be at the show tonight," he explained.  
  
"Are we at Raw?" she asked, her brow furrowing slightly. Jericho wasn't on SmackDown, he was on Raw.  
  
"Steph, we're at SmackDown."  
  
"But you can't be here Chris." Edge thought she was talking about Chris Benoit, and looked at her sympathetically.  
  
"Stephanie, it's Edge, I work here," Edge kept thinking that maybe she had a concussion and didn't know where she was.  
  
"But-but the plan?"  
  
"Shh, Steph, don't try to talk, just rest," Edge said, trying to quiet her down.  
  
"Ok, can you kiss me though before I go to sleep?" Stephanie said, still under the impression that she was talking to Jericho.  
  
"Ok," Edge said surprised by her request, but not wanting to pass up the opportunity, he started to lean in to her. She closed her eyes, a smile faintly on her lips.  
  
Suddenly the door opened wide, but Edge paid it no attention. He was too wrapped up with Stephanie, and whoever it was, they were just going to have to wait for him to finish.  
  
Jericho opened the door, and found Edge hovering over HIS girlfriend, looking like he was going to kiss her. His face went red with rage, and he went over and grabbed Edge by the shoulder, and turned him around abruptly.  
  
"Hey-"Edge said, as he was turned around, only to be met with Jericho's fist to his face.  
  
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Jericho asked angrily. Kurt quickly shut the door lest anyone hear what was going on.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Edge asked, irritated, holding his now bruising cheek.  
  
"I'm here to check up on Stephanie."  
  
"Why the hell would you be checking up on Stephanie, you're the asshole who left her show to go to Raw?" Edge said, pissed off too.  
  
"Why am I here? I'm here because I'm her boyfriend!" Edge's eyes grew wide with shock.  
  
"What the hell?" Edge asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, you heard me right fuck head, I'm her boyfriend, and you better have a fucking good reason for attempting to kiss her."  
  
All of a sudden, Stephanie woke up again, and looked around the room.  
  
"Stop yelling please," she told them, then she spotted Jericho, "Chris, you're here, I knew you'd be here."  
  
Jericho sent a dirty look over to Edge before going over to the couch. He sat next to Stephanie, as she scooted over as much as she could on the couch to make space for him. She took his hand and smiled up at him.  
  
"Of course, I'd be here, where else would I be?" he told her, as he gave her hand a squeeze.  
  
"But the plan?" Stephanie asked confused. Edge looked at her, and realized that she had thought he was Jericho all along. He frowned at the thought. She really didn't want him.  
  
"You're more important than the plan Stephy, I needed to make sure you were alright."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied softly, smiling down at her.  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too." She struggled to sit up, but Jericho tried to keep her down.  
  
"Baby, don't try to get up, you should be resting."  
  
"No, I'm better now, really, I want to sit up," she said looking him in the eye. Jericho knew that look, and let her sit up, albeit the fact that he wrapped his arms around her protectively.  
  
"Um, I hate to be the downer, but what plan, and how come you two are hiding your relationship?" Edge spoke up.  
  
"What's he doing here?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"He happened to be in here," Kurt interjected, not wanting Jericho to fly off the handle again.  
  
"Oh, ok," she said nodding, obviously having forgotten about what had happened minutes earlier. She looked to Jericho, having a silent conversation with him, deciding if they wanted to tell Edge what was going on. Jericho nodded, and turned to Edge.  
  
"Stephanie and I are a secret because we're trying to bring Bischoff down. I didn't really defect to Raw, I just went over as a spy," Chris explained.  
  
"How long have you two been together?"  
  
"Since I came back to be the GM," Stephanie supplied.  
  
"Really? Wow, you guys were sure good at hiding it," Edge said sheepishly, now embarrassed about how he had gone after Stephanie.  
  
"You're telling us," Jericho said, as he and Stephanie started laughing, and she leaned in to kiss him. Edge looked away quickly.  
  
"You get used to it after a while," Kurt whispered to him, "They're always like this."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Oh yeah, sometimes I want to turn the hose on them."  
  
"I heard that Angle," Jericho said as he broke away from Stephanie.  
  
"Heard what?" Kurt said innocently.  
  
"Watch out Kurt, Chris'll get you," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"So how does Kurt figure into all of this?"  
  
"I came in and caught Stephanie talking on the phone to Jericho, and she confessed what was happening. Then when Bischoff threatened Stephanie—"  
  
"Bischoff threatened her?" Edge asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, but Chris came to my rescue," Stephanie said, smiling at her boyfriend, before pressing a kiss to his cheek. He smiled softly at her, kissing her temple.  
  
"And then I kind of became Steph's bodyguard, at least while Chris isn't around," Kurt finished.  
  
"I see, man I want to apologize to you guys for acting the way I did, if I had known that she was taken—"  
  
"It's ok Edge," Stephanie interrupted, "Isn't it Chrissy?" she said giving him a pointed look.  
  
"Yeah, it's ok," Jericho said not wanting to get Stephanie's "evil" look, "Sorry I punched you."  
  
"It's ok. But there's one thing left to discuss."  
  
"What?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"How do I help you guys?" 


	18. Revenge is Sweet, September 16, 2002

"Excuse me ladies," Stephanie said under her disguise.  
  
She got up from the couch that she was sitting on, in the room that the women she had hired were sitting in. She and Jericho had planned a little payback for Bischoff after what had happened the other week. Edge and Kurt had helped as well, getting actresses and various other people to come in and pretend to strike.  
  
Stephanie left the room, looking both ways before she exited. She had Billy and Chuck waiting in a limo in the parking lot, waiting for their cue to come in. She figured she might find Jericho's locker room and see if she could talk to him.  
  
She was walking down the hallway with her head slightly ducked so no one would recognize her. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking where she was going and ran right into someone. She looked up hesitantly and saw that she was standing in front of Test.  
  
"Hey," Test said to her, "Watch where you're going."  
  
"Sorry," Stephanie said, her head still down, and making her voice different.  
  
"Who the hell are you?"  
  
"Um, I'm with the women's group," Stephanie said quietly.  
  
"Oh, you mean those chicks who had a problem with what happened last week?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You know what you need baby, you need to have a little Test. Cause once you have Test, you forget about the rest."  
  
"No thanks," Stephanie said a look of disgust passing over her face. Had she really almost married this guy? She almost wanted to thank God that HHH had drugged her and married her.  
  
"Aw, come on, don't you want a piece of this?" Test said gesturing towards himself.  
  
"Not really, no," she said before moving past him and walking down the hallway.  
  
She finally arrived at a door that said 'Chris Jericho' on it, and looked both ways. She saw there was no one in the immediate area, and knocked on the door. She heard a shuffling inside the room, before the door opened and Chris came into view.  
  
"Can I help you?" he asked, not recognizing her. Stephanie had stayed behind and gotten her disguise ready.  
  
"Um, hi," she said coyly, changing her voice, making herself have a southern accent. If Chris didn't know it was her, she might as well have a little fun.  
  
"Is there something you needed, an autograph or something?"  
  
"Well, I do need something, but an autograph wouldn't cover it," she said sweetly.  
  
"Um, I'm not sure what you mean?"  
  
"I think you do," she said suggestively. She noticed he was still drenched in champagne.  
  
"Um, no thanks," he said uncomfortably.  
  
"You look real nice, all sweaty and drenched in champagne," she said moving in closer. Jericho back away a little bit, "I could help you clean up."  
  
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm taken," Jericho told her firmly.  
  
"Doesn't matter," she said as she walked into the room and closed the door. Jericho got a panicked look on his face, and started looking around for the nearest exit.  
  
"Really, I'm taken, and I love my girlfriend." Stephanie smiled slightly at his words, glad that he wouldn't really cheat on her.  
  
"Aww, but I think you're so sexy," she said huskily, pinning him against the wall.  
  
"Um, yeah, I think you should leave."  
  
"Hmm, I don't think so," she said, leaning in to kiss his neck. She licked some of the champagne that was trickling down his neck. He moaned at the contact. She pulled back and licked her lips.  
  
"Tastes good," she whispered. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"So why don't you continue," he whispered back, grabbing her shoulders and pinning her against the wall.  
  
Stephanie looked in shock as she had her back to the wall. She couldn't believe Jericho would actually consider doing something with another woman, he had just said he loved her. Hadn't he said he was taken, but here he was ready to do God knows what.  
  
"Um..."Stephanie said, at a loss for words. Jericho leaned in and started kissing her neck, moving up to her ear. Stephanie was in too much shock to respond.  
  
"Don't you like that Stephy?" Jericho whispered into her ear, pulling away to look at her face. Stephanie's eyes widened in shock as she realized Jericho had known it was her.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" she said taking her wig and glasses off.  
  
"Um, I see you everyday, I think I know what your face looks like," Jericho said laughing, "And you're a bad actress."  
  
"So you knew it was me all along?" she asked pouting.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much," he said leaning in to kiss her.  
  
"Mmm, congratulations on your win," she told him as she pulled away.  
  
"Yeah, it's cool," he said looking at his belt.  
  
"I love how you're getting all buddy-buddy with Bischoff."  
  
"Hmm, oh that, better to get information from. Besides after last week, if it means I have to act nice to Bischoff I will, so you can get some ultimate revenge."  
  
"Well, tonight I'll get a small measure of revenge, when I kick him where it really hurts," Stephanie said smiling evilly.  
  
"So is everything set up?"  
  
"Pretty much, it's all going according to plan. Bischoff is so predictable. Which of course works to our advantage."  
  
"Yes, it does."  
  
"You do look all sexy drenched in champagne though."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Definitely," she said as she bent in and licked some off his neck, "Maybe we'll have to celebrate later," she finished raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Sounds like a plan."  
  
"But for now I have to go, I've got crotches to kick," she said smirking. Jericho laughed at her expression. Stephanie put her wig and glasses back on and left the room, blowing him a kiss before she left.  
  
Later  
  
"So are you going to accept?"  
  
"I don't think I have a choice?"  
  
"But what if you lose?"  
  
"I'm not going to lose."  
  
"Self confident aren't we?"  
  
"Even if I do lose, I'm not participating in HLA."  
  
"And how are you going to do that?"  
  
"We'll just have to wait and see won't we?" 


	19. Meetings, September 19, 2002

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, really they mean a lot. :)  
  
Stephanie walked backstage after cutting a promo with Billy and Chuck. She walked down the hallway, until she reached her dressing room and walked inside. She sat down, only to get up again when someone knocked on the door. She went to the door and opened it to find Kurt on the other side.  
  
"Hey Kurt, sorry about what happened out there," Stephanie said moving out of the way so he could walk into the room.  
  
"That's ok, I know you have to play the part."  
  
"Yeah, still doesn't mean I like it."  
  
"And why not? You get cheered. That's more than I can say for me or Jericho."  
  
"Yeah, but sometimes I hate being so nice all the time. I can't even be conniving anymore."  
  
"And what do you call the whole plan you have going?"  
  
"Ok, a little bit conniving," Stephanie relented.  
  
"That's what I thought. So that's cool Chris won the title on Raw, I called him on Tuesday to congratulate him."  
  
"Yeah, he told me, I had to go to Titan and meet with my dad. Chris and I had our own little celebration though," Stephanie said raising a suggestive eyebrow.  
  
"And I don't even want to know about."  
  
"Aww, poor Kurt."  
  
"I can already imagine ok, and don't even tell me it involved champagne."  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
"Ok, I'm leaving now," Kurt said covering his ears as he walked out, not hearing Stephanie's laughter.  
  
After the show  
  
Stephanie sat in her office, looking over documents for Unforgiven, making sure that everything was in order for Sunday. She looked over the contract for her own match, trying to make sure that Bischoff hadn't tried to put any weird clauses in it. She knew that Jericho was pretty pissed over it as it was, she didn't want anything else to happen that would make him fly off the handle.  
  
Jericho hadn't really wanted her to accept the challenge but she would be damned if she let Bischoff win. Jericho didn't understand the desire that she had to bring him down. She knew how much work her father had put in to bring WCW down when they were winning the ratings war, and she wanted to make her father proud now. She knew Bischoff wanted power and control, and she had to nip it in the bud.  
  
Stephanie was snapped out of her thoughts and work when someone knocked on her door. She put the files away in her bag, and went to open the door. She was greeted by Edge's smiling face. She still thought that smile was too big, but now that they were working together she didn't want to hurt his feelings, lest he give away the big secret.  
  
"Hey Edge," Stephanie said cheerfully.  
  
"Hey Steph."  
  
"How's your head?" Stephanie said, noticing the band-aid he had on his head.  
  
"Oh, it's ok."  
  
"Good. So what are you doing here so late?"  
  
"I'm here to make sure you get to your destination."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I got a call from a certain blonde, and he wanted me to escort you to where you're supposed to go."  
  
"Chris called you?" Stephanie asked, her brow furrowing.  
  
"Yeah. Apparently I'm going to be your driver for the evening."  
  
"But I came here in a limo."  
  
"Nah, I think the driver left," he said shaking his head.  
  
"But I didn't tell him to leave. Why would he leave?"  
  
"I dismissed him," Edge laughed.  
  
"Damn that Chris Jericho," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"Don't let him hear that." Stephanie gathered up her things and walked out the door.  
  
"It isn't something he hasn't heard before," she called behind her laughing.  
  
Stephanie and Edge got in the car, and started driving. Stephanie noticed they were going kind of out of the way, and she knew this wasn't the way to her hotel. She looked around for any recognizable signs, before turning her eyes to Edge.  
  
"Edge, um, where are we going?"  
  
"Oh, Chris didn't tell you?"  
  
"No, I haven't talked to him tonight."  
  
"Oh, we're just going out to dinner, but we had to find an out of the way place, cause you know the whole plan thing."  
  
"Oh, ok. And thanks for helping us. You didn't have to, I mean you could have turned us in. I just want to say thanks, I'm sure I speak for both me and Jericho."  
  
"It's no problem, I wanted to help."  
  
"Well, thanks anyway."  
  
Edge kept driving, before pulling into a parking lot. The restaurant was nice enough, it was out of the way at least. It had a modest set-up, but Stephanie knew they had no choice, in case they got caught.  
  
Stephanie and Edge walked in and looked around the restaurant. They spotted Kurt and Jericho talking in one of the back booths and they made their way over to them. Jericho looked up and saw her and smiled, waving them over.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Stephanie said as she slid into the booth next to him.  
  
"Hey baby," Jericho responded, giving her a quick peck on the lips. Edge sat next to Kurt.  
  
"So what's with the little meeting?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Well, I just felt like actually going out with you for once, and then Kurt found out and invited himself—"  
  
"Hey! I did not!" Kurt said indignantly.  
  
"Sure Kurt, sure," Edge said laughing.  
  
"I didn't! I swear, Jericho just mentioned it and I asked if I could come along," Kurt said trying to explain himself.  
  
"It's ok Kurt, I don't mind that you're here," Stephanie said, as Jericho and Edge kept laughing, "You two should be ashamed of yourselves."  
  
"Sorry baby," Jericho said trying to stifle his laughter.  
  
"Yeah, sorry.........So how's everyone looking for Unforgiven?" Edge asked.  
  
"I'm so gonna beat Flair," Jericho said, "I just got the IC title, no way I'm going to lose it."  
  
"Well, I'm going to make Benoit tap," Kurt added. Jericho noticed Stephanie was being awful quiet.  
  
"Don't worry about your match Stephy, I'm sure you'll win."  
  
"I just don't know," Stephanie sighed.  
  
"I'm sure Billy & Chuck will win," Kurt said.  
  
"And if they don't?"  
  
"Well, I'm sure someone will come save you," Edge tried to reassure her.  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Nothing is going to happen," Jericho said kissing her cheek.  
  
"I hope you're right." 


	20. Happy Birthday, September 23, 2002

A/N: Wow, over 100 reviews, that's WAY more then I ever anticipated. Especially since this was supposed to be a one-part story. But just wanted to thank all of you.  
  
Jericho walked backstage after talking with Bischoff. He hadn't appreciated what Goldust had said about his band, and had wanted a match. He hadn't said anything about his title, but apparently Bischoff saw fit to make the match a title match. Jericho didn't mind so much, he knew that he could beat Goldust easily.  
  
Besides his mind was elsewhere tonight. Tomorrow was Stephanie's birthday and he wanted to make it special for her. He had something very special planned and he need to make sure that it went according to plan. He reached his locker room, went inside and locked the door.  
  
He went over to his bag, searching for something. He picked his cell phone up, and dialed Kurt's cell phone, waiting for him to pick it up. After a few rings Kurt's voice came over the line.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Kurt, it's Chris."  
  
"Hey Chris, what's up?"  
  
"I was wondering how the plan was going?"  
  
"Plan? You mean the plan that you have with Stephanie?" Kurt said jokingly.  
  
"Kurt, you know which plan," Jericho said a little impatiently.  
  
"It's fine, Steph is getting ready as we speak."  
  
"And she had no problem going along with it?"  
  
"Well, she was hesitant at first, because of you, but yeah she agreed."  
  
"Good, and you know what time to bring her back to the hotel, right?"  
  
"After midnight," Kurt said blandly.  
  
"Ok, good, I just want everything to be perfect, Steph told me that her last birthday wasn't all that good, so I want to make this one really special."  
  
"What happened on her last birthday?"  
  
"HHH didn't even call her and wish her a happy birthday," Jericho said with a twinge of anger in voice.  
  
"Man, that sucks," Kurt said, feeling sorry for his friend. He was glad she had found someone like Jericho.  
  
"I know, that's why I want tonight to be perfect."  
  
"Well, she's knocking on my door, so I'll talk to you later," Kurt told him.  
  
"Ok, bye Kurt," Jericho said hanging up.  
  
Kurt walked to the door, and opened it to find Stephanie on the other side. She was wearing a black skirt that fell to just above her knees, and an aqua halter top. She smiled as she walked inside the room.  
  
"It's so nice of you to take me out for my birthday Kurt, you really didn't have to stay here just to take me out though."  
  
"It's ok, I went to Disneyland today, that was fun."  
  
"Kurt, you're too funny, so where are we going?"  
  
"There's a cool club that I know, so we're going to be heading over there."  
  
"Ok, sounds like fun," Stephanie said, as she hooked her arm through Kurt's.  
  
Back at Raw  
  
Jericho walked quickly backstage after his match. He wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and get back to his hotel room. He had a lot of things he had to do to get ready for Stephanie.  
  
He remembered when she told him about her last birthday. She had told him that besides doing a show that night she hadn't really had any kind of celebration. He remembered that Rock had sung a rather unsavory song to her that night. He probably would have joined in, looking back at how he used to treat her.  
  
She had said after the show she had just gone back to her hotel room and watched TV for the night. Shane had given her a small present, but other than that she hadn't received anything. She had been estranged from Vince and Linda, so they hadn't bothered to call or send her anything. And her own husband hadn't done anything for her either. It just made Jericho hate HHH even more.  
  
He got his things together quickly, and walked out of the locker room, ready to go straight to the hotel. He was walking down the long hallway when he spotted Stacy standing alone against one of the walls. He groaned, and kept on walking, not making eye contact, hoping Stacy would get a freaking clue.  
  
"Chris!" Stacy exclaimed, seeing him.  
  
Chris didn't have time for this, and walked right past her, intent on getting out of the building. He could hear Stacy calling for him, but he ignored it, and kept walking. He reached his car, got in and drove off to the hotel.  
  
He reached the hotel, and got out the key that Kurt had given him. He had left all the things he needed for Stephanie's surprise in Kurt's room, so Stephanie wouldn't get suspicious, and find out what he was planning for her.  
  
He got the things he needed for her surprise, taking him a few trips to get everything. He got everything set up for Stephanie's arrival, and made sure that everything was perfect. He looked at his watch, and realized that Stephanie and Kurt should be back fairly soon.  
  
Meanwhile  
  
"That was great," Stephanie said as Kurt walked her back to her hotel room.  
  
"I'm glad you had fun," Kurt said smiling.  
  
"I did, thank you, it was a great birthday gift, and thank you for the present," Stephanie said holding up the CD that Kurt had given her of her favorite band.  
  
"No problem, well, this is our stop," Kurt said pausing in front of Stephanie's room.  
  
"Thank you again Kurt, this has already been the best birthday I've had in a long time," she said giving him a hug.  
  
"Just you wait," Kurt said winking before walking away. Stephanie looked at him bewildered for a moment before walking into her hotel room. She wondered if Jericho was back yet.  
  
She walked into the room, and gasped at what she saw. The room was lit by hundreds of candles, all of them casting a dim glow over the room. And around the candles were hundreds of roses and lilies decorating the room. The balcony was open sending a West Coast light breeze through the room. She saw a birthday cake on the table, but no Chris in sight.  
  
"Chris," she called out, looking around.  
  
Chris came out of the bedroom dressed in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and black dress pants. He smiled at her, and handed her a single white lily. She grinned at him and took it.  
  
"What is all this?" she asked looking around.  
  
"A birthday surprise."  
  
"But my birthday isn't until tomorrow."  
  
"Nope, look at the clock, it's after midnight, so Happy Birthday baby," he said leaning over to gently kiss her.  
  
"This is too much," she said, tears starting to form in her eyes.  
  
"Nothing's too much for you," he said softly, "Besides, I had to make up for your last birthday."  
  
"Just being with you is better than last year," she answered honestly.  
  
"Yeah, but you deserved better than that. And I'm taking you out to dinner tomorrow, your choice."  
  
"You're so sweet."  
  
"I try."  
  
"There's so many flowers," she said looking around again.  
  
"Yeah, 13 dozen roses, and 13 dozen lilies," he said smiling, "26 dozen for your 26th birthday."  
  
"Thank you," she said, her tears getting the best of her, and starting to fall silently down her cheeks.  
  
"Hey, no tears, it's your birthday" he whispered, wiping them away with his thumb, "And there's still birthday cake to be had."  
  
They walked over to the table and Stephanie saw her cake for the first time. Jericho had actually gotten her a picture cake, with a picture of their first kiss from King of the Ring on it. Stephanie laughed, and looked at Jericho who was smirking.  
  
"This is great," Stephanie told him.  
  
"I thought so."  
  
"I almost don't want to cut it, what flavor is it?"  
  
"Vanilla cake with strawberry filling, and vanilla frosting."  
  
"My favorite!"  
  
"I know," Jericho said winking at her.  
  
Stephanie cut some of the cake for her and Jericho, and they both ate as they talked about wrestling, and current events among other things. After a while, Jericho got up and pulled a CD player out of the bedroom, and set it down on the table. He pushed play and the first few chords of "And I Love Her" by The Beatles came through the speakers.  
  
Jericho held out his hand to Stephanie, and she took it letting him help her off the couch. He took her in his arms, and they danced in the middle of the room. Stephanie leaned her head on her Jericho's shoulder, and savored the moment with him.  
  
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Stephy, Happy Birthday to you," Jericho sung softly into her ear. Stephanie pulled back and kissed him.  
  
"You're wonderful. This is all so beautiful and spectacular, and unexpected."  
  
"There's more."  
  
"What? More?" Stephanie asked incredulously.  
  
"I haven't given you my present yet."  
  
"Isn't this your present?"  
  
"No, this is just part of your present," he said leading her back over to couch.  
  
He motioned for her to sit down, which she did, wondering what Jericho had gotten her that could possible top what he had already done. He disappeared into the bedroom to get something. Stephanie couldn't believe everything he had done for her. It was beyond incredible. When she told him how bad her last birthday had been she had no idea that he would try to make it up to her.  
  
Jericho came back into the room holding a prettily wrapped present in his hands. He grinned at her, and sat down next to her. He handed her the gift, which she took anxiously. She gave him a smile before turning her eyes to the gift.  
  
"Go ahead, open it," Jericho said impatiently, waiting for her to open his gift. He hoped that she liked it.  
  
Stephanie ripped the gift wrap off, and saw that whatever it was, it was in a flat black velvet box. She knew what kind of things came in those boxes, and she loved them. She opened the box up and gasped at the gift inside.  
  
It was a stunning necklace. It was silver chain, with a pendent hanging from it. The pendent was in the shape of a heart and it had a diamond in the middle of it. Surrounding the diamond were bright blue sapphires. She realized it was a locket and she opened it to find a C engraved on the left side, and "I love you" engraved on the right.  
  
"Oh my God Chris this is so beautiful," she said, tears coming to her eyes again.  
  
"You like it?"  
  
"I love it, this is the most gorgeous necklace I've ever seen. It's wonderful, thank you," she gushed, leaning over to kiss him.  
  
"It's platinum, in case you were wondering."  
  
"I don't care what it is, it's the thought you put into it."  
  
"Um, I guess I should explain it then," Jericho said clearing his throat.  
  
"Explain it?"  
  
"Yeah, um, the C stands for Chris, and it's in the shape of a heart because you have mine."  
  
"Have your what?"  
  
"My heart, silly."  
  
"Yeah?" Stephanie said, crying again. She had never received anything so heartfelt in her entire life.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I love you Chris Jericho," Stephanie told him seriously.  
  
"And I love you Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"Of course I hate you too," she said smiling through her tears.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Because now I have to come up with something truly spectacular to top this for your birthday," she giggled.  
  
"I'm sure I'll love it whatever it is." 


	21. A Much Needed Break, September 26, 2002

"So yeah, they have so many belts over there on Raw."  
  
"I know, baby, I am on the show, and I have one of the belts."  
  
"It's not fair," she whined.  
  
"Stephy, aren't we getting a little childish now?"  
  
"Shut up Chris, I can be childish if I want to."  
  
"Great, so now I'm robbing the cradle," he said chuckling.  
  
"Well, you are like six years older than me," she pointed out.  
  
"Hey! I'm not old," he protested.  
  
"Well, not that old.........I love you anyway."  
  
"Good, I think."  
  
Stephanie laughed at Jericho. She had found a spare moment and decided to call Jericho and see what he was up to. Stephanie noticed that a cameraman was walking into the room. Her eyes widened when she realized that soon she would be on-screen. Of all the times they could come in they had to come in right then.  
  
"Hello, yes, this is very serious," Stephanie said, trying to sound professional.  
  
"Steph, um, what are you talking about?" Chris asked confused.  
  
"That does sound like a good idea."  
  
"Idea, huh?"  
  
"I think we need to look further into the subject," Stephanie said eyeing the camera.  
  
"Stephy, do you have a camera on you right now?" Chris asked, finally realizing what Stephanie was doing.  
  
"Yes, yes it does sound right," she said, hoping he got the point.  
  
"Oh, ok, I thought you were going crazy or something, and the last thing I need is a crazy girlfriend," Jericho said laughing.  
  
Stephanie looked at the cameraman, and saw that the little red light was on, indicating that she was being filmed. She hastily tried to think of what to say. She needed to get off the phone, lest someone find out who she was talking to. And that was the last thing she needed. She figured she might as well get back on topic with Chris.  
  
They had been discussing the recent exodus of SmackDown superstars to Raw, and how that affected the product. Stephanie had been slightly upset that Randy Orton and The Hurricane had defected to Raw. She hadn't even realized they were unhappy here.  
  
"You definitely find one then," Stephanie said into the phone.  
  
"Sure whatever Stephy."  
  
"So the Women's title is on Raw, Randy Orton, Hurricane all on Raw," Stephanie said, as she heard knocking on the door, "We'll look into the rest of the contracts."  
  
"Yeah, they're all on Raw, I'm on Raw too, even though I don't really want to be, and I'll try to get some info on Monday," Chris answered.  
  
"Come in," she called out to whoever was on the other side of the door.  
  
"I'll let you go baby," Chris told her.  
  
"Ok, thanks, I'll call you back," Stephanie said before hanging up the phone, and turning to Kurt Angle.  
  
Stephanie watched as Kurt and Rey talked about the main event match. She had to stifle some of her laughter when she heard Kurt insult Rey. She didn't want to alienate any more of her roster. She had already lost too much as it was.  
  
Rey left, and Kurt smiled at him leaving. Then he turned to Stephanie who was sitting back in her chair with a grin on her face.  
  
"And what are you grinning at?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Nothing, you just have a great sense of humor Kurt."  
  
"Well, I aim to please. So who was on the phone?" Kurt asked raising an eyebrow, having a good idea of who was on the phone.  
  
"It was Chris, though I get the feeling you already knew that."  
  
"Well, since you're always talking to him, yeah."  
  
"I am not always talking to him," Stephanie protested.  
  
"Sure," Kurt said, not convinced.  
  
"Whatever Kurt."  
  
"So how was your birthday?"  
  
"Wonderful," Stephanie said dreamily, thinking back to what Jericho had done for her. She had loved that he loved her enough to do everything he had done. She was so lucky to have him in her life.  
  
"Really? So what did Chris get you?"  
  
"The most beautiful necklace you have ever seen," Stephanie said grinning.  
  
"And you're not wearing it?"  
  
"Suspicions would arise," Stephanie answered.  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
"It's beautiful though, trust me."  
  
"I'm sure I'll see it eventually. So are you done for the night?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
  
"Are you going to head out early?"  
  
"Early? I don't think I know the meaning of that term," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"You don't get to leave early? Ever?"  
  
"I'm the boss Kurt, I have obligations."  
  
"Well, tonight you don't have any obligations, get outta here and go see Chris, I'm sure he won't mind if you get back early."  
  
"But what about everything here?"  
  
"Edge and I will take care of anything that pops up."  
  
"Really?" Stephanie asked extremely grateful.  
  
"Sure," Kurt said nonchalantly.  
  
"Are you really sure?" Stephanie asked again.  
  
"Yes, now get your butt out of here," Kurt said laughing.  
  
Stephanie gathered up her things quickly. She never got to leave early, and she was jumping at the chance to go. She always got back so late, and she was always tired after the shows. For once, she wouldn't have to worry about anything.  
  
"Thank you so much Kurt."  
  
"No problem, go have fun."  
  
"Thanks, bye," Stephanie, said giving him a quick hug before leaving.  
  
Stephanie got into the rental car her and Jericho had gotten and proceeded to go to the hotel. She was so glad to get out of the arena. She loved what she did, but sometimes she was up to her ears in work, and it got tiring. Sometimes she needed a break, she was glad she had a friend like Kurt who understand that.  
  
Stephanie got to the hotel, and got into the elevator to her floor. She got to her room and walked in. She immediately noticed the heavy metal music that was booming loudly through her hotel room. She could also hear Jericho singing along to it very loudly.  
  
She walked into the bedroom and saw Jericho standing on top of the bed in an old T-shirt and boxers. He was singing loudly with the music, and dancing around like a madman, pretending to play the guitar. Stephanie stood in the doorway a moment, watching him making a fool out of himself.  
  
"Enjoying yourself," Stephanie said.  
  
Jericho, startled by her voice, turned around abruptly, and turned surprised eyes to her. Unfortunately, he spun around too fast, and fell right off of the bed. Stephanie burst into hysterical laughter. Jericho lifted himself from the floor, his face beet red in embarrassment.  
  
"Steph, what are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you for hours."  
  
"I didn't have anything to do, and Kurt said he would take care of things for me."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So is this what you do when I'm not around?" Stephanie said smirking.  
  
"Um, sometimes," Jericho said sheepishly.  
  
"So this is why I never see you look like a fool, you get it out of your system when I'm not around," Stephanie said walking over to him.  
  
"Hey, I was just having some fun."  
  
"Yeah, fun, if acting like an idiot is fun."  
  
"Well, I'm your idiot so what does it matter?" Jericho said, kissing Stephanie.  
  
"Yeah, the idiot I'm stuck with."  
  
"I resent that."  
  
"Oh, don't get defensive Mr. Dancing Machine."  
  
"So what do you want with the contracts?" Jericho asked trying to change the subject.  
  
"Very subtle change of subject. But I figure there must be some loophole somewhere with someone. I can't let Bischoff have the last word."  
  
"Hmm, I'll have to see what I can find on Monday. I'll be very discreet about it."  
  
"So I guess this means you won't be dancing."  
  
"Shut up Stephy," Jericho said good-naturedly, before leaning in to kiss her. 


	22. I Still Hate that Guy, September 30, 200...

Jericho walked away, not wanting to confront Kane and Gregory Helms. Who was Helms kidding? Everyone knew that he was the Hurricane. But he knew the odds were against him in that little confrontation, it didn't matter, he would get Kane in the ring later and show him who was the best.  
  
He was walking down the hallway when he saw Stacy. How did she always seem to find him? He felt like he couldn't walk two feet without Stacy somehow showing up. He should borrow that wig Stephanie had used, and pretend to be someone else. Anything to get Stacy off his back.  
  
"Chris, hi, I haven't talked to you in so long," Stacy said, pouting.  
  
"Not long enough," he muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Stacy asked, stepping forward, obviously showing herself off for Jericho.  
  
"Nothing," he said, trying to move away from her.  
  
"Don't you like my outfit?" she asked, biting her bottom lip, trying to look innocent.  
  
"Couldn't afford a whole outfit?"  
  
"Oh, you're so funny," Stacy giggled.  
  
"Stacy, I'm really not in the mood to deal with you," Chris said, sighing.  
  
"What?" Stacy said, taken aback.  
  
"I don't want to talk to you, I don't like you," he said, exasperated by the whole situation with Stacy.  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"Of course you don't. I'll try to dumb it down for you. I don't like you, I don't want to date you, or whatever you want to do to me or with me. Plainly stated, I wouldn't date you if you were the last skank on Earth."  
  
"How dare you!"  
  
"Leave me alone Stacy," Chris said walking away.  
  
"Nobody rejects me," Stacy said, narrowing her eyes, "No one."  
  
Jericho went to his locker room to prepare for his match, and maybe get some down time. He got ready while watching what was happening on screen. He didn't want to lose his title, mainly because he wanted to face HHH for the title at No Mercy. He kind of felt he was above the Intercontinental title, not that he didn't appreciate it, just felt he was better than it.  
  
He saw HHH beat Bubba Ray Dudley, and walk backstage with Ric Flair. So if Jericho won tonight he'd be facing HHH.........again. He seemed to face HHH a lot, but now that they were both bad guys, they kind of had to work together. And if Jericho wanted to keep his title tonight, he might just have to enlist the help of HHH and Flair. He didn't want to, but sometimes, you have to go through the necessary evils to get to the top.  
  
Jericho made his way down to HHH's locker room, preparing himself to talk to that Cerebral Ass. He got there, and saw that Coach had already stopped by and was now interviewing HHH who was in a towel. Jericho could see a woman in there, along with Flair. He sighed to himself before going in.  
  
Jericho watched as HHH walked back into the shower. Jericho couldn't believe that he had let Stephanie go, for bimbos like that. He looked around for a second before sitting down on the couch. He noticed the girl from earlier sitting down on it, and not wanting to be rude, he decided to be polite and say hello.  
  
He noticed the camera still in the room, and realized it was still on. Might as well play the part he was supposed to. He decided to be the King of the World, the complete jackass that everyone thought he was, well, except for the friends he still had, and of course Stephanie.  
  
"How YOU doin?" Jericho said to the girl next to him. She smiled at him. "Chris Jericho. Rock star. HUGE rock star."  
  
"Nice to meet you," she replied.  
  
"You want to do me a favor?"  
  
"Sure, what is it?" she said suggestively.  
  
"Would you mind moving over a little bit, I'm kind of cramped over here. Actually, you know what, could you just get off the couch all together?"  
  
"What?" she asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, it's just your invading my personal space, and it's bugging me."  
  
"Fine," she said disgusted before getting up, and standing by the door.  
  
"So I don't think HHH is going to be coming out of there any time soon is he?" Jericho asked, turning to Flair.  
  
"Probably not."  
  
"Fine, I'll just talk to you then."  
  
"Whatever Jericho."  
  
"Here's the deal. I want to face HHH at No Mercy, and I want to win tonight. And I get the feeling HHH doesn't want to face the Big Red Freak. Especially ones that have bad taste, and kiss Skeleton-Woman.........I mean Terri."  
  
"What's your point?" Flair said.  
  
"Help me out there, and HHH'll get the match at No Mercy against me. I want HHH at No Mercy, and I know that he wants to face me."  
  
"So you want us to help you out there?"  
  
"I think you're finally getting it."  
  
"We'll see what we can do."  
  
"Good, I'm outta here," he said getting up, "And you," he said to the girl standing by the door.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Next time you might want to buy a shirt that fits."  
  
Later on that evening  
  
Jericho walked into his hotel room, a little bit disappointed by his loss tonight. Sure he was upset, but looking on the bright side, he wouldn't have to lose to HHH again. He didn't know what it was about HHH, but he always seemed to overpower him. Damn that man!  
  
Jericho found Stephanie in the bedroom, a lot of papers scattered around on the bed. She was looking intently at some documents, not even paying attention to him. He cleared his throat, signaling his arrival, but Stephanie still didn't look up.  
  
"Working hard?" Jericho asked. Stephanie again didn't look up, instead looking at some more documents.  
  
"Steph?" he asked. She looked up, gave him a dirty look, then went back to her papers.  
  
"Ok, what's the matter baby?" he asked, going over to sit next to her.  
  
"Don't you call me baby, asshole, and get off MY bed," she snapped at him.  
  
"What's wrong?" Jericho asked concerned, "And since when do we have separate beds?"  
  
"Since right now," she said, pushing him, "Get out of here, I'm sure you can find some other bed to sleep in."  
  
"Are you kicking me out?"  
  
"You're damn right I'm kicking you out," she said, getting up and going to the front door, opening it.  
  
"What? Why?" Jericho questioned, stupefied by Stephanie's behavior.  
  
"Oh, you know why!" she said, gesturing for him to leave. Jericho got up and walked over to her.  
  
"Um, no I don't. And just where am I going to go?"  
  
"I don't give a damn where the hell you go! Why don't you just go hit on some other blond floozy? Share a bed with the one you hit on tonight for all I care," Stephanie sneered.  
  
"WHAT?!? I didn't hit on her," Jericho said defensively.  
  
"How you doin'," Stephanie said, mocking him, "Now get out!"  
  
"Stephanie, calm down sweetie, let me explain," Jericho tried to reason with her.  
  
"Explain what? How you didn't mean to or how you'll chase anything in a fucking skirt? Get out, I never want to see your face again! Stay on Raw forever! Good riddance! And here, take your stupid necklace," she screamed, taking her necklace off, and trying to push him out the door at the same time.  
  
Jericho grabbed her by the arms, trying to calm her down. He couldn't believe that she would think he would hit on someone else. Hadn't the camera still been on him when he was talking to her? Didn't Stephanie see him blow her off?  
  
"Steph, I didn't hit on her, I swear, I told her to get away from me," Jericho said.  
  
"I saw you, I saw you hitting on her, shaking her hand, giving her that look of yours," Stephanie said, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"No, I didn't, I was playing the part, Stephy, you have to believe me," Jericho pleaded with her, "I love you, and only you, I would never do anything to hurt you."  
  
"You know, at one time, I could believe that. You knew that HHH hurt me, you knew that I've been hurt in the past, and you go and do this? After seeing you tonight, I don't think I can trust anything you say or do. And if you won't leave, I will," Stephanie said, going out the door, "And don't follow me."  
  
Stephanie left, and closed the door behind her. Jericho leaned against the wall before sinking to the ground. Damn it, why didn't he just not sit down, or not pay attention to her? Obviously they hadn't shown everything that had happened, or Stephanie wouldn't have just left him. He ran his hands through his hair, not believing that he had just lost Stephanie.  
  
Stephanie walked down the hallway of the hotel, wiping away the tears that had managed to make their way down her cheeks. She had thought Jericho loved her, after everything he had done for her, she really thought she could entrust her heart with him. And so she did, and this was what happened. He stomped all over it.  
  
She walked towards the elevator, not knowing where she was going to go, but knowing she couldn't be around him. Not after what Jericho had done. She couldn't go back now, damn him for making her love him so much.  
  
As she was walking towards the elevator, she noticed a giggling woman coming out of a bedroom. She was clad only in a large T-shirt, and she was heading towards the ice machine. Stephanie realized it was the woman whom Jericho had been hitting on earlier. Stephanie decided it was time to confront the bitch.  
  
"Hey," Stephanie called out to the woman.  
  
"Are you talking to me?" she asked, turning around.  
  
"Yeah, I am."  
  
"Can I help you or something, I'm kind of busy."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure you're busy.........doing someone."  
  
"Excuse me?" the woman asked offended.  
  
"Yeah, I noticed you were on Raw tonight."  
  
"Oh yeah, I was with Flair, still am," she said smirking.  
  
"Yeah, you also had a little encounter with Chris Jericho, how'd you like him hitting on you?"  
  
"Hitting on me?"  
  
"Yeah, you heard me bitch," Stephanie said angrily.  
  
"Whoa, I have no idea what you're talking about, he didn't hit on me, actually he was really rude."  
  
"What?" Stephanie asked dumbfounded.  
  
"Chris Jericho right? He was a complete ass."  
  
"He was?"  
  
"Yeah, he actually had the gall to tell me to get off the couch because I was invading his personal space. And he told me I should buy a shirt that fits!" she said indignantly.  
  
"Oh my God," Stephanie whispered.  
  
Jericho had told her the truth, and she had basically dumped him. She was feeling so foolish. Damn that temper of hers, she never looked for the rational, logical explanation, she was always looking for the fight.  
  
"Are we done here? Ric's waiting for me."  
  
"Um, yeah, sorry to bother you," Stephanie said as the woman walked away.  
  
Stephanie stood there for a moment, thinking about what she had done to Jericho. She turned around and broke out running to her hotel room. She had some major apologies that she needed to say. She just hoped Jericho wasn't pissed at her, or God forbid taken her advice to find someone else to share his bed.  
  
She got to her hotel room, and unlocked the door. She looked around and saw Jericho sitting out on the balcony, just staring out into the city. By now she was feeling terrible of what she had accused him of, but seeing him look so sad and desolate sitting out there, made her feel about ten thousand times worse. She walked over silently.  
  
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. Jericho turned around quickly and stood up going over to her.  
  
"Stephanie, I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you, just tell me how, please don't leave me, I don't know what I'd do without you."  
  
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry, I accused you of hitting on someone when you really didn't."  
  
"What, how did you know I didn't hit on her?"  
  
"Well, it seems Ric took the party back to his bedroom. I ran into the girl in the hallway."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Yeah, and she basically told me that you were an ass to her. I should have believed you, but I'm such an idiot, with my damn temper."  
  
"So you forgive me?" Jericho asked hopefully.  
  
"Sweetie, there's nothing for me to forgive. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who has to apologize. I was the one who was wrong."  
  
"But I gave you the wrong impression, I was wrong for even sitting next to her. I should apologize."  
  
"I think we're both sorry, how about we both just admit we were wrong?" Stephanie said smiling.  
  
"Ok," Jericho said smiling back, "Thank God, you're not leaving me."  
  
"Nope, you're still stuck with me," she said, snaking her arms around his neck.  
  
"Good," he replied, leaning in to kiss her.  
  
"I love you, and I do trust you."  
  
"I love you too," he said, kissing her again.  
  
"I'm sorry about your title," she said as they pulled away.  
  
"Not a problem, at least I don't have to face Crippled H."  
  
"What's this alliance you've seemed to form with my ex-husband?"  
  
"Just a matter of convenience."  
  
"Oh, ok," she said smirking, "I really do hate him."  
  
"I know you do."  
  
"He's so disgusting, with those two women, let me tell you, he's not all that spectacular in bed."  
  
"Wow, that is really something I didn't need to know," Jericho said, making a face.  
  
"He must've had to bribe them to go in there with him."  
  
"Can we please stop talking about HHH and showers, and him in bed, I'm getting all creeped out here."  
  
"Well, what about.........me in bed?"  
  
"Now that's something I can work with," Jericho said grinning.  
  
"Well, we did just have a fight, and I figure since I really was the one who was wrong, I do need to somehow make it up to you. Any ideas how?"  
  
"I've got a few in mind."  
  
"Care to show me what those are?"  
  
"You bet." 


	23. Nothing to Write About, October 3, 2002

Stephanie walked back angrily to her dressing room. She hated when her employees acted like children, it made her job that much harder. She didn't have time to deal with such incidents, her job was hard enough as it was.  
  
She'd had to make sure that everything was going well with her show, and with the introduction of the new tag team titles, she hoped it would boost ratings even more. Who cares if Bischoff had his own titles, she would make hers more credible and noteworthy.  
  
She walked into her dressing room, and sat down in a huff. She had so many things to do, and she had to play babysitter on top of that, couldn't she get one moment's peace once in a while? She picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey," she said.  
  
"Steph, is that you?"  
  
"Yeah," she said smiling.  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"Frustrated," Stephanie said simply.  
  
"And why's that?"  
  
"It's hard work being a General Manager, how did I ever manage to run ECW?"  
  
"Well, I think it's different. With being a GM, you're on your own, but when you ran ECW you had help."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose."  
  
"So why'd you call?"  
  
"I just wanted to talk to you is that a crime?"  
  
"Yes, in the history of our relationship, and it's been a long time Steph, you have never called to just talk," he said laughing.  
  
"Were you always this annoying?"  
  
"I'm your big brother, it's my job to annoy you," Shane said over the line.  
  
"Yeah, but now you're even more annoying, how do you do it?"  
  
"Talent, so what's up?"  
  
"I just wanted your opinion on some things."  
  
"What things?" Shane asked.  
  
"Well, like the Tag Titles, do you think it's a good idea to have them? I mean, introducing new belts and all, do you think people will buy it?"  
  
"Of course they will, and not only does it open up a lot of doors for some guys to win it, you can stick it to Bischoff when you make your titles ten times the titles his are."  
  
"I'm so glad you hate Bischoff too, this is precisely why I can't go to Daddy."  
  
"Because Dad refuses to see the error of his ways when it comes to firing that asshole."  
  
"Yes, finally someone who understands my need to bring him down."  
  
"Well, of course I do, I love the business as much as you Steph. So what kind of tricks do you have up your sleeves?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephanie said innocently.  
  
"I know that voice Stephanie, you're up to something."  
  
"I am not!" she said indignantly.  
  
"Yes, you are. But I guess I'll just have to wait and find out what it is. So did you get my birthday gift?"  
  
"Yes, I did, thank you for the lovely vase, it goes perfectly on Chr-my fireplace," Stephanie corrected herself, not revealing that the vase in question was actually in Chris's house and not hers. She usually spent her home time at Chris's anyways.  
  
"What was that Stephanie?" Shane said, noticing her slip-up.  
  
"What was what?"  
  
"It sounded like you were going to say it was somewhere else."  
  
"No, I just stuttered, happens on occasion."  
  
"Who's house is that vase in?"  
  
"Mine, Shane, it's in mine."  
  
"So if I were to drive over to your house right now, and use the spare key that you gave me, I would find that vase on your fireplace?"  
  
"Um.........yes."  
  
"Yeah right," Shane said sarcastically, "Oh my God, did you get back with Hunter?"  
  
"Eww, no way!" Stephanie cried, "Besides it really is in my house."  
  
"Stephanie, don't lie."  
  
"Shane, don't harass me please, let's just drop it," Stephanie pleaded with him.  
  
"No way! You have a boyfriend, and you're going to tell me who."  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"A-ha, so you DO have a boyfriend," Shane said triumphantly.  
  
"And so what if I do?" Stephanie said, knowing she was caught.  
  
"You're going to tell me."  
  
"No way, uh-uh Shane."  
  
"Let me guess then."  
  
"Whatever Shane."  
  
"Hmm, is it Kurt?"  
  
"Dream on. Kurt's just a friend."  
  
"Benoit?"  
  
"No way, he creeps me out."  
  
"Billy or Chuck, you were pretty buddy-buddy with them?"  
  
"Yeah, because we all got our asses kicked, try again."  
  
Suddenly Matt Hardy ran into her dressing room. Stephanie sat there shocked as he stopped in front of her.  
  
"Mattitude!" he yelled, giving the Version 1 hand signal before running out. Stephanie sat shocked for a minute.  
  
"What was that?" Shane asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Stephanie said.  
  
"Man, this is hard, can I have a hint?"  
  
"No."  
  
"God, you're a wench."  
  
"Thanks," Stephanie said dryly.  
  
"Is it.........Edge?"  
  
"Wrong again, I would never go with Edge, he too is just a friend."  
  
"Then who is it? Tell me!"  
  
"Shane, you're never going to get it so you might as well give up, and I wouldn't tell you anyways."  
  
"You're going out with Chris Jericho aren't you?" Shane said, as he remembered his sister's crush on the blonde Canadian.  
  
"What?!?" Stephanie said, shocked.  
  
"You are, aren't you? Oh my God, you're with Chris Jericho. And he's on Raw because he's a spy or something," Shane said, it all becoming clear to him.  
  
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, you're wrong," Stephanie stammered.  
  
"Yeah right, I know you've liked him for a long time. So how long has this been going on?"  
  
Stephanie sighed, just giving in, "About two months, since I came back."  
  
"And you didn't tell me? I'm hurt."  
  
"Shane, we had to keep it a secret."  
  
"Hey, I understand, but you know I want Bischoff out of WWE as much as you, you could've trusted me."  
  
"I know, but we're trying to keep everything hush-hush. He's actually helped me get a lot of information on Bischoff."  
  
"Who knows about you two?"  
  
"Kurt and Edge."  
  
"They knew before I knew?"  
  
"They found out on accident, we didn't want them to find out. They've helped the plan as well, so it's ok."  
  
"Well, if you need my help don't be afraid to ask."  
  
"When have I ever been afraid to ask you anything?"  
  
"And Jericho, he treats you well?" Shane said, his big brother instincts kicking in.  
  
"Yes Shane," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Hey don't get snippy with me. After Hunter, I want to make sure the next guy you're involved with treats you right."  
  
"He's great Shane, he loves me, and he makes me feel special."  
  
"I'll be the judge of that, thank you. What did he do for your birthday, that'll show how much he cares about you?"  
  
"He surprised me by decorating our hotel room—"  
  
"You share a hotel room?" Shane interrupted.  
  
"Yes, Shane, we're both grown-ups, we can share a room if we want."  
  
"Fine, so what did he do?"  
  
"He decorated the room with hundreds of candles, and 26 dozen roses and lilies. And he got me a cake with our first kiss on it. And we danced, and he gave me a beautiful locket which symbolized I had his heart, and he took me out to dinner. Is that nice enough for you, big brother?"  
  
"Wow, he did all that for you?" Shane asked surprised that Chris Jericho could be so romantic.  
  
"Yes, he said he had to make up for my last birthday."  
  
"Wow, ok, now I believe you."  
  
"Good," Stephanie said, then noticing she had another call, "Shane I have to go, I have another call, and it's probably about Undertaker, I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Ok, bye, love you little sis."  
  
"Don't call me that, big bro. Love ya too," Stephanie said before hanging up and taking the other call.  
  
LATER  
  
"Hey, how was your night?" Jericho asked as Stephanie entered their room.  
  
"Tiring."  
  
"Seemed like it."  
  
"I talked to Shane, he knows about us," Stephanie said nonchalantly.  
  
"He does? You told him?"  
  
"Well, I kind of let it slip, but he's ok with it."  
  
"That's good, he doesn't want to kill me or anything?"  
  
"No, no killing," Stephanie said, bending down to kiss him, as he pulled her down into his arms.  
  
"Good."  
  
"At least someone in my family knows, it's almost like you have their approval."  
  
"Almost."  
  
"I'm so tired," Stephanie said, yawning.  
  
"You know what?"  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"I'm going to go back to being the thorn in your side for a second, is that ok?"  
  
"I guess," Stephanie said, slightly bewildered.  
  
"Ok. So you just walked right into that men's locker room."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Well, you didn't even knock."  
  
"I'm the boss."  
  
"There could have been naked guys in there," Jericho said lightly kissing her.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Stephanie paused, "Oh no, you're not—"  
  
"But then again, you've probably seen half the locker room naked already," Jericho said smirking.  
  
"You had to say it didn't you, you just had to say it."  
  
"It was too easy, I HAD to do it."  
  
"I'll have you know, there have only been two people in any of the locker rooms that I've seen naked, and the funny thing is, they were both talking to skanky women on Monday."  
  
"You've seen Flair naked?" Jericho said jokingly.  
  
"You knew what I meant!" Stephanie said laughing as Jericho kissed her again.  
  
If you're wondering why Matt made an appearance, apparently I've developed a Matt muse who likes to randomly show up and yell, "Mattitude." So there's the explanation. ;) 


	24. Just Visiting, October 7, 2002

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews. :)  
  
"So we're going to be tag team partners tonight," Jericho said, as he invited Christian into his dressing room.  
  
"Yeah, since we're the only ones who have ever won a TLC, I figure the odds are with us."  
  
"Yeah, considering our former partners are both on SmackDown," Jericho said laughing.  
  
"Whatever," Christian answered, his mood suddenly turning sullen.  
  
"Why the sudden change of mood?" Jericho asked.  
  
"You just brought up Edge."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Nothing, I just really hate him."  
  
"You hate your own brother, that's not cool. Not that I really know, since I'm an only child, but dude he's your brother."  
  
"Yeah, and he stole the spotlight all the time."  
  
"Well, sure that's wrong to do, but it's no reason to hate the guy."  
  
"I suppose, any way it's too late for Edge and I."  
  
"Well, I don't think it's ever too late."  
  
"Maybe, whatever, let's just discuss strategy."  
  
"Fine," Jericho said.  
  
Jericho walked backstage slowly after his match. He was sore all over. He had taken some really bad bumps during his match, and it had ended with him getting a chokeslam off the ladder. Was it possible to hurt this much? He didn't think he had ever hurt so much, and it really sucked.  
  
He slowly made his way to his dressing room, wanting to take a long hot shower. Maybe that would help his aching muscles. His shoulder was also killing him after falling out of the ring off the ladder. He had almost forgotten how brutal a TLC match could be.  
  
He opened the door to his dressing room, and groaned in disgust at the person inside. He thought he had made his point last week, but obviously Stacy was too stupid to get it, even after he basically spelled it out for her. Jericho ignored her, and went about getting his things, he would just take a shower back at the hotel.  
  
"Chris," Stacy said, trying to get his attention.  
  
She hadn't changed out of the bra and panties she had been in earlier. She was hoping the lack of clothing would appeal to Jericho. What man could resist her in her bra and panties? Jericho would be crazy not to want her when she was dressed like this.  
  
"Stacy, get out."  
  
"But Chris, I was hoping that I could maybe help you feel better after your match. I saw that you took some very bad bumps out there, and you probably need some cheering up."  
  
"No, I don't, at least not from you."  
  
"Chris, look at me, how can you resist me? I'm willing to put on even less clothes than I have now," Stacy said, reaching around to unclasp her bra.  
  
"Stop!" Jericho said loudly, stopping her actions, "Please don't embarrass yourself, cause you are this close to doing it."  
  
"I'm not embarrassing anyone," Stacy said, "I'm only doing something the both of want, cause I know you want me."  
  
"No, you're about as far from what I want as you can get. If you think that throwing yourself at me is going to work you're so wrong."  
  
"So tell me what to do right."  
  
"Leave me alone, that's about it, just leave me alone."  
  
Jericho gathered up the last of his things, and went off in search of Christian who he was going to get a ride back to the hotel. He left Stacy again, hoping that this would be the last he would see of her. He saw Christian waiting at the end of the hallway, and started to make his way towards him. Suddenly his cell phone rang. He reached into his bag and fished it out.  
  
"Hello," he said answering it.  
  
"Meet me in the back parking lot."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Meet me in the back parking lot, I'm in the black car with the tinted windows."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"See you in a few."  
  
"Bye," Jericho said hanging up.  
  
"Hey Chris, you ready?" Christian said, walking up to him.  
  
"Actually I got another ride back, if that's ok."  
  
"Sure, I'll see you later."  
  
"Yeah, see you man," Jericho called out.  
  
Jericho walked out into the dark parking lot, looking around. It was mostly deserted, seeing as how he had been in the last match. He walked out a little farther, and spotted a black car sitting under a streetlight. He walked over, and climbed in.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Came to pick you up."  
  
"Yeah, but what are you doing HERE?"  
  
"I wanted to see for myself that you were treating my baby sister all right."  
  
"That's kind of a stupid reason to fly across the country."  
  
"She's my sister, that's never a stupid reason. I know what she's been through."  
  
"So do I," Chris countered.  
  
"Yeah, but I was there. I was there on the nights she cried herself to sleep ok, you weren't. In fact you were the cause of some of those nights."  
  
"I didn't know, you can't fault me for that."  
  
"No, but you didn't know how much she really liked you Jericho," Shane said.  
  
"Well, I know now, isn't that what counts?"  
  
"And I want to make sure that she's happy, and that you treat her right. I'll be damned if I let my little sister hurt anymore than she has in the past couple of years."  
  
"I'm not going to hurt her Shane, I love her."  
  
"I just want to make sure," Shane said, as he pulled into the hotel parking lot.  
  
"Does Stephanie know you're here?" Jericho said, as they walked to the elevator.  
  
"No, I thought I'd surprise her."  
  
"Oh, ok," Jericho said, as they got off the elevator.  
  
Jericho walked down the long hallway, with Shane following behind him. He got to the room, and got out his key. He quickly opened the door and let him and Shane inside. He set his stuff down by the door before going into the room.  
  
"Steph?" Jericho called out.  
  
"Oh, hey baby, you're back early, did you not take a shower at the arena?" Stephanie called from the bathroom, as she pulled her hair up in a ponytail, and was already in her pajamas.  
  
"No, but I found someone along the way."  
  
"Hmm.........what are you talking about?" Stephanie said from the bathroom.  
  
"Why don't you come out and find out," Jericho told her.  
  
Stephanie walked out, and spotted Shane, "Shane! Oh my God!"  
  
Stephanie ran over and threw her arms around Shane. He returned her hug, and lifted her off the ground. He pulled away for a second to look at Stephanie, then pulled her into another hug.  
  
"Hey there baby girl."  
  
"What are you doing here?" Stephanie said, pulling away, and going over to give Jericho a hug. She noticed he winced as he hugged her. Jericho wrapped an arm around her waist.  
  
"I came to see you. Since you told me that you travel with Jericho and vice versa, I figured you were here."  
  
"You came all this way just to see me?"  
  
"Yeah, and to make sure that you were telling the truth about Jericho."  
  
"Well, of course I was," Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around his waist protectively. Stephanie noticed that he winced again, and loosened her grip.  
  
"Just making sure, well, I have my own hotel room, and I'm probably bothering you two—"  
  
"No, you're not," Stephanie protested.  
  
"Yeah, but it's getting late, and I better go."  
  
"Then promise that we'll have breakfast tomorrow," Stephanie said.  
  
"Ok, promise," Shane said, as Stephanie came over and hugged him again.  
  
"Bye Steph."  
  
"Bye Shane. See you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye Chris."  
  
"See ya Shane," Jericho said, before Shane left.  
  
"I'm going to go take a shower," Jericho said. Stephanie walked over, and put a hand on his arm to stop him.  
  
"Wait a second, are you ok?" Stephanie asked, with concern.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Don't lie, you winced when I hugged you, obviously you hurt."  
  
"Really, I'm ok, I'm just a little sore."  
  
"My poor baby, where are you sore?"  
  
"Just my shoulder and my back."  
  
"Come with me," Stephanie said pulling him into the bedroom, "Lie down."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm going to give you a little TLC, and not of the Tables, Ladder, and Chairs variety."  
  
"Fine," Jericho complied, lying face down on the bed. Stephanie started to massage his back and shoulder.  
  
"I was so worried tonight when I was watching your match."  
  
"Why?" Jericho asked.  
  
"That match looked so brutal, I was afraid you would get hurt. When you fell out of the ring, and you fell off the ladder, it scared me."  
  
"I'm fine, just a little bit beat up."  
  
"All in all though, you really did a good job out there. You practically had it won. You and Christian worked well together."  
  
"He misses Edge you know."  
  
"He does?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, he doesn't say it outright, but you know he misses him, you might want to tell Edge, maybe they can reconcile with each other or something."  
  
"Maybe, I'll see what I can do." 


	25. Another Scheme, October 10, 2002

Kurt and Stephanie watched as Chris Benoit left the office. Kurt and Benoit had had a confrontation just a little while ago, and they both refused to leave the room. Finally, Benoit had had enough and left the room, leaving Kurt and Stephanie behind. As soon as Benoit left, Kurt and Stephanie looked at each other and started laughing.  
  
"Geez Kurt, what was that all about?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"He just infuriates me, thinks he's better, I don't think he has these babies," Kurt said, lifting up his medals.  
  
"No, but you guys have to get along. I don't want to have to suspend you. You're one of my best friends."  
  
"That's so nice of you."  
  
"Anyway, who'll protect me when Chris isn't around?"  
  
"Just using me aren't you Steph?" Kurt said jokingly.  
  
"You know it, Kurt. By the way, have you seen Edge around lately?"  
  
"Um," Kurt said thinking, "I don't think so."  
  
"Oh, ok, I'll just have to go find him myself."  
  
"Why are you looking for him?"  
  
"I just wanted to talk with him."  
  
"Why?" Kurt said, prying.  
  
"Why does it matter?"  
  
"Because I'd like to consider you guys my friends."  
  
"Yeah, sure Kurt," she said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Fine, I'm nosy, so out with it."  
  
"Well, you know how Chris teamed up with Christian on Raw?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, Chris was talking to him, and Christian misses Edge."  
  
"Christian actually said that he misses Edge?" Kurt asked surprised.  
  
"Well, not exactly, but Chris said that he got the definite impression that he missed him."  
  
"What if he doesn't miss him?"  
  
"Well, I'm going to trust Chris on this one, and I think that he does."  
  
"So you're going to tell this to Edge?"  
  
"No, of course not, I just want to find out his feelings about Christian, and then maybe we could find some way to reunite them. They're brothers."  
  
"We?"  
  
"Well, Chris and I, and maybe if you wanted to help," Stephanie said persuasively.  
  
"I don't know about this Stephanie," Kurt said uncertainly.  
  
"Kurt, you're in on the huge plan against Bischoff, but you won't try to reunite two brothers?"  
  
"Yeah, but what if this plan backfires huge, and Edge hates us, and then he could tell everyone about the plan, and then we would all be screwed, especially Chris."  
  
"I didn't think about that," Stephanie said, biting her lip a little, "But they're brothers, don't you think that's more important?"  
  
"If you think so, I guess I can go along with it, if and ONLY if Edge seems to miss Christian too."  
  
"Thank you so much Kurt!" Stephanie said, hugging him.  
  
"You're welcome, you're a very hard person to say no to."  
  
"So Chris tells me," Stephanie said smiling.  
  
"How is he? I haven't spoken to him in a while."  
  
"He's great, even after my brother came and checked up on him."  
  
"What? Shane knows?"  
  
"Yeah, I kind of told him. And then he actually came to Vegas to make sure Chris was treating me right. Can you believe that?"  
  
"He's just checking up on you."  
  
"I know, it's still annoying. So, if you see Edge, can you tell him I'm looking for him?"  
  
"Hey Steph, all right, I'll talk to you later," Kurt said, closing the door behind him.  
  
A SHORT TIME LATER  
  
Stephanie sat at her desk, watching the current match being filmed on the closed circuit television she was provided with. She wanted to make sure that her show was filmed correctly, so that everyone would be aesthetically pleased by the product, as well as being entertained. A knock came on the door, and Stephanie called out for them to come in.  
  
"Come in."  
  
"Hey Steph, I got a message that you wanted to see me," Edge said, sticking his head through the door.  
  
"Yeah, come on in, have a seat."  
  
"What's this about?"  
  
"I just wanted to talk to you, you know Chris teamed with Christian on Monday."  
  
"Yeah, I saw, another TLC match, its kind of weird when you're the one watching the match and not in the match."  
  
"It must be, although I bet you don't envy the bumps that you get from the match."  
  
"You're right about that, I didn't look at it that way," Edge said laughing.  
  
"I was really worried about Chris during the entire match, I mean what he had to go through it was awful."  
  
"Yeah, it was brutal, especially when Chris went off the ladder and to the floor."  
  
"Yeah, and Christian, I mean, he was brutalized as well."  
  
"Whatever," Edge said turning away. Stephanie saw the weakening in his feelings and she was ready to exploit it.  
  
"You must have been worried."  
  
"Of course not, I don't care about what happens to him."  
  
"His name is Christian."  
  
"I know what his name is Stephanie, he IS my brother."  
  
"Well, if he's your brother, I'm sure you were a little bit worried."  
  
"No."  
  
"Not even the littlest bit?"  
  
"Maybe a little," Edge gave in. Stephanie gave him a sympathetic smile.  
  
"I thought so."  
  
"Yeah, it doesn't matter, he probably hates me."  
  
"Well, you don't know that, I bet if you called him, he'd be happy to hear from you."  
  
"I don't think so, there's too big a riff between us for it ever to be fixed."  
  
"Now I know that's not true."  
  
"We haven't talked in the longest time."  
  
"So? Remember when I was siding with my father against Shane?"  
  
"Yeah, what about it?"  
  
"Well, Shane and I are close again. We managed to forgive each other. You only have one brother Edge, maybe you should give him another chance. I do remember a time when you two were the best of friends."  
  
"We were great together," Edge said, reminiscing, "I mean look at all the times we were Tag Team champs."  
  
"See, there you go."  
  
"Someday, maybe I'll get up the courage to call him."  
  
"I'm sure he'd love to hear from you, you just have to think positive."  
  
"Yeah, well, I have a match, so I'll see you later Steph, tell Chris I said hi."  
  
"Will do."  
  
EVEN LATER  
  
"It worked," Stephanie said coming into the hotel room.  
  
"What worked?" Chris asked, walking over to kiss her.  
  
"I talked to Edge tonight, and he definitely misses Christian."  
  
"He does?"  
  
"Yeah, he actually said that he missed Christian," Stephanie said, smiling proudly.  
  
"And how did you manage to get this information?"  
  
"You're not the only one who can get information out of people," Stephanie said, kissing his cheek, "I'm good at what I do."  
  
"So what do we do now?"  
  
"Well, I think that maybe Christian needs a little push in the right direction."  
  
"So, maybe I should talk to him on Monday."  
  
"Ah, now we're thinking the same."  
  
"You're so conniving you know that?"  
  
"I know, but don't you just love it about me?"  
  
"How could I not?" 


	26. Let's Get Them Together, October 14, 200...

Jericho and Christian made their way to Jericho's dressing room, after confronting Booker T and Goldust. Jericho was way too happy right now to really care about anything. He was kind of on a roll with winning belts lately. Of course, now he had to master keeping the titles.  
  
This was his third Tag Team title reign, and unlike his last one with The Rock, he was glad that he was actually friends with Christian. It made it a whole lot easier to defend the belts if you weren't fighting with your partner all the time.  
  
"This is so cool," Christian said as they walked into Jericho's dressing room.  
  
"I know, first the Intercontinental, then this, and that's just been in the past two months," Chris said.  
  
"I finally have the titles back, I knew dumping Storm was the right choice."  
  
"Well, I am cooler," Chris told him, laughing, before hearing his cell phone ring in his bag. He dug it out and answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Chris," Kurt Angle's voice came over the other end.  
  
"Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Just wanted to say congratulations on your win, of course you cheated," Kurt said, chuckling.  
  
"Hey, if the ref doesn't see it, it doesn't happen," Jericho countered.  
  
"If you say so. So are you celebrating?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm here with Christian, we're basking in the glow of victory."  
  
"Cool, are you going to talk to him about the whole Edge thing?"  
  
"Yeah, I will."  
  
"Oh, ok.........hey, I just realized that if Benoit and I win at No Mercy, and you guys do too, we'll both be tag champs."  
  
"Wow, did you figure that out all by yourself Kurt?" Jericho joked.  
  
"Shut up, well, I'll let you get a shower and stuff, and get back to Stephanie, so talk to you later man."  
  
"Yeah, bye Kurt," Jericho said hanging up.  
  
"I guess that was Kurt," Christian said.  
  
"Yeah, just wanted to congratulate me."  
  
"That's cool, I don't have many people calling to congratulate me. But it's still cool to be Tag champ again."  
  
"Yeah, you were tag champs with Edge a bunch of times, you guys were awesome together," Jericho said, trying to put Stephanie's plan into action.  
  
"I guess so, that time has passed though."  
  
"I'm sure you could get it back."  
  
"Nah, Edge hates me."  
  
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you."  
  
"Of course he does, after what I did to him, he HAS to hate me," Christian said forlornly.  
  
"Yeah, but he'd probably forgive you if you ask. Why did you turn on him anyway?"  
  
"He always got the spotlight, he was always who everyone wanted to see. I guess I just got jealous of him, I never really hated him. I regret turning on him though."  
  
"You know, if you tell him what you just told me, I'm sure that he would forgive you. You're brothers after all."  
  
"I wouldn't even know where to start if I did call him."  
  
"Well, 'hello' would be a good start," Jericho said smiling.  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Well, I'm going to hit the showers so I'll talk to you later, and think about what I said."  
  
"I will, thanks."  
  
LATER  
  
"Congratulations!" Stephanie exclaimed, charging into Jericho as soon as he walked into the door.  
  
"Thanks baby," Jericho said lifting her up, and then setting her down in front of him.  
  
"You were great out there, I'm so proud," Stephanie said beaming.  
  
"Even if I cheated a little."  
  
"What? You cheated? Referee didn't see it, then it just didn't happen," Stephanie said smirking.  
  
"Hmm, now I know why I love you, we think alike," Jericho said, kissing her.  
  
"Well, you know what they say, 'Great minds think alike.'"  
  
"That they do. Kurt called to congratulate me."  
  
"That's so nice of him. Oh, and Edge called here and told me to tell you congratulations as well."  
  
"He could have called my cell phone," Jericho told her.  
  
"He knows but he figured that Christian would be with you, and he didn't want to get caught."  
  
"Oh, well, Christian was around, so it was probably better that way. I'll give him a call tomorrow."  
  
"So, did you get to talk to Christian?"  
  
"Yeah, I did. Didn't want you to get mad at me if I didn't," Jericho said laughing.  
  
"So? What did he say?" Stephanie asked anxiously.  
  
"He misses Edge, but he's too afraid to call him and apologize for the past."  
  
"Why? He should just call him," Stephanie said, sitting down on the couch.  
  
"Stephanie, not everyone is like you," Jericho said, sitting next to her, and turning to face her.  
  
"And just how am I like?"  
  
"You're headstrong, you're not afraid of confrontation, or challenges. If something gets in your way, you're not afraid to conquer it. If you were estranged from Shane, you wouldn't be afraid to call him, because you don't really know fear. You're strong Steph, not everyone can be like that."  
  
"Well, thanks I guess. But I wish he would get over this fear and call him."  
  
"Maybe over time, he'll gather up his courage," Jericho reasoned.  
  
"Or maybe we can just speed it along a little," Stephanie said, deviously.  
  
"Steph," Jericho said, a warning tone in his voice, "I don't like that look on your face. What are you thinking?"  
  
"Well, I mean, do you trust Christian?"  
  
"I guess so yeah, he's basically a nice guy."  
  
"So what if we told him?"  
  
"Told him what?"  
  
"God Chris, for someone so smart and cunning, you really are a big idiot. We tell him about the plan."  
  
"But Steph—"  
  
"No, you say you can trust him, so we tell him, and then he can find out we're working with Edge, and then we can get them together."  
  
"Baby, why are you so intent on reuniting them?"  
  
"Because I know what it's like to feud with a sibling, and it sucks. And I don't like seeing anyone else be in the same situation," Stephanie said, a bit morosely.  
  
"Ok, I'll tell him next week ok? And you have to let Edge know what you're up to. Don't just spring Christian on him."  
  
"Ok, deal," Stephanie said, "Now, how are you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Well, I mean, just last week you were in TLC, and you got beat up, I mean look at your eye, and you had to wrestle this week and then I saw Booker beating you with that strap, I just want to make sure you're ok."  
  
"I'm fine baby, but thanks for your concern," Chris said kissing her.  
  
"Or course I'm concerned, I love you."  
  
"I love you too, but you already knew that."  
  
"Yeah, I did, so I hope you don't make it habit walking into the woman's locker room," Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Nah, just had to get a little revenge. Although, those showers were really dark, they should get some light in there."  
  
"You're so weird," Stephanie said laughing, before kissing him lightly.  
  
"Since you're obviously not going to bring it up, I guess I will."  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"What's with the champagne chilling in the corner," Jericho said, nodding his head towards the table.  
  
"Well, since I figured you liked to pour champagne on yourself, you wouldn't mind pouring it on someone else."  
  
"Only if that someone is you."  
  
"Well, you're in luck because that's just the person I had in mind." 


	27. I've Been Scarred For Life, October 17, ...

A/N: I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the story, especially because I have NO idea where this story is going, I just write what fits in with Raw and SD. But thanks for reading and reviewing. :)  
  
Stephanie sat in her office, contemplating whether or not to let Undertaker where his cast for Hell in a Cell. She looked to the broken lamp on her floor, and shuddered as she thought about how angry Undertaker had been. She always got the brunt of everyone's anger because everyone came to her to complain about what was wrong with everyone else. If she didn't like her job so much, and want to kick Bishoff's ass, she would have quit long ago.  
  
Suddenly her cell phone rang in her purse across the room. She got up and walked over to it. She dug through her purse, finally digging out her cell phone. She saw it was Jericho, and looked around to make sure there were no cameras around. Finding there wasn't, she answered the phone.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Stephanie said.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
"I just saw what happened with Taker, and I wanted to make sure you were ok," Jericho said, concerned.  
  
"I'm fine, but that's so sweet of you to call, you didn't have to," Stephanie said, smiling.  
  
"Of course I did, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't check up on you?"  
  
"The perfect boyfriend that you already are," Stephanie said dreamily.  
  
"I'm perfect?"  
  
"Well, besides being annoying sometimes, and having cold feet in bed, yeah, you're perfect," Stephanie said, giggling.  
  
"Well, I guess I should take that as a compliment or something."  
  
"You should."  
  
"So have you talked to Edge yet?"  
  
"No, I was just going to go find him."  
  
"I'll let you do that, see you later?"  
  
"Of course, where else would I go?"  
  
"I don't know, I'll see you later baby."  
  
"Bye sweetie," Stephanie said, ending the call.  
  
Stephanie left her office in search of Edge. She knew he had the first match, and wanted to give him time to shower and get dressed before she talked to him. There was nothing worse than being sweaty and tired and then having to talk to someone.  
  
She walked up to his dressing room, and knocked on the door. She was a little bit nervous about the talk she had to have with him. Not nervous enough to back down, but still nervous about his reaction to what she was going to tell him.  
  
"Come in," Edge's voice called out. Stephanie walked in, trying to smile.  
  
"Hey Edge."  
  
"Stephanie, hey, what's up?"  
  
"Um, I wanted to discuss something with you," Stephanie said, tentatively.  
  
"Sure, is this about the show or my match or something?"  
  
"Um, no, it's about something more.........personal."  
  
"Steph, you're not coming on to me or anything are you?" Edge said, in jest.  
  
"No, if I was, Chris would kill the both of us," Stephanie said, laughing lightly.  
  
"So really, what's up?"  
  
"Well, you know how Chris has been teaming up with Christian?"  
  
"Yeah," Edge said, his smile fading a bit, "What about it?"  
  
"Well, Chris and I had an idea, and you don't have to go along with it, we just had a simple idea."  
  
"Stephanie, get to the point."  
  
"We wanted to reunite the two of you," Stephanie said, biting her lip, waiting for his reaction.  
  
"You wanted to WHAT?" Edge asked with wide eyes.  
  
"Reunite you guys," Stephanie said slowly.  
  
"Stephanie, it's none of your business what happens between Christian and I."  
  
"But Edge, I'm your friend, Chris is your friend, we just wanted what was best for you."  
  
"And how do you know Christian is what's best? I hate him."  
  
"No you don't, we both know you don't hate him, he's your brother Edge, your BROTHER. Do you want to go through life hating him, or never talking to him?"  
  
"I don't know, after what he did to me, I mean how could he turn on me like that?"  
  
"Because he was jealous of you," Stephanie answered.  
  
"What? He was jealous of me? How did you find that out?"  
  
"Chris asked him. He misses you Edge, and he regrets turning on you."  
  
"He does?" Edge asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, he does, he realizes that he shouldn't have done what he did, but he's too afraid to call you, to apologize. Maybe if you guys got together it wouldn't be so hard for him."  
  
"It'd be hard to forgive him though, after all we've been through."  
  
"But don't you think you should at least try? There's never anything wrong with trying."  
  
"So Christian knows about you and Chris, and the plan, and everything?"  
  
"Not yet, but Chris is going to tell him, if we can trust him."  
  
"You can, I may not be close to Christian anymore, but I still know that deep down he's a good guy, and you can trust him."  
  
"So you are willing to meet with him?" Stephanie asked, hoping for an affirmative.  
  
"So, we're going to go out alone?"  
  
"No, we wouldn't do that, we were thinking after No Mercy on Sunday, we could all go out to eat, me, you, Chris, Kurt, and Christian, a group thing."  
  
"I'll think about it."  
  
"You will? Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll get back to you ok?"  
  
"Ok, and Edge, really think about it, he's not such a bad guy."  
  
"Bye Stephanie."  
  
"Bye," Stephanie said before walking out.  
  
Edge sat there thinking about Christian, and how things used to be between them. There were a lot of good times, they had had a lot of fun together. Stephanie was right, they were brothers, family, and that should count more than anything. Maybe he should give reconciliation a try.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie walked into her hotel room, and immediately saw Jericho pacing around the room, his jaw set in anger. She knew immediately why, and wasn't looking forward to the outburst she knew was coming.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Stephanie said, getting his attention. He hadn't even noticed her walk in, he was too angry.  
  
"I am going to kill that bastard for touching you," Jericho said, clearly pissed off.  
  
"Sweetie, calm down, you're too worked up," she said, going over to him, and stopping his pacing.  
  
"What the hell was Brock doing, he had the nerve to touch you! If I were still on SmackDown, I would have come down and kicked his sorry ass! How dare he!"  
  
"I'm ok sweetie, see, I'm here, I'm fine."  
  
"You shouldn't have to go through this shit day in and day out."  
  
"Chris, it's my job."  
  
"It's not your job to get rooms trashed around you, or for guys bigger than you to corner you, and start touching you."  
  
"But it is, we know what this job entails, and sure I'm going to get into situations like that, but I'll always have someone around to protect me, if it's not you, then it's Kurt or Edge."  
  
"Damn it, why do you always have to be so rational all the time? Just this once, can't I get all angry boyfriend on others and kick some ass?"  
  
"Well, I'm not rational all the time, I did almost break up with you over something that didn't even happen, that's not so rational."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"And besides, you kick ass every week, just pretend your being angry boyfriend," Stephanie said laughing, glad that Jericho had calmed down considerably.  
  
"I just love you, and don't want you to hurt in any way, emotionally, mentally, or physically."  
  
"Well, that's so thoughtful of you," Stephanie said, leaning up to kiss him, "I love you too."  
  
"So did you get a chance to talk to Edge?"  
  
"Yeah, he said he'd think about it."  
  
"That's good," Jericho said, kissing her again, "Have I told you how beautiful you look today?"  
  
"Yeah, you told me before I left.........oh and when I woke up.........oh yeah, and in the shower this morning," Stephanie said.  
  
"Well, I'm going to say it again, you look so beautiful, I love your hair like this," he said, taking a strand, and winding it around his finger.  
  
"I know you do, why do you think I wore it curly or wavy most of the time we were business partners?"  
  
"Oh is that why, were you trying to impress me?"  
  
"Well, let's see, I wore my hair the way you liked it, I wore very skimpy outfits, I flirted with you all the time, I made you get me lotion, no I didn't want you, of course not," Stephanie said sarcastically.  
  
"Where does the lotion factor into all of that?"  
  
"Who do you think I wanted to put the lotion on me?" Stephanie answered, raising a suggestive eyebrow.  
  
"Oh, is that why I had to buy it?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Dense. I have perfect skin, why would I need a very aromatic lotion if I wasn't going to use it?"  
  
"Damn me for not figuring all this out sooner," he said, pulling her closer.  
  
"But you figured it out eventually didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah, it only took you leaving for 5 months, and then you refusing to hug me, for me to figure it out."  
  
"Oh, why dwell on the past, we're together now, and we have been for the last 3 months."  
  
"Hmm, we have haven't we," Jericho said, pulling away to pull her shirt off, "We should have a celebration."  
  
"I like that idea," Stephanie said, kissing his neck. They started to towards the bedroom. Suddenly the phone rang. Jericho groaned as Stephanie pulled away.  
  
"Damn it, let the machine pick it up," Jericho said irritably.  
  
"I'm going to answer it really quickly," Stephanie said, going over to the phone, "Hello?"  
  
"Hey Steph, it's Edge, I hope it's ok to call this late."  
  
"Yeah, of course it is, what's up?"  
  
"I want to see Christian," Edge said, bluntly.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah, I am, so tell Chris to tell Christian everything."  
  
"Ok, and Edge?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You made the right choice."  
  
"I hope so. Night Steph."  
  
"Night Edge," Stephanie said, hanging up. She paused, and smiled before turning to Jericho, a bright grin on her face.  
  
"So?" Jericho asked anxiously.  
  
"He wants to see him," Stephanie said, jumping up and down.  
  
"I'm glad, I'll tell Christian on Sunday."  
  
"I'm so glad when things work out."  
  
"Don't get too excited, we still have to tell Christian."  
  
"Oh yeah, but I'm sure everything will work out," Stephanie said giddily, as she walked to Jericho and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"I hope they will."  
  
"Me too.........so where were we?" 


	28. Reunions Reek of Awesomeness, No Mercy, ...

Jericho and Christian walked backstage happily, glad that they had retained their Tag Team titles. Jericho was a little woozy after the ring ropes had broken as he tried to attempt a springboard dropkick. He knew that it could've been worse, and he was glad that he hadn't suffered anything more serious. But still he had hit his face on the mat and it still hurt.  
  
He and Christian walked into their dressing room, and Jericho threw the belt onto the bench, grabbing a towel. He started toweling off, catching his breath. He was done for the evening, so he wanted to shower and get ready, then he would tell Christian about Edge and everything.  
  
"Hey man, are you all right?" Christian asked. Jericho turned to him  
  
"Yeah, just a little dizzy, but nothing serious."  
  
"You sure, you might have a concussion or something."  
  
"Nah, I'm fine, I would know if I had a concussion."  
  
MEANWHILE  
  
Stephanie paced the room, over and over. She had been watching Jericho's match with keen interest, and then the ropes had broken. Damn it, she would have to talk to those crew people, how could this have happened? Her breath had caught as she saw him fall face first onto the mat.  
  
Ever since then she had been pacing in frustration. She needed to see if Jericho was all right, but she couldn't get to him. Damn it, she should be able to check up on her boyfriend, but instead she was stuck here. She only thanked God that he hadn't been attempting a Lionsault where he could have been seriously hurt, that would have been simply awful.  
  
She was contemplating whether or not she should risk it by going. She didn't know if Christian would be around, and if he was, then how could she explain her presence? Unless Jericho had already told him about everything, but she had no way of finding that out. She decided to go anyway, and if Christian didn't know about them, they would just have to explain when she got there.  
  
She bit her lip as she looked both ways, making sure that she remained as inconspicuous as possible. She stealthily made her way towards Jericho's locker room, having found out which one it was, and also finding the roundabout way to get there. Suddenly she felt an arm grab her, stopping her trek to Jericho's locker room.  
  
"Where are you going Steph?"  
  
"I have to go see Chris," she whispered.  
  
"You can't go see him and you know why," Edge whispered back.  
  
"But.........but he could be hurt, I need to check on him."  
  
"Stephanie, he could be with Christian, and I'm sure he's fine."  
  
"No, I have to go see him," Stephanie answered, starting to walk away. Edge grabbed her by the waist from behind and pulled her towards him.  
  
"You're not going anywhere," he said firmly.  
  
"Let me go!" Stephanie said, struggling against him.  
  
"Stephanie, you know you can't, be rational."  
  
"But I have to, I have to check up on him!"  
  
"Stephanie, I'm sure that he's fine, and getting checked out."  
  
"No, I need to see him, you have to let me see him!"  
  
"What's going on here?" Another voice interrupted their little scene.  
  
"Go away Flair," Edge said to the other man.  
  
"What a cute little rendezvous, glad to see you back on your feet Stephanie," Flair said snidely.  
  
"I said go away Flair," Edge said again.  
  
"Bye, and don't worry, I'll keep your little secret," Flair said, walking away.  
  
"See, this is what happens Stephanie, we could've been caught." Edge felt Stephanie go limp in his arms, the fight drained out of her.  
  
"I'm just so worried about him," she said quietly, tears coming to her blue eyes.  
  
"I know Steph, I know," Edge said, pulling her into a hug. Just then Edge saw Kurt walking down the nearly deserted hallway, "Hey Angle, what are you doing down this deserted hallway?"  
  
"Edge? Stephanie?" Kurt said, as he walked over to the two, the dim lighting making it hard to see the twosome.  
  
"Yeah, it's us," Edge answered.  
  
"What are you two doing?"  
  
"I'm trying to calm Stephanie down."  
  
"What's the matter Stephanie?" Kurt asked concerned, "Did something happen with Bischoff or Brock?"  
  
"No, I just wanted to see Chris," she told him.  
  
"And I told her she couldn't, it would be too risky," Edge added.  
  
"Do you want me to check up on him for you?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Would you?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Thanks Kurt, I really appreciate it, I guess I'll just go back to my office," Stephanie said.  
  
"Ok, I'll come see you in a few minutes."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said, walking away silently.  
  
"Um, Edge?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"How do I get to Jericho's locker room?"  
  
"Did you get lost Kurt?" Edge said laughing.  
  
"No," Kurt eyed Edge, "Yeah, ok, I got lost."  
  
"It's that way," Edge said pointing in the other direction, "I'll see you later tonight."  
  
"Yeah, ok."  
  
Kurt walked down the hallway, looking for Jericho's locker room. He eyed all the doors until he came on the one that said 'Chris Jericho and Christian' on it. He knocked loudly, waiting to be let in. Christian answered the door moments later.  
  
"Hey Christian, is Chris here?"  
  
"Yeah, hold on," Christian said, before turning to look into the room, "Hey Chris, Kurt's here to see you."  
  
"Hey man, what's up?"  
  
"Just wanted to see if you were ok. After you know, the ropes breaking and all that."  
  
"Oh yeah, I was a bit shaken up after it happened, but yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Ok, good, I'm sure there are people who would be glad to hear that," Kurt said, giving Jericho a pointed look.  
  
"Oh yeah, tell them I'm fine, actually I might just see them myself" Jericho answered, "Well, I have to talk to someone, but I'll see you later."  
  
"Yeah, that's fine. Bye."  
  
"Bye," Jericho said closing the door, before turning to Christian, "Christian, can I talk to you for a second?"  
  
"Sure, what's up?"  
  
"Um, I was wondering if you wanted to ever, I don't know, wanted to become friends with Edge again?"  
  
"I would, I guess, but he hates me."  
  
"What if I said he didn't?"  
  
"How would you know?" Christian asked confused.  
  
"Christian, there's a lot of things going on around here that you don't know about."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Can you keep a secret?" Jericho asked seriously.  
  
"Yeah, of course, are you in trouble or something?"  
  
"No, nothing like that. But well, there's things you need to know."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I didn't really defect to Raw, I mean I did, but not for the reasons you think."  
  
"I don't get you."  
  
"I'm a spy.........for SmackDown."  
  
"You're a what?"  
  
"You heard me, I'm a spy for SmackDown, more specifically for Stephanie."  
  
"You're working for Stephanie, but I thought you hated her," Christian said in disbelief.  
  
"Ok, funny thing, I'm dating Stephanie."  
  
"WHAT? YOU'RE dating STEPHANIE?"  
  
"Yeah, and I have been since she came back to be the General Manager."  
  
"It's been like 3 months."  
  
"I know," Jericho said laughing, "We're trying to bring down Bischoff."  
  
"Well, that explains a lot, I can't believe you guys are dating each other. And you're happy with her?"  
  
"Very."  
  
"Wow, that's just.........wow."  
  
"Um, that's not the only thing. Kurt and Shane are in on the plan—"  
  
"Surprise, surprise."  
  
"And so is Edge," Jericho finished. Christian gasped in shocked.  
  
"Edge, but you hate Edge, and Kurt hates Edge."  
  
"It's an act, he's been working with us, since right before Unforgiven. And Christian, he misses you, and he wants to see you, but only if you want to."  
  
"He does?" Christian asked, hope in his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, Stephanie brought it up to him, and we're all going out tonight, and you're invited."  
  
"Really? You guys want me to come along?"  
  
"Yeah sure, it'll be me, you, Kurt, Steph, and Edge."  
  
"Yeah, I'd love to come," he said enthusiastically.  
  
"Cool, just stick around until after Kurt and Edge's match, then we'll head out, not all together of course, but you'll head out with Kurt and I."  
  
"Great," Christian said smiling happily.  
  
"Ok, well, I've got someone worried about me, so I'm going to head out for a while, I'll be back later."  
  
"Sure, bye."  
  
Stephanie walked back to her dressing room, after talking with Big Show. He wanted to come to SmackDown. She didn't really know if she wanted him on her show, he was a bit lumbering in the ring. She hoped that Kurt would come tell her how Jericho was, she was still worried about him. She walked into her office, and saw someone leaning against her desk.  
  
"Chris!" Stephanie said, running over to him, and throwing her arms around him.  
  
"Hey baby," he said, returning the hug.  
  
"I was so worried when the ropes broke, are you all right?" Stephanie asked, her voice thick with concern.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me," Jericho said, kissing her lightly.  
  
"But I do worry, what if you had been hurt?"  
  
"I wasn't though baby, I'm ok, really I am."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said, furrowing her brow, "But just so you know, I'm allowed to worry about you. I love you, and I'm your girlfriend, so I'm allowed to worry."  
  
"Understood. I talked to Christian."  
  
"You did, you told him everything?"  
  
"Everything, and he's anxious to see Edge, excited even."  
  
"Oh, this is so great," Stephanie said, hugging Jericho again, "Our plan worked!"  
  
"Yeah, it did," he said, laughing.  
  
"Oh, I almost forgot, congratulations on retaining."  
  
"Thank you. And might I add, you look fabulous in leather."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"You'd also look fabulous out of leather, but we can wait for that later," Jericho said winking at her.  
  
"It'll be tough keeping my hands off you," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Likewise, trust me."  
  
"Oops, you have to go, I promised Taker I would help him out with something," Stephanie said, kissing him quickly.  
  
"Ok, see you after the show."  
  
"Definitely." They kissed again, before Jericho left.  
  
A SHORT TIME LATER  
  
Stephanie laughed as Tracy left the room. Served the bitch right. She had promised to help set this up for Taker, and it had gone perfectly. She smile in satisfaction, today was looking good. She turned back to her television, and turned it on to watch Kurt and Edge.  
  
"So you were watching my match huh?" Stephanie turned and faced her ex- husband.  
  
"Get out Hunter."  
  
"No."  
  
"I said get out, don't make me call security."  
  
"Stephanie, I know you, you wouldn't call them."  
  
"Little you know."  
  
"Oh come on Stephanie, I was married to you for two years, I'm sure some of you still wants me."  
  
"Nope, sorry to burst your bubble, but I've moved on. And seeing you in the shower with two women, I'd say you have as well."  
  
"I'm willing to take you back."  
  
"Take me back? I wouldn't go after you if you were the last man on the face of the Earth." And with that Stephanie left.  
  
AFTER THE PPV  
  
Christian was practically bouncing off the walls as Jericho pulled into the restaurant. He noticed it was a little out of the way, but he figured it was because nobody knew about this little alliance they had going. They got out of the car, and walked into the place.  
  
"I don't think Edge and Stephanie are here yet," Kurt said.  
  
"No, they aren't, Steph probably had to stay after for a bit, let's get a table though," Jericho answered.  
  
They got their table and sat down waiting for the rest of the little group to show up, making small talk among themselves. Christian was the first to notice as Edge and Stephanie walked through the door, Stephanie taking her jacket off.  
  
"There they are," Stephanie said as she made her way over to the table, Edge hanging back a little.  
  
"Hey baby," Jericho said, standing up and giving Stephanie a kiss, as Edge sat down.  
  
"Mmm, I missed you," Stephanie murmured against his lips, before pulling away, "Hey Kurt, hey Christian." Stephanie sat down close to Jericho.  
  
"Hey Steph," Kurt said.  
  
"Wow, so you two are really together," Christian said in awe.  
  
"Yeah," Stephanie said, smiling at Jericho, then leaning over to kiss his cheek.  
  
"So here we all are," Kurt said, noticing the tension between Christian and Edge.  
  
"Yeah," Chris said, looking between the two brothers, "So Edge, sorry that you lost tonight."  
  
"Yeah," Edge said, giving a small laugh, "Lost to the best though..........Benoit."  
  
"Hey, I resent that," Kurt said laughing, "I won the match."  
  
"Only because I was tired."  
  
"Sure. Christian, congratulations on retaining."  
  
"Thanks Kurt," Christian said, then being silent once again.  
  
"Ok, I'm sick of this!" Stephanie said, exasperated, "You two both wanted to be here, now you're here."  
  
"You'll have to excuse my girlfriend, she lacks a little thing called tact," Jericho said. Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"She's right," Christian said, "Edge, I'm really sorry, for everything I did to you. I was just jealous, and stupid, and I shouldn't have turned on you. You're my brother, and I know I screwed up, but I'm sorry."  
  
"Well, you weren't completely at fault, I called you a bed wetter," Edge said laughing.  
  
"Oh yeah, I guess I blocked that out of my mind," Christian said, smiling tentatively.  
  
"I don't blame you."  
  
"We're gonna go," Stephanie said, nonchalantly.  
  
"You guys don't have to go," Edge told them.  
  
"It's ok, you guys should talk," she said, "We'll see you guys later."  
  
She grabbed Jericho's hand, and motioned for Kurt, as the threesome left the restaurant. They gave the brothers one last look before going outside and to Jericho's car. Kurt broke the silence.  
  
"I'm hungry, are we going to get food?"  
  
"God, you're thinking of food?" Stephanie said.  
  
"Yeah. So?"  
  
"We'll find somewhere else," Jericho interjected, "So what do you think is going to happen with those two?"  
  
"Good things," Stephanie answered.  
  
Edge and Christian sat across from each other awkwardly. They both were still a little uncomfortable by the whole situation, and now they had been left alone.  
  
"At least they didn't try to make it so they had to leave on accident or try to concoct some weird story," Edge said.  
  
"Yeah, they're straightforward at least."  
  
"Why were you jealous of me?" Edge asked suddenly. Christian thought for a moment, before looking at his brother.  
  
"You were always getting the attention, I was always second best when I was around you. And everyone wanted to be friends with you. I stopped being Christian and became 'Edge's brother.' I wanted to make my own name."  
  
"Why didn't' you just tell me all of this?"  
  
"When? In between you winning King of the Ring and the Intercontinental title, you were always busy. And being the little brother I wanted attention."  
  
"I never really hated you, I just pretended to because you hated me," Edge told him.  
  
"I didn't hate you either. I just wanted more attention."  
  
"It might be hard to be friends again, I mean, there are a lot of old wounds."  
  
"Oh," Christian said, downcast.  
  
"But dude, you're my brother, you're family, and that's more important than some silly feud, or jealousy."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Yeah, so I guess we should just let bygones be bygones."  
  
"Dude, you're the coolest," Christian said.  
  
"I know man, and Christian?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"We still reek of awesomeness." 


	29. I Need a Dose of Vitamin C, October 21, ...

Jericho sat down in his dressing room, putting on what Stephanie referred to as his "sparkly pajamas." He and Christian knew that Trish was scheduled to do some sort of photo shoot, and wanted to put a little hype on their match. Christian walked into the room as Jericho was lacing up his boots.  
  
"Hey man," Jericho said, "Where've you been?"  
  
"Oh, I was talking to Edge, we're going to a hockey game this weekend," Christian said happily.  
  
"Cool, I'm glad you two are friends again."  
  
"I wanted to thank you guys, for what you did, I owe you guys a lot."  
  
"No you don't, all we did was set up the meeting, you guys are the ones who patched things up."  
  
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have been able to meet if you guys hadn't stepped in."  
  
"Well, we figured that it was time you two made up."  
  
"So are you ready to go harass Trish."  
  
"Almost, I just have to call the better half."  
  
"Ok, I'm gonna go grab a water, I'll be right back," Christian told him.  
  
"Ok, see you soon."  
  
Jericho grabbed his cell phone, dialing his home number. Stephanie wasn't with him tonight, she had gotten a touch of food poisoning yesterday and didn't feel like traveling. Jericho had told her that she could just stay at his house, because he was coming home tomorrow.  
  
They had practically been living together since they had started dating. They traveled together, and on their weekends, they would usually stay at Jericho's house in Florida. Stephanie had moved a lot of her clothes and stuff to his house, so he guessed they lived together, except until now Stephanie had never stayed alone in his house.  
  
"Hello?" Stephanie's voice said.  
  
"Hey you."  
  
"Hey sweetie, what's up?"  
  
"Just calling to say hi. And ask how you were. Feeling better?"  
  
"Yeah, I've just been resting, now, why are you calling?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Are you taping Monday Night Football for me?" Jericho asked, not beating around the bush.  
  
"Yes, I told you I was, and I am," Stephanie said laughing.  
  
"Just wanted to make sure, you know how much I love the Colts."  
  
"I know, sweetie I know, it's always Tony Dungy is a defensive genius, Peyton Manning has a great arm, blah blah blah," Stephanie said, laughing again.  
  
"Good to know you've been listening," Jericho chuckled.  
  
"Of course I listen, you never shut up."  
  
"I don't know what to do with you, you're always insulting me. Maybe you don't love me," Jericho said in a kidding tone.  
  
"Oh no, I've been found out. Whatever will I do?"  
  
"I'll show you tomorrow, but I have to go now, Christian and I have to go harass Trish, and just so you know, I don't mean anything I say to her ok?"  
  
"Ok, I understand."  
  
"Love you, bye."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
Jericho and Christian walked back to their locker room, after harassing Trish. They had thought they were funny, and Jericho had played the pompous ass to a tee. He had even come up with a witty new line.  
  
"Chris Jericho," a female voice said. Christian and Jericho both turned their heads towards Stacy Keibler.  
  
"What is it Stacy?" Jericho said, blandly.  
  
"I just wanted you to know you missed your chance."  
  
"Missed my chance to what, contract an STD?" Jericho said sarcastically. Christian allowed himself a laugh.  
  
"You're so funny Chris, but you know deep down, that you wanted all of this," Stacy said, gesturing towards her body."  
  
"Sure Stacy, sure, I also want a hole in my head, thanks," Jericho said, as he and Christian walked away.  
  
"What was that all about?" Christian asked.  
  
"Stacy's been trying to get into my pants for like two months."  
  
"Seriously? Did you know who know about all that?"  
  
"Yeah, of course she did."  
  
"And what did she think?"  
  
"Well, she had her own problems, Edge was chasing after her."  
  
"He was?" Christian asked, shocked.  
  
"Yeah, but we're all cool now. And Stacy finally gets the point."  
  
"Well, congratulations, I guess."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
LATER  
  
Chris reached his hotel room, and threw his stuff down on the ground. He was allowed to be messy since Stephanie wasn't around. He put his pajamas on, and hopped into bed, before grabbing the telephone and dialing Stephanie.  
  
"Hey Chris," Stephanie said.  
  
"How'd you know it was me?"  
  
"I figured it could only be you calling this late."  
  
"So quite the show huh?"  
  
"My ex-husband is a real piece of work. A huge, disgusting, perverted piece of work."  
  
"You're telling me. I can't believe he would actually pull something like that."  
  
"I knew he was low, but I didn't know he was that low," she said, disgusted by what she had seen tonight.  
  
"So what's this I hear about the Big Show being traded?"  
  
"I have no idea, Bischoff will probably try to execute a trade, I don't know for who, I like my roster."  
  
"Yeah, that should be interesting to see.........oh, I have good news," Jericho said.  
  
"Really? What is it?"  
  
"Guess who is NOT being pursued by Stacy?"  
  
"So the bitch finally got the point?" Stephanie said laughing. Jericho figured she had a smile on her face.  
  
"Yes, of course she told me that I had missed my chance."  
  
"Ugh, idiot. I'm glad you called me earlier though."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Well, because who knows what kinds of ideas I would've gotten after seeing you with Trish."  
  
"Just an act baby, just an act."  
  
"Better be buster, because I have your whole house at my disposal. And I am not afraid to trash stuff."  
  
"I know, trust me," Jericho said, laughing, "Don't go snooping around my house now."  
  
"Me? Snoop? Never."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Although I must say you were quite the adorable baby," she said slyly.  
  
"Hey! You looked at my baby pictures!"  
  
"I couldn't resist, you're adorable."  
  
"Well, of course I was, and I'm still adorable."  
  
"The very sad thing is I can't argue with that.........I'm glad you made fun of Trish's former relationship with my father. I've never gotten along with her."  
  
"Really? I could've sworn you two were the best of friends," Jericho said sardonically.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Well, I'm going to go, I'm exhausted, I love you baby, and I'll see you tomorrow morning, I'm catching the early flight."  
  
"Ok, I love you too, see you tomorrow.........oh, and sweetie?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"When you get here, I think I'm going to need an injection of Vitamin C, because I'm feeling a little weak." Jericho laughed at her.  
  
"Oh, I'll give you some Vitamin C all right."  
  
"Is that a promise?" she asked mischeviously.  
  
"You better believe it." 


	30. Secrets Are Hard To Keep, October 24, 20...

A/N: Thanks to my co-Queen Karla for helping me with the idea for this chapter. :)  
  
Stephanie held her head as she walked backstage. She had been hit pretty hard in the head with that trophy. As if her day couldn't get any worse. She was already in a horrible mood, and this whole fiasco was not making her life any easier. And she could even call and complain to Jericho.  
  
She and Jericho had had a fight earlier that day. She had been picking out her outfit for the evening, and Jericho had made an off-hand comment on her breasts that she didn't find at all funny. She hated the implants now, having only gotten them for her good-for-nothing, pervert of an ex-husband. They had become a sensitive subject with her, and Jericho knew it, but he still made the comment, and she had been hurt by it.  
  
She and Jericho had such passionate tempers, and they tended to let those get the best of them. That was one of the things that made them so great together. Of course, they were also both stubborn, and she was not going to admit defeat, or apologize any time soon. They both needed time to cool down.  
  
That coupled with her show tonight was driving her insane. She was at the end of her rope today, and extremely susceptible to getting angry. She guessed that she had just snapped when she had gotten hit with the trophy, it made her feel like a baby sitter for her wrestlers again.  
  
Stephanie grabbed an ice pack that one of the trainers had given her and held it to her head as she walked to her office. She needed to finalize her contracts for the Big Show trade. She had lied tonight when she had said that she wanted Big Show on SmackDown. That couldn't be further from the truth. She didn't think she needed him, and quite frankly, she didn't like the big oaf.  
  
Stephanie sat in her plush chair, and started to stare at her documents before her. A soft knock sounded at her door, and she called for them to come in. Kurt stepped timidly into the room, sending a pout in Stephanie's direction.  
  
"Hey Stephanie."  
  
"Hi Kurt."  
  
"I just wanted to come here and apologize for what happened out there. I really didn't mean to hit you," he said sheepishly.  
  
"I know Kurt."  
  
"I just got caught up in the moment. I have a thing for shiny gold things," Kurt said with a smile.  
  
"I kind of figured that," Stephanie laughed, "I'm sorry I slapped you. I'm just not having a good day."  
  
"Want to talk about it?" Kurt asked, sitting down in the chair in front of her desk, "Sometimes that helps."  
  
"I don't know Kurt," Stephanie replied, sometimes she didn't feel like sharing her feelings.  
  
"Oh come on, I'm sure it'll make you feel better."  
  
"Fine," Stephanie conceded, "I just had a fight with Chris earlier, and I'm still pretty pissed off with that."  
  
"What happened? Nothing serious I hope," Kurt said, thinking about the last fight they had, which Jericho had told him about. He hoped the two of them weren't going to break up, they made such a great couple.  
  
"No, we're not breaking up or anything, we just had a fight. He said something that hurt my feelings and we started arguing."  
  
"What did he say?"  
  
"He basically said my breasts were too big and I looked slutty."  
  
"Stephanie, you've told me that you think they're too big."  
  
"I know, but he knows that it's a sensitive subject with me. I never wanted them in the first place, and now I'm stuck with them. He went out of his way to mention them when he knows that I get upset about them."  
  
"Well, in what context did he tell you about them?"  
  
"I asked him if I looked all right in the outfit I'm wearing, and he just said my breasts were too big, and they made the shirt look slutty."  
  
"Steph, maybe he's just upset that you tried to change yourself for Hunter. Maybe it's not about the implants, maybe it's about what you went through with and for Hunter that makes him upset about them. Maybe their just reminders of the things he used to dislike about you," Kurt told her.  
  
"Kurt, when did you get so insightful?"  
  
"I think right after you slapped the hell out of me."  
  
"I guess I was right to do it." A knock sounded at the door then, and Stephanie told them to come in. Edge came in, cell phone in hand.  
  
"No, Christian, I'm telling you, Toronto is so going to win the Stanley Cup this year. They're due man, they're due," Edge said, giving Kurt and Stephanie a little wave.  
  
"No way man," Christian said over the line, "They are so totally not going to win."  
  
"Want to make a bet?"  
  
"Sure if you want to lose."  
  
"Hold on," Edge said, before turning to the room's other occupants, "Stephanie I just wanted to tell you that Undertaker just got brutalized by Big Show, and they're taking him away on a stretcher."  
  
"What?" Stephanie exclaimed, getting up, "I have to go out there, thanks for the advice Kurt."  
  
"No problem, and don't be too stubborn, that goes for the both of you," Kurt told her.  
  
"Yeah, whatever, Edge, thanks for letting me know."  
  
"Sure," Edge told her, "Now Christian, how much you want to bet?"  
  
"You two are crazy," Kurt said, laughing as he walked past the blonde Canadian.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie walked into her hotel room, and saw Jericho sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels. He didn't so much as give her a glance as she walked into the room. She could tell that he was still angry, and if she was honest with herself, she was angry too.  
  
She walked silently passed him, returning the favor of not looking at him, and went into the bedroom. She went into the bathroom, and took off her make-up and brushed out her hair. Then she put on her pajamas and got into bed. She stared at the door, wondering if Jericho was going to come in any time soon.  
  
She found out a few minutes later, when Jericho walked in, and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He came into the bedroom moments later, mutely walking to the closet and pulling out a pillow and a blanket, before proceeding to walk into the living area of the room, intending to sleep on the couch.  
  
"You don't have to sleep on the couch," Stephanie told him.  
  
"It doesn't matter," he said.  
  
"Chris, let's talk."  
  
"What about? I thought I said what I needed to say earlier."  
  
"But we didn't resolve anything," she told him.  
  
"I thought we did, I'm leaving for my house tomorrow and you're leaving for yours."  
  
"Chris, that's not a solution. So we go and we fight, and then we just go our separate ways?"  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me," Jericho said, coldly. Stephanie hadn't heard that tone of voice from him since over a year ago.  
  
"So what, this is the end? Because we had some stupid fight?"  
  
"I guess so," Jericho said walking into the living area, and stretching the sheet across the couch. Stephanie got out of bed and walked over to Jericho.  
  
"If anyone has anything to be mad about it's me!"  
  
"Do tell."  
  
"You're the one who made fun of my.........enhancements!"  
  
"I didn't mean to make fun of them Stephanie, I was just telling you the truth, I don't like them, I never have."  
  
"Oh, really, well I guess that whole promo you did about them wasn't a big enough tip-off. I know you don't like them, do you think I do?"  
  
"I was just pointing out how you looked in your outfit tonight."  
  
"I didn't want them, you know Hunter talked me into them!"  
  
"Why did you stay with that jerk any way? He wasn't good enough for you."  
  
"Because at one point I did love him ok? And I would have done anything for him, and this was one of them."  
  
"Why didn't you stand up to him Stephanie, why did you let him walk all over you?"  
  
"Because he made me, because he's such an overbearing individual."  
  
"Stephanie, I think I need to cool down ok," Jericho said softly, "I'm going to go take a walk."  
  
"Do you want me to come?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"No, I think I need to be alone."  
  
"Chris, are we going to be ok?" Stephanie looked at him with sad eyes.  
  
"I don't know," he said, before walking out.  
  
Jericho walked down the hallway and to the elevators. As soon as he got to the lobby he sat down in one of the chairs in the huge lobby and thought for a while. He had to admit that tonight's fight wasn't really about her implants or anything stupid like that. He just guessed that the secrecy was getting to him, and he hated the fact that everyone and their mother knew about her and HHH when they were together.  
  
He didn't want to lose Stephanie, but he wanted to tell the whole world that he loved her. He didn't know how long he would have to wait for that though. He knew that Stephanie loved him, and he loved her too. And they had friends who knew about them, and her brother knew about them. Sometimes he just wished that he hadn't gotten involved in this plan in the first place, if he just stayed on SmackDown, and been with Stephanie.  
  
He thought about Stephanie, and knew that he wanted to be with her for the foreseeable future, maybe even for the rest of his life. He smiled as he thought about her smile, and her laugh, and the way her eyes sparkled when she was excited. He knew that he agreed to keep everything a secret and go along with this plan just because she was Stephanie. She was Stephanie, and he loved her, and he wanted to make her happy.  
  
He got up from his seat and walked back to his room, feeling a whole better about the whole thing. He opened the door, and saw that Stephanie was sitting on the bed, her knees pulled up under her chin with her arms wrapped around them. He walked over to the bed, and sat in front of her.  
  
"I'm sorry for saying that you looked slutty and your breasts are too big. I didn't really mean it the way it sounded. I think I was just jealous," he said.  
  
"Jealous?"  
  
"Jealous that HHH got to show you off to the world, got you to change yourself for everyone to see, and I have to keep my feelings for you a secret."  
  
"I'm keeping the secret too."  
  
"I know, and I think I need to understand it's just as hard for you as it is for me, except I have to see your ex-husband every week."  
  
"I guess, so we're good?" Stephanie asked, hope in her eyes. Jericho leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers in a tender kiss.  
  
"We're fine."  
  
"I love you, and someday, hopefully soon, I'll be announcing that to the entire world."  
  
"I love you too, and I want the same thing," he replied, "Now, I've been wanting to ask you this since you first came in, but since I'm such a stubborn ass, I wouldn't."  
  
"What?"  
  
"How's your head?" Jericho asked, taking one of his hands and bringing it to her head.  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
"You sure?" Jericho asked again, kissing the bump he felt on her head.  
  
"Yeah. So we're really ok?"  
  
"Yes, we're ok, we're fine, right as rain, a-ok, nifty, great, fantastic........."  
  
"Chris?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Shut up." 


	31. RAW is Crap, October 28, 2002

A/N: Just wanted to thank you all again for the reviews, I love reviews. :)  
  
And just letting you all know, I have NO plans of ending this story anytime soon. I think I enjoy writing it far too much for that to happen. It was brought up in a recent review, so just thought I'd let you know, this story is here for a LONG time to come, bwahahahahahaha! ::laughs evilly::  
  
"So are you ready to go out there," Christian asked.  
  
"Sure," Jericho answered, stretching a bit.  
  
He looked at the monitor waiting for his cue to go out when he saw Rico, Jamal, and Rosie attacking the Dudleys. He looked confused for a moment, not expecting this to happen.  
  
"What's going on?" Christian asked.  
  
"I have no idea, but I don't think it was supposed to be this."  
  
"Didn't we have a match?"  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
"Boys, boys, boys, you did have a match, but I had to talk to my friends, and told them they needed to make an impact," Bischoff said, walking over.  
  
"But what about our match?" Christian said.  
  
"Well, I guess it's.........off," Bischoff told them, laughing to himself.  
  
"Dude, that's not fair," Christian said.  
  
"Aww, I'm so sorry," Bischoff said, walking away.  
  
"Damn, I hate that guy," Jericho muttered.  
  
"So do I, so what do we do now?"  
  
"I guess we can go," Jericho told him.  
  
They walked to their dressing room, and started getting their things together. They felt no need to stick around if they didn't have a match. Besides, Jericho wanted to get back to Stephanie. He still felt bad about the fight that they had had last week. He had been really unfair with Stephanie, and hated making her upset.  
  
Just as they were about done getting their things, a knock sounded on their door. Christian got up and answered it. He found Bischoff smirking at him on the other side. Jericho rolled his eyes, and turned to him.  
  
"What do you want Bischoff?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Well boys, I guess you haven't been watching the show, shame on you, you guys DO have a match."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You two against Bubba and a partner of his choice. So you might want to get ready."  
  
"Thanks for letting us know," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"No problem," Bischoff said, smiling in that way of his. Jericho rolled his eyes again as Bischoff left.  
  
"Great, and I was kind of hoping I could get out early."  
  
"I wonder why that is?" Christian said smirking.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"You're totally whipped," Christian told him laughing.  
  
"Yeah, so?" Chris said, laughing with him, "I think when you date Stephanie McMahon, you can't help but let her be in control."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Well, let's get out there and defend our titles," Chris told him, as they walked out, and down the hallway.  
  
LATER  
  
Jericho and Christian walked up the ramp after successfully defending their Tag Team titles against Bubba Ray, and his secret partner, Jeff Hardy. It had been a pretty long match, and Jericho was quite tired and anxious to get back to Stephanie.  
  
They were walking back to their dressing room, when they spotted Stacy and Test in the hallway. Jericho and Christian walked by and Stacy raised her eyebrow towards him. Jericho didn't even want to know why.  
  
They kept walking, but were suddenly stopped by Eric Bischoff again. Jericho groaned inwardly. As if he hadn't seen this asshole enough tonight, here he was again. Would he ever just leave them alone?  
  
"Get out of the way Bischoff," Christian said.  
  
"Ok, I will, I just want to tell you Jericho, you might want to stick around for my announcement, I'm sure you'll find it.........interesting."  
  
"Why?" Jericho asked, confused.  
  
"You'll see," Bischoff said, before leaving, and Jericho hoped for the last time this evening.  
  
"Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in," Jericho said.  
  
"I'm sure you'll get to your hotel eventually."  
  
"Hopefully sometime before the next century," Jericho told him, opening the door to their dressing room.  
  
Jericho turned on the television provided for them, and settled himself on the couch. He planned to watch Bischoff's interview, and see what this was all about. Then after that, he was leaving, there was no way he was going to stay any longer. Not even to potentially see HHH getting put in a casket.  
  
Jericho watched as Bischoff made his way down to the ring. He was curious to find out what Bischoff meant. He listened as Bischoff outlined what this Elimination Chamber would consist of. So it was going to be a combination of Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, and Wargames. The last one surprised him a bit. Now Bischoff was announcing the participants. Who the hell was going to be in this match?  
  
Jericho's eyes widened as he heard his name announced. Just like that and he was getting a title shot. He could possibly be a World Champion and a Tag Champion. Last time that happened was last year with the Rock. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited. This was an opportunity to get a major title again. He listened to the other guys in the match, and thought it was a pretty good mixture of people. This had the potential to be a good match.  
  
Jericho smiled to himself as he gathered his things, and walked out the door. He was almost out, when Stacy seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Just great he thought, first Bischoff and now Stacy, would this ever end?  
  
"Chris, I just wanted to say congratulations on your title shot."  
  
"Whatever Stacy."  
  
"It's too bad you never took me up on my offer, I would be a great marketer for you."  
  
"What? You're a great marketer, making someone say that they're fans are Testicles is great marketing? Luckily my fans already have a name."  
  
"I think it's a great name, it fits."  
  
"You just keep on thinking that, and stay away from me."  
  
"Oh, I will, I have Test now, and I don't NEED you."  
  
"Good," Jericho said, leaving.  
  
He hopped into his car, and drove to his hotel. He reached it fairly quickly, and grabbed his things, preparing to go to his hotel room. He got on the elevator, and took it up to his floor. He walked quickly to his room and unlocked the door. He dropped his stuff by the door and went off in search of Stephanie.  
  
He didn't see her in the living area of the room, or on the balcony so he figured that she was in the bedroom. He walked in, and looked around. She didn't seem to be in here either. That was odd. He noticed the bathroom door was open so she couldn't have been in there. Jericho started to get worried, as he looked around the empty room.  
  
"Stephanie?" he called out, just in case she was around, and he was too stupid to notice her. He got no reply.  
  
He had left her there earlier, where the hell could she be? Her stuff had been in their rental car, and he had brought it up with him just now, so he had no way of knowing if she had taken her things. Though he noticed her purse missing. Jericho started to become frantic, not knowing where Stephanie could be.  
  
Crazy thoughts were running through his mind, Stephanie leaving him being on the forefront. She wouldn't have just left him would she? I mean, even if she left, she would leave a note right, some kind of indication of where she would be. But maybe their fight had been worse than he thought, maybe Stephanie had decided that they weren't worth it, or that she just couldn't deal with this any longer.  
  
Jericho sat down heavily on the bed, putting his head in his hands. He didn't like the feelings running through his mind. They scared him. He seriously didn't know if he could live without Stephanie and that was a frightening thought. How would he go on without her, she had been such a big part of his life, and not just for the time they had been dating, but for a long time before that, maybe even before King of the Ring 2000.  
  
Just as Jericho was about to lose all hope, the door opened and Stephanie came in with multiple shopping bags in her arms. She kicked the door closed with her foot, and walked into the bedroom, not aware that Jericho was there. She set her things down, then looked up and gasped when she saw Jericho sitting on the bed.  
  
"Chris, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the show?" Stephanie said, making her way over to him, and sitting on his lap.  
  
"I got off early," Jericho said in a monotone voice. Stephanie gave him a concerned look.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Don't try to bullshit me Christopher Jericho, spill."  
  
"I just got scared."  
  
"Scared of what?" Stephanie asked curiously.  
  
"Well, I came back to the hotel, expecting to see you here, and you weren't here, and I got scared."  
  
"I was safe sweetie, I just went shopping and then grabbed a bite to eat. You should see some of the stuff I bought, I think you'll enjoy it," she said, kissing him softly.  
  
"That's not why I was scared," he told her.  
  
"Then why were you scared?" she asked, cocking to her head to the side, giving him a sweet smile.  
  
"I was scared you had left me."  
  
"Left you? You mean, like gone back home or something?"  
  
"No, like left me for good."  
  
"Why would I do that?"  
  
"I don't know, I couldn't help but think that you had left, you know, after the fight we had on Thursday."  
  
"Oh sweetie, we resolved that, you have nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm not leaving any time soon."  
  
"You aren't?"  
  
"Nope, I think I'll stick around. I kind of like you."  
  
"I just realized that I love you so much Stephanie, I don't know what I'd do without you in my life."  
  
"Well, that's something you'll never have to worry about because I love you just as much."  
  
"I'm glad," he said, finally cracking a smile.  
  
"Now that's a face I like to see," she told him, smiling back, "Now, how was the show tonight?"  
  
"It was ok."  
  
"Did you defend your belts?"  
  
"Yeah, we were supposed to defend against Bubba Ray and Spike, but then Spike got injured so Jeff Hardy became his partner."  
  
"Did you win?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"That's great, I'm so proud," she said grinning, "Did my pervert ex pull anything tonight?"  
  
"Of course, pretended to bring a dead body to the arena, then proceeded to make it a ventriloquist act in the middle of the ring."  
  
"Eww, what did I ever see in him?"  
  
"You're asking me?" Jericho asked incredulously.  
  
"I guess we all have our faults, luckily I made a better choice the second time around," she said laying her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Hurricane did make a video where they had someone in a HHH mask getting stuff pulled out of his ass," Jericho said, chuckling.  
  
"I'll have to watch that when we get to our house tomorrow."  
  
"Since when is my house 'our' house?"  
  
"Since I said so," she said definitively, "So sounds like the show was ok."  
  
"It was. But guess what else?"  
  
"What?" she asked, her eyes wide in anticipation.  
  
"I got a title shot at Survivor Series.........in the Elimination Chamber."  
  
"You get a title shot?"  
  
"Yeah, crazy huh?"  
  
"Not crazy, it's about time is what it is? Who are you facing?"  
  
"HHH, Booker, RVD, Kane, and Shawn Michaels."  
  
"Interesting array of people, I hope you win."  
  
"I hope so too, now I have to go take a shower," Jericho said.  
  
"Need some company?"  
  
"Of course. I never turn down a beautiful woman who wants to take a shower with me," Stephanie gave him a look, "Unless her name isn't Stephanie Marie McMahon, then I turn them down flat."  
  
"That's more like it. And after that I can model some of the stuff I bought."  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Jericho said, sweeping Stephanie into his arms, and whisking her off into the bathroom. 


	32. Urge to Kill Writers Rising, October 31,...

Hi, this is your friendly "Hugs and Kisses" author, Nina. Ok, maybe not so friendly after tonight.........ok, not friendly at all. In fact, this is your royally pissed off author Nina.  
  
I'm not an angry, mean person.........::tells family and friends to shut up:: but I'm very, very angry after tonight. I'm sure you know why, and I'm sure some of you are just as angry as I am.  
  
As if the writing wasn't bad enough with the Raw crap, now I have to see Stephanie kissing Bischoff, BISCHOFF. I don't ask for much, really, a little Jericho/Steph scene here and there, one kiss every year. And THIS is what I get.  
  
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!  
  
::breathes deeply::  
  
I'm good, I'm good. ::smiles insanely:: Unfortunately, when writing this story, I never have a solid direction because frankly I don't know what's going to happen. So tonight probably would have thrown me for a loop. Fortunately, I do have plans for things that happen, and if there is a, God forbid, Bischoff/Steph romance in the future, rest assured, I do have a plan, and rest assured that would NOT mean the end of this story.  
  
::laughs evilly::  
  
Oh, and a question, who the hell was in the teddy bear costume? ::looks around, pretending it was Jericho because she saw whoever was in the teddy bear costume talking to Stephanie::  
  
And now onto the story, which I hope will bring you a little laugh, and a little bit of happiness after such utter and complete crap.  
  
Thank you WWE, thank you SO much.  
  
Stephanie walked into her office for the evening, already dressed in her Halloween costume. She had decided to dress up as a witch, which she thought was quite appropriate for her. Jericho had helped her put the costume together, of course it was hard to put it together, when he kept taking it off.  
  
Stephanie giggled quietly to herself while walking to her desk. She sat down, and put her things down getting settled in for the night. She hoped tonight's show went well. It was Halloween after all, and she wanted everyone to have a good time.  
  
She noticed a small white slip of paper on the corner of her desk, and didn't remember having any slips of paper with her. Maybe it was a note from one of the producers or something, or one of the wrestlers about the show. She picked up the piece of paper and turned it over looking for writing. She did a double take when she read what was on it.  
  
I KNOW YOUR SECRET PRINCESS.  
  
Stephanie read it again to make sure that she was reading it correctly. Her secret, what secret could they possibly be talking about? She didn't recognize the handwriting either, so trying to figure out who sent it to her would be hard. What secret could they possibly know about her, she was pretty much out in the open with everything?  
  
Stephanie gasped when she realized the biggest secret that she had going on. Could this person be alluding to her relationship with Jericho? But how could anyone know about that? They kept the secret pretty well-hidden, and everyone they had told would keep the secret, how could someone find out.  
  
Stephanie decided to ignore the note, at least for the moment, she had a show to run. And it was probably someone trying to trick her for Halloween. Or maybe it was Edge and Kurt, maybe she would get some handwriting samples from them.  
  
Stephanie walked out of the locker room, in search of either Kurt or Edge. She wanted to know if they had possibly told someone or something. They couldn't let this secret out, didn't they know that? It wasn't something that was safe for either Jericho or her.  
  
She reached Kurt's locker room, and knocked on the door. She waited outside for a few seconds before the door opened and Kurt was on the other side. He smiled at her, and she let herself into the room.  
  
"You look fantastic Steph," Kurt told her.  
  
"Thanks Kurt, you too."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Kurt, I was wondering something."  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Um, have you told anyone about Chris and I?"  
  
"No, I haven't, who would I tell, all my friends already know about it, or you know are the couple in question," Kurt said chuckling.  
  
"Ok, it's just I got this weird note, and I just want to figure out who could've sent it."  
  
"What kind of note?" Stephanie produced the note for him, and gave it to Kurt, who read it over.  
  
"This is weird, I wonder who could've sent it. And what secret?"  
  
"That's what I want to know? The only real secret I have is my relationship with Chris."  
  
"Do you think someone could know about that?"  
  
"I don't know, and I'm kind of scared that someone does know, and could get us in a lot of trouble."  
  
"I'm sorry Steph, but I don't know who wrote this," Kurt said frowning.  
  
"It's ok Kurt, I'm just going to go look for Edge."  
  
"Ok, and if you need any help locating whoever wrote that to you, come find me."  
  
"Thanks Kurt, I'll see you later."  
  
Stephanie left Kurt's locker room, and went in search of Edge. She went to his locker room, only to find that he wasn't there. She decided to just go back to her office, and look for him later. As she was walking down the hallway, she saw Edge's occasional tag team partner Rey Mysterio, and decided to see if he knew where Edge was.  
  
"Rey, have you seen Edge?"  
  
"Um, yeah, he's at the Halloween party."  
  
"Oh, thanks," she told him, before walking off.  
  
She made her way down to where the party was, and entered the large dining room area. She quickly scanned the area, and found Edge sitting by himself at one of the tables. She quickly made her way over and sat down.  
  
"Steph, to what do I owe the pleasure."  
  
"Edge, have you told anyone about any secret alliances?" Stephanie asked, trying her best to be discreet.  
  
"No, I haven't, I've kept that mum," he told her.  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said disappointed, "It's just I got a weird note earlier, and was wondering about it."  
  
"Note?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, handing him the note. Edge looked it over.  
  
"Sorry Steph, I don't know anything about this, but do you want me to help you look?"  
  
Stephanie looked up and saw a man across the room dressed in a vampire costume, except he had a mask on. She didn't know who that could be. It was a pretty nice costume, she should compliment him. He seemed to be staring right at her, and she turned to Edge.  
  
"Edge, who's that?" she said, nodding her head in the man's direction.  
  
"Who's who?" Edge asked, looking in that direction.  
  
"That guy.........in the vampire costume," she said, turning to look at him again. Except now he wasn't there, "That's weird, there was someone there just a second ago."  
  
"I don't remember anyone standing there."  
  
"Oh well, I just wanted to ask them about their costume, it was really nice."  
  
"Ok, so do you need help locating the writer of the mystery note?"  
  
"No, that's ok, I think I'm just going to forget about it."  
  
Stephanie got up, and started walking towards her office. She kept getting the feeling that she was being watched or followed. She thought she heard footsteps behind her and turned around quickly, but all she saw was a flutter of black. She started walking faster, until she got to her dressing room.  
  
She looked at her desk, and saw another white piece of paper. She looked around as if the culprit were still there, before making her way over to the desk. She hesitantly picked up the note, and read what this one said.  
  
KURT AND EDGE DIDN'T TELL. I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU PRINCESS.  
  
After reading the note, Stephanie was sufficiently freaked out, and dropped the note on the desk. This was getting scary, and she didn't like it one bit. She picked up her cell phone, and dialed Chris's cell phone quickly.  
  
"Hello?" Chris answered.  
  
"Sweetie, it's me."  
  
"Oh hey baby, what's up?"  
  
"I've been getting these really scary notes," she told him.  
  
"Scary notes?"  
  
"Yeah, one said 'I know your secret Princess' and the other said, 'Kurt and Edge didn't tell. I've been watching you Princess.' I'm scared Chris," Stephanie said, frightened.  
  
"Ok, baby, calm down, do you have any idea at all who is sending you these notes?"  
  
"No, Kurt doesn't know who sent it and neither does Edge, and they're the only ones who know that are here."  
  
"Ok, sweetie this is what I want you to do, ok, go find either one of them and just stay around them, don't wander anywhere by yourself."  
  
"Ok, Chris, I wish you were here."  
  
"So do—"All of a sudden the line got cut off.  
  
"Chris? Chris? Chris are you there?" Stephanie said frantically into the phone, "Oh my God, what is going on?"  
  
Stephanie left her office and wandered down the hallway, intending to find Kurt or Edge, actually just finding anyone she could tolerate so she wouldn't have to be alone. She walked back to the party, where John Cena told her that her father was here to see her. Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief, thinking her father would keep her safe.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie wiped her mouth as Bischoff left. His disgusting lips had been on hers. God, could this night get any worse? Of course, she did have something in mind, since she had attempted to kiss him back. She'd have to discuss that with Jericho later. She realized once again that she was alone, and decided that now was definitely the time that she needed to be around someone. Not only was Bischoff here, but there was some crazy person here too.  
  
Unless, Bischoff and the person sending her the notes were one in the same. Maybe Bischoff had found out about her and Jericho and now he was trying to play mind games with her. But how could he have found out? She and Chris were so careful, so unbelievably careful. But, maybe Christian had told him, maybe Christian couldn't have been trusted in the first place.  
  
Stephanie walked to Edge's door, getting the feeling she was being watched again. She turned around and down the hallway she saw that guy again in the vampire outfit with the mask on. And once again, he was staring right at her. A chill ran down her spine and she turned around. She sent a glance over her shoulder only to see the man gone.  
  
Suddenly she felt a gush of air rush in front of her and she turned her head around quickly. She saw another flash of black, almost like the man she had just seen. But how had he gotten in front of her without her seeing? Stephanie, scared out of her wits, ran down the hallway to Edge's dressing room, and banged on the door.  
  
Edge opened the door and looked confused at Stephanie, "Steph, what's wrong?"  
  
"I think someone's following me," Stephanie said, pushing her way into the dressing room.  
  
"What do you mean someone's following you?"  
  
"The man in the vampire costume, I saw him again, but then he disappeared, and then I could have sworn that he came back in front of me, but I don't know how," Stephanie said without taking a breath.  
  
"Stephanie are you sure that you're seeing this?"  
  
"Yes!! I swear that I saw him, and I got cut off from Chris, I don't know how that happened."  
  
"Stephanie you need to slow down, you look crazy."  
  
"I'm just scared out of my mind."  
  
"Ok, why don't we go look for this guy ok?"  
  
"Ok, maybe we should get Kurt too?"  
  
"All right, if you'll feel better. Let's go," Edge said, as he held the door open for her.  
  
They walked down the hallway, Stephanie keeping close to Edge. She kept looking over her shoulder wondering if she would see the man again. They got to Kurt's locker room, and quietly snuck inside when Kurt opened the door for them.  
  
"What's going on guys?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Stephanie thinks she's being followed, so we're going to go look for this guy."  
  
"Won't it be weird if we all go together, we're not supposed to get along?" Kurt said.  
  
"Well, we'll go down the deserted hallways together, then we can split up," Edge explained.  
  
"That's sound ok, let's go," Stephanie said, wanting to find the creep who was doing this to her.  
  
The threesome started down some of the darker hallways. The only lights were the back-up lights and they cast scary shadows all over the place, and hid all the dark corners. Stephanie bit her lip, not sure if she liked being down this way.  
  
"Sorry bout your loss tonight man," Edge said as they were walking.  
  
"Yeah, whatever, stupid interference."  
  
"Aww, don't pout Kurt."  
  
"I'm not pouting," Kurt said.  
  
"Sure," Edge said, not convinced.  
  
"I am not."  
  
"Yes you are."  
  
"No, I'm not!"  
  
"Would you two shut up?" Stephanie yelled at them, "You're acting like children."  
  
"Sorry Steph," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah, sorry."  
  
"That's ok."  
  
Suddenly Stephanie heard something. It sounded like a whisper or something. She listened harder trying to see if she was just hearing things, or if there was actually someone talking.  
  
"Princess," a voice whispered. Stephanie's eyes widened.  
  
"Did you hear that?" she said turning back to look at Edge and Kurt.  
  
"Hear what?" Edge asked.  
  
"I just heard someone whispering 'Princess.'"  
  
"I didn't hear anything," Kurt said.  
  
"Me neither," answered Edge.  
  
"Maybe I was just hearing things. But be quiet so I can hear."  
  
They walked a little bit more down the hallway, trying to be as silent as possible. Stephanie listened attentively trying to hear anything.  
  
"Princess," the voice said again.  
  
"Ok, now I know I heard someone, didn't you guys?"  
  
Stephanie turned around to ask Kurt and Edge only to find that they weren't there. Stephanie looked around in every direction, trying to see them.  
  
"You guys, this isn't funny." No answer.  
  
"Seriously, you guys, come out now ok, don't leave me here." Again no answer.  
  
"Princess."  
  
Stephanie broke out into a run, back to the main hallway, not even caring about the show anymore. It was almost over anyway. She got back to her office, deciding to just hide out in there until the show was over and she could go back to the hotel, and back to Jericho. She noticed another note stuck under her door. She went to pick it up, looking both ways to see if there was anyone around. She looked down at it.  
  
YOUR FRIENDS CAN'T SAVE YOU PRINCESS.  
  
Stephanie went into her dressing room quickly. She walked inside a bit, when the lights all of a sudden went out. Stephanie gasped and stood frozen in the middle of the room. She ran back towards the door, but found it to be locked. She pounded against the door begging to be let out, when she felt a presence in the room.  
  
"Princess," someone whispered.  
  
"Go away, whoever you are just go away!" she screamed.  
  
"Princess, I've been watching you for so long."  
  
"NO! You haven't! Just stop!"  
  
"I've loved you for so long Princess, why didn't you love me back, we could have been so happy together," the hoarse voice whispered. Stephanie could make out a dark shape slowly moving its way towards her.  
  
"Please, just leave me alone, I swear, I'll kick your ass if you come near me, and then my boyfriend will kill you. He will, I swear!"  
  
"Chris can't help you now, I've disposed of him, and Kurt and Edge, they were so easy to take Princess."  
  
"No, you didn't?" Stephanie whimpered.  
  
"Oh, but I did, you and I can be together now Princess."  
  
"No, we can't, leave me alone!" Stephanie said, as the mysterious figure came even closer.  
  
The figure came up right in front of her. Stephanie's breathing was labored as the man leaned in. He kissed her neck softly, and Stephanie tensed. She didn't know what to do, she was too scared to do anything but stand there motionless.  
  
"Happy Halloween baby," the voice whispered. Stephanie's eyes widened.  
  
"WHAT? Chris??" she exclaimed.  
  
Suddenly the lights turned on, and Stephanie looked up as she saw Chris, dressed in a vampire costume. He didn't have a mask on right now, and she stood shocked as Christian came out from under her desk. Then to her surprise the door opened, and Kurt, Edge, and Shane came in, all of them laughing.  
  
"What's going on?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Just a little Halloween prank," Jericho said, laughing.  
  
"You were all in on this?" Stephanie asked, her anger beginning to rise slightly.  
  
"Yeah, Christian and I were the mysterious figures, and Christian wrote the notes. Kurt and Edge kept you off the scent, and locked the doors, and Shane was the one to turn off the lights," Jericho explained.  
  
"You guys are all a huge bunch of assholes!" Stephanie screeched. All the guys winced as her voice hit new levels of screechyness  
  
"What?"  
  
"How could you do this to me? How could you guys do this? Do you have any idea how scared I was?" Stephanie said, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
"It was just a joke," Shane said.  
  
"But it wasn't funny, I was scared," Stephanie said as the tears started to flow. Jericho walked over and took her in his arms.  
  
"I'm sorry baby, we didn't mean to scare you," Jericho said remorseful, not intending to hurt Stephanie so much, "I think we should apologize guys."  
  
"Sorry Steph," they all said, sorry that they had hurt her so much.  
  
"Sorry? You think sorry will fix this. You scared me half to death, all of you. How dare you? I hate you all! I'm outta here," Stephanie screamed, struggling out of Jericho's grasp, and walking out, slamming the door behind her.  
  
"Um, what just happened?" Christian asked. They all stood there baffled.  
  
"Wow, I didn't think she'd get so upset," Jericho muttered. Suddenly Stephanie walked in, a huge grin on her face.  
  
"Ha, you thought I was actually upset, that was a great prank, you had me freaked out for a while."  
  
"So you're not mad?" Edge asked.  
  
"No, no one loves a good joke like I do, but it was pretty funny for me seeing all of you being all apologetic," Stephanie said laughing, and then mocking them all, "I'm so sorry Steph. It was hilarious."  
  
"Stephanie McMahon, you are so full of surprises," Jericho said, laughing at her as he took her in his arms.  
  
"Wow, this is the first time we've all been here together," Stephanie said, "Why don't we go get something to eat?"  
  
"Sounds like an idea," Shane said.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie and Jericho walked into their room after having dinner with the guys. Jericho plopped down on the couch, pretty tired from the night. Stephanie sat down next to him, and snuggled into his chest.  
  
"You're taking tonight so well," she mumbled against his chest.  
  
"What are you talking about baby?"  
  
"What happened during the show tonight."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"You didn't see," Stephanie said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.  
  
"No, I didn't see, what happened Stephanie?" Chris asked, looking down at the top of her head.  
  
"Chris, you have to promise NOT to fly off the handle too much, and you have to promise that you will NOT leave this hotel room after I tell you this news."  
  
"Stephanie, why don't you just tell me, and then I'll decide how to react."  
  
Stephanie looked up at him, biting her lip nervously, "Chris.........Eric Bischoff kissed me tonight."  
  
"WHAT?" Jericho yelled, getting off the couch, his fists clenched, "HE WHAT?"  
  
"He kissed me, he came dressed as my dad, and someone said that my dad needed to see me, and it was Bischoff and he grabbed me and kissed me."  
  
"ASSHOLE, THE FUCKING ASSHOLE, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KICK HIS ASS!" Jericho yelled, pacing the room, his breathing erratic, and his eyes wild. Stephanie got up, and stood in front of him, trying to get him to calm down.  
  
"Chris, please calm down, please, this isn't helping anybody."  
  
"But that fucking asshole, how dare he? How fucking dare he? What did you do?"  
  
"I kissed him back," she said definitively.  
  
"Excuse me?" Jericho asked, thinking he wasn't hearing her correctly.  
  
"I said I kissed him back."  
  
"Oh my God, you WHAT? Are you breaking up with me? For Bischoff?" Chris said, backing away from her, his eyes wide in fright.  
  
"Far from it sweetie. But there is a method to my madness."  
  
"What are you talking about, because from where I'm standing it sounds like my girlfriend just kissed another guy."  
  
"Sweetie, there is a bright side," Stephanie said, kissing him in an attempt to calm him down. Chris pulled away.  
  
"Bright side, there's a bright side?"  
  
"If Bischoff wants me, then maybe just maybe that's the fatal mistake we've been waiting for."  
  
"What are you thinking of?" Jericho asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I can think of plans like that, I'm a McMahon. I think if this thing pans out, if Bischoff THINKS he can have me, then we have him right where we want him."  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"In the palms of our hands."  
  
"And after that?"  
  
"After that, we squash him like the cockroach he is," she said with an evil sneer.  
  
"So you're not breaking up with me?"  
  
"Absolutely not. Like I would leave YOU for Bischoff? That's laughable," she said kissing him, "Besides, I love YOU."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"The plan just got a little more interesting." 


	33. Could I Hate H More? No, November 4, 200...

A/N: ::reads last week's author's note:: Wow, I was pretty pissed off last week, luckily I've calmed down. And hehe, Jericho mentioned his paramour this evening. :) And did he sound, dare I say it, jealous when talking about Stephanie. Interesting. ;)  
  
Jericho walked into the arena, wondering what the night would bring. He didn't want anymore unwanted surprises, nor did he want to see Eric Bischoff. He had a feeling that both of these wishes would not come true.  
  
As soon as that thought ran through his head, Bischoff walked up to him a grin on his face. If Jericho had his way, he would hit that grin right off his face. He just didn't want to see this man ever, but here he was, and if he gloated once, he would have a very hard time curbing his anger.  
  
"Jericho, it's about time you showed up, I've been awaiting your arrival."  
  
"Why?" Jericho asked curtly.  
  
"Just wanted to let you know that you're in the main event tonight."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"That's not all though. Tonight's main event is a tag match, and you'll be against Booker T and Kane."  
  
"Who's my partner?" Jericho said, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Well, it's none other than HHH," Bischoff said laughing. His laugh grated on Jericho's nerves.  
  
"Whatever," Jericho said, walking away.  
  
"Hey, I just remembered, both of you have been with Stephanie haven't you?"  
  
"No. I haven't," Jericho said, continuing on his way. He knew if he stayed that he would kick Bischoff's sorry ass.  
  
Jericho watched as HHH showed Bischoff the tape of Stephanie and Bischoff from SmackDown. Jericho wished they would stop showing that stupid footage. That was the second time they showed it tonight. And it didn't help that that was the topic of a lot of conversations.  
  
He had been reassured again and again by Stephanie that this would work, that if Bischoff took the bait, that he would be theirs for the taking. He knew that this was all part of the plan, but it still hurt to have to see them kiss over and over. It sickened him to no end. And hearing everyone talk about it was no picnic either.  
  
Jericho's cell phone rang, and he walked over to pick it up. He saw Stephanie's cell number on it and he answered it immediately.  
  
"Hey," he said.  
  
"I'm sorry you have to keep seeing that."  
  
"Not as sorry as I am."  
  
"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry," Stephanie said apologetically.  
  
"It's all right, I'll live. Besides, it's my bed you're in at night, it's me who you tell you love."  
  
"Because I do."  
  
"So did you hear about the main event?"  
  
"Yeah," Stephanie said, giving a soft laugh, "Whose idea was that?"  
  
"Who do you think?"  
  
"Oh. His?"  
  
"Yeah," Jericho said with gritted teeth.  
  
"Well, just get through the evening, and then you can come back to me."  
  
"That's the only thing I'm looking forward to this evening."  
  
"Well, I'm sure that you and Hunter will work well together, you did last time," Stephanie giggled.  
  
"Shut up," Jericho said jokingly.  
  
"Well, I'll let you go sweetie, love you."  
  
"I love you too," Jericho said before hanging up.  
  
Just as Jericho was hanging up the phone, Christian walked into the dressing room.  
  
"Hey man, was that your woman?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So I figure you guys got things squared away after last Thursday."  
  
"Yeah, we did."  
  
"And? I mean, she did kiss another guy. And Bischoff of all people."  
  
"It's part of the plan. We figure that if Bischoff falls into Stephanie's trap, then we have him right where we want him."  
  
"Damn, she's devious isn't she?"  
  
"Yeah, which is why I'm kind of glad that I'm on her side, and not against her. I mean, I knew she could be conniving before I started dating her, but I never knew how crafty she could be."  
  
"Yeah, it is kind of surprising.........Oh, I forgot why I came in here, one of the production people told me to tell you to turn on the television because you're getting a Desire video."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Wow, I've gotta see that," Jericho said, going over to turn on the television.  
  
Jericho walked back into the locker room after talking with HHH and Flair, not knowing that they had been filmed. He had kind of been unfair to Christian and wanted to apologize.  
  
"Hey Christian, I just wanted to say sorry about acting like an ass right there."  
  
"Dude, that's ok."  
  
"I'm just still a little on edge about the whole Stephanie thing."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"So we're cool," Jericho asked.  
  
"Totally."  
  
Jericho walked back up the ramp after the match, silently willing himself not to laugh at HHH. He was still lying in the middle of the ring, after being super-kicked and then pinned for the three count. Served him right. He just could not get along with HHH, no matter how hard he tried.  
  
Jericho walked backstage, when HHH caught up with him. He grabbed Jericho by the shoulder, and whirled him around. Jericho looked at him in anger, wondering what the hell this was about.  
  
"What do you want Trips?"  
  
"This is the second time you haven't protected my ass out there."  
  
"Sorry Trips, but I'm not really into your ass," Jericho said, sarcastically.  
  
"You know what I mean. We're supposed to be tag partners, you didn't hold up your end of the bargain."  
  
"Well excuse me for not running to help you up after you get knocked down. Next time, I'll be up like that."  
  
"Don't get crass with me."  
  
"And why the hell not? You're not my boss."  
  
"Just make sure it doesn't happen again."  
  
"Oh shut up Trips," Jericho called out, as HHH walked away, fuming. Jericho turned to Flair, who had been watching the exchange silently.  
  
"Sorry about him."  
  
"What is with him?"  
  
"I don't know, I think he's a little upset about the Stephanie thing," Flair answered.  
  
"Really?" Jericho said smirking. He couldn't help the smug feeling he got when he realized just how upset HHH would get when he and Stephanie revealed their relationship.  
  
"Yeah, and probably a little bit about Michaels."  
  
"Well, he's still an asshole," Jericho said, before heading to his dressing room.   
  
Jericho walked into the bedroom of his hotel room, seeing Stephanie lying on the bed, already in her pajamas. She was watching television, but turned it off as she saw Jericho walk into the room. He smiled and climbed onto the bed and lay next to her.  
  
"How are you?" Stephanie asked, cuddling up to Jericho.  
  
He kissed the top of her head, "I'm ok."  
  
"So what happened tonight?"  
  
"Well, let's see, I hate Bischoff, and I hate your ex-husband."  
  
"So same old, same old," Stephanie said giggling, "But what did Hunter do this time around?"  
  
"He blamed me for the loss.........again. The guy just can't take losing can he?"  
  
"No, he can't. I told you, he always likes to be the best, he likes to win. And he'll do anything to get there. Of course, if he should lose, he'll find some kind of scapegoat. I guess you were the scapegoat."  
  
"Well, I found something interesting out about him, about the whole winning thing."  
  
"And what would that be?" Stephanie asked curiously, looking up at him.  
  
"He was upset about the kiss," Jericho said, smirking again.  
  
"What?" Stephanie asked, surprised, "He's upset?"  
  
"Apparently so. Serves him right to be upset, why he let you go, I'll never know."  
  
"I believe it was because I lied about being pregnant."  
  
"Oh, yeah, that, it slipped my mind."  
  
"Besides, at that point, I didn't even really want to be in the relationship."  
  
"Could've fooled me," he laughed.  
  
"Maybe that was just part of my plan to get you," she said knowingly.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that I wanted to be with you, so I came up with that whole plan?"  
  
"Stephy, how many plans do you have a year, seven thousand?" Jericho said, in a kidding tone.  
  
"Hmm, that's my secret," she said leaning up to kiss him. He smiled as she pulled away.  
  
"We're not supposed to keep secrets from one another."  
  
"I think this is one of those things that I have to keep between me, and me."  
  
"You're no fun."  
  
"I know. I loved your Desire video, it was about time that you got one of those."  
  
"I know, it was good wasn't it?" he said, smiling.  
  
"It was."  
  
"They should have included some clips when I was with you. Then it would have been better," he said kissing her cheek.  
  
"Oh well, maybe next time, so what was with the comment about me tonight?"  
  
"What comment?"  
  
"Is Bischoff giving your ex-wife the Three Minute Drill?" Stephanie said raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Wait, you saw that?"  
  
"Yeah, courtesy of F-View television."  
  
"Just playing my part, Trip's reaction was priceless. Makes me want to tell him about our relationship, just to see his face."  
  
"You're evil.........I love it."  
  
"I think I'm evil because you're evil."  
  
"Hey, I'm not evil, cunning sure, but not evil."  
  
"Whatever you say baby."  
  
"Besides you're the only one giving me any Three Minute Drills or whatever."  
  
"I better be," he said laughing. Stephanie got up and hovered over him.  
  
"You are, but for much longer than Three Minutes." 


	34. Happy Birthday Jericho, November 7, 2002

A/N: Hey guys, I'd just like you all to know I'm from California, yes, the West Coast, and no I'm not a Valley Girl. Well, tonight we had a HUGE storm in Northern CA, and as a result my cable went out. ::pouts:: So, I didn't get to see SmackDown. So that means, I don't know what happened beyond the reports I read.  
  
Because of this, I was afraid my chapter would suck more than a Hoover. So I'm really sorry if it sucks, I hope it doesn't, but hell, I'll let you guys be the judge of that.  
  
Damn you weather! Damn you!  
  
Stephanie held the videotape in her hands. The videotape that contained that hideous kiss she had with Bischoff. She hated that her lips had to touch his, God knew where his lips had been. She shuddered at the thought. Luckily, she fancied herself a good enough actress to make it seem like she was kissing him back. In actuality, it wasn't that hard, once she pictured it was Jericho she was kissing. Speaking of Jericho, Stephanie got out her cell phone, and called him up.  
  
"Hello?" he answered.  
  
"Hey sweetie."  
  
"Oh hey Stacy, luckily you caught me while Stephanie isn't around."  
  
"Very funny wise-guy," Stephanie deadpanned.  
  
"Oh no, Stephanie is that you, I meant to say Stephanie, not Stacy," Jericho said jokingly.  
  
"Stop, you're upsetting me," she said, pouting, though she knew he couldn't see.  
  
"Aww, I don't want to upset you, I'll keep my other girlfriends a secret from now on."  
  
"That's so not funny."  
  
"So why'd you call?" Jericho said, stopping his joking with her.  
  
"Felt like it, is that a problem?"  
  
"Hmm, a beautiful woman, who happens to be my girlfriend wants to call me, yes, I have a problem with that."  
  
"Well, I miss you."  
  
"Baby, we saw each other this morning, and you're flying back home tonight, how can you miss me?"  
  
"I don't know, but I miss you anyway."  
  
"So what are you planning on doing tonight?"  
  
"Well, I have to play the part, so if you see me looking like I liked the kiss, or that I like Bischoff, just remember.........I'm really thinking of you."  
  
"Ok, I'll keep that in mind before I go absolutely crazy."  
  
"That's all I ask. I'll see you later tonight."  
  
"Of course, I'll come pick you up at the airport."  
  
"Bye sweetie, love you."  
  
"Love you too Stephy, bye," Jericho said, hanging up.  
  
Stephanie sat at her desk looking over some papers, when Kurt walked into her room unannounced. It wasn't until he was practically at her desk that she even noticed him. She looked up surprised to see him right there.  
  
"Kurt, I didn't even know you came in."  
  
"Yeah, you were pretty engrossed in your work."  
  
"Oh yeah, actually my mind was elsewhere."  
  
"And where elsewhere would that be?" Kurt said, lifting an eyebrow.  
  
"Just Chris's birthday."  
  
"Oh yeah, that's on Saturday, right?"  
  
"Yeah, and all of you are coming out to dinner with us right?" Stephanie asked, wanting to finalize the plans.  
  
"Yeah, I can speak for myself, Edge, and Christian, is Shane coming?"  
  
"Yeah, Shane's coming. Oh, that reminds me, I'm going to leave the key under the front mat, so you guys can let yourselves in while I'm out with Chris."  
  
"Where are you taking him by the way?"  
  
"Oh, we're just going to go to the store, I'm making him think I'm cooking him a special dinner."  
  
"You cook? I didn't know that," Kurt said in disbelief.  
  
"Oh, I don't, but Chris doesn't know that," she said laughing, "We're away to much for me to actually cook, besides he's the cook between the two of us."  
  
"Ok, sounds good."  
  
"Don't you have a big match to get ready for?"  
  
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me, Benoit and I are facing Edge and Mysterio."  
  
"I know Kurt, I make sure all the matches happen," Stephanie said knowing she was being a wise ass.  
  
"Shut up Stephanie," Kurt said, laughing.  
  
"Good luck."  
  
"Thanks, though I don't need it."  
  
LATER THAT SAME EVENING  
  
Stephanie just sat in her office as Eddie and Chavo left, after demanding a match with Brock Lesnar. Well, if they wanted the match, who was she to deny them? She'd also had to watch that stupid video again. Even she was tired of seeing it, and she imagined Jericho was more tired of it then her.  
  
She started thinking about his upcoming birthday, and the two gifts that she had gotten for him. She had tried to think of ways that she could possibly top his birthday surprise for her, but everything she thought of couldn't even compare to his gift in the slightest.  
  
For all she knew, his last birthday had been fine, so she had nothing to build on. He knew hers had been miserable, and had done the complete opposite for her, making a big deal out of her birthday. She reconciled with the fact that whatever she did for him, he would love it.  
  
Stephanie gathered her things, and headed out. She had made sure that everything would go smoothly after she left, and had left Kurt and Edge in charge of everyone. She figured a bunch of grown men and women would be able to handle themselves for an hour or so. She hoped she was right.  
  
She reached the airport, and boarded her plane. The trip from New Hampshire to Florida was about two hours, so Stephanie got some work done while she was on the plane. She also checked to make sure all the plans were in order for Saturday.  
  
The plane landed, and Stephanie gathered her things in the overhead compartments. She always packed light when going to the shows, and most of her clothes were at Jericho's anyway. She walked down the terminal, and to the baggage claim, where she was meeting Jericho.  
  
She got down there, and looked around, not seeing him anywhere. She looked at her watch. She had told him to be here, and he should be here. It wasn't like Jericho to be late. Suddenly, she felt two hands go over her eyes, and someone lean in near her ear.  
  
"Guess who?" they whispered.  
  
"Bischoff is that you?" Stephanie said jokingly. The hands left her face, and she turned around to see Jericho, his bottom lip stuck out, and pouting.  
  
"That wasn't even the slightest bit funny Stephanie," he said, the smile creeping on his face giving away the fact he wasn't really upset.  
  
"Well, if you're secretly with Stacy, then I'm secretly with Bischoff."  
  
"Yuck, let's hope not," he said, before taking her bags for her, "Let's get out of here."  
  
"Sounds like a plan," she said, as they walked out of the airport, and drove home.  
  
SATURDAY  
  
Stephanie woke up, and looked up at Jericho who was still sleeping soundly. She hoped that today went off as planned, and that Jericho would be surprised by the little birthday gathering she had set up for him.  
  
Jericho stirred, and opened his eyes to see Stephanie looking up at him, a huge grin on her face. He looked at her bewildered by her mood, then she leaned up and kissed him soundly.  
  
"Wow, what a way to wake up," he said.  
  
"Well, you're the birthday boy, you get whatever you want today."  
  
"Whatever I want?" he asked, looking at her suggestively.  
  
"Anything and everything."  
  
"Well, first on the list," he said, then rolled on top of her, kissing her neck.  
  
"I think I'm going to like this list," Stephanie said giggling.  
  
LATER  
  
"Chris, come with me to the store," Stephanie said from the kitchen. Jericho was sitting on the couch, watching college football.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"So that I know what you want for your special dinner."  
  
"Why don't you surprise me?" he said, not taking his eyes off the television.  
  
"Because I want to make your favorites." Getting Jericho to go with her was harder than she had thought it would be.  
  
"Stephanie, I'm watching the game."  
  
"Chris, please," she asked, pleading with him.  
  
"Fine Stephy, let's go," he said, turning off the television, and getting up.  
  
They headed to the store, and after they left, Kurt, Edge, Shane, and Christian all drove over from Christian's house a few minutes away. They let themselves inside, and hung around until Jericho and Stephanie arrived back from the store.  
  
About a half an hour later, Stephanie and Jericho pulled up, with about four bags of stuff in the back of their car. They got out, and each of them took a couple bags before heading to the house.  
  
"God, we bought a lot of stuff," Jericho said.  
  
"Well, we needed a lot of stuff, the fridge was practically empty," Stephanie said, covering up the fact that they bought so much because she had to keep stalling so the guys would have enough time to get over to her and Jericho's house.  
  
They stopped at the door, and Stephanie opened the door, letting Jericho go in first. As soon as he was inside, the lights suddenly turned on, and Christian, Edge, Kurt, and Shane were standing in their living room, big smiles on their faces.  
  
"Surprise!" they all yelled.  
  
Jericho's jaw dropped as he looked at them all, standing there. This had really been a surprise for him, to see them all standing there. He looked back at Stephanie, who had a huge smile on her face.  
  
"Steph, did you plan this?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Jericho put the bags he still had in his hands on the ground, and walked over to Stephanie. He took her in his arms, and lifted her off the ground. As he set her back down, he kissed her firmly on the mouth, ignoring the catcalls by the other guys.  
  
"This is so great," he whispered so only Stephanie could hear, "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome," she whispered back, "But this is just the beginning."  
  
"What are you guys up to?"  
  
"We're taking you to your favorite Mexican restaurant, for a night to celebrate, you only turn 32 once," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Wow, this is so cool, thanks you guys for coming."  
  
"Hey, it's free food, of course we'd come," Christian said.  
  
"Dude, do you only think of food?" Edge said.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
  
"Come on, idiots, let's go, the limo just arrived" Stephanie told them as they headed out the door.  
  
"Limo?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Only the best for your birthday."  
  
AT THE RESTAURANT  
  
They all held up their humongous margaritas as they toasted Jericho's birthday. They had been having so much fun so far, all of them enjoying being out together. They had finished dinner, and were just having a good time.  
  
"To Chris," Kurt said.  
  
"To birthdays," Stephanie said.  
  
"To secret relationships," Jericho said, leaning over to kiss Stephanie. All the guys groaned at the public display of affection. Jericho sent them a mock angry glare, while Stephanie stuck her tongue out at them.  
  
"To plans," Shane said.  
  
"To margaritas," Christian said, to which everyone laughed.  
  
"To all of us," Edge said.  
  
"Cheers," they all said loudly, clinking their glasses together.  
  
"Now, blow out the candles on your cake," Christian said. Jericho blew out the candles in one breath.  
  
"Did you make a wish?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Didn't need to?"  
  
"Why not?" Shane asked.  
  
"Stephanie is already in my life," he said smiling. Stephanie blushed in embarrassment, though it was tempered with happiness. All the guys groaned at them again. Jericho turned to Stephanie.  
  
"Wanna dance?" he asked softly.  
  
"I'd love to," she answered. Jericho got up, and helped Stephanie up.  
  
"Oh Kurt, will you dance with me?" Edge said, being over dramatic.  
  
"Oh yes Edge, I thought you'd never ask," Kurt said, in a girly voice.  
  
"Shut up you guys, I can't help it if you're all losers who can't get a date," Jericho joked, before leading Stephanie onto the dance floor.  
  
"You're lucky you're over there Jericho," Christian called out.  
  
Jericho took Stephanie into his arms, and danced to the Mexican ballad that was being played. She rested her head on his shoulder as he pulled her closer, glad that she was with him. Glad that she was still with him after all this time.  
  
"This evening has been great. Thank you," he said.  
  
"There's still more sweetie, so thank me then."  
  
"What do you have up your sleeve Steph?"  
  
"Again, I have to keep that one to myself. Why don't we head back to the table, there's presents to be opened."  
  
Jericho and Stephanie went back to the table, and they shoved a pile of presents in front of Jericho's face. He grabbed one of the envelopes on the table. He read the card, and saw that it was from Shane. He looked in the smaller envelope that was inside, and saw it was two hockey tickets to the Rangers.  
  
"Wow, Shane this is great. The Rangers are one of my favorite teams, my dad played for them."  
  
"Yeah, I asked Stephanie, she said you would like them."  
  
"Well, thanks," Jericho told him.  
  
"Here open mine next," Kurt said.  
  
Jericho took the medium-sized package and opened it. He removed the packing paper, and saw a silver picture frame. Inside the picture frame was a picture of Kurt holding his gold medals with a big, goofy smile on his face.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me," Jericho said, as he held the frame up for everyone to see.  
  
"What? You don't want a picture of me, I was thinking that you could put it above your fireplace, so whenever you miss me, you can look at it." Everyone started cracking up as they looked at it.  
  
"Dude, you are way too arrogant," Edge told him.  
  
"Totally," Christian added.  
  
"Please tell me this is a gag gift," Jericho said. Kurt gave him a serious look, but then started laughing too.  
  
"Yeah, you think I would actually give you a picture of myself?"  
  
"Yes, yes I do," Jericho said seriously.  
  
"Look under my picture, the actual picture is there," Kurt told him.  
  
Jericho opened the frame, and took out Kurt's picture. Underneath was a picture from last week after Jericho and the guys had revealed their Halloween prank on Stephanie. Him and Stephanie were kissing, and seemed pretty involved in each other. He didn't even remember this being taken.  
  
"When did you guys take this?" Jericho asked.  
  
"You guys were so oblivious we got in a few shots. I figured this is the kiss from Halloween you'd rather remember," Kurt explained.  
  
"Thanks Kurt, this is actually pretty cool."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"It is nice Kurt, it'll look great in our house," Stephanie said.  
  
"Since when is Chris's house your guy's house?" Shane asked.  
  
"Since I said so, besides I'm over there all the time anyway, I might as well call it mine as well."  
  
"Fine," Shane conceded, glad his sister was happy.  
  
"Here mine next," Christian said. He handed Jericho a bag. Jericho reached in a pulled out a bottle. He looked at it and it said "gold polish" on the label.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"It's for you to polish our Tag Team titles, and in case you win the Raw title, you can use it for that too.  
  
"That's great," he said laughing.  
  
"There's more in there."  
  
Jericho reached in again, and found the entire Godfather DVD box set.  
  
"Oh wow, this is awesome, my favorite movie. Thanks a lot Christian."  
  
"Dude, you're totally welcome," Christian said smiling.  
  
"Here Chris, you can open mine next," Stephanie said, handing him another envelope.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to go last Steph?" Edge asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's fine, here sweetie."  
  
"Ooh, she called you sweetie," Christian joked.  
  
"She always calls me sweetie," Jericho said, laughing.  
  
Jericho opened the envelope, and read the funny card inside. He took out the smaller envelope. He opened it and found Rolling Stones tickets, front row center, and backstage passes.  
  
"Oh my God, Stephanie, this is amazing," he said, in amazement.  
  
"You like it? Really?"  
  
"Yeah, this is—wow--thank you," he said, leaning over and kissing her.  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"Ok, so I have to go after that, thanks Steph," Edge said, chuckling.  
  
"No problem Edge."  
  
Jericho took Edge's package, and tore open the paper. He opened the box, and looked inside. He looked down confused, then looked up at Edge perplexed. He pulled one of the contents of the package and held it up for everyone to see.  
  
"You got me.........women's thongs?" Jericho asked confused.  
  
"Yeah, but they're not exactly for you."  
  
"Man, you are too much," Jericho laughed.  
  
"Are you saying these are for me?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying. A gift you can both enjoy."  
  
"You got my sister thongs?" Shane said.  
  
"Oops, I forgot you were going to be here Shane."  
  
"That's not cool man," Shane said, grabbing one of the thongs and flinging it at Edge.  
  
"Hey, no need to throw thongs at me."  
  
"Thong fight," Kurt said loudly.  
  
He grabbed another thong and flung it at Christian, who took the thong and flung it at Edge. Edge took it and aimed it for Kurt, but hit Jericho instead. Jericho retaliated by grabbing the thong and hitting Edge. Shane grabbed another one and flung it at Kurt. Stephanie just sat back and watched as they flung her new underwear around. She would definitely have to wash those if she wore them.  
  
"You guys, I think it's time we went home," Stephanie said, as a thong hit her right in the chest. All the guys turned silent for a moment, before bursting out in laughter.  
  
"That was wrong on so many levels," Stephanie muttered, picking up the thong and putting it back in the box.  
  
They gathered their stuff after that, and headed back towards the limo. All the guys would be staying at Christian's, so they dropped Stephanie and Jericho off first. They walked inside, pretty tired from the evening.  
  
"Chris, can you sit on the couch for a minute, I have one more surprise."  
  
"Another one?" he said as he sat down.  
  
"Yeah, just wait here," she said, before disappearing into another room.  
  
A few minutes later Stephanie came back, and took Jericho by the hand. She lead him outside where there were a bunch of Tiki torches lit all around the grassy area next to the pool, in the middle was a blanket laid out and a bucket of champagne chilling. Stephanie led him over and sat him down.  
  
"Stephy, what is all this?"  
  
"Well, I did want to spend some time alone with you."  
  
Stephanie poured the champagne into two awaiting glasses, and handed one of them to Jericho.  
  
"To your birthday," she told him smiling.  
  
"To the most beautiful woman in the world," he said, smiling back. They clinked glasses, before taking a sip from their glasses. They set the glasses down after and they lay on the blanket, looking up into the clear November sky. Stephanie lay her head on Jericho's shoulder, as he wrapped an arm around her waist.  
  
"Thanks for the wonderful birthday," Jericho said softly. Stephanie pulled away from his shoulder and looked up at him.  
  
"It's the least I could after the wonderful birthday I had because of you."  
  
"But I was trying to make up for your last one, you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me."  
  
"I love you Chris, of course I did, especially after taking so much from you, and not giving you anything in return."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" he asked curiously.  
  
"I mean, I've asked so much from you, and you do everything for me willingly without complaint. When I wanted to hide our relationship, you agreed. When I wanted to scheme against Bischoff, you agreed. When I wanted you to switch shows, you agreed. You even agreed to let Bischoff think I liked kissing him. And I don't give you anything in return."  
  
"Sure you do, you're with me, that's all I need Stephanie. The only thing I need from you.........is you."  
  
"I just want to tell you something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"If this plan ever gets too hard for you. If you ever want to leave, you can, and I won't stop you. I've asked for so much, and if you ever get tired of me, you're free to leave whenever you want," Stephanie said, biting her lip, looking up at him with pitifully sad eyes.  
  
"Why would I do that? I love you Stephanie, I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly.  
  
"I just want you to know you have that option. Just in case."  
  
"Well, get those kind of ideas out of your head, cause there is no chance in hell that I'm leaving you."  
  
"Well, I guess that brings me to my present then."  
  
"Present? But you already gave me your present, the tickets," he said, his brow furrowing.  
  
"That wasn't the only present I got you."  
  
Stephanie sat up, and reached up near the top of the blanket. She pulled out a small box, and gave it to him, her hand shaking. She didn't know if he would like what she gave him, but it was the only thing that she thought could compare to the beautiful necklace that she wore every moment she wasn't at a show. Jericho smiled up at her, and looked at the box.  
  
"You can open it," she said nervously.  
  
He kissed her softly, "Ok."  
  
He opened the box slowly, not knowing what could possibly be inside. He looked inside, and the only thing in the box was a key. It looked to be an antique, and it had an intricate design on it. Jericho looked at Stephanie, wondering why she had gotten him a key.  
  
"What's the key for Steph?"  
  
"Um, yeah, you know how you gave me my necklace," she said, holding up her necklace as a demonstration.  
  
"Yeah," he said, still mystified by her gift.  
  
"Well, I had to think of something as meaningful as this, because you said that this symbolized your heart."  
  
"Uh-huh," he said nodding, still having no clue where this was going.  
  
"Well, that's to represent that you have the key to my heart," she said softly, her gaze dropping, as if she were embarrassed or something. Tears formed in Jericho's eyes against his will at the thought of such a heartfelt gift.  
  
"After Hunter broke my heart, when he humiliated me after I had stood by him for so long, I didn't want to give my heart to anyone, because they could so easily crush it like he did," Stephanie said, her gaze still on the ground, "But then you came along, and I don't know how, but you make me believe in happy endings Chris, and I wanted you to know that."  
  
"Stephanie, this is probably the best gift I've ever received," Jericho said, speaking the absolute truth.  
  
"So you don't think it's too corny?"  
  
"Not at all, I think it's wonderful," he said, kissing her deeply.  
  
"Happy Birthday Chris," she murmured against his lips. 


	35. He Trimmed the Goatee, Yay, November 11,...

Jericho gathered his things, trying to get ready for the show. He didn't want to be late, he had been told earlier in the day that he had the first match. He was looking all over the place for his wrist tape, he thought it had been in his bag, but now it was nowhere to be found.  
  
"Well, aren't you going to help me look?" Jericho asked, looking at Stephanie who was lounging on the bed.  
  
"No, not so much," she answered.  
  
"Gee, thanks a lot."  
  
"Maybe if you don't find it, you can stay with me."  
  
"Yes, because nobody would have tape at the arena," he said, giving her look.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"For someone who's been in the business for so long, you're a little dense," Jericho said winking.  
  
"That's not very nice to say."  
  
"Are you trying to kill me with this?" he asked, gesturing to the robe she was wearing, which he knew was the only thing she was wearing.  
  
"I'm trying to entice you to stay."  
  
"Well, I would stay if I could, but baby, I have to, it's my job," he paused a moment, "So give me the tape."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You have my tape."  
  
"No, I don't," she said, shaking her head.  
  
"Yes, you do, give it to me."  
  
Jericho went over to her, and started grabbing at her, trying to get his hands underneath her, where he knew she was hiding his tape. Stephanie squirmed trying to keep the tape away from him. He started tickling her, which caused her to roll over, so he could grab the tape.  
  
"Thank you," he said.  
  
"Chris, before you go, can I tell you something?"  
  
"Of course, baby, go ahead," he said, sitting lightly on the edge of the bed. Stephanie crawled over to him, kneeling next to him.  
  
"I love you........."  
  
"I know," he said laughing, "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"  
  
"No, if you would let me finish. I love you, but I need to tell you something, something important."  
  
"What?" Jericho said, getting a bit concerned.  
  
"I hate your goatee, I know I've never told you, but I was hoping this was just a phase or something, but please sweetie, just trim it or something, it's just-it's out of control sweetie."  
  
"That's the important thing you wanted to say?" he asked, incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much, and it's important, because if you don't trim that thing, I won't be able to find your mouth, and then I won't be able to kiss you."  
  
"Well, I can't have that happen, I'll trim it at the show."  
  
"Thank you, bye sweetie," she said, when he kissed her.  
  
"Bye baby," he said, before leaving.  
  
"Thank God he's trimming that thing," Stephanie said to herself once he walked out the door.  
  
Jericho arrived at the arena and walked to his dressing room. He saw Christian sitting there, getting ready as well. Jericho nodded his head towards him, before walking into the bathroom. He pulled out some scissors, and started trimming his beard. Christian came in, and watched him.  
  
"So Steph finally told you to tame that thing?" Christian said laughing.  
  
"How did you know Steph asked me?"  
  
"Because she told Kurt that she hated it, and he told Edge, and Edge told me."  
  
"Man, I didn't know that our little group was a bunch of gossipers."  
  
"Well, now you know," he said, laughing.  
  
"So who are we facing tonight?" Jericho asked as he rubber banded his goatee to make it a little more presentable.  
  
"Kane and RVD."  
  
"So two of the guys I'll be facing on Sunday, great."  
  
"It's for the titles too."  
  
"We'll kick their asses, don't worry," Jericho said.  
  
"Well, you ready, the show's about the start."  
  
"Yeah, let's go."  
  
AFTER THE MATCH  
  
Jericho and Christian walked up the ramp after Jericho had gotten the chair and repeatedly hit Kane and RVD. He had to try to drive home the fact that he was in the match on Sunday. Suddenly an idea hit him and he turned to Christian as they walked backstage.  
  
"Hey Christian."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It looks like Terri is going to interview us. I'm gonna play up the crazy Jericho."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I'm gonna hit you with the chair, is that cool?"  
  
"Sure, go ahead."  
  
Jericho gave the interview to Terri, and then hit Christian with the chair. He made sure that it wasn't that hard, and was glad that Christian had gotten a hand up to soften the blow. As soon as the cameras were off, and everyone had disbanded, Jericho went up to Christian and helped him up.  
  
"Thanks man," Christian said.  
  
"Didn't hit you too hard did I?"  
  
"Nah, besides I've been hit plenty of times with a chair."  
  
"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Jericho said, laughing.  
  
"Well, that's how it goes."  
  
"Come on, let's go."  
  
"Jericho," a voice called out. Jericho turned around and saw Bischoff.  
  
"What is it Bischoff?"  
  
"Stick around, you'll be hearing some interesting things for your match on Sunday."  
  
"Fine," Jericho said, curtly.  
  
LATER  
  
Jericho sat in front of the television, waiting for Bischoff to come out and explain what the Elimination Chamber was going to be about. He had to admit that he was a little bit nervous about Sunday. He and five other guys were going into a match that didn't even exist yet. He found that kind of surreal.  
  
He watched as Bischoff came out, showed a vignette on the Chamber itself, and then explain what the match would be like. So they were going to be locked in chambers, selected at random. Jericho didn't know if he liked the idea of being locked in a chamber, but then again, he didn't want to be one of the two men who started the match. He would just see how things turned out on Sunday.  
  
Jericho watched as Booker T and HHH's match was coming up, and he wondered if he should interfere or anything. It would make sense considering that he was going to be in a match against the two of them. He watched as the match started, and sat back, intending to watch the match.  
  
He watched, and then saw Shawn Michaels interfere, and decided if Michaels was out there, he might as well be. Jericho ran out of his dressing room, and down the hallway. He rushed out onto the ramp and down to the ring.  
  
He attacked Michaels, seeing him first. He laid some punches into him, before seeing HHH getting up. He didn't know if HHH would be friend or foe right now, but then saw as HHH helped beat up on Michaels.  
  
As the two of them had Michaels in the corner, Jericho saw Kane rushing down the ramp. He turned to go after him, but saw that HHH was going after him instead, so he continued his assault of Michaels.  
  
Suddenly RVD came out of nowhere and turned him around, fighting him. He fought back and threw him through the ropes. It was every man for himself. Jericho didn't care anymore, it was time to go after anyone and everyone.  
  
After fighting for a few more minutes, and getting a chokeslam, Jericho found that Michaels was all alone in the ring. He grabbed a chair, and rushed the ring, knocking the hell out of Michaels.  
  
He stood alone in the ring, and felt like he was at the top of the mountain. It was his time now, and he was seizing the moment. He was so caught up in the moment that he ripped his shirt off. He was on an adrenaline rush, and nothing could stop him at that moment.  
  
Jericho went backstage, grabbed his things quickly, and rushed back to the hotel. He was on a total high right now, and seeing Stephanie would just make him feel that much better. He drove to the hotel, and entered the building. He walked into the hotel room, and saw Stephanie in almost the same spot as when she had left, except she was in her pajamas now.  
  
"Hey there crazy man," she said.  
  
"Hey," he said as he jumped on the bed.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?"  
  
"I'm just on an adrenaline rush, that's all, come on," he said, grabbing her hand.  
  
"Are you sure you're not high on something?" she asked, standing up with him.  
  
"Yup, come on, have some fun once in a while."  
  
Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him, before jumping with him on the bed. She started laughing uncontrollably, not believing that they were acting like four year olds, jumping on the bed.  
  
"So congratulations on your win."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"You're a crazy man with a chair," she said, grinning.  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
"So what's up with you and Christian, did you have a fight?"  
  
"Nah, we planned that."  
  
"Oh, ok..........Are you worried about the match on Sunday?" Stephanie asked him, the both of them still jumping.  
  
"A little."  
  
"I'm sure you'll do great, and if you don't win, can you at least try to be the one to pin Hunter."  
  
"I'll try," he said, trying to kiss her, but finding it impossible with the both of them jumping up and down. Jericho stopped jumping then grabbed Stephanie, stopping her from jumping and pulled her closer to him, the both of them still standing on the bed. Jericho leaned down, and kissed Stephanie passionately. She pulled away, breathlessly.  
  
"Thank you for trimming that thing."  
  
"Well, I didn't want you to stop kissing me."  
  
"I don't think I'll stop kissing you any time soon."  
  
Jericho kicked Stephanie's feet out from under her, and they fell on the bed together. Somehow Stephanie landed on top of Jericho, and she smiled down at him.  
  
"How did you end up on top?"  
  
"I always come out on top."  
  
"Yeah, you even have a shirt advertising that fact."  
  
"I think Bischoff might pull something at Survivor Series," Stephanie said, turning serious.  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Maybe, just so you know, and aren't surprised if something happens."  
  
"Thanks for letting me know."  
  
"Of course I would."  
  
"Well, we'll just have to see won't we?"  
  
"Yes, we will." 


	36. No Name, November 14, 2002

A/N: Holy hell! 200 reviews!! That's a hell of a lot of reviews, wow, thank you all! Thank you all SO much!!!  
  
Thanks to the WWE for not having Stephanie on the show, leaving me with having to think of something to write. ;)  
  
Sorry about the delay about the chapter btw, I put it up as soon as I could.  
  
Jericho poured the glass of orange juice before putting the carton back in the fridge. He grabbed the glass and left the kitchen. He walked up the stairs, and into his and Stephanie's bedroom. He looked to their bed, and instead of seeing Stephanie in bed, he saw her packing things into her suitcase.  
  
He set the glass of orange juice onto the dresser and walked over to her. He stood next to her, and just stood looking at her. She ignored him, and kept putting clothes into her suitcase.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.  
  
"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm packing."  
  
"And where are you going?"  
  
"To the show," she said, definitively.  
  
"No, you're not, get in bed."  
  
"No, I have to go to the show."  
  
"No you're not."  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"No, you're not," Jericho said, sternly.  
  
"Yes, I am," she countered, nodding her head.  
  
"No, you're not, don't make me pick you up and put you in bed."  
  
"I'm going to the show."  
  
Jericho grabbed her suitcase, and took it to the armchair in the corner of the room. He put the suitcase down on the chair and walked back to stand in front of Stephanie. She stood defiantly in front of him, standing up to him. Although, her constant sniffling, and flushed cheeks didn't make her seem all that intimidating.  
  
"Stephanie, you are not going to the show and that is final."  
  
"You can't tell me what to do."  
  
"Baby, you have a 100 degree temperature, there is no way that you are going anywhere but back in that bed."  
  
"But it's my job, I'm the General Manager."  
  
"Stephanie, I think you have a competent staff, and I'm sure that the show can run without you for one night."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No buts, you're staying here with me tonight."  
  
After saying that Jericho swept Stephanie into his arms, and took her over to her side of the bed. He laid her down gently, tucking her in. She smiled up at him as he went and got the glass of orange juice that he had left on the dresser. He walked back over to her, and handed her the juice.  
  
"Now, you need your fluids."  
  
"You're so good to me," she said before taking a sip of her juice.  
  
"Well, I love you, and I have to take care of you."  
  
"Are you gonna watch the show with me later?"  
  
"I guess so, if you're up."  
  
"Come lie with me now, I sleep better when you're here," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the bed. Just then the phone rang downstairs.  
  
"Hold on, let me get that, then I can join you in bed."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said, settling herself under the covers.  
  
Jericho jogged down the stairs, and into the kitchen. He grabbed the phone, and answered the call.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Chris is that you?"  
  
"Yeah, Kurt?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's me."  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Just wondering when Stephanie was going to get here."  
  
"Oh, she's not coming to the show tonight. She's got a pretty bad cold, fever and everything."  
  
"Oh, that's too bad, well, tell her that I hope she feels better."  
  
"Will do, talk to you later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho hung up the phone, and bounded upstairs. Stephanie was lying down, watching television, and starting to doze off. He climbed on the bed and crawled over to her. He sat with his back against the headboard, and watched as Stephanie scooted over and laid her head on his chest, cuddling up to him.  
  
"Who was on the phone?" she asked.  
  
"Kurt, he wanted to know where you were. So I told him you were sick, and not coming in. He told me to tell you that he hopes you feel better."  
  
"That's so nice of him," she said, her eyes drooping.  
  
"Why don't you try to sleep baby?"  
  
"I'm not tired," she mumbled.  
  
"Yeah, and that's why you look like you're about to fall asleep?"  
  
"But I want to watch SmackDown," she said, stifling a yawn.  
  
"SmackDown isn't on for another four hours, I think that you can squeeze a nap in between now and then."  
  
"Ok," she said, closing her eyes, "But wake me up for the show ok? I want to see what happens."  
  
"Ok, I promise," he said, as she drifted off to sleep.  
  
FOUR HOURS LATER  
  
Jericho looked at the clock, and realized that SmackDown would be starting soon. He looked down at Stephanie, who was still tucked against his side. He didn't know if he wanted to wake her up for the show or not. She looked so peaceful lying there next to him.  
  
She had had a cold for the past couple days, and she had been feeling terrible. Her fever was actually down now, and she was able to eat solid foods again, because she had felt nauseous before. He wondered if he should just let her sleep and not disturb her.  
  
But then she would be very pissed off at him if she missed the show. He knew how important her job was to her. Hell, they probably wouldn't even have the plan if she hadn't been so dedicated to her work. He nudged her gently, until her eyes opened gently.  
  
"Hmm," she mumbled.  
  
"Baby, the show's starting, did you want to watch?" he whispered gently.  
  
"Show?" she said, still not fully awake.  
  
"SmackDown." She sat up a little.  
  
"Oh yeah, I want to watch," she said as she trained her eyes on the television.  
  
The show started off with Heyman talking to Big Show about Brock's condition. Stephanie became alarmed when she heard that Brock had broken his rib, and that he had been coughing up blood.  
  
"I didn't know he was injured, why didn't Heyman notify me of this?" Stephanie said, angrily, her business instincts beating out her cold at the moment.  
  
"Maybe he thought you would be at the show tonight," Jericho tried to rationalize.  
  
"He should have notified me immediately. What if this ruins the match for Survivor Series?"  
  
"Why don't we watch the rest of the show, and then you can decide about the match ok?"  
  
"Fine," she said, lying down against him once again, sniffling.  
  
They watched as Edge came out for his match against Chavo. The match was good, and Edge was getting quite the reaction from the fans. Jericho and Stephanie watched the match, both of them rooting for their friend. They both smiled when Edge won with the Edge-ecution.  
  
"I'm glad Edge won," Stephanie said, "He deserved it."  
  
"Yeah, he gets a lot of pops too, I wish I could get cheered again."  
  
"Aww, I'm sure you will once the plan is over sweetie. Everyone will want to be cheering for you."  
  
"Hold on, there's Brock," Jericho said, turning his attention to television. Stephanie turned to watch as well.  
  
They watched as Rey Mysterio asked if Brock was all right. Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief when Brock said that he was fine. Although him saying he was fine, didn't all together mean he was fine.  
  
"I hope he's telling the truth," Stephanie muttered.  
  
"Well, it looks like he's ok."  
  
"I hope so," she said as she watched the next segment between Al Wilson and Dawn Marie.  
  
"What's up with those two anyway?" Jericho asked, "They've been together for what.........a month?"  
  
"Yeah, something like that. Personally, I think Dawn Marie is just using him," Stephanie said, adding her two cents on the matter.  
  
"Me too. I mean, we've been together for four months, and we're nowhere near marriage."  
  
"We aren't?"  
  
"Are we?" Jericho asked.  
  
"I don't know. I mean, it's not impossible is it?"  
  
"Well, kind of, considering we're a secret to all but four people. Besides, are you even ready to get married again?"  
  
"Maybe I am."  
  
"See, a maybe is not an answer. Besides, there's plenty of time for marriage later."  
  
"But it isn't outside the realm of possibility is it?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"No, it's not outside the realm of possibility, it's very well inside the realm of possibility, just maybe a little ways off," he told her, kissing the top of her head.  
  
"Ok," she said, smiling a little.  
  
"Brock just said he's going to call out Big Show."  
  
"I just hope he doesn't get actually injured. He has a title match, we need him to be healthy."  
  
"Yeah, you don't want those Raw guys stealing the show," he said, smirking.  
  
"Of course not, though there is one Raw guy who's allowed to steal the show."  
  
"Really? Just one, and who would this one guy be?"  
  
"Hunter Hearst Helmsley of course," she said jokingly.  
  
"Yeah, it's true, I mean how can someone who does corpses not steal the show?"  
  
"I'm sure you'll do great on Sunday," she said, coughing.  
  
"Eh, I don't know, I just hope I don't get hurt in this Chamber."  
  
"I hope so too," Stephanie glanced at the television, "Hey, Kurt's on."  
  
"Glad to know seeing Kurt is more important than my match."  
  
"Well, Kurt's our friend, let's watch."  
  
Jericho and Stephanie both watched the scene between Benoit and Kurt. They couldn't help but laugh when Benoit flung Kurt's titles, it was just too funny. Though they laughed harder when Kurt did the old, you have something on you trick.  
  
"Kurt's so funny," Stephanie commented, before blowing her nose.  
  
"I know. Did you and Kurt ever.........you know? I mean, you were really close there for a while."  
  
"No, we were just friends. Same as we are now."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"Just wondering. I'm surprised it never came up before."  
  
"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about from Kurt, we've always been just friends."  
  
They watched the rest of the show quietly. Stephanie was waiting for the end to see if anything happened between Brock and Big Show. She didn't want her main event jeopardized because those two hotheads got in each other's faces.  
  
"I can't believe they're all going at it like that," Jericho commented when Kurt and Benoit's match erupted into a free-for-all.  
  
"Isn't that what happened on Monday?"  
  
"Yeah, but I was in it, so it was ok."  
  
"Oh I see, when you act like a nutcase it's ok, but when other people do it, it's ludicrous."  
  
"You know me so well," he said smiling mischievously.  
  
"What is going on between those two?" Stephanie said, looking between Benoit and Kurt.  
  
"I don't know, Kurt wants to be his friend, but Benoit isn't the easiest guy to get along with."  
  
"You're friends with him."  
  
"Yeah, but that took a long time, in case you forget, I've feuded with him a number of times."  
  
"That was a long time ago though."  
  
"It was. I think that was right around the time I started pestering you."  
  
"Was it?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"You were so mean to me," she said pouting.  
  
"Nothing you didn't deserve, you were a huge bitch."  
  
"I don't think I'm any different now," she said shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"Nah, you're a lot different, you might not see it, but everyone around you does. You're a much better person than you realize."  
  
"That's so sweet of you to say."  
  
"Eh, it's the truth."  
  
"Oh, be quiet, Brock's on."  
  
They shut up as Brock came to the ring and called out the Big Show. It took a while but Big Show eventually came out, and charged the ring. They saw the two of the fighting, and Brock hitting Big Show with a chair, and it looked like Big Show had hurt his arm. Stephanie cursed silently as she watched this happen.  
  
"Damn it, I wish I could've been there to stop those two idiots."  
  
"Well, you think of your employees highly."  
  
Stephanie coughed loudly, "Yeah, when they act like little boys."  
  
"Look at you, you're getting all worked up, and you're sick. If you keep trying to act like you're not sick, it'll only make you more sick, and you won't be able to go to Survivor Series."  
  
"I'm not making myself worse," Stephanie said, sneezing into a tissue.  
  
"Yes, you are, now I want you to go to bed, you watched the show, now you need your rest."  
  
"Fine Dad," she said sarcastically. Jericho rolled his eyes.  
  
"Don't ever liken me to Vince, that's just downright insulting."  
  
Stephanie laughed, causing her to have a coughing fit, "Aww, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?"  
  
"Yes, you did."  
  
"Poor baby," she said, leaning over to kiss him. Jericho pulled back before she could kiss him and looked at her in disgust.  
  
"Sorry baby, but there's no way I'm kissing you while you're sick. The last thing I need is a cold."  
  
"Fine, I'm going to bed then."  
  
"Ok, I'll be back in a minute," he said, before going and changing into some pajama pants.  
  
He disappeared into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He came back in a few minutes later, and climbed under the covers. Stephanie settled herself on his side, closing her eyes.  
  
"Are you still nervous about Sunday?"  
  
"Not any more so than usual. I just don't like going into the match not knowing what to expect."  
  
"Don't get hurt ok? I need you."  
  
"I'll try." 


	37. He Got Farther Than I Hoped, Survivor Se...

Stephanie walked into the arena, looking for her office. She was still a little bit ill, but was past the contagious stage. Of course, she still looked pretty bad since she was still stuffy and coughing. She practically looked like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  
  
She smiled a little as she though of how sweet Jericho had been taking care of her while she was sick. Nobody had ever done that for her before, not even her mother. Everyone had been so busy with themselves or the business that she had to care for herself.  
  
But Jericho had taken care of her. He had put up with her fever, her coughing, her runny nose, her nausea. She was lucky she had him, she knew that if she were still with HHH that he wouldn't have given a damn about her. She was so lucky to have Jericho in her life.  
  
She set her things down in her office, wondering if Jericho had arrived yet. He had taken their rental car, and she had taken a limo to the arena. She had left a little bit later than he had, so she assumed he was already here. She might try to get to see him before his match.  
  
She had to admit that she was worried about the match tonight. She didn't know what this Elimination Chamber was going to be like, and she didn't know what to expect from it. Even though he wouldn't admit it, she knew that Jericho was nervous about it too. She wished that she could just go out there, declare him the winner, and have it be done with. She was the boss's daughter, she should be able to do that.  
  
She wandered out into the hall, and down to the gorilla. She walked out of the entrance, and down the walkway. The arena was still empty save for the crew people putting things together. She stopped at the end of walkway and looked up.  
  
There it was, the Elimination Chamber. It looked so big and unforgiving. Quite frankly it was scary looking. Definitely something that could only come from the mind of Eric Bischoff. She pictured Jericho in there later, and sighed as she saw him getting pounded into the cold chains.  
  
"Intimidating isn't it?" she heard a voice behind her.  
  
"Much too much," she replied.  
  
"I'm glad I'm not going to be in that thing," he said, "What are you doing out here?"  
  
"Just looking at that thing," she said, turning back to look at Edge.  
  
"Are you worried about later?"  
  
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," she sighed. Edge looked around before stepping closer to her.  
  
"I'm sure he'll be fine Steph."  
  
"I don't know, I'm just so scared that he'll get hurt, what if he gets hurt Edge?" she asked worriedly.  
  
"He won't. Chris is strong Steph, and he knows what he's doing. He won't put himself into danger."  
  
"But what if someone else does? It's brutal inside cages, horrendous inside hell in a cell, I can't even imagine what it will be like in there," she said, looking up at the Chamber briefly.  
  
"Stephanie, you're going to worry yourself sick."  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm already sick."  
  
"Well, yeah, but I didn't want to say anything," he said, laughing softly.  
  
"I know that I look awful."  
  
"Nah, you look great as always, Kurt told me you were sick on Thursday."  
  
"Yeah, I stayed at home, Chris took care of me," she said grinning.  
  
"You two are so sickeningly sweet."  
  
"Shut up," she said blushing.  
  
"Want me to walk you back to your dressing room?" Edge asked.  
  
"Sure, you can make sure Bischoff doesn't come near me," she told him, as they started walking.  
  
"What? You don't want his lips on you again?"  
  
Stephanie shuddered, "Yuck, no. Hey, do you know if Chris is here yet?"  
  
"I think I saw him talking to Kurt earlier."  
  
"Ok, thanks," she said as they arrived to her dressing room, "Good luck on your match later, I'll be rooting for you."  
  
"What about Kurt?"  
  
"Well, I'll be rooting for him too, I can't pick sides," she said laughing.  
  
"Well, I'll try my best, bye Steph."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Just as Edge was walking away, Stephanie saw Bischoff walking in her direction. She had no desire to talk to him, and closed her door, locking it behind her. She wasn't going to let him anywhere near her if she could help it. She shuddered in disgust again as she thought about that kiss they had shared.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie sat watching the show in her dressing room as they showed Jericho warming up for his match. She smiled as she saw him, still thinking about how he had taken care of her. God, she loved that man.  
  
He looked a little bit nervous, but she knew that she was probably the only one who could tell. She was the one who knew him the best, and she could tell that even though he was trying his best to look tough, he was nervous, scared even of what was to come.  
  
Jericho readjusted his wrist tape for maybe the 500th time. He didn't want to admit it, but he was really nervous about tonight. He didn't know what to expect. He had caught a glimpse of the Chamber on the monitor earlier, but he hadn't seen it up close yet. He knew he was going to be one of the guys in the Chambers, that had been decided earlier.  
  
He jumped around for a little bit longer, than saw as Kurt walked over to him. He gave him a smile, and stopped jumping. He needed some reassurance right about now that nothing would go wrong tonight.  
  
"Hey man," Jericho said.  
  
"Hey, how you doing?"  
  
"I'm ok, I guess."  
  
"Nervous about tonight?"  
  
"You can say that."  
  
"You'll be great."  
  
"Thanks Kurt, I think I needed to hear that from someone."  
  
"What about your better, much better half?"  
  
"She's too nervous about me not getting hurt, I can't blame her, I don't want to get hurt either."  
  
"As long as you play it safe, and don't do anything crazy, you'll be fine."  
  
"I guess so, I'll try anyway." Just then, Benoit came up to them.  
  
"Hey Chris, Kurt, we got a match."  
  
"Hey Benoit."  
  
"Good luck tonight," Benoit told him.  
  
"Yeah, you guys too," Jericho answered.  
  
"Let's go partner," Kurt said grinning, and putting an arm around Benoit, who looked mighty uncomfortable. Jericho laughed as they left.  
  
Jericho decided that now was as good a time as any to see Stephanie, and stealthily made his way to her locker room. He knocked quietly on the door, not knowing if there was anyone in there. No one answered, so he tried the door and found it locked. That was odd, he thought. He knocked again, a little louder.  
  
"If that's you Bischoff, go away!" he heard her yell from behind the door. Jericho looked around, and seeing that no one was around, called out.  
  
"Stephanie, it's me." He heard shuffling, and the door flung open, and Stephanie pulled him roughly inside before closing the door, locking it again.  
  
"What are you doing with the door locked?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I saw Bischoff walking over here earlier, and I don't even want to see him."  
  
"Ok, good enough for me," he said laughing as she walked over and stood in front of him.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Can't a guy come to see his girlfriend on the once a month we're actually on the same show?"  
  
"I guess so, I just thought you would be warming up or something."  
  
"I can warm up in here," he said laughing, "You wanna braid my hair for me?"  
  
"Sure," she answered sitting on top of her desk. He went and stood between her legs with his back to her. She took his hair, and started braiding it.  
  
"How's the show so far?" he said, looking at the television.  
  
"It's ok," she said, as she watched Big Show beat Brock Lesnar, "Well, it looks like that was a quick match."  
  
"Seems so," he said, "I knew that Heyman was going to turn on Brock, he's a slime."  
  
"I know, I worked with him remember?"  
  
"Yeah," Jericho said chuckling, thinking back to the Alliance, "Hey, a year ago, you're company failed."  
  
"Don't remind me," Stephanie said groaning, "I don't want to remember that disaster. Do you have a hair tie?"  
  
Jericho handed her hair tie, and she tied his hair back. Then she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him against her. She also wrapped her arms around him, and he leaned against her. She put her chin on his shoulder, and sighed. They were silent for a few moments, just enjoying being wrapped around each other.  
  
"How are you feeling?" he asked after a while.  
  
"I'm ok."  
  
"Don't over exert yourself, I don't want you getting sick again."  
  
"I won't," she paused, "Are you nervous about your match?"  
  
He played with her hand that was around his waist, "Yeah."  
  
"I'm nervous too."  
  
"I promise I'll be careful."  
  
"You really promise?"  
  
"I really promise," he told her, bringing her hand up to his lips, and kissing it softly.  
  
"I'm just so scared for you."  
  
"I know, I'm a little scared too.........but don't tell anyone."  
  
"I won't," she said, laughing softly, "Well, as long as you're not getting hurt, can you kick Hunter's ass for me, and win the title?"  
  
He laughed, "I'll try my damnedest."  
  
"Good," she said smiling, "How will I know if you're ok though, you should have a special sign or something for me."  
  
"Hmm," he said thinking for a minute, "When I do my juke and jive, that means I'm ok, and I'm thinking of you, how's that?"  
  
"Sounds good," she told him, kissing the side of his neck.  
  
They watched the Tag Team title match quietly for a little while, noticing that Kurt and Benoit had gotten eliminated. They both were now silently rooting for Edge and Rey to win. That was the good thing about having two friends on two different teams, the odds were with you.  
  
"I better get going," Jericho said softly. Stephanie let go of him, and he stepped away from her, before turning around to look at her.  
  
"Ok, you want me to tie your goatee for you?"  
  
"Sure," he told her, handing her another tie. She tied his goatee, and pulled him closer using the goatee, "Ouch that hurt."  
  
She kissed him deeply, before pulling away, panting slightly, "Good luck sweetie."  
  
"Thanks, I'll probably need it."  
  
"Please don't get hurt."  
  
"I won't, don't worry baby." He leaned in, and kissed her again.  
  
"I love you," she told him softly, her eyes holding the worry that she felt. He kissed the tip of her nose.  
  
"I love you too."  
  
He walked to the door, unlocking it. He peeked his head out and didn't see anyone in the immediate area, so he snuck out. He didn't see that RVD had been walking down the hallway and saw him coming out of Stephanie's office.  
  
"What were you doing in there?" RVD asked. Jericho looked startled, before turning around, his face emotionless.  
  
"Bugging the bitch, what do you think I was doing?"  
  
"I thought you didn't hate her, anymore."  
  
"Of course I hate her, I left her show didn't I?"  
  
"Whatever man, we've got a match that I'm going to win."  
  
"Whatever Van Dam, I'd like to see you try," Jericho said, before the other man walked ahead of him.  
  
"I'll win, and it'll all be cool, because everything's cool when you're RVD," he said chuckling.  
  
Jericho breathed a sigh of relief as RVD walked past. That had been a close one, but he figured that RVD didn't even care about what had just happened. He had a feeling, right now RVD didn't have a care in the world. Luckily it had been him, and not someone who could find out the truth about him and Stephanie.  
  
Stephanie watched as Jericho walked down the walkway and to the Elimination Chamber. He looked so nervous, and she knew that she was just as nervous. She watched him climb tentatively into the cage, and then get locked into the Chamber. She breathed deeply not knowing what the match would bring.  
  
She watched the other men enter, and then RVD and HHH start off the match. She was glad every time RVD hit a move on HHH, served her bastard ex- husband right. She couldn't help but laugh as she saw Jericho grab RVD's leg to keep him from fighting, he was so clever like that. After the five minutes were up, she saw the countdown to the next entrant, and the lights shining on who would be entering next. It was Jericho.  
  
"Go Chris," she said to herself, silently praying that he would be ok.  
  
She saw as RVD started brutalizing on Jericho, and hoped that he didn't hurt him with his crazy style. She breathed in relief when she saw Jericho get the upper hand, even if he was working with her ex-husband. It would only be a matter of time when he would lay into HHH. She laughed out loud when she saw Jericho give HBK the crotch chop. The door to her office opened, and Edge walked in, freshly showered and in street clothes.  
  
"Hey Stephanie, mind if I come in?"  
  
"No, make yourself at home," she said gesturing to the chairs near her, but not taking her eyes off of the television screen.  
  
"How's the match so far?"  
  
"It's ok, Chris is in there."  
  
"He is, how's he doing?"  
  
"Fine.........so far."  
  
They both watched as Booker T's chamber opened, and he cleaned house. Stephanie tried to keep her eyes on the action, but they kept falling onto Jericho who was still laid out. She hoped that he would get up soon, and start kicking some ass. A knock sounded at the door, and Edge went to answer it, finding Kurt on the other side.  
  
"Hey, thought I'd come watch the match, how's it going?" Kurt said as he walked in.  
  
"It's going ok, Jericho just got up," Stephanie answered.  
  
They saw as Jericho got nailed to the outside of the ring onto the steel grating, and they all winced. Especially Kurt and Edge, who could only imagine what that would feel like. They watched as RVD was pinned, and eliminated, and Stephanie sighed, glad that Jericho wasn't the first out of the match.  
  
"1 down, 4 to go," Kurt said.  
  
"Go Chris," Edge added.  
  
Kane entered the fray next, and they watched as they saw him go after Booker and Jericho. Now Kane was going after Jericho, and they watched what he would do next. Stephanie's breath caught as Jericho was thrown to the outside, and then thrown into the cage itself.  
  
Then Kane took Jericho and threw him into the plexi-glass of one of the Chambers. Stephanie yelped in horror as she saw her boyfriend break through the glass, and fall down. She looked in fear as Jericho lay there, and hoped against hopes that he was alright.  
  
"I'm sure he's ok Steph," Kurt said comfortingly, noticing Stephanie's face.  
  
"Yeah, Chris can handle anything."  
  
"Kurt, when you were thrown through the plexi-glass at King of the Ring last year, did you feel alright?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Well, considering I had already broken my tailbone, no, but I don't think Jericho broke his tailbone, so I don't know," Kurt said, sheepishly.  
  
Stephanie sighed in relief as she saw Jericho slowly get out of the mess of plexi-glass he had been thrown into. Then they saw him get a Lionsault on Booker and pin him for the three-count. Edge and Kurt high-fived each other, and Stephanie's worried expression turned happy.  
  
"Yes, that's how you win championships," Edge said.  
  
Almost immediately after Booker was pinned, Kane went after Jericho, and threw him outside the ring again. Stephanie flinched when she saw Jericho's bloody face. He was bleeding a lot, and looked a little out of it, she hoped he didn't have a concussion or anything.  
  
"Damn it, why can't Kane just leave him alone," Stephanie muttered as Jericho tried to climb the cage, but failed.  
  
Stephanie watched as Jericho was thrown into the ring again, and beat on some more by Kane. Would this ever end? She saw Jericho kick out of the count, and smiled a teeny bit as Jericho got on the offensive. He was teetering a bit when he walked, and she saw him fall to the ring.  
  
"Is he ok? Do you think he's ok?" she asked no one in particular.  
  
"Yeah, look he's up Steph," Kurt said.  
  
"Damn, that was a nice missile dropkick," Edge said.  
  
HBK's chamber was opened, and he started laying everyone out. Jericho was now getting beat up by HBK. He was lying on the ground, and Stephanie hoped it was just to get a breather and not because he was hurt. He got up, and was choked and lifted into the air by Kane. Stephanie silently willed for Kane to let him go, which he did roughly, and Jericho was on the ground again, but not for long.  
  
Jericho tried to hit Kane, but got chokeslammed instead. Stephanie's eyes widened as she saw him lying prone on the ground.  
  
"Get up Chris, get up," she said quietly.  
  
Apparently he had gotten the message as he got up and immediately went for the Lionsault again. He flew through the air, and hit Kane. Stephanie cheered when he got the three count on Kane, eliminating him.  
  
"Man, that's the second man he's eliminated," Edge said, in awe.  
  
"Damn, he just might win this thing," Kurt said.  
  
"That's MY man out there," Stephanie said proudly, "And he's going to get Hunter for me, or try at least."  
  
HBK got up and went for Jericho, but Jericho got on the offensive quickly. He took it to HBK, throwing him into the cage repeatedly. He seemed to be doing alright, which Stephanie was thankful for. Now it looked like Jericho and HHH were going to be double-teaming on HBK, which she didn't care about, any way for Jericho to win.  
  
Jericho did his juke and jive, and Stephanie's smile grew wider than at any other time in the match. Edge and Kurt saw her, and looked at each other, a little bit perplexed. They shrugged, not knowing what was up.  
  
"Steph, what's with the smile?" Edge asked.  
  
"Chris told me that when he does the juke and jive, he's ok, and he's thinking of me," she said blushing slightly.  
  
"Aww, isn't that sweet, they even have special signals," Edge said.  
  
"Oh Edge, when will I know you're thinking of me when you're wrestling."  
  
"When I pull my hair out of my face, that means I miss you Kurt," Edge said, laughing.  
  
"Shut up you guys," Stephanie said, blushing even more.  
  
"Aww, Steph's blushing," Kurt said, pinching her cheek.  
  
"Don't do that," she chastised, swatting his hand away, "I'm trying to watch."  
  
She looked back to the television, only to see that Jericho was on the outside, but it looked like he was ok. Jericho rushed in and gave HBK the bulldog, before giving him the Lionsault. He went for the three, but HBK kicked out, much to the surprise of Jericho and the three watching backstage.  
  
They watched as HBK tried to pin Jericho to no avail, and then HBK putting Jericho in the Walls. Stephanie was actually relieved when HHH broke that up, and beat on HBK. Jericho tried to take advantage of the situation, and tried to pin HBK, but HHH pulled him off.  
  
"What the hell is he doing?" Kurt said.  
  
"I don't know, you'd think he wanted Michaels out of the picture," Edge answered.  
  
Jericho and HHH were now pushing each other, and Stephanie giggled in glee as Jericho stared pushing HHH. It was about time this started happening. HHH got the upperhand for a while, even trying to pin him, but then Jericho came back on the offensive.  
  
Stephanie laughed heartily as Jericho put HHH in the Walls. Her, Kurt and Edge stared chanting for HHH to tap.  
  
"No, don't get to the ropes," Stephanie said loudly. As she said this, Jericho pulled HHH to the center of the ring.  
  
"Yes!" Kurt exclaimed. Suddenly HBK came out of nowhere, and superkicked Jericho.  
  
"Damn him!" Stephanie said, "Chris was about to eliminate Hunter."  
  
They watched as HBK fell onto Jericho and got him for the three count. And just like that, Jericho was eliminated. Kurt and Edge muttered a few curse words, and Stephanie slammed her fist against her desk.  
  
"Damn it, he should have won that," Stephanie said.  
  
"He did well though Steph," Edge said.  
  
"Yeah, he did," Kurt interjected.  
  
"I guess."  
  
"We lost tonight too," Edge said, laughing.  
  
"I guess we're all losers," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah, you're losers alright," she told them, "Do you think I can sneak into Chris's dressing room?"  
  
"I guess, you want our help?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Would you?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Let's go," Edge said.  
  
Kurt was the first to leave the room, and he made sure the coast was clear. Edge and Stephanie walked out, and started making there way towards the dressing room, talking to each other. They were trying to give people the impression that they were engrossed in conversation.  
  
They stopped outside Jericho's locker room, making it look like they just happened to stop there on accident. They waited as a few wrestlers walked by, trying not to draw attention to themselves. As soon as the hallway cleared, Stephanie slipped into Chris's dressing room unnoticed.  
  
She looked inside, and saw Chris sitting on the bench, with a towel up to his head. He was looking down at the ground, and didn't seem to notice she had walked inside. She locked the door silently behind her, and walked up to him. She stood in front of him, not saying a word.  
  
Jericho was trying to get his bleeding to stop by holding the towel to his head. He knew he had had a great match, and was actually thankful that he had lasted that long, and been able to eliminate two guys. He noticed two very familiar female legs in front of him, and he slowly looked up into Stephanie's face.  
  
"Hey you," she said quietly.  
  
"Hey baby, what are you doing here?" he said, giving her a smile.  
  
She kneeled in front of him, "Came to see you."  
  
"I'm fine Stephy, it's just a cut," he said, seeing her eyeing the towel.  
  
"Ok, I saw you give me the sign, and I knew you were ok."  
  
"I'm glad, I tried to beat on Hunter as much as I could."  
  
"I saw, thank you."  
  
"Anything for you baby."  
  
"You were great out there, I was very impressed."  
  
"Thanks, I'm glad I made it that far."  
  
"You kicked so much ass," she said happily, "I'm so proud of you."  
  
"Did you watch the match alone?"  
  
"No, Edge and Kurt watched it with me. They thought you did great too. They said you can join their losers club, since they both lost tonight."  
  
"Well, I may lost the title, but I still beat two guys."  
  
"That you did," Stephanie said, leaning her arms on his knees.  
  
"Why don't you let me get a shower, and then we can go back to the hotel."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said, leaning over and kissing him, despite the blood on his lips.  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
.........  
  
.........  
  
.........  
  
See you tomorrow, same fic channel, same fic network! ;) 


	38. Don't Interrupt Guys, November 18, 2002

Jericho walked into the arena slowly, still a bit sore from his match last night. Despite Stephanie massaging his aching back, he was still quite sore. He also had a bandage on his head from where he got cut, and a bandage on his arm from when he had gone through the plexi-glass chamber.  
  
He slowly made his way to his dressing room, wondering what his match for the night would be. Maybe he and Christian would be defending the Tag titles against some other tag team.  
  
He walked inside his dressing room, and saw Christian had already arrived, judging by the other bags in the room. Jericho set his things down, and started unpacking his things. Christian walked in moments later.  
  
"Hey man, congratulations on last night."  
  
"What?" Jericho asked.  
  
"You got into the final three, that's pretty good."  
  
"Oh, thanks, Edge told me to say hi by the way," Jericho said.  
  
"Oh, cool, yeah, I haven't talked to him since last Saturday."  
  
"Yeah, that's what he said. So do you know what we're doing tonight?"  
  
"I have no idea. Did you hear about HHH?"  
  
"No, what about him?" Jericho asked, not really caring that much.  
  
"Apparently he got injured last night during the match, something with his throat, he had to be hospitalized last night."  
  
"Really? Well, I guess I gotta give it to him for finishing the match."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, at the very least he has guts."  
  
"Maybe I should call Steph and tell her?"  
  
"If you want."  
  
"Well, she might find it interesting," Jericho said, grabbing his cell phone from his bag. He dialed the hotel, and got connected to their room.  
  
"Hello?" Stephanie answered.  
  
"Guess who got injured last night?" Jericho said over the line.  
  
"Well, I know it's not you, so who is it?"  
  
"Your slime ball ex," Jericho said, giving a small chuckle.  
  
"Seriously," Stephanie said, not being able to hold her laughter, "Is it bad?"  
  
"I don't think so, something about his throat," Jericho looked up, "Hey Christian, is it serious?"  
  
"No, I don't think so, they only kept him overnight for observation."  
  
"No, it's not serious," Jericho told her.  
  
"I hate to laugh when someone gets injured, but when it's my ex-husband, who I despise, it's hard not to."  
  
"Well, after everything he put you through, I think karma is just biting him in the ass."  
  
"So you're saying he deserved it?"  
  
"Did he hurt you, and humiliate you?" Jericho said.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Then he deserved it."  
  
"I love you, so what's on tap tonight?"  
  
"No idea, but I better go, I have to get ready anyways."  
  
"Ok, see you later, bye."  
  
"Bye baby," he said, before hanging up.  
  
Jericho stayed in his locker room until the show started, before settling back and watching the monitor provided for him. He saw HBK walk out and he couldn't help but feel glad that HBK had come out on top last night. As long as HHH didn't retain, he was fine with it.  
  
He saw as RVD walked out, and all but demanded a shot at the title next week. If anyone should get a shot it should be him, he thought. He was the last guy eliminated before HHH and HBK had duked it out for the title. He saw Bischoff walk out, and his face turned bitter, still not happy with what Bischoff had done to Stephanie.  
  
Bischoff announced that tonight there would be a Triple Threat Match for the #1 Contender's spot. Jericho thought that would be a fair idea, he did deserve another chance after all. Christian walked in from the bathroom.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked, looking at the screen.  
  
"Looks like I've got a match later for the #1 Contender spot."  
  
"Cool, against who?"  
  
"RVD and Booker T."  
  
"Oh man, that's gotta suck."  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, you're supposed to be the bad guy, and they're supposed to be good guys, looks like you might get double-teamed."  
  
"Shit, I didn't think of that," Jericho muttered, suddenly becoming worried about the match. He was going to have a hard time beating two men who were against him.  
  
"Dude, I got your back though."  
  
"Seriously?" Jericho said, looking up at him.  
  
"Of course, we're a team, and friends."  
  
"Cool, man." Jericho suddenly heard a whirring sound coming from one of the vents, "Do you hear something?"  
  
Christian stood quietly for a moment, "No."  
  
"Are you sure, I hear this like whirring sound. It's coming from over there," he said, pointing towards the wall.  
  
Christian stood closer to the wall, and listened again, "Actually, yeah I do hear something."  
  
Jericho went over to the wall to examine the sound closer. It might have just been air in the vents, but it didn't sound like it. He kneeled in front of the grate, and saw that there was something in there.  
  
"I think there's something in the vent," Jericho said.  
  
"Really?" Christian asked, kneeling next to him.  
  
"Yeah, look right there," Jericho told him, pointing to the object.  
  
"What the hell is that?"  
  
"I don't know, is there anyway to get this thing off."  
  
"Here let me see."  
  
Christian felt around the grate, and saw a small opening where he could just barely get his finger underneath. He jimmied it, and then pried the corner open. The grate was fitted to the wall, and didn't have any screws, so Christian just lifted it off. They both looked surprised at what they found.  
  
"A camera?" Jericho said, befuddled.  
  
"Why is there a camera in here? Is someone filming us?"  
  
"I don't think so, look no red light," Jericho said, looking at the camera.  
  
"Hey, do you think this is that F-View camera thing?"  
  
"I think you may be right, what do we do now though?"  
  
"Should we break it?"  
  
"No, then they would find out. I've got a better idea."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We just have to play our parts."  
  
"Our parts?" Christian asked.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, what else can we do, thank God they haven't filmed so far, they could have easily filmed me when I was on the phone."  
  
"Oh with-"Jericho put his hand over Christian's mouth.  
  
"Don't say a word."  
  
"Mfjoshde," Christian mumbled behind Jericho's hand.  
  
"Good. Now we have to be in character."  
  
"Like how?" Christian asked once Jericho had removed his hand from Christian's mouth.  
  
"Well, last week, I hit you with the steel chair right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, what if you were upset with me this week, and I come in to ask you for help and then you refuse because you're still pissed."  
  
"But then I would come out and help you anyway," Christian said, catching on.  
  
"Exactly, throw them off."  
  
"That'll work."  
  
"Ok, let's get this thing back on there."  
  
They carefully put the grate back on, making it look like they hadn't even touched it. They went back to the television, and Jericho saw that Steiner was on. Jericho had never been able to stand that guy, he was always annoying and just grated on his nerves. Jericho motioned for Christian to go into the bathroom, away from the camera.  
  
"I'm going to go out there."  
  
"Dude, with Steiner out there."  
  
"Yeah, why not?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I mean, when we were in WCW, I never got to the big time, sure I had that one thing with Steiner, but I was never elevated. Now I'm in the big leagues, I should go out there and show it off."  
  
"You're crazy man, you should do it."  
  
"Ok, I'm out."  
  
Jericho walked backstage, avoiding an actual physical confrontation. Cooler heads had prevailed this time. Besides, he wanted to be in top form for his match later on, and fighting with Steiner now would just be stupid on his part.  
  
But it felt good, it felt good to be on top. In WCW he had always been too small and not main-event material. But then he had come to WWE, then WWF, and they had seen potential in him, and look where he was now. It was a pretty good trade-up.  
  
Vince had been very excited to sign him, and despite their differences, he knew Vince liked him. Which was a good thing considering he was dating his only daughter. That was another reason that he was glad he came over when he did, Stephanie was here.  
  
Jericho went back to his dressing room, preparing the little skit that he had planned with Christian. Bischoff really thought they were all fools didn't he? Well, little did he know that THEY were the ones manipulating him.  
  
After Christian left the room in a fake huff, Jericho got ready for his match. He walked over to the gorilla afterwards, and waited for his entrance. He wanted to be the best out there.  
  
The match was going ok, Jericho had managed to level the playing field against Booker T and RVD. Whenever he was down, they would go after each other, and Jericho was able to capitalize.  
  
Jericho was fighting with Booker, and saw Christian running down the ramp with a chair. Booker ran into the ropes, and met a swift chair to the back instead. Jericho tried to get the pin, but Booker broke out of it.  
  
Jericho then put Booker in the Walls, hoping he would tap. He was so into the match he didn't notice Christian get laid out by Steiner, and then Steiner coming into the ring. Steiner attacked him, and Jericho was so tired from the match he had a hard time fighting back.  
  
Suddenly Jericho felt himself on his back, he didn't even have time to think before RVD hit him with the Frog Splash. He didn't have enough energy to get up, so he just stayed still. He was now more sore, and just wanted to get back to the hotel.  
  
He was regretting interrupting Steiner.  
  
Jericho walked slowly down the hallway of the hotel. His back was killing him, he wanted a nice soft bed to lay on. He had taken an extra long shower at the arena, hoping the warm water would soothe his aching muscles. It had only helped slightly, and he was still sore.  
  
He opened the door, and threw his bag onto the couch. Stephanie heard the noise and came into the room, and saw him walking slowly over to the bedroom. She let him pass into the room, and he went straight for the bed, lying down gingerly.  
  
"I think I'm going to stay in bed for the next week," he told her. Stephanie climbed on the bed, and kneeled next to him, looking down at his face  
  
"Are you ok? I saw what Steiner did to you."  
  
"Yeah, and now I'm sore all over."  
  
"Why did you target him Chris, you should have left well enough alone."  
  
"Nah, it's more fun getting into trouble."  
  
"But look at you now."  
  
"Well, I'm just sore."  
  
"Fine, but why did you go out there and interrupt him?"  
  
"I guess some of the old Jericho came back."  
  
"The old Jericho?" Stephanie asked, lying down next to him.  
  
"WCW Jericho, you know, the guy who was too small to be a major threat. I just saw Steiner, and remembered how it was in WCW, and I guess I just had to go out there, prove I was good enough."  
  
"Of course you're good enough, you were the first Undisputed Champion, you've held every single title you can hold, you've main-evented WrestleMania."  
  
"Yeah, but it was like it was like I was transported back or something. WWE was a much better place for me though."  
  
"Well, of course. It IS the better business."  
  
"No, that's not why it's better."  
  
"Then why, because you got a bigger shot here?"  
  
"Nope, not that either."  
  
"Then why? Don't keep me in suspense."  
  
"Because you're here."  
  
"Chris," she said blushing as she kissed him on the cheek.  
  
"What, it's the truth. So I'm thinking that Steiner is going to show up on SmackDown."  
  
"Yeah, he probably will. I'll probably have to have Kurt hold me back so I don't slap the taste out his mouth for hurting you."  
  
"Wow, you really are a bitch."  
  
"You're damn right." 


	39. It's Hard Being the Boss, November 21, 2...

Stephanie was sitting in her office, looking over some papers. It had been a pretty slow night so far. Suddenly, John Cena rushed into room, and Stephanie looked up surprised. She didn't know why he was running into her office. If she had had her television on, maybe she would've known.  
  
"What is it John?" she asked, annoyed.  
  
"Brock just threw Matt Hardy through a wall," he told her.  
  
Stephanie stood up, "HE WHAT?"  
  
"Yeah, Matt was talking to him, and he got angry and he just threw him right through the wall."  
  
"Well, lead me to the locker room," she told him.  
  
He started walking down the hallway, Stephanie following behind him. They reached the locker room, and Stephanie saw that Matt had indeed been thrown through the wall. He was lying down on the ground, being talked to by some of the trainers. Stephanie went over and kneeled next to him.  
  
"Is he going to be ok?" she asked the trainer.  
  
"Yeah, he looks alright physically."  
  
"Matt, are you ok?"  
  
"Um, I'm not sure," Matt told her, getting up slowly.  
  
Stephanie stood up as Chavo and Eddie started talking to her. She listened to them spout off about this wasn't a proper working environment. She tried to look like it didn't affect her, but it really made her think. If she allowed this kind of stuff to happen, wasn't she a little bit responsible for it.  
  
As soon as Eddie and Chavo were finished talking, and she had spoken her mind, she went off in search of Brock. She was the person in charge of everyone and she had to make sure that none of them went crazy and started believing they were in charge.  
  
Stephanie watched as Brock tried to stare her down. Well, that wasn't going to work. Not with Stephanie. If anyone was the master of the stare down, it was Stephanie. She was a pro. Brock started to close in on her, but she didn't back down. He needed to understand that she alone was the boss, and she wouldn't tolerate being talked down to.  
  
Brock finally left, and a smirk crossed Stephanie's face. She knew that he would at least listen to her. She felt more superior in that moment than in a long time. Her smirk turned into a full out grin. Now to go and get some actual work done.  
  
She walked back into her office, intending to try and get some work done. Her father had told her earlier that Scott Steiner would be making an appearance at next week's SmackDown. That gave Stephanie a week to try to calm down and not kick Steiner where it hurt for beating on Jericho on Raw.  
  
"Knock, knock," a voice came from behind the door.  
  
"Come in," Stephanie called. Edge walked in.  
  
"Hey, what are you up to?"  
  
"I'm working Edge, what does it look like?"  
  
"Like your working," he laughed.  
  
"What's up Edge?"  
  
"Not much, just got bored, decided to see what you were doing."  
  
"Besides trying to stop fights, not much."  
  
"Oh you mean the thing between Brock and Big Show?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean, those two want to kill each other or something."  
  
"Great, and I have to face Big Show later on for the title."  
  
"Oops, sorry, didn't want to frighten me."  
  
"Me. Get scared. No way," he said, shaking his head.  
  
"Sure Edge."  
  
"So Steiner's not showing up tonight."  
  
"Yes, I know, Daddy called and told me."  
  
"So you think he's going to Raw?"  
  
"I don't care where he goes, I think he's a bad acquisition anyway," she scowled.  
  
"Does this have anything to do with what happened to Chris on Monday?"  
  
"No, I just don't like him, sometimes my dad makes stupid decisions. This is one of them," Edge gave her a look, "Ok, so it has to do a little bit with Chris."  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
"Well, I have the right to be upset, did you see what he did. Chris almost landed on his head, he could have been seriously injured."  
  
Suddenly Brock burst into the room, and eyed the two of them. Stephanie looked surprised to see him there. Edge's eyes widened, and got up of the chair he had been sitting in.  
  
"Steph, I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Yeah, good luck in your match."  
  
Brock paced around the room, breathing erratically. Stephanie just sat and watched as he paced, letting him cool down. He looked like he wanted to say something so Stephanie just sat back on her desk and waited for him to talk.  
  
Stephanie watched as Brock left. She was a little bit scared when he had leaned in close to her. As much as she tried to deny it, he frightened her a little. She was glad to see him get out of her office. Tonight was going to be a long night as long as these guys were around.  
  
Stephanie turned the monitor on in her office, she wasn't going to make the mistake of not having it on this time. Not after what had happened with Brock earlier. And especially because Heyman and Big Show were on next. Yes, she had said that she would suspend Brock, but she seriously didn't want to.  
  
She watched as Heyman droned on and on. Sometimes that man was way to talkative. She couldn't help thinking that he talked just to hear himself talk. Now he was talking about how he wasn't really a slime, he just wanted the success of his clients. Yeah, that and their power, she thought.  
  
Finally after what seemed like forever, Big Show came out and talked for a while, and there was no sign of Brock. Stephanie sighed, happy that Brock had seemed to heed her warning. Big Show and Heyman started to walk up the ramp when she saw Brock.  
  
"Damn it," she muttered to herself.  
  
Stephanie rushed out of her office, and down the hallway. She got out just in time to see Brock swing the chair at the Big Show, knocking him down. Brock started to go after Heyman, and he was coming out swinging.  
  
Stephanie was in the middle of the crossfire, and if she hadn't been alert than she would have been hit by Brock. She realized if that had happened, Jericho would kick Brock's ass. Stephanie walked beside Brock as the officials and other personnel pushed Brock backstage.  
  
She got in his face, and warned him if he touched Big Show or Heyman again, then she really would suspend him. This was getting ridiculous. She was cutting him a little bit of slack because of the situation that had happened at Survivor Series.  
  
She walked back to her office, and was actually able to get some work done. She had been trying to get it done as quickly as possible so she would get to leave early, but so far that idea was not feasible. The show was in Hartford, and she had wanted to leave early so she could drive back to her house in Greenwich, back to where Jericho was at.  
  
She looked up at the monitor when she heard her name being said. Heyman was talking with Big Show, and he was complaining about how he couldn't work tonight against Edge. Big Show was pushing Heyman to come see her, and persuade her to cancel the match.  
  
Stephanie sat back in her chair, and put her fingers up to her chin and thought for a moment. Whether or not Big Show was hurt, he was going out there tonight. After all the crap he caused tonight, he wasn't going to get out of it so easily.  
  
Just as she expected, Heyman came into her office to talk. He started talking about how Big Show was in no condition to work. Well, he had another thing coming to him if he actually thought that she would let Big Show off for the night.  
  
She told him that he would have to go out there, but she also put a stipulation. This time she was serious about suspending Brock. It was the only thing she could do. Then Heyman started threatening her.  
  
As cool as she tried to be, as nice as she appeared since she came back as General Manager, deep down Stephanie was a bitch. She knew it, and everyone close to her knew it. She was not going to tolerate Heyman trying to threaten her. She got right into his face and told him to get the hell out of there.  
  
It felt good to be her old self again, if only for a second. Sometimes she seriously hated being the goody-two-shoes. She wanted to be the bitch again. She wanted to sneer at people, to connive, to ally herself with the biggest bad guys in the business. Someday, she thought, the real me will be back.  
  
Stephanie walked into her house around 12:30. She had managed to leave right after the show was over, and had driven for an hour and a half to her house in Greenwich. She hardly ever stayed in this house anymore, since she lived with Jericho on her off-days, but it was nice to know it was still around.  
  
The house was dark, and she assumed that Jericho was upstairs, either asleep, or watching television. She set her keys and purse down in the kitchen, then walked upstairs. Just as she suspected Jericho was lying down on the bed, watching television.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the most beautiful boss in the world," he said.  
  
"Don't remind me, it's hard being the boss."  
  
"Well, I should say so after tonight."  
  
She walked into her large closet, and changed into a comfy pair of pajamas. She grabbed a brush from her bathroom, and went to sit on the bed. She started combing out the waves in her hair as she sat opposite Jericho.  
  
"So what are you going to do about Brock?"  
  
"I guess I have to suspend him, I mean, I did say I would."  
  
"You guaranteed."  
  
"Yeah, so I guess I'll have to huh?"  
  
"Well, I guess it's your call, you're the one in charge."  
  
"Sometimes I wonder why I even took this job."  
  
"I'll tell you why, because you love the power. You've always loved the power."  
  
"Really?" she asked. She knew she liked being in charge, but Jericho made it sound like she was a ruthless power monger.  
  
"Well yeah, it's not bad or anything, you just like to be in control of every situation. When we were business partners, you were in control."  
  
"Yeah," she laughed, "But you're a push over."  
  
"Hey, that's not very nice to say," he said, sitting up.  
  
"But you are," she said, pushing him back down, "See."  
  
"Well, only cause I let you. So gonna suspend him?"  
  
"Do I have any other choice?"  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Then there's your answer." 


	40. Thank You WWE, That is All, November 25,...

A/N: Well, tonight, I was torn. The girl in me was squealing about Jericho being as close to naked as one could get. The smart mark in me was saying damn how could they embarrass Jericho like that, and he better be getting a huge bonus for doing that.  
  
Which side won you ask? Well, let's just say, I'll be watching some naked Jericho for days to come. ;)  
  
Jericho walked back up the ramp, exhausted from his match. It felt like he had fought three different matches. Of course, technically it had been one match, it had gone on for such a long time. But he and Christian had stuck it out and they were still Tag champs.  
  
They walked backstage, celebrating again. They won the titles after a grueling match, they might as well celebrate. They had been talking, knowing the camera was on, and had discussed going out on the town. As soon as they walked into the right now empty dressing room, they broke character.  
  
"So these women of Charleston, they wouldn't happen to be named Stephanie McMahon would they?"  
  
"They might."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm so sure that you would actually go and pick up some random chick when you have Stephanie."  
  
"And why couldn't I?" Jericho asked, jokingly.  
  
"Because I have a feeling Stephanie would have your head on a platter if you went out with another girl."  
  
"Yeah, actually I'm meeting her at some sports bar or something after the show. So if I can get out early than that would be great."  
  
Jericho hopped into one of the shower stalls, and showered quickly. He wanted to see if he could get out early and go see Stephanie. She had said that she wanted to go shopping tonight, and then meet him later for some drinks and maybe a late meal.  
  
He turned off the shower, and wrapped a towel around him, before stepping out of the stall. He noticed Christian was done as well, and laughed loudly at the shower cap that Christian was wearing.  
  
"That thing looks ridiculous man," Jericho said laughing at him.  
  
"Well, I took a shower earlier today, and I don't want to wash my hair twice."  
  
"Come on, let's get out of here."  
  
Jericho stood with his mouth open after being locked out of the dressing room wearing nothing but a towel. He couldn't believe this was happening. All because they had lost a match? He reminded himself never to mess with Dudleys again.  
  
"What just happened?" Christian asked.  
  
"I think that we're stuck.........in a hallway.........in nothing but towels," Jericho said slowly, absorbing the situation.  
  
"I cannot believe this!" Christian said angrily.  
  
"Neither can I," Jericho said dumbly.  
  
"What are we going to do?"  
  
"Well, we have to get clothes."  
  
"But where?"  
  
"I don't know where, anywhere, we just need clothes. And I thought I was going to get out early tonight."  
  
"Why don't we split up, we'll cover more ground that way."  
  
"Ok, lets go."  
  
Jericho walked down the hallway, slightly embarrassed by the situation. This was great, and he thought getting his pants pulled down was embarrassing. This pretty much took the cake.  
  
He walked down some of the corridors, looking for anything that he could put on. He saw some crew guy laughing, and started going off on him. This wasn't a comical situation. Just then, Christian called him over, and he entered a locker room.  
  
Turned out the locker room belonged to Three Minute Warning. Jericho couldn't help it if they had horrible taste in clothes. It wasn't his fault. But damn, if he and Christian could've just kept their mouths shut, they probably would have gotten some clothes. Ugly clothes, but still some ugly clothes were better than no clothes.  
  
"Damn it, we need to learn to shut our mouths," Jericho said as they left the room.  
  
"Well, we couldn't help it, did you see those clothes?"  
  
"Yeah, I probably would be more embarrassed wearing those, than wearing this towel."  
  
"At least the towels aren't leopard-print," Christian said, trying to make light of the situation.  
  
"You got a point there."  
  
They walked around for a while, still looking for clothes. Then Christian started talking about shrinkage. As if things weren't bad enough with him walking around in a towel for everyone to see, now he had to worry about shrinkage. This was like a bad dream.  
  
They walked over to where there was a monitor, and saw that the Dudleys had walked out to the ring with their stuff. Jericho knew it was a bad idea going out there, but damn it, he wanted his clothes.  
  
"Dude, I have a bad feeling about going out there," Christian said.  
  
"So do I, but do we have any other option?"  
  
"I guess not, but who knows what they're going to pull out there."  
  
They passed by another monitor and saw that they were throwing their clothes into the audience. By now Jericho was pretty pissed. This was such a stupid, childish thing to do, all because they lost a freaking match. God, some people needed to grow up.  
  
They grabbed a couple of microphones from the table, and prepared to walk out there. They looked at each other uncertainly for a moment. Were they just being incredibly stupid? Probably.  
  
"Should we go out there?" Jericho asked.  
  
"We have to, that's OUR stuff."  
  
"Ok, but I really have a bad feeling."  
  
Jericho ran backstage. He couldn't believe what had just happened. They had gone out there to retrieve their belongings, and what came next was just too surreal. He knew it was a bad idea to go out there, he just didn't know how bad an idea it would turn out to be. It would be much worse than he thought.  
  
He had been stripped naked.  
  
A/N: Hey, I'm just going to give everyone a moment here to think about Jericho naked, and let you all drool as you picture it. I know that's what I'll be doing. .............  
  
............  
  
.............  
  
Ok, back to the story.  
  
He had been stripped naked. How more embarrassing could the situation get? Sure, the towels had been embarrassing, but naked, that was definitely worse. And this wasn't in front of a couple people, to which Jericho might have laughed off, no this was in front of thousands of people, live, not to mention the millions of people watching at home.  
  
Jericho groaned, as he ran backstage. Thank god, that someone was handing them robes. Where the hell had this guy been when they were in towels? Robes were a lot harder to pull off than towels. Jericho hastily put on the robe, before looking for Christian.  
  
Christian came running up behind him, and Jericho thrust the robe in his direction. Christian smiled gratefully, and threw the robe on. Jericho could tell that Christian was just as angry as he was. This was not a good night, not a good night at all.  
  
"Damn it, I could seriously kick some ass right now," Christian said.  
  
"So could I, but I just want to get out of here with a little bit of pride left."  
  
"Yeah, let's go."  
  
Since they didn't have their belongings, they were forced to go and grab their keys, and leave the arena in nothing but robes and sandals. They hopped into the rental car that they were sharing, and drove off in silence.  
  
"You know, it was kind of funny," Christian said after a while.  
  
"What? You found that funny?"  
  
"Well, I mean, if I wasn't on the receiving end of the joke, yeah it would have been pretty funny."  
  
"Ok, so it was slightly funny, although I don't appreciate losing that shirt, it was one of my favorites."  
  
"Dude? Can I ask you something?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ass crème?" Christian said snickering.  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault, Stephanie gets rough in bed sometimes, and I get sore," Jericho said sheepishly.  
  
"Wow, that was way too much information."  
  
"You asked? What was I supposed to do, lie?"  
  
"Fine, but let's just forget I asked."  
  
"Well, at least I get some," Jericho said.  
  
"Wow, just rub salt in the wounds."  
  
"Well, if I'm going down, you're coming with me."  
  
They arrived at the hotel, and quickly walked through the lobby, trying not to draw attention to themselves. They got onto the elevator, and pressed their floor numbers. The elevator dinged and Christian went to step off.  
  
"It's been quite the night man, see you later."  
  
"Yeah, see you."  
  
Jericho rode up to his floor, and quickly walked to the room. Luckily his room key had been with his car keys and not in his bag. He unlocked the door and went inside. Like planned, Stephanie wasn't around. He got dressed quickly, thankful for clothes, and left.  
  
He went back downstairs and to the car again. He drove to the sports bar he was meeting Stephanie at, and parked. He walked inside, and looked around. He noticed that the Monday Night Football game was on, and thanked God that it wasn't on wrestling, he was hoping that no one recognized him as the guy who was naked.  
  
He saw Stephanie sitting alone, stirring a drink absently. She was looking off into space, and Jericho smiled as he looked at her. Just being in the same room as her made him forget everything that had happened tonight. He made his way over to her table and stood behind her, not revealing his presence.  
  
"Can I buy you a drink?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm waiting for my boyfriend," she said, not recognizing his voice because of all the noise in the bar.  
  
"Well, I can keep you company until he shows up?"  
  
"No, really, I don't need—Chris," she said, as she turned around.  
  
"Hey baby, mind if I sit?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her.  
  
"No, of course not."  
  
"Have you been waiting long?"  
  
"About twenty minutes."  
  
"Ok, that's not that long. What did you buy?" he said, looking at her shopping bags.  
  
"Oh, just some clothes, a couple pairs of pants, some skirts, a couple tops, some lingerie," she said, winking at him.  
  
"Well, I can't wait to see them," he said, before ordering a beer.  
  
"Who said you get to see them?" she said jokingly.  
  
"Oh, so I don't get the VIP treatment?"  
  
"Oh, you'll get VIP treatment.........how was the show?" Stephanie asked, her eyes gleaming.  
  
"Fine," Jericho said, not bringing up the incident.  
  
"Oh, so it was uneventful?"  
  
"Yeah, just your boring old show."  
  
"Oh, so getting stripped naked is normal for you?" Stephanie said, with a sneaky grin.  
  
"Damn, you saw?"  
  
"I caught it yeah, I went back to the hotel to drop off some of my other bags, and turned it on, and what do I see, my boyfriend in a towel looking for clothes. How could I turn it off?"  
  
"They took my clothes," Jericho said pouting.  
  
"I know sweetie, then I see them throwing your clothes, and then I see you naked, which isn't out of the ordinary for me, but seeing you naked in front of a bunch of people, that's a new experience for me," she said giggling.  
  
"I'm glad you take pleasure in my pain," he said smirking as his beer arrived.  
  
"I'm sorry sweetie, but it was funny."  
  
"It's not funny when you're the one who's naked."  
  
"Take it from someone who has been exposed in a number of ways, a number of times, life goes on, you'll be fine, people won't care come next week."  
  
"I'm taking you're word on that."  
  
"Trust me, it'll be old news, and then the only one seeing you naked will be me."  
  
"I guess," Jericho said, as he took a sip of his beer.  
  
"Sweetie?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Ass crème?"  
  
Jericho sighed, "Stephy, sometimes you get a little rough in bed, and I get sore."  
  
"Oh, so I'm the reason you're buying that stuff?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
  
"Well, I promise, next time," she leaned over and kissed him, "I'll be gentle." 


	41. Happy Thanksgiving, November 28, 2002

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to you all, hope that your holiday was a good one. :)  
  
I love how the WWE challenges me with things like ass crème and PMS (not the team), they sure love to make my job harder.  
  
Stephanie walked into her childhood home, carrying the mashed potatoes that Jericho had made yesterday. She wasn't much of a cook, so she had asked Jericho to make them for her, and he had done a wonderful job. And now she was bringing them to her parent's house for Thanksgiving lunch.  
  
Her family was having a Thanksgiving lunch because Stephanie had to work later on that evening. But her family insisted that they get together and have a family meal.  
  
"Hello, anyone here!" she called out.  
  
Shane walked in from the foyer, and came over to her. She gave him a smile, which he returned. He gave her a quick hug, and then took the food from her.  
  
"How are you?" Shane asked.  
  
"I'm ok," Stephanie responded.  
  
"Did you make these yourself?" he asked, eyeing the potatoes.  
  
She laughed, "Yeah right, you know I'm a terrible cook."  
  
"Oh, so someone else made them. Is this someone else on his way?"  
  
"No, of course not."  
  
"You didn't invite your-"  
  
"Invite who?" Linda asked as she walked into the kitchen where Shane and Stephanie were standing.  
  
"No one Mom," Stephanie said quickly, shooting Shane a dirty look, "Shane doesn't know what he's talking about."  
  
Linda came over and gave Stephanie a warm hug, "If you have someone in your life Stephanie, then you should have brought him over."  
  
"Mom, there's no one in my life, ok, nobody."  
  
"If you say so. I'll go put this on the table, we're almost ready to eat."  
  
As soon as Linda left, Stephanie walked over to Shane and shoved him hard. He gave her a look of disbelief as he rubbed his shoulder where she had just punched him.  
  
"God Steph, do you have PMS or something?"  
  
"None of your damn business!"  
  
"Then why'd you hit me?"  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You almost just let the cat out of the bag."  
  
"Steph, I don't know why you have to hide it from Mom."  
  
"Because we have a whole plan moron."  
  
"But Mom doesn't care, I'm sure she'd like to see you happy," Shane mused for a moment, "I wonder what she would think if she knew you were living with Chris Jericho?"  
  
"Shut up idiot, Mom can't know, she'd tell Daddy, and if Daddy knew, then he would say it's not fair, and he'd probably make Chris go back to SmackDown, and then everything would be for naught."  
  
"You really do underestimate Mom don't you?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"She wouldn't tell Dad."  
  
"How do you know?" she asked, taking a step back, and crossing her arms.  
  
"Because I know her, if you told her in confidence, she'd keep it in confidence."  
  
"Yeah, so I'm just going to go in there and tell her, 'Guess what Mom? I'm dating Chris Jericho.' Yeah, sure Shane."  
  
"What is going on in here?" Vince's booming voice came from the entryway.  
  
"Nothing Dad, Steph and I were just discussing something."  
  
"Hi Daddy," Stephanie said, as happily as she could muster at the moment.  
  
"Hello Princess, I've missed you," he said, kissing her forehead.  
  
"I missed you too Daddy."  
  
"Where have you been hiding yourself, you never come over anymore."  
  
"That's because-"Shane started.  
  
"Daddy, tell Shane to stop bugging me," Stephanie whined.  
  
"Shane, stop antagonizing your sister," Vince warned. Stephanie stuck her tongue out at Shane behind Vince's back.  
  
"You three come on, lunch is ready."  
  
The three of them walked into the lavish dining room, and sat down at the table. They served themselves, before eating, and chit-chatting. They hardly ever got to see each other, so it was a special occasion when they were actually in the same room.  
  
"Stephanie, remind me again where the show is tonight?" Linda asked.  
  
"It's in Columbia, South Carolina."  
  
"Columbia, I've always said that if the world ever needed an enema, then Columbia would be where they-"  
  
"Vince," Linda said in warning.  
  
"Well, you get the point."  
  
"Well, I'm sure it'll be fine Daddy."  
  
They finished their lunch, and Stephanie offered to help clear the dishes. She cleared away the plates, and got started on the dishes. She knew that Shane and Vince would never come and help because football was on, so she just did all the work herself. After a little while, Linda came in, and came and helped her dry the dishes.  
  
"So what was Shane babbling on about?" Linda asked after a few silent moments.  
  
"Nothing Mom, Shane was just being Shane."  
  
"If you have a boyfriend you know you can tell me Stephanie."  
  
"I don't have a boyfriend Mom," Stephanie said, mentally planning her brother's funeral after she was finished with him.  
  
"Stephanie," Linda said, her voice raising slightly, "I've called your house on your off days only to find you weren't there."  
  
"I was probably out."  
  
"At 7 o'clock in the morning?"  
  
"I get early starts," Stephanie said shrugging. Damn it, her mother was way too smart about these things.  
  
"Stephanie, you never get up before 9 o'clock, I believe those were your words. Now where were you?"  
  
"Mom, please, can we just drop the subject?"  
  
"Fine, as long as you admit you're seeing someone."  
  
"Fine, I'm seeing someone ok," Stephanie said, exasperated. She was most definitely going to kill Shane.  
  
Linda smiled, knowing she had won the battle, "And this boy, how serious is it?"  
  
"Very serious Mom."  
  
"How long have you been seeing him?"  
  
"A little over four months."  
  
"Four months?" Linda asked shocked, "And you never told me or your father."  
  
"Mom, we don't want it to get leaked out."  
  
"Why not? This boy treats you well doesn't he?"  
  
"He treats me wonderfully Mom, it's just complicated," Stephanie said, finishing the last plate.  
  
"Stephanie, he isn't trouble or anything is he?"  
  
"Mom, he's not trouble, he's a great, wonderful guy. He's a guy I don't even feel I really deserve."  
  
"Why can't you tell me who he is then?"  
  
"Because-because........." Stephanie was at a loss for words, she couldn't tell her the reason or it would give it away.  
  
"Because of your father?" Linda supplied. Stephanie shifted her feet nervously.  
  
"Maybe," she said, looking down.  
  
"Stephanie," Linda started, putting a hand on Stephanie's shoulder, "Whatever you tell me, I will keep from your father if you want me to. I don't have to tell him, unless you're in trouble."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No buts Stephanie, I will not tell. I promise you that. So who is he? Someone I know?"  
  
"It'sChrisJericho," Stephanie mumbled lowly.  
  
"Excuse me," Linda said, not understanding.  
  
"Chris Jericho," she said, a little bit louder and clearer. Linda's eyes widened.  
  
"Did you just say Chris Jericho?"  
  
"Yes. Now that you know, you cannot tell Daddy, please Mom."  
  
"Chris Jericho?" Linda said, still shocked, "But I don't understand, why is he on Raw? Why is this a secret?"  
  
"Because Mom, he's a spy for me, Mom, do you agree with Daddy's decision to bring in Eric Bischoff?"  
  
"If we're being honest, no."  
  
"That's why. I'm bringing him down, I don't want him ruining our company. Chris is helping me, we've been dating since I came back from my leave of absence."  
  
"Well, this is surprising. But if you're happy, then I'm happy for you."  
  
"Do you mind? About Chris, I mean."  
  
"No, of course not. I know beneath that jackass he portrays, he's a nice man."  
  
"He is Mom, he's great.........Wow, this is a mushy moment."  
  
"Yes, and don't you have a plane to catch?"  
  
Stephanie looked at her watch, "Oh God, I do, I'll see you later Mom, and thanks for understanding."  
  
AT THE SHOW  
  
Stephanie walked backstage after she had told Brock that he was suspended. It felt good to be somewhat back in her old ways. She loved being the bad guy, and as cool as it was being cheered, she got a lot of satisfaction as she heard the boos from the crowd.  
  
Now she had to go back to her office and prepare herself for his arrival. She was making it out like it was going to be this huge deal. Fact of the matter was that she didn't want to see that freak, or his stupid peaks. If only she could slap him across the face for hurting Jericho.  
  
Stephanie walked muttering to herself, when she saw Kurt sitting on one of the trunks that production used. She was grateful to see a friend. She was still in kind of a bad mood, and her monthly visitor had come, and that sucked royally.  
  
Stephanie walked away from Kurt, and she knew that she had been kind of pissy towards him. She felt really badly, and walked back over to him. Kurt gave her a tentative smile, probably not wanting any more of her wrath.  
  
"I'm sorry Kurt, I didn't mean to be a bitch right there."  
  
"That's ok Stephanie, you obviously don't like your Aunt Flo visiting you. Did she come for Thanksgiving?"  
  
"Um.........Kurt, I don't have an Aunt Flo," she leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Get it?"  
  
"Oh," Kurt said, clarification running through his mind, "I see. And I now feel like a royal idiot."  
  
"That's ok, I'm just in a bad mood."  
  
"Any reason, nothing with Chris I hope."  
  
"No, Chris is fine, he's back at the hotel, he arrived earlier today. I had to go have Thanksgiving lunch with my family."  
  
"Sounds nice."  
  
"I told my mom about Chris and I. Well, actually, Shane has a big mouth, and my mom got the information out of me."  
  
"Really? How'd she take it?"  
  
"She was surprised, but she's happy for me. So that's good, but Shane should have kept his big mouth shut."  
  
"I have a feeling that he's going to be in trouble."  
  
"Oh, definitely. Well, I've got to go get ready for Steiner," Stephanie said, sighing.  
  
"That's not very enthused. Still pissed?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"See you later Steph."  
  
"Bye Kurt."  
  
Stephanie walked back to her office, and got ready for Scott's arrival. She wanted to appear as if she actually gave a damn about him. She had figured that maybe if Steiner came to SmackDown then he wouldn't be a threat to Jericho. And if that's what it took to protect her boyfriend then she would just have to do it.  
  
Stephanie watched as Moolah walked out of the room. Well, if that hadn't been the most boring conversation ever. She needed to stop being so nice. She should have just let Moolah shill her book, then leave. But no, Stephanie had a better idea, a sinister smile crossing her face. She definitely had a better idea.  
  
Stephanie turned on her monitor, and saw that they were reporting that Brock could possibly be back in the building. This was the last thing she needed. She didn't need Brock causing more havoc than he already had. She sat back at her desk, sighing as she started to just watch the show.  
  
She watched as Steiner beat up on Jamie Noble. This was exactly what she was talking about. He was nothing but trouble. Sometimes her father made the absolute worst decisions. She was already boiling with anger when Steiner mentioned Jericho. That guy better not try to see her after he said that. In the mood she was in, she was liable to rip his head off.  
  
The rest of her night saw Heyman coming in to talk to her. She hated talking to him, she had hated talking to him ever since the Alliance dissolved. Finally the main event was happening and she couldn't help but laugh a little. She truly was evil. Then she saw Brock dart out of the crowd. Well, now she had to go out there because she was the boss. And the being the boss meant that she had to enforce her own rules.  
  
Finally after what seemed like forever, she was able to leave the arena. She climbed into the back of the limo that she had arrived in, and was driven back to the hotel. It felt like forever since she had seen Jericho, even though she had seen him this morning.  
  
She arrived at the hotel, and went up to her room. She walked in and saw that Jericho was standing out on the balcony. She walked over and wrapped her arms around him from behind and leaned her head on his back, sighing in comfort.  
  
"So should I have a shield so I don't have to be inflicted with the wrath of Stephanie," Jericho said, grabbing her hand.  
  
"No, you don't need a shield, you might be the only one who doesn't need it."  
  
"You're evil, you are so evil, I hope you know that. I mean, putting Moolah into a match like that."  
  
"I was in a bad mood."  
  
"I could tell," he said, stroking her hand.  
  
"It's not my fault, everything just sucked today. First at my parent's house, then at the show."  
  
"What happened at your parent's?" Jericho asked, turning around, still in Stephanie's arms.  
  
"Shane is a moron, he almost let it slip that I was with you, and then my mom figured I was seeing someone, and then I couldn't help but tell her about us."  
  
"Your mom knows?" he said, alarmed.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What about your dad?"  
  
"No, Daddy doesn't know, and Mom said she wouldn't tell him."  
  
"What did she think?"  
  
"She doesn't really care, she said you're a nice man."  
  
"Well, I am," Jericho told her, laughing.  
  
"It's just been a horrible day, thank God I have you."  
  
"I'm thankful I have you too."  
  
"Some days, you're the only thing that seems right in my life. Sometimes I feel that everyone is against me because I'm the boss."  
  
"That's not true. And you're a beautiful person, inside and out."  
  
"Thank you, I think I needed to hear that."  
  
"So why do you want to sign Steiner so badly."  
  
"To get him away from you."  
  
He kissed her, "You don't have to do that."  
  
"I want to. If having Steiner on my show means that he'll be away from you. Then I'll do what I have to do to get him on my show."  
  
"Ok, if you want to."  
  
"I do."  
  
"So how did my potatoes go over?" Stephanie laughed.  
  
"They were great." 


	42. Chris Has Plentiness, December 2, 2002

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for the awesome reviews, you guys are too sweet.  
  
And while I'm talking, I'd like to direct your attention to a great website started by myself and two of my friends, Roxie and Karla. The website is called , and before you think that I'm suddenly a HHH supporter, it's an anti-HHH site, so go check it out. :)  
  
Jericho stuffed the last of his things into his duffel bag, and made sure that he had everything that he needed. Stephanie was out getting something for him. He sat on the bed and turned on the television, waiting for Stephanie to get back.  
  
A few minutes later, the door opened and Stephanie walked in. She had a bag in one hand, and a cell phone in the other. She smiled and walked over to him, talking to whoever was on the phone. He smiled back at her, wondering who she was talking to.  
  
"Yes, that sounds fine, I think that we can discuss that later," she said into the phone, "I'll talk to you later, bye."  
  
"Who was that?" Jericho asked, curiously, as she stood in front of him.  
  
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," she said mischievously.  
  
"Is that so?" he said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her towards him.  
  
"Yes," she put the bag she was holding on the bed, "Here's your stuff."  
  
He let go of her, and took the bag, "Thanks for picking them up."  
  
"No problem, but you guys are being silly."  
  
"Who cares, if we want to chain up our bags, than we will."  
  
"Whatever," she said, kissing his forehead, "You better go."  
  
"Ok, I'll see you later."  
  
"You will," she said smirking, and Jericho couldn't help but look at her suspiciously, getting the impression that something was up, something that he didn't know about.  
  
He thought nothing more of it, and left for the arena. He got there in no time, and went into the dressing room. There weren't a lot of guys around, so he just grabbed a locker, and saved the one next to him for Christian. A few minutes later, Christian walked in.  
  
"Hey man," Jericho said.  
  
"Hey, did you get the--"  
  
"Yeah, I got them," he said, holding up the chains.  
  
"Good."  
  
They each took a chain and chained up their bags to the locker. They were taking every precaution to make sure that they're bags stayed with them. If they had to chain them up, well then so be it.  
  
"So do you know what you're doing tonight?" Christian asked.  
  
"Yeah, I have a match against Booker, you got my back though right?"  
  
"Of course. We have to show we're not suckers."  
  
"Damn right."  
  
They hung out until the show started, and then watched the show from the many monitors. They both scowled as they saw the Dudleys walked out for their match. They were still bitter about what had happened last week.  
  
"You know what?" Christian said, turning to him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"We should go out there."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, they took our clothes, the least we can do is go kick their asses."  
  
"You know what? You're right. We should beat them up."  
  
Just then they saw Spike running by. They followed him, watching as he went out and interfered in the match. After the match had finished, they saw Spike just standing on the ramp. They both knew this was the perfect moment and went out there to get a little revenge.  
  
Jericho and Christian sat down on the bench, after making it known that they were the best, and they weren't going to be taking crap from anybody. Last week had shown just how vulnerable they could be and they weren't going to be putting themselves in that position anymore.  
  
Bischoff walked into the room, and proceeded to make his way over to the two of them. Jericho rolled his eyes at Christian when he saw Bischoff, and Christian let out a chuckle. Bischoff smiled his very insincere smile, and Jericho sighed as he waited for him to speak.  
  
"Gentlemen, I saw what just happened, and I have to agree whole-heartedly," he said, putting his hand over his heart in a fake gesture.  
  
"With what Bischoff?" Jericho asked, annoyed by his presence.  
  
"You two, you guys should be respected for being the champions, and so I'm taking you out of here, and you two can have your own dressing room."  
  
"What's the catch?" Jericho asked, not fooled.  
  
"No catch at all. Just being a nice guy." There was that smile again.  
  
"Fine," Jericho answered.  
  
"Good, your new dressing room is a few doors down, bye guys," Bischoff said, before leaving.  
  
"You actually trust that guy?" Christian asked, as Jericho began to un- chain his bag.  
  
"No, of course not, but if he's genuine, then I want my own dressing room."  
  
"Well, I guess we could take his offer."  
  
"He'll probably make us do something later, but who cares."  
  
They grabbed their things and walked down the hallway. They saw a door with their names on it and walked inside, a bit cautiously. When they found it was just a normal room, they felt better and put their stuff down.  
  
Jericho grabbed his wrist tape, and started applying another layer, which he always did before his matches. After he was done with that, he started warming up a little, and getting himself psyched for his match. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  
  
"I bet you that's Bischoff," Christian said.  
  
"Probably, I wonder what he wants," Jericho said, walking over to the door, "Probably wants us to beat someone up for him or something."  
  
"Yeah," Christian echoed.  
  
Jericho opened the door, and was shocked to see a smiling Stephanie on the other side. He looked at her in disbelief for a moment, and she let himself inside, ducking under his arm. Jericho unconsciously closed the door behind him and turned to Stephanie.  
  
He looked at her, and took her in. She was wearing a very short, blue skirt, and a very low-cut black top with a jacket over it. Jericho looked to Christian, who seemed confused as well.  
  
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"What--what are you doing here?" Jericho managed to get out.  
  
"Can't a girl come see her boyfriend?" Stephanie asked coyly.  
  
"Stephanie, we're at a show, it's dangerous for you to be here, are you crazy or something?" Jericho asked, suddenly getting his focus back.  
  
"I'm here for a reason sweetie," she said sweetly.  
  
"And why are you dressed like that, you don't dress like that, you look.........well, like you used to," he said, avoiding the word 'slutty.'  
  
"Should I leave you two alone?" Christian asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.  
  
"You can stay if you want Christian," Stephanie answered.  
  
"Um, no, I think I'll go for a while," he said back, hurrying towards the door, and leaving.  
  
"Stephanie?" Jericho asked, wanting answers.  
  
"You know that phone call I had when I came back from getting your chains?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I was talking to none other than.........Scott Steiner," she said, smirking again.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yes, and I've," she thought for a moment, "convinced him that SmackDown is the show he should be on."  
  
"So you're saying you signed him?"  
  
"Maybe," she said, her eyes gleaming.  
  
"You are one shrewd woman," he said, walking over to her, and gathering her up in his arms.  
  
"Yes, and for my latest coup, I'm taking him from right under Bischoff's nose."  
  
"I love you," he said, smirking playfully.  
  
"I know."  
  
"So how did you convince him?"  
  
"Well, he's your typical male, you act a little coy, giggle a lot, and you have them eating out of the palm of your hand."  
  
"So you flirted with him?"  
  
"Well, if you want to put it that way, sure, I did."  
  
"And he just signed, like that?"  
  
"Chris, you underestimate my charms," she told him, kissing his cheek.  
  
"No I don't. I've been under your charms for a long, long time. And this is why you're dressed like your going to be on a street corner tonight?"  
  
"Hey! That's not very nice to say. And besides, who knows where I'll be tonight," she said, winking.  
  
"Better be in my bed."  
  
"We'll see," she said teasingly, "And yes, that is why I'm dressed this way. Might as well go full stop."  
  
"I hope flirting with Steiner is the only thing you'll be doing."  
  
"It will be, now don't you have a match to prepare for?"  
  
"Who can think about a match when you're in my arms?"  
  
"I better go, I have to wait out in the limo," she said, pulling away from him.  
  
"Ok, I'll see you later then?" Jericho said, kissing her.  
  
"Yup," she answered, before leaving.  
  
Jericho walked tiredly up the ramp. He had had to fight two matches tonight. He was starting to get the feeling that "Chief" Morley had it out for him or something, this was the second time his match had been stopped and changed. At least the second match had been a tag match so he got a little bit of a breather every now and then.  
  
"Damn it, why did he have to go and do that?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Make me wrestle two matches, damn I'm exhausted."  
  
"But we got to keep the titles."  
  
"Yeah, that's the only good part. I'm going to take a shower and head out."  
  
"Me too. So why is you know who here tonight?"  
  
"I'll tell you in a second," Jericho said, as they made their way to the dressing room.  
  
As soon as they were inside, Jericho headed straight for his bag, and grabbed a towel, and his toiletries.  
  
"Because she signed Steiner, and she's here to steal him from under Bischoff's nose," Jericho said, filling him in.  
  
"Really? Wow, I'm impressed."  
  
"Yeah, that's my girl for you, she's wily."  
  
Jericho headed for the shower, and tried to let his aching muscles relax. He climbed out, and changed into some street clothes. He said bye to Christian, and headed out. As he was walking towards his car, he passed by a limo, and he knew that it was Stephanie's. He turned towards it and winked at the window, knowing that she could probably see.  
  
He saw the window roll down slightly, and could see Stephanie's face. He started walking backwards so he could see her. She winked back at him, and mouthed, "Wish me luck." He smiled and mouthed back, "Good luck," before heading out of there.  
  
Jericho arrived at his hotel, and as soon as he arrived in the room, he went and collapsed on the bed. He lay their waiting for Stephanie to come back from her meeting with Steiner. He was so tired that he started to nod off. A little while later, Stephanie walked in, and the noise woke him up.  
  
"Sorry sweetie, did I wake you?" she asked, taking her jacket off and throwing in on the chair.  
  
"No, it's ok, I was just dozing."  
  
"Ok," she said, walking over to her suitcase and grabbing some pajamas, "I caught your match in the limo."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Yeah, and I must say that Booker is very wrong."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
She looked down at him, "You wouldn't be starring in anything called Stuart Little, not with what you've got. You've got plenty of.........plentiness." Jericho laughed.  
  
"So how did the meeting go?"  
  
"Fine, he liked the offer I gave him for the show, and he said he'd like to join SmackDown," she answered as she changed into her pajamas, and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth.  
  
"And he didn't try to pull anything did he?" Jericho asked, changing into some pajama pants, and following her into the bathroom.  
  
Stephanie spit out her toothpaste, and rinsed her mouth, "Of course he did. Tried to come on to me. But I played it cool, told him this was strictly business."  
  
"Good. Don't want him getting the wrong idea."  
  
"Or what?" she asked jokingly.  
  
"Or I'd have to reveal us to the world, and thus shock everyone," he said, walking up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.  
  
She giggled, and walked with him to the bed, "Someday we can do that."  
  
"Hmm, I think I'm going to want a camera."  
  
"And just who's pictures will you be taking?" she asked as they stopped next to the bed.  
  
"Um, your father's, just cause I'd like to know what he thinks about this."  
  
"He'll be shocked, but he likes you, so he wouldn't mind."  
  
"Bischoff."  
  
"That'll be priceless."  
  
"And HHH."  
  
"The icing on the cake," she said, giggling. They climbed into bed, and Stephanie settled herself against Jericho.  
  
"You know, you didn't have to get Steiner on your show just to protect me," he said, turning serious.  
  
"Consider this a thank you then."  
  
"Thank you for what?"  
  
"For everything you've ever done for me." 


	43. Do What You Gotta Do, December 5, 2002

Stephanie walked into her office for the evening. She was pretty pleased with how she had handled herself on Monday night. It felt good to get back at Bischoff once again. She got a lot of enjoyment out of making Bischoff look like a fool. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it.  
  
Of course, getting Steiner also had personal benefits. She wasn't lying when she said that she would do everything in her power to get Steiner away from Jericho. She cared about Jericho, and so it was her way of saying thank you to get Steiner away from her boyfriend.  
  
She sat down at her desk, and turned on the television that she had been given for the evening. She had been informed earlier that Steiner wouldn't be on the show tonight, but would be appearing next week to sign his contract. She hoped that he didn't have second thoughts about coming to her show.  
  
She saw as Albert practically decimated Rey. Then she saw Edge run out to help his friend. She was worried for both Rey's and Edge's safety but she saw that there were paramedics and other personnel coming out, so she figured it was safe enough. She hoped that Rey wasn't injured that badly, but looking at the footage, it didn't seem like he was fine.  
  
She received a phone call just then, informing her that Brock would be there to comment on his suspension via satellite. She hadn't really wanted to suspend him, but he was breaking the rules, and she had had no other choice. She decided the best way to break the news would be to go out there and announce it herself.  
  
As she was standing at the gorilla she saw as Rey was being examined by the paramedics. She kept hearing the word "shatter" and she silently cursed to herself, and vowed that as soon as she got back from making her announcement she would see just how bad the damage was. The last thing she needed was to lose another superstar from her roster.  
  
She walked backstage, and walked to where Rey had just been. She had been informed that he had already been taken to the hospital with a possible shattered knee. Nonetheless, she wanted to find Edge, he had seemed upset, and she wanted to make sure she was ok.  
  
She walked into the room, and spotted Edge sitting in one of the chairs off to the side. He looked really pissed off, and she was a bit hesitant to talk to him. She saw that he was on the phone and just stood in the doorway.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Edge said into the phone, "Just kind of pissed off. No, I'll talk to you later. Are you going home this weekend? Yeah, Mom wants you to come. Ok, see you then, bye."  
  
"Talking to Christian?" Stephanie said from the doorway she was still standing in.  
  
"Oh hey Stephanie," he said, looking up at her, "Yeah, that was Christian, he just called to see if I was ok."  
  
"Are you? I saw what happened to Rey, and I know you guys are good friends," she said, sitting down next to him.  
  
"I'm fine, I just hate seeing bigger guys beating up on the littler guys."  
  
"You're such a good guy," she said, laughing lightly.  
  
"I guess."  
  
"I saw Christian on Monday," she said, just trying to make conversation.  
  
"Oh yeah, you were on Raw, how did you get Steiner to make his decision."  
  
"Oh, I just flirted with him a little, stupid dolt took the bait."  
  
"And Chris was fine with that?"  
  
"It wasn't like I slept with him or anything, and Chris knew, so it was all cool," she told him.  
  
"Well, you did a good job, I don't think Bischoff expected you to be inside that limo."  
  
"That was the point."  
  
"Hey guys," a voice said from behind them. Stephanie and Edge turned to see Kurt standing in the doorway.  
  
"Hey Kurt," Stephanie said.  
  
"Hi Kurt," Edge added.  
  
"Hey, what's going on here?"  
  
"Just came to see if Edge was ok," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Oh, are you ok?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's Rey who's injured."  
  
"How is he?" Kurt asked.  
  
"They think he has a shattered knee," Stephanie answered the question.  
  
"Oh man, that's too bad," Kurt said, shaking his head.  
  
"So you two are going to be going at it tonight," Stephanie observed.  
  
"Damn right, and I'm winning," Kurt said, grinning impishly.  
  
"Yeah right Angle, not if I have anything to say about it," Edge countered.  
  
"Just wait until we're out there, then I'll show you who's the best in the business."  
  
"You won't be showing me, I'll be showing you," Edge said, good-naturedly.  
  
"Well, I think I might have had my fill of testosterone tonight," Stephanie said getting up, "I can't wait to see what happens if you two are the last two left. I'll see you guys later."  
  
"Bye Steph," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah, see ya Steph, say hi to Chris for us."  
  
"Of course, bye," she said walking out.  
  
Stephanie walked back to her office to watch the rest of the show. She tried to remain interested, but she was still a little worried about what Brock had to say, and how Rey was doing. She could never just watch a show, she always had something else she had to worry about.  
  
She watched as Edge was interviewed and then went to attack Albert. As much as she opposed fighting between her employees, she thought that maybe Rey deserved a little revenge on Albert, and since Rey couldn't be there, Edge would have to take care of it.  
  
Then she saw as they interviewed Kurt as well. Kurt was saying how he was superior to everyone and how he was going to win tonight. She just hoped that either Kurt or Edge won, seeing as how they were her friends and all. It would be nice to see one of her friends kicking Big Show's ass.  
  
Edge went out for the match, and promptly got attacked by Albert. She stood up as she saw Edge being taken backstage. She exited her office, and quickly walked over to the gorilla where they were sitting Edge down.  
  
"Edge are you ok?" she asked, pushing through the people gathered around.  
  
"Yeah, I'm ok," Edge winced.  
  
"It doesn't look like your ok, maybe you should be taken to the trainers so they can look at you, you might have to go to the hospital."  
  
"No really, I'm fine."  
  
"Edge you're in pain. I don't think you should go back out there," Stephanie advised.  
  
"No way, I'm going out there," Edge said, standing up slowly, "I have a match."  
  
"I don't think it's wise Edge," she said.  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
Stephanie gave him a skeptical look, "Fine, but be careful."  
  
"I will," he said as he walked back to the ramp and out into the arena.  
  
Stephanie stood by the monitor and watched the match from there. She saw as Eddie and Benoit were eliminated first. So it actually had come down to Kurt and Edge, she wanted to laugh out loud, but refrained. They were both so into the match, that she thought they had completely forgotten that they were friends at all.  
  
The match had been going on for a while and she could see that Edge was clearly in pain. All the other men had immediately targeted his leg in hopes that it would weaken him and make him lose, but so far he hadn't. Even Kurt was having a hard time keeping him down. She admired his resilience.  
  
Eventually though, she figured that Edge had just lost all his energy and just couldn't get that shoulder up. As sad as she was about Edge losing she was still happy that Kurt had won. At least one of her friends had won the match and was going on to Armageddon to face the champion.  
  
She saw Edge making his way up the ramp slowly, after Big Show had beaten up Angle. He walked backstage and Stephanie walked up to him. He tried to smile, but was obviously in pain.  
  
"Now are you ok?"  
  
"Still ok, just a little beaten up, Kurt puts up a good fight."  
  
"You need help walking to your locker room?"  
  
"No, I'll be fine, I just need a long shower."  
  
"Ok, I'll talk to you later Edge."  
  
"Bye Steph."  
  
"Bye."  
  
She waited for Kurt to come up the ramp. It took him a little longer to make his way up the ramp after he had been attacked by the Big Show. He, like Edge, made his way up the ramp slowly, but Kurt had a pissed expression on his face, and she didn't blame him.  
  
"You ok Kurt?" Stephanie asked as soon as he walked backstage.  
  
"Yes," he said shortly.  
  
"Congratulations on your win," she said, cheerfully.  
  
"Thanks Steph, I just wish Big Slow hadn't come out and attacked me."  
  
"Yeah, but just think about how your going to get the title, and then you get to be champion again."  
  
"Yeah," he said smiling, "That will be great."  
  
"It's true," she said, winking. Kurt laughed.  
  
"Don't steal my catchphrases, I'm going to head on out, you have a ride back to your hotel."  
  
"Yeah, I have a rental."  
  
"Ok, I'll see you later Steph."  
  
"Bye Kurt, and great job out there."  
  
"Thanks, bye."  
  
Stephanie went back to her office, and gathered her things. She had gotten most of her work done during the show, so she need not stay any longer. She walked quickly to her rental, and made her way to the hotel.  
  
She got up to the room, and walked inside. She set her things down on the table. She didn't see Jericho in the living room area, or on the balcony. She walked into the bedroom, and didn't see him in there either, and the bathroom was dark so she knew he wasn't there.  
  
She took off her shoes, and put on her pajamas, thinking that Jericho had probably gone out for food or something. Her question was answered a few minutes later, when Jericho walked inside. Instead of food though, he only had a towel around his neck. She could tell he had probably been to the gym in the hotel. He walked in, and saw her lying on the bed.  
  
"Hey, you're back early," he said, throwing his towel on a chair.  
  
"Yeah, I finished all my work early."  
  
"Cool, when did you get back?"  
  
"Not long, about ten minutes."  
  
"And you changed already, I was hoping to see you in that beautiful pantsuit you were wearing."  
  
"Oh, you liked that?"  
  
"Definitely, you looked beautiful."  
  
She smiled, "Well, thank you, how was the gym?"  
  
"Ok, just felt like working out."  
  
"Did you catch any of the show?"  
  
"Um, I caught up until you were on, then left. I can watch it when we go home tomorrow. Anything of note happen?"  
  
"Rey got injured, Brock got to talk via satellite, Edge got attacked by Albert, Torrie and Dawn Marie were in a hotel room together, and Kurt won the #1 Contender's match," she said all in one breath.  
  
"Well, that's too bad about Rey and Edge, I'll have to call Kurt and congratulate them, and what the hell is this about Dawn Marie and Torrie?" he said, crawling over her on the bed, and laying next to her.  
  
"I don't even want to know Chris. It's beyond weird."  
  
"Sounds like it. So Steiner is showing up next week?"  
  
"Yeah, and I wonder if he's having second thoughts," she said, her brow furrowing.  
  
"What makes you think that?" he asked, curious.  
  
"Well, don't you think that if he really wanted to be on my show that he would have signed immediately?"  
  
"Maybe he's just having someone look over the contract or something."  
  
"Yeah, hopefully."  
  
Jericho leaned over her, and leaned down to kiss her, "I'm sure it'll be fine."  
  
"Mmm yeah," she murmured.  
  
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. It'll all work out."  
  
"I hope so." 


	44. I Want Some Vitamin C, December 9, 2002

A/N: Danielle, actually I have thought about hooking one of the other guys up for a while, I was just looking for a good opportunity, well, tonight it came, so hope you all enjoy. :)

"So you have a match for Sunday?"

"Yeah, fatal four way. Why do I always get stuck in matches with so many people?"

"Because every match needs a star, and you are that star," she said smiling.

"How do you do that?" Jericho asked.

"Do what?"

"You always seem to have an answer for everything."

"Because I'm me," Stephanie said, grinning.

"Good enough for me," Jericho told her, laughing, then leaning over to kiss her as they sat on the couch.

"Shouldn't you be going?"

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"Yes, because it's your job. And if you don't than Bischoff can fire you or something."

"But then I can go to your show," he said, brightening.

"I don't think SmackDown would take you," she said, jokingly.

"Oh really?" he said, grabbing her. Stephanie squirmed in his arms.

"Yes, we don't want you, you're a bad apple."

"Even if I'm sleeping with the boss?"

"Especially because you're sleeping with the boss."

"Well, I guess that's my cue to go," he said, putting her down. She kissed his cheek.

"See you in a while."

"Of course."

Jericho walked into his locker room that he was sharing with Christian. Christian had already arrived, and was laying his stuff out for later. Jericho nodded his head towards him.

"Did you find out what we're doing tonight?" Christian asked.

"Yeah, I just got the schedule, we're main-eventing, intergender tag team tables match."

"Interesting, who are we being paired up with?"

"Victoria," Jericho answered, raising an eyebrow.

"I hope she doesn't go psycho on us," Christian said, chuckling to himself.

"I think she's psycho all the time," Jericho answered.

"Yeah, so who are we facing?"

"Dudleys and Trish," Jericho told him, going back to look in his bag, not noticing the expression on Christian's face.

"Trish huh?" Christian said quietly. Jericho turned back to him.

"Yeah, Trish, you know, the petite blonde with the big-"

"I know who she is Chris."

"So what's with the look?" Jericho asked.

"What look?"

"That sad, little pathetic 'Woe is me' look."

"I don't have a look like that," Christian protested.

"Sure you don't.........Wait, do you have a crush on Trish."

"No!" Christian said quickly, a little too quickly.

"Yes, you do! You have a crush on Trish," Jericho said grinning mischievously.

"Maybe just a little one," Christian said sheepishly.

"Ha! This is great!"

"Why?" Christian asked suspiciously.

"You should ask her out," Jericho said.

"No way! I can't do that! She hates me!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because she acts like it," Christian said, shrugging, and looking down at the ground. Jericho went over and sat down next to him, ready to offer his advice.

"That doesn't mean she hates you," he told him seriously.

"Chris, she obviously hates me, she treats me like dirt."

"Oh, and that's not the way that Stephanie treated me?"

"Yeah, but Stephanie liked you..........didn't she?" Christian asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, of course she did, what's there not to like? But seriously, just because she treats you badly doesn't mean she doesn't like you."

"Whatever."

"Want me to talk to her?"

"What?"

"Do.........you.........want.........me.........to.........talk.........to.........her?" Jericho said, annunciating every word.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Hey! I'm the guy who reunited you with your brother aren't I?"

Christian thought for a second, "You're right. You would actually go talk to her for me?"

"Sure. I'll just act like an ass, and you'll seem great by comparison," Jericho said, laughing at his own comedy.

"Gee, thanks," Christian said dryly.

"Hey! I'm sure it'll work."

"Fine, fine," Christian gave in.

"Great, and so I'm off," Jericho said, getting up.

Jericho walked off in search of Trish. This should be interesting. He wasn't entirely sure that Trish would go for Christian, only because she probably did think Christian was an asshole, which was really only a cover for the real Christian. He spotted her sitting in one of the makeup chairs, reading Hulk Hogan's book. He walked over, and snatched the book out of her hands.

Trish snatched the book back, and gave him a dirty look, asking him what he wanted with her.

He pretended to flirt with her, trying to make her think that he was actually interested in her. Jericho realized in that moment that he was really capable of being a complete and utter asshole. He knew that he could be bad, but he never realized that he could not only be mean, but sleazy as well. He also realized that Stephanie would kill him if he didn't explain this immediately to her, once he got back to their hotel room. Maybe he should have called her first.

Jericho made a funny face, hoping that if Stephanie was watching she would know he was completely and utterly being not serious. He didn't need a repeat of the fight they had had over him "hitting" on that girl. He asked if she liked seeing him naked. He knew Stephanie liked it at least. She said she didn't, which was good, considering Christian liked her.

Perfect, this was exactly what Jericho was hoping for. He wanted Trish to think of him as the asshole, and Christian as the long suffering tag-team partner, who was stuck with him. Might as well play the sympathy card.

Jericho laughed heartily and insulted her some more. Jericho walked a few feet away, before turning back to her, "Do I frighten you Trish?"

"No," she said shakily.

"Oh, I think you do, I feel sorry for you."

"You know who I feel sorry for Chris?"

Jericho realized the conversation was headed right in the direction that he wanted it to. She knew he was going to say Christian. He just knew it. This was the ins on getting the real dirt. Jericho commended himself for doing such a great acting job.

"Who?" he asked innocently.

"Your partner."

"Christian?"

"Yes, he's not like you Jericho, and I think it's awful how you drag him down with you."

"Oh, do you maybe have a crush on Christian, huh Trish?" Damn, this was too easy.

"No," Trish said, unconvincingly, before stomping away.

"See you in the ring Trish," he called out laughing.

Jericho rushed back to his locker room, wanting to tell Christian the news. He barged into the room, and took a few deep breaths. Christian looked at him weirdly, and waited for him to say something.

"You are so in," Jericho said once he had caught his breath.

"What?"

"She wants you," Jericho said grinning.

"She does?" he asked incredulously, "She said that?"

"Well.........no, but she definitely thinks it. She said she felt sorry for you because you had to team with me."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. You should ask her out."

"I don't know," Christian said uncertainly, "How did you ask out Stephanie?"

"Well, she refused to hug me, and then I got pissed and demanded to know why, and it all just kind of came together."

"God, you two are weird," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up. Well, then send her flowers or something."

"Maybe I will," Christian said, nodding.

"Good, I don't want to think all that work was for nothing. Stephanie might kill me later, all because I helped you."

"Well, if you want I can explain what you were doing."

"Nah, I think I can handle her. I'm getting ready though."

Jericho and Christian watched as Victoria walked away. They looked at each other, both thinking about how crazy she seemed to be. They waited until she was out of earshot, before letting out their breaths.

"Man, she is so completely crazy," Jericho said.

"I know.........Why did we have to talk about your.........well, you know?"

"Because, we can't talk about the normal things, besides, I have to act like it pissed me off."

"Did it? What she said I mean?"

"No, I have a girlfriend, and well, she seems to be satisfied," Jericho shrugged.

"Wow, didn't need to know that."

"What? It's the truth. And pretty soon, you'll probably have a girlfriend," Jericho said, teasing Christian.

"Shut up," Christian said, blushing.

"Come on Blushy, we got a match."

"Dude, you didn't have to hit her so hard," Christian said as they walked backstage.

"I didn't hit her too hard," Jericho answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I think I know how I execute a move. Trust me."

Christian and Jericho walked towards their dressing room after their match. They were lucky that they hadn't been put through any tables. Victoria had been put through one, but she had a few loose screws anyways.

"Maybe you should check up on her?" Jericho said.

"I don't know if I should."

"You can just ask if she's ok."

"Maybe."

Jericho looked behind them, and saw Trish making her way down the corridor. He nudged Christian, and looked back in Trish's direction. Christian looked as well, and Jericho could see the smile creeping on his face.

"Go ask her, she's alone," Jericho whispered.

"No, I can't."

"Yes, you can, go," Jericho said, shoving him.

Christian stumbled slightly as Jericho shoved him, and walked over to where Trish was. She looked up at him confused for a moment. Christian tentatively smiled at her, trying to form words. Jericho stood there watching.

"I just wanted to ask if you were ok? After that clothesline you took," Christian asked, shyly.

"I'm ok, thanks for asking," Trish said, politely, "You're partner is an ass."

"Yeah, but he's my friend, and there's a lot of things you don't know about him," Christian said, sticking up for his friend.

"I guess, well, thanks for being concerned, bye," Trish said, before walking away, not before giving Jericho a dirty look.

Christian stood in the hallway, just grinning.

Jericho walked carefully into his bedroom, dreading Stephanie's reaction from tonight. He hadn't gotten a chance to call her about what happened, and he hoped that Stephanie didn't react too badly before he got a chance to explain. She did have a temper.

He found her sitting on the bed, with her arms crossed, watching television. He walked in cautiously, and set his bags down near the door. He gave her a tentative smile, and to his relief she smiled back.

"Hi sweetie," she said.

"Hey, um, did you catch the show?" he asked, wondering if she even saw.

"Oh, I caught it," she said, giving him a stern look, "Saw some very interesting things."

"Oh, did you?" he asked nervously.

"Yes, I saw that Steiner was calling Bischoff, which I didn't know about, nor do I like," she said testily.

"Really? I'm sure he's going to sign with you."

"He better, I didn't flirt with him for nothing.........I saw something else too."

Uh oh, Jericho thought. "What?"

"Saw you, what appeared to be, hitting on Trish."

"Baby--"

"Then I saw the look on your face and realized you couldn't be serious," she said, grinning at him. He sighed in relief.

"I wasn't," he said, sitting on the bed and crawling over to her slowly, "But guess what I WAS doing?"

"Hmm, I don't know," she said, as he crawled closer.

"There's a certain blonde Canadian who wants to get with Trish," he said, finally reaching her, and hovering over her, his face inches away from hers.

"Better not be my blonde Canadian," she told him, smirking.

"Nope, Christian likes Trish."

"He does?" she asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Yup, and I went to talk to Trish to see if she liked Christian, which she does."

"Ooh, you matchmaker you."

"I'm such a helper."

"That you are. I do take offense to Trish though."

"Mmm, why is that?" Jericho asked, moving his face closer to hers, until their lips were practically touching.

"She obviously needs glasses because I have it on good authority that........." she trailed off.

"That what?"

"That you give HUGE doses of Vitamin C," she said, closing the small distance between their lips and kissing him deeply.

"And Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"I like mine freshly squeezed."


	45. I Hate Steroided Up Freaks, December 12,...

Stephanie sat at her desk, looking over the contract for Steiner. Everything seemed to be in order, but she wanted to make sure it was so concrete that he wouldn't be able to go to Raw. After she had heard that Steiner was still talking to Bischoff, she wanted to make his contract iron clad. The last thing she needed was for him to jump ship.

As she was looking at the documents, she heard a knock on her door. She gave the contract one last look, before getting up. She walked over to the door, smoothed out her skirt, and then opened it. To her surprise, Kurt was on the other side.

"Kurt, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to discuss something with you Steph."

"Ok, come on in," she said, taking a step back from the door, and allowing him entrance into the room. Kurt walked in and sat down on the couch in the corner of the room. Stephanie sat opposite him.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked.

"It's about Brock Lesnar." Stephanie looked at him in surprise.

"What about him?"

"I think you should reinstate him."

"But I suspended him, and he's suspended indefinitely."

"But Stephanie, I think that it would be a good idea to bring him back. Not having him on the show is just going to bring it down."

"How so?"

"Well, every time he's not on television, you're losing money. I mean, you still pay him, despite his suspension right?"

"Yeah," she answered nodding.

"So why are you paying him to do nothing."

Stephanie thought for a second, "Well, you have a point."

"And hasn't he followed all the stipulations you've put on him?"

"Yeah, he's been very cooperative."

"So you should bring him back Stephanie."

Stephanie looked at him, puzzled by his behavior, "Why is it so important to you Kurt?"

"I just think he's a great athlete," he told her, shrugging.

"Kurt, I've been friends with you for over two years, and I know when you're lying."

"Ok, I want him in my corner at Armageddon," he conceded.

"But why? You don't think you can handle the Big Show?"

"No, I can handle him, but Big Show has Paul Heyman in his corner, and you know about Paul. I just want to even up the odds."

"Yeah, I understand," she sighed, "I'll tell you what Kurt, I'll definitely think about it ok?"

Kurt hugged her tightly, "Thank you so much Steph."

"You're welcome," she replied, hugging him back, "Have you talked to Brock about him being in your corner?"

"Yeah, I talked to him earlier, he said that if I could get him reinstated he'd think about it."

"Well, I will definitely have an answer by the end of the night."

"Fantastic! So you're signing Steiner tonight?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "Everything went according to plan."

"Congratulations. I can't believe you teamed Edge and I together."

"Well, it was appropriate since I've been informed that Albert and Big Show are now teaming."

"Great, two big oafs."

"Very funny Kurt."

"Well, I'm going to go get ready, I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, probably, bye."

Stephanie walked Kurt to the door, and then closed it behind him. She went back to her desk, and picked up the contract. She skimmed it once more, than took out her cell phone. She dialed the number she wanted, and waited for the person on the other side to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

"Hello beautiful, what's up?"

"I'm excited," she said smiling.

"Why, whatever for?"

"I'm signing Steiner tonight."

"Oh really, I didn't know that, you know watching your show and all, it didn't tip me off."

"I hate you," she said smiling.

"Well, that's news to me."

"Really, I thought you knew."

"Oh, well, then I better go then," he said laughing.

"Kurt asked me to get Brock reinstated," she said.

"Why?" Jericho asked.

"Because he wants him in his corner at the Pay Per View."

"I wish I had you in my corner."

"Me too, sweetie, me too."

There was a knock on the door, and Stephanie looked at it confused. Not two seconds later, the door opened and in walked Paul Heyman and the Big Show. Stephanie looked at them annoyed that they would just barge in on her conversation.

"Sweetie, hold on,"

"Ok Stephy."

Stephanie stood up as Paul started spouting off about Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle. She wasn't going to take this from them. She tried to explain that she was on the phone, and to her surprise Paul agreed. Big Show, on the other hand, was irate, but she held her ground. Paul coaxed Big Show out of the room, and closed the door. Stephanie held the phone back up to her ear.

"What was that all about?" Jericho asked.

"Apparently Paul just got wind of the Brock and Kurt situation. He came barging in with the Big Show, demanding to talk to me."

"And you said?"

"That I was in the middle of an important conversation."

"I'm important," he said proudly.

"Well, of course you are.........but I really have to go. Don't forget to watch Steiner sign ok?"

"Of course I will, talk to you when you get back."

"Ok, bye sweetie."

Stephanie turned off the phone, and then went over to the door. She really didn't want to talk to Heyman or Big Show, but well, she had to. She opened the door reluctantly and let them in.

Stephanie watched as Paul and Big show left her office. She laughed a little at their faces as she announced that Brock was reinstated as of Armageddon. Sometimes it was good being the boss. The door opened again, and Kurt and Edge walked in.

"Thanks Steph, I just saw," Kurt said.

"No one yells at me, and then gets their way," she said, smirking.

"Obviously," Edge said.

"So are you two ready for your match tonight?"

"Yeah, I think so, but it's weird," Edge told her.

"What's weird?" she asked.

"Teaming with Kurt."

"Hey!" Kurt said, indignantly.

"Because we're supposed to hate each other," Edge explained.

"Oh, ok, well, it's weird for me too."

"Ok Kurt, I was just making a point."

"And I was agreeing."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Would you two like a room?" Stephanie said, laughing, "You argue like you're an old married couple or something."

"So like you and Jericho?" Edge said, looking at her.

"Ooh, that was low Edge, that was real low," she said, narrowing her eyes playfully.

"And I take offense to that, I think I would have better taste than Edge," Kurt said.

"Oh Kurt, you don't love me," Edge said, pouting.

"No, I'm sorry, my heart belongs to another."

"Damn it, I'm sinking into a bottomless abyss of depression."

Stephanie looked at them like they were crazy, "You guys scare me, you know that right?"

"Yeah," they said in unison, grinning like little kids.

"Ok, as long as you know.........Edge, have you talked to Christian lately?"

"Not since last Saturday, why?"

"Because Christian has a crush."

"Oh, is this the Trish thing?"

"You know?" she asked, astonished.

"He's had it bad for her for like forever."

"Well, she likes him back," Stephanie said grinning.

"Whoa, you mean he actually got the nerve to talk to her?"

"Well, no, Chris talked to her, that's why he was being such an asshole on Raw."

"Oh," Kurt said, "I was wondering about that."

"But she does, so Chris is playing matchmaker."

"Oh man, so is she going to find out about all of this?" Edge said, gesturing around to them.

"Hmm," Stephanie said, she hadn't realized that part, "I don't know."

"You two should just tell the whole world, everyone's going to know sooner or later, you tell anyone who'll listen," Kurt said.

"Ha ha," Stephanie retorted, "Not everyone knows, I mean, five people know, wow, that's a whole lot of people."

"A lot more than there used to be."

"Well, you weren't even supposed to find out Kurt, you just had to be nosy."

"It's true, it's damn true." Edge and Stephanie rolled their eyes at each other.

"And if I recall, you found out cause you were trying to hit on Stephanie," Kurt said, making a face.

"Well, I didn't know," Edge countered, "But I sure as hell found out, when Chris's fist met my face."

"As much as I love chatting with you two," Stephanie said, "I have to go sign Steiner."

"Bye Steph," they said, as she left the office.

Stephanie walked down the ramp confidently. She climbed into the ring, and grabbed a microphone. It was times like this she liked being the boss. She called out Steiner, and smiled as he came out. Idiot didn't even realize the real reason she was signing him.

He came into the ring and he touched her hair. She had to resist from grabbing his hand and shoving it away from her. She didn't really like the way he was leering at him, but she had to play the part. She watched as he went to sign the contract, and then he stopped. She frowned, wondering why he wasn't signing.

He took the microphone, and repeated for the crowd what she had said the other night about being one of his freaks and everything. Stephanie put her best smile forward, and tried to look like she actually wanted to be with him. In reality, she thought that you would have to be a freak to want to be with Steiner. What was with that stupid thing he wore on his head? Stephanie continued to listen to Steiner say that he was expecting something in the limo. Well, Jericho knew what happened, Stephanie thought. Of course he had known, she had told him as soon as she had gotten back from her meeting with Steiner. And she knew that nothing had happened. And then Steiner let everyone know that nothing had happened.

Stephanie didn't think vomiting would be appropriate right now, but that's exactly what she felt like doing. Was this guy serious? He was disgusting, with his gross muscles, and all those veins. It would be like HHH all over again. And besides, she did have a real man, and he was waiting back at the hotel.

Stephanie couldn't take anymore of this, and took the microphone from him, and set him straight. At NO time did she say she was going to sleep with him. Not that she would anyone, he was disgusting. But she had to play along to a point, so she gave him a suggestive look and hoped that he would just sign the damn papers already. After he signed them she wouldn't have to make good on any promises. And the only signing bonus he would get would be her not slapping him silly after he had brutalized Jericho.

Before Stephanie knew it, she was lying on her back on the table, Steiner pushing her down on the table. She didn't even have time to react, he had taken her completely by surprise, what the hell was he doing? Jericho was SO not going to like this.

Stephanie looked at him in shock for a moment outraged by his behavior at putting her on the desk. She finally got her bearings back and shoved him off of her. Oh, if Jericho were here, Steiner would be paying for what he just did. But right now, business was more important, Jericho's safety was the most important thing in Stephanie's mind. She backed away from him. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea, which he definitely was right now.

He snatched the microphone from her, and she stood back. The crowd was now chanting the familiar "Slut" chant. It had been quite a while since she had heard this one. Except this time was different, she didn't have Jericho across the ring from her, and she didn't like this feeling one bit.

Stephanie set her jaw, refraining from saying anything. This was not how she planned this to go, and she was feeling the affects. She wanted to just leave, and go away, climb under a rock or something. He called her a tease and it hurt. She didn't like to be called names, period, but this one truly hurt her.

Stephanie realized this was worse than any public humiliation she had experienced at the hands of someone other than HHH. When Jericho used to belittle her, she always knew deep down that he didn't really mean it. When The Rock would tease her, she knew it was just for the fan's benefit. But Steiner was deliberately trying to hurt her.

Stephanie tried to plead with him to sign, her dignity had been stripped, she might as well try this one last thing. But she knew that Steiner was going to be on Raw. Then she saw as Eric Bischoff came out, and that's when her humiliation turned to anger. She trashed the ring, and walked backstage upset.

"Steph are you all right?" Kurt asked, as he and Edge came walking down the hallway towards her.

"I'm fine," she said crossly.

"You sure, we saw what happened?" Edge asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm getting out of here," she huffed.

"Ok, we'll make sure things go ok."

"Thanks guys," she said gratefully.

She walked back to her office, and grabbed her things quickly. She left without speaking to anyone. She drove quickly to her hotel, and hopped out of the car as soon as she arrived. She was really upset now, and knew that only one person could make her feel better.

As soon as she walked in the door his arms were around her and she let loose all the tears that she had been holding back valiantly. She grasped at his shirt, clinging to him desperately. He just kissed the top of her head, and stroked her hair tenderly. They made their way over to the couch, and he sat down, pulling her into his lap. He let her cry, whispering soothing words into her ear. Her crying finally subsided, and buried her head into his neck.

"Shh, it's ok baby," he whispered.

"How could he do that to me?"

"I don't know. He's lucky I wasn't there or I'd kick his ass for saying those things to you. And the way he manhandled you, I was ready to rip his throat out," he said, an edge to his voice.

"But he said such hurtful things," she whimpered.

"I know, and he had no right to say them. Since when does conducting business mean you have to sleep with him? You do have morals, and high standards."

"I wasn't going to betray you and sleep with him," she said.

"I know, baby, I know. He's an asshole for thinking flirting meant you were going to have sex."

"And he acted like he wanted to sleep with me right then and there."

"If he had tried anything, I'm sure Kurt or Edge would have made the save. Either that or I would have shown up and kicked his ass myself."

"And he called me a tease," she said, crying again.

"Shh, don't listen to him," he told her, kissing her temple.

"I'm not a tease am I?" she asked, looking at him pleadingly.

"Of course not."

"But when I was business partners with you, I probably gave you the wrong impression didn't I?"

"No, why would you think that?"

"Well, I came across like I was using you."

"You were using me, you were using me to get back at Hunter," he said, trying to ease her tenseness.

"So I lied to you, see, I was saying that I wanted to help you, but I was really doing it to get back at Hunter."

"Baby, you weren't a tease then, and you aren't a tease now," he told her.

"And then when I came back, I could have easily hugged you, but I didn't and then you got angry because you wanted to hug me, and I refused. I was a tease then, I said I was your friend, but then refused to even hug you."

"Stephy, you didn't hug me because you had feelings for me, not because you didn't want to. And what if you had hugged me, I would have thought we were friends, and then I wouldn't have had any reason to think that there could be more between us, and then we probably wouldn't be together."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You're not a tease. Just because you conduct actual business, does NOT make you a tease."

"I love you so much," she said sincerely.

He kissed her gently, before whispering, "I love you too."

"What about the kiss at SummerSlam, I kissed back, and then pretended like I didn't like it."

"Well, you were still married to Big Nose, so I can understand that. Though I do remember you kissing me back," he said, winking.

"Well, you're a good kisser," she said, smiling slightly.

"Now that's a smile I love seeing."

"I feel like I failed you though."

"Why's that?"

"Because I wanted Steiner on my show to protect you."

"Baby, I can take care of myself, besides this way it's better."

"Why?"

"Because if I ever get Steiner in a ring, I'm going to beat the living hell out of him for touching you the way he did, for calling you a tease, and especially for making you cry. Because NO ONE makes my girl cry and gets away with it."


	46. Kurt's Champ, Yay, December 15, 2002

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, I love each and every one of them.

"Watching the match?"

"Huh?" Trish said turning to the other woman, "Yeah, just wanted to see what was going on."

"I see."

Stephanie turned back to the television, and watched the tag match that was going on as they spoke. She watched as the Dudleys and Regal and Storm were eliminated. She silently cheered on Christian and Jericho, hoping that they would be able to retain. They were doing pretty well so far.

She looked at the blonde, who seemed to be pretty focused on the match as well. But while she was focused on Jericho, it seemed Trish was focusing on another blonde. Stephanie smiled slyly, and wondered what kinds of things she could extract from the diva.

"So, you seem pretty into the match? Did you want to see how the Dudleys were doing?"

"Yeah," Trish said quickly, "I am friends with them."

"Yeah, you seem pretty tight with Bubba Ray especially. Are you two an item?"

"Me and Bubba, no, we're not together."

"Oh, it just seemed like you were."

"No," she said, looking back to the television, and wincing as she saw Christian getting beat down by Goldust.

"You seem pretty concerned for Christian?"

Trish snapped her head towards Stephanie, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, I mean, he seems to be the one you keep looking at. And you were just wincing when you saw him getting beat up."

"Well, I mean, it just looked like it hurts," she explained, though Stephanie knew it was a lie.

"And you're focused on him because........."

"Well, he's just there, and well, I'm not going to focus on Jericho or anything."

"Oh why not?" Stephanie said, narrowing her eyes just a little bit.

"Well, he's an asshole."

Stephanie had to restrain herself from snapping at Trish, "I wouldn't know, he's not on my show anymore."

"Lucky you."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, her smile turning to a slight scowl, "Lucky me."

"I mean, it's like he's trying to get me in bed or something."

Stephanie knew that was the farthest thing from the truth, "You know, I think Christian is single."

"Oh, really?" Trish said, a little too anxiously.

"So I've heard through the grapevine. Might want to check that out."

With that Stephanie walked away to her office to finish watching the Pay-Per-View. She saw Edge along the way and decided to stop and talk to him. He was putting some wrist tape on, and jogging in place, trying to get ready for his match.

"Hey, getting ready?"

"Hey Steph, yeah, I'm going to kick Albert's ass."

"Don't you mean A-Train," she snickered.

"Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten?"

"I have no idea," she said, laughing, "I just talked to Trish."

"You did. Are you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Yes. And if my boyfriend is doing it too, I feel that I have every right too."

"I hope you didn't act like an ass."

"No, I leave that to him."

"So? What did she say?"

"Well, I said I thought Christian was single, and she seemed quite intrigued by the information. I'm sensing definite sparks."

"Aww, how cute, my baby brother is all grown up. Although I don't think they'll out-spark you and a certain guy."

"Maybe, maybe not. Me and you-know-who are past that honeymoon stage of the relationship."

"Uh-oh, could that spell trouble?" he asked jokingly.

"No, I'm very happy, and I know he is. By the way, have you seen Kurt?"

"Um, I think he was looking for Brock or something."

"Oh, ok, I just wanted to wish him luck, but I'm sure I'll see him later. Good luck in your match."

"Thanks."

"I'm gonna head back to the office, and watch the show. The tag match is probably over by now. You better go."

"Probably. We still getting together after the show?"

"Yeah, just meet me in my office."

"Kay, see ya later."

"Yeah, bye," she said, waving as she walked back.

She got back to her office without meeting anybody else. She went over and turned on the television. The tag match was indeed over, and Edge was just entering through the stage. She wondered if Jericho and Christian had retained or not.

Jericho and Christian walked backstage dejectedly. They're tag title reign had ended. Jericho spotted Trish looking sympathetically in their direction, and smiled as he noticed Christian brighten up a bit. He excused himself, and Christian walked over to Trish.

"Um hey Trish," he said.

"I'm sorry about your titles," she said sincerely.

"Yeah, it sucks."

"I know how you feel."

"Well, good luck in your match tonight," he told her.

"Thanks, um, hope you feel better."

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you at the show tomorrow."

"Yeah," she said smiling, "Bye."

"Bye."

Jericho smiled to himself as he watched the two of them. It was funny to see the two of them dancing around their feelings like that. It was exactly like him and Stephanie. Well, not exactly. He and Stephanie pretended to hate each other, and then found out they really liked each other.

Speaking of Stephanie, Jericho thought now would be a good time to go see what she was up to. He walked down the hallway inconspicuously, and found the door that had her name on it. He looked both ways, making sure no one was around, and hoping no one was inside with her. Oh well, if there was someone inside he could just say he walked into the wrong room. He slipped inside, and Stephanie looked over confused at who would just walk in before she saw it was Jericho.

"Sweetie, what are you doing here?"

"Just came for a visit," he said walking over and sitting on the desk next to her.

"No belt," she said, looking over, "Did you lose sweetie?"

"Yeah, we lost, it's ok though, it's just a belt."

"Well, that's a positive way of thinking."

"Yeah, it's not like I lost you or anything," he said kissing her cheek.

"Nope. Still stuck with me."

"So who's match is on?" he asked, looking towards the television.

"Oh, Edge's."

"Cool, how's he doing?"

"Ok, I guess, I think he'll pull out the win."

"Good. Can I have a sip of your coffee?"

"Go for it."

He grabbed the cup and took a sip, "Thanks, I needed some fluids."

"Glad I could help.........I talked to Trish," she said, walking to stand in front of him. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist.

"You did? When?"

"She was watching your match, I was watching your match, we talked."

"And?"

"Well, I told her that Christian was single, and that she should pursue that."

"Good idea."

"Thank you."

Jericho leaned in and kissed Stephanie. She wrapped her arms around his neck lazily, and ran her hands through his sweat-dampened hair. They were so involved in one another that they didn't see that Heyman was going to come and talk to Stephanie.

They pulled away from each other, and went back to watching the television. The Benoit and Guerrero match was just starting. Suddenly they heard a knock on the door, and they both looked at it confused.

"Who is it?" Stephanie called out.

"Heyman."

Chris and Stephanie's eyes both widened as they realized this would not look good if he were to walk in here. Stephanie got out of his grasp, and motioned for him to stand behind the door. Chris stood against the wall, as Stephanie opened the door slightly.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"You know what about? Brock."

"Well, you're going to have to wait," she said. Chris reached out and poked her side. Stephanie couldn't help a giggle from escaping.

"This is no laughing matter Stephanie. We need to talk."

Stephanie suppressed a smile, "After this match, than we'll talk."

"Fine, fine, but I'm waiting right out here."

"Ok," she closed the door and pulled Chris towards the center of the room, "How could you do that?" she whispered

"Do what?" he whispered innocently.

"Don't.........poke..........me...........in.........the.........side," she said, poking him after every word.

"Stop poking me then. How am I gonna get out of here?"

"I have no idea," she said, looking around.

"Is there any other doors?"

"No, just that one."

"Well, if Heyman is just outside the door, that's not an option."

"Well," she said, looking around again, "You're just going to have to hide under the desk, I guess."

"The desk?" he said, making a face.

"Is there anywhere else?"

"I guess not. How do we get ourselves into these messes."

"What are you talking about? We've never actually gotten caught."

"Yeah we have, Kurt and Edge ring a bell."

"Yeah, but they're friends, they were bound to find out."

"Edge wasn't my friend then."

"Well, he was mine, so nyah," she said, sticking out her tongue.

"The match is over," Jericho commented, looking at the television.

"Well, then get under the desk you big lug."

Chris walked over to the desk, and got down on the ground. He shook his head in disbelief at him having to hide under a desk so no one would find out he was with Stephanie. He climbed under the desk, finding there was barely enough room for him.

Stephanie pushed the chair in a little to make it less noticeable. Then she went around and sat on the desk to make it look like she had been there the whole time. She grabbed the remote, and turned the volume back on. Heyman came in to spout off about Brock and Big Show, and all that crap that was going on, while Stephanie kept her cool the entire time, thinking about poor Chris stuck under that deske. Stephanie held her laughter until Heyman had shut the door, then she burst out into laughter as she looked back at her desk.

"You can come out now."

Jericho crawled out, and stood up, a little bit stiffly. She laughed as he dusted himself off. He gave her a smirk, and sat down in her chair.

"I'm glad you find this amusing."

"It was funny."

"I love when you get all business-like," he told her. She came and sat on his lap.

"Well, I am a great businesswoman."

"I better go though, if I'm ever going to be ready to leave."

"Ok, I'll see you later," she said, kissing him lightly.

"Uh-huh."

LATER THAT EVENING

"Lady and gentlemen," Jericho said as he, Kurt, and Christian walked into the restaurant where Edge and Stephanie were waiting, "The new WWE Champion, Kurt Angle!"

"Woo-hoo!" Stephanie clapped.

The three guys sat down, and Chris gave Stephanie a quick kiss before turning to the other guys that were there. Kurt had a huge grin on his face after winning the title earlier from the Big Show.

"Congratulations Kurt," Edge told him.

"Thanks you guys, it's about time I was champion again. It's been more than a year since I last held it."

"Well, someone's picky," Edge said, laughing.

"Well, actually, the title was mostly being held by some guy, I don't know, blonde Canadian, fancies himself the King of the World," Kurt kidded.

"Hey, I know that guy, he's pretty damn cool," Jericho said, laughing.

"Too bad about your titles though," Edge said to him and Christian.

"It's ok, we had a good run, didn't we Jericho?" Christian said.

"Yeah, I was happy with it. But congratulations to you Edge, you beat a gorilla tonight."

Edge laughed, "Really, that's what that was?"

"I feel left out, I didn't have a match," Stephanie said, pretending to pout.

"And you're also the one who won't be sore in the morning," Edge told her.

"Well, you've got a point there," she said, "But I can work on your back Chris."

"Anytime baby," he said, kissing her cheek, "Anytime."

"Damn, I wish I had a woman to do that for me," Kurt said, rubbing his neck.

"Fine Kurt, when do you want me over to massage your neck," Edge said, being jokingly exasperated.

"Around 10 will be fine."

"Ok.........but it seems that someone here might have an actual woman to do that pretty soon," Edge said, turning towards his brother.

Christian started blushing, "Shut up."

"You're blushing Christian," Kurt said chuckling.

"Ooh, Christian's in love," Jericho said teasingly, causing Christian to turn even redder.

"Aww, you guys, leave him alone," Stephanie said, sympathetically, "He can't help it if he's in love," she finished dramatically.

"You guys are cruel, there's nothing going on between Trish and I."

"Yet," Jericho added.

"Who knows, she might not even like me."

"She does," everyone said in unison, then laughed.

"Whatever, if I asked her out, then would I have to tell her about all of this?"

"If you wanted," Stephanie answered, "You don't have to. It might be a little nice to have a girl around when I'm with all you guys."

"But don't you love us Steph?" Kurt said, sticking out his bottom lip.

"Of course I do, but sometimes you all act like boys, and I'm stuck alone."

"You're not alone," Jericho whispered in her ear. She smiled up at him.

"Ugh, would someone get the hose, or a hotel room," Edge said, "You know what Christian?"

"What?"

"Get with Trish."

"Why?"

"Because if I have to look at those two anymore," he said gesturing towards Jericho and Stephanie who had decided to make out at the table, "I'm going to scream."

"What does that have to do with Trish and I?"

"Well, then I'd get to choose who I can be offended by."

"You know what though?" Kurt said.

"Huh?" Edge asked.

"If Christian and Trish get together then we'll be the only guys without girls."

"Oh, how sad, and I'm usually such a chick magnet."

"We'll be outcasts, the lone wolves, the Two Musketeers," Kurt said.

"Well, you know, you two can always get together," Christian told them, snickering. They both looked at him, then responded in unison.

"Shut up."


	47. I Get By, December 16, 2002

"That wasn't very nice of them," she said.  
  
"Huh?" he said, turning around to face her.  
  
"What just happened, I saw, it wasn't very nice."  
  
"It's ok, I'm used to stuff like that. People get a laugh out of it, no real harm done."  
  
"Well, at least you don't get overly upset or anything."  
  
"When you get booed all the time, getting something like this is the small time. Besides, you never know when you might need some ass cream."  
  
Trish laughed, "Well that's one way of looking at it."  
  
"Yeah," Christian smiled, "I just caught your match, congratulations on your win."  
  
"Thanks, I hear you have a match later."  
  
"Yeah, against Goldust."  
  
"Good luck, I'm sure you'll win."  
  
"Thanks. And Jericho and I are going after the Tag Titles again next week."  
  
"Why are you friends with him Christian?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, you guys are pretty different. He just seems like a bad guy, a real jerk. But you, you're nice, and sweet," she said, blushing a little.  
  
"You think I'm nice?"  
  
"I know that you just portray a jerk because that's what people think of you, with the whole Edge thing. But I think you were just letting a lot of bottled feelings out, and you just didn't do it in the best fashion."  
  
Christian was amazed that she seemed to know so much about him. She understood the situation without him having to explain it at all. He was also trying to summon up his courage to ask her out.  
  
"Wow, that's exactly how I felt. I think you're the first person to actually understand."  
  
"I took some psychology courses in college," she said, laughing.  
  
"Oh, so I'm just your typical head case?" Christian asked, smirking so she would know he was joking.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't say you're typical at all."  
  
He decided it was now or never and if he was going to ask her out, then now would be the best time, "Um Trish, I was wondering if you had any plans after the show next week?"  
  
"Um, no, I don't have anything planned, why?"  
  
"Well, I was, uh, wondering" he cleared his throat, which was suddenly dry, "If you wanted to grab a late dinner with me?"  
  
"I'd like that," she said, grinning.  
  
"Really?" he asked, incredulously, wondering if he had heard her correctly.  
  
"Yeah, it'll be fun. I'll meet you in your dressing room after the show next week then."  
  
"Ok," Christian said, still surprised by her agreement.  
  
"Bye, good luck in your match."  
  
"Thanks," he said, grinning like an idiot.  
  
It was on this sight that Jericho happened to be walking down the hallway upon. He saw Christian just standing in the hallway not moving. Upon closer inspection he saw that Christian was just grinning off into space. Jericho went in front of him and snapped his fingers.  
  
"Christian, you ok man?"  
  
Christian blinked a few times, "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm ok."  
  
"Any reason why you're standing in the middle of the hallway alone, not moving?"  
  
"Huh?" Christian said, turning towards Jericho, "I wasn't paying attention."  
  
"Obviously. What has you so worked up?"  
  
"She said yes," he answered dreamily.  
  
"Who said what now?"  
  
"Trish, she said yes."  
  
"Yes to what? Yes to a hello? Yes to a date? Yes to an 'I'll meet you later for some sex'?" he said, chuckling.  
  
"A date," Christian said, not even catching anything Jericho was saying about Trish.  
  
"Whoa, you've got it bad. Are you going to be ok to wrestle?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine."  
  
"Ok. I'll see you later," Jericho said, starting to walk off.  
  
"Wait!" Christian called out.  
  
Jericho turned around, "What is it?"  
  
"What do I do?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I mean, on the date, where should I take her, what should I wear?" Christian asked frantically. Jericho walked over and put his hands on his shoulders to calm him down.  
  
"Let's go to our dressing room, ok, so you don't have a nervous breakdown in front of everyone."  
  
"Ok," he said nodding in commiseration. They walked to their locker room, and once inside, Jericho took a seat while Christian paced the length of the room.  
  
"So what did you ask her on a date to?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Dinner. Late-night dinner. Next week."  
  
"Ok, well, you don't want too fancy, so take her to like a sports bar or like T.G.I.F.'s or something."  
  
"Ok, yeah, that sounds good."  
  
"You don't want it too romantic, I mean, that could be awkward."  
  
"Yeah, don't want awkward," Christian muttered, "What am I going to wear?"  
  
"Um, whatever you bring," Jericho supplied, "Are you going out right after the show?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So then bring what you want to wear to the show."  
  
"What about jeans and a nice shirt?" he said, his eyes growing worried.  
  
"Christian, it's just casual, don't worry that'll be fine."  
  
"God, I'm so nervous. Were you this nervous with Stephanie."  
  
"No," Jericho said, truthfully.  
  
"No?"  
  
"No, not really."  
  
"What was your first date like?"  
  
"Um, I took her bowling, and then to dinner," Jericho said.  
  
"You took Stephanie McMahon bowling?" Christian asked, wondering if Stephanie McMahon had ever even been bowling before.  
  
"Yeah, it was fun, well, almost fun," Jericho said, a scowl suddenly on his face.  
  
"What? What's with the look? Did something bad happen?"  
  
"She beat me," Jericho said muttering.  
  
"Stephanie beat you in bowling?" Christian said, suppressing his laughter.  
  
"Yeah, she was better than I thought. Whatever, she beats me in a lot of things."  
  
"I bet. So did she have fun?"  
  
"She's still with me, isn't she?"  
  
"That's something I'll never figure out."  
  
"Wow, that was funny," Jericho said, sarcastically, "Why don't you call her and get her opinion on the matter?"  
  
"Do you think she would mind?"  
  
"No, she doesn't really do anything while I'm at the show anyways."  
  
Jericho walked over to his bag, and grabbed his cell phone. He picked it up, and got Stephanie's number on his speed dial menu. He waited for her to pick up the phone.  
  
"Stephanie McMahon speaking?"  
  
"Hello, I was wondering if you would be interested in meeting a handsome, blonde Canadian who likes kicking people's asses, and watching hockey?"  
  
"No, that's not my type of guy at all."  
  
"Don't you ever check the display on your phone? You never know when I'm calling."  
  
"I'm just used to picking it up. So what's up?"  
  
"Well, I'm not calling on my behalf actually."  
  
"You aren't?" she asked, confused.  
  
"No, Christian is going on a date with Trish next week, and he's about to freak out, and I don't want him keeling over before next week.........and he wanted some advice."  
  
"Ok, put him on." Jericho handed the phone over to Christian. Then Jericho went over to watch the monitor seeing HBK on the screen.  
  
"Hey Steph," Christian said into the phone.  
  
"Christian, I'm gonna go interrupt Michaels, I'll be back," Jericho said, before leaving.  
  
"Hey Christian, what did Chris just say?"  
  
"He said that he was going to interrupt Shawn Michaels."  
  
"Oh, ok, so what do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, I don't know, I mean Trish is so different from other girls I've dated, you know cause she's a diva and all that."  
  
"That doesn't make someone different Christian, it's only a job title," she told him.  
  
"But she's so glamorous."  
  
"You know, I bet she's only glamorous for the cameras, you know I only dressed like a slut in front of the cameras. I'm usually in pj pants and a t-shirt outside of work."  
  
"I guess. What was your first date with Chris like? I mean, he told me a little but not a whole lot you know."  
  
"Well, he took me bowling and to dinner," she said, laughing as she thought about it.  
  
"Yeah, I got that much, but was it awkward or anything?"  
  
"Well, yeah I guess a little. But we knew each other so well at that point, it wasn't that bad. And you and Trish, you know each other pretty well, it won't be that bad."  
  
"How did Chris act?"  
  
"Like he usually acts, a cross between a complete asshole and a total sweetheart. But he was very gentlemen-like, you know, holding doors open for me, pulling the seat out for me, standing up when I left the table or sat down."  
  
"Wow, I never had Chris pegged for a gentlemen."  
  
"Well, he doesn't act like that all the time, but he was trying to impress me," she said, giggling, "Just be yourself Christian, you're a nice guy. I'm sure she'll see that."  
  
"I just don't want to blow my chance."  
  
"You won't, trust me, and if she for some reason doesn't like you, than she isn't the one for you anyway. Because you are a really great person, despite what the fans think of you. You ain't not no sucker," she told him.  
  
He laughed, "Thanks Steph."  
  
"Not a problem."  
  
"So Chris told me that you beat him in bowling."  
  
"Yeah, he was awful, gutter ball this, and gutter ball that. I was about ready to tell them to get the bumpers out just so he could knock a pin down. It was sad."  
  
"I guess he's not as good at everything like he says he is."  
  
"No, that's just his massive ego talking."  
  
"How do you put up with him?" Christian asked light-heartedly.  
  
"I don't know, I just love him, I guess, love works in mysterious ways. I mean, I never thought that I would fall for Chris Jericho, not after our past together, and all that. And after Hunter, I didn't even want to be with another guy after that."  
  
"So why did you get with Chris?"  
  
"You know how you just can't help but like Chris. No matter how big of an ass he is sometimes, no matter how annoying, or obnoxious, you just can't help but like him."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well the same goes for loving him. Sometimes he's so frustrating, but I can't help but love him."  
  
"God, I wish I had what you two have," Christian sighed.  
  
"Who says you can't? Maybe you and Trish will have that great once-in-a- lifetime romance."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Christian, if I can find it, me of all people, then you can definitely find it."  
  
"Thanks Steph, I better go, I have a match."  
  
"Ok, good luck."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Christian hung up the phone, and breathed a sigh of relief. Talking to Stephanie had really calmed him down. She was right, he just had to be himself. He could do that, it wouldn't be too hard. Now the hard part would be waiting an entire week to go out with her.  
  
"Well, if it isn't Mr. I Have To Interrupt Everyone."  
  
"What? I like to add my two cents," he said laughing.  
  
"All the time?"  
  
"Of course, everyone wants to hear my opinions. Besides, there's only one person that I really like interrupting."  
  
"Who would that be?"  
  
"Hmm," he said, pretending to think about it, "You."  
  
"I always hated when you interrupted me," Stephanie said, scrunching up her nose in distaste.  
  
"You know you loved it. I do feel sorry for Michaels though. I mean, being stuck with HHH for so long. Poor guy."  
  
"Hey, what about me?"  
  
"You too, too bad," he said shaking his head, laughing softly.  
  
"That's more like it. I caught his little appreciation ceremony."  
  
"Oh, wasn't that a trip, no pun intended."  
  
"I loved the little music video, it was so touching. I hate him."  
  
"Lucky for me," Jericho said, winking at her.  
  
"Yes, lucky for you. And then Steiner signing, he was supposed to be my signee, damn him," she muttered.  
  
"I know you're mad, but you don't need him on your show, you're doing fine without it."  
  
"Yeah, you're right. Did you mean what you said to Shawn?"  
  
"Pretty much. I just get a little sad seeing him lose to HHH."  
  
"Shawn's not that washed up though, I think he still has a little fight left in him."  
  
"I guess I'll see what he's got left. So what did you talk to Christian about?"  
  
"Our first date."  
  
"Oh, and what did you tell him?"  
  
"That you suck at bowling."  
  
"That's all?"  
  
"Well, no, I just said how you were really sweet, and tried to impress me."  
  
"I wasn't trying to impress you," he snorted.  
  
"Sure," she said, rolling her eyes, "You were absolutely trying to impress me. When you were ordering the wine, and trying to sound all sophisticated."  
  
"Ok, I was trying to impress you a little, but I was a little afraid you wouldn't like someone who wasn't upscale and rich like you."  
  
"I don't care about that."  
  
"Well I know that now," he said sarcastically, then rolling his eyes. She laughed and kissed him.  
  
"I just told him to be himself, and she would like him for just who he is. I mean, I love you for who you are, though God knows why."  
  
"Because I'm irresistible," he said pompously.  
  
"More like irrepressible," she countered.  
  
"You're lucky I love you." She smiled at him gently.  
  
"I know I am." 


	48. Code Names Can Be Fun, December 19, 2002

A/N: Oh my God, over 300 reviews, I'm going to start crying tears of joy. Just so you all know, you guys are the reason this story has kept going. :) Ok, you guys and the lack of Jericho/Stephanie. ;)  
  
"I've gotta go," Stephanie said, grabbing her bag.  
  
"Ok, I'll see you later."  
  
"Ok, luckily the show is in Tampa tonight, I'll see you later," she said, starting to leave.  
  
"Um, aren't you forgetting something," he said, hinting at something.  
  
She came over and kissed him, "Silly me, because you can't go several hours without a kiss."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Bye you."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Stephanie drove the short while to the arena. She walked inside and into her office for the evening. She thought back to what Heyman had said on Sunday. He was talking about honor and prestige, and how important the title was. If he was so into the title, and so into his clients being champion, didn't that mean he would do anything to make his client champion. Wouldn't that mean he was willing to take his clients to Raw?  
  
I mean, he had been willing to go strictly to SmackDown with Brock for the money, but she knew that he liked power more than money. And because of that, would he be willing to take her money, and go back to the other company, to strengthen Raw with his presence. Well, she wasn't going to lose anyone to the dark side.  
  
But how could she make sure that Heyman stayed away from Raw? She needed some way to make sure he didn't get a bunch of different guys and somehow find a way to skulk his way over Raw, and take guys from her roster. She had to get Heyman what he wanted, and he wanted the champion. And just who was the champion?  
  
Kurt Angle.  
  
Stephanie got up from her desk, and decided she needed to find Kurt and talk to him about what she was thinking. She didn't know if he had arrived yet, but it was worth a shot. She walked over to his private dressing room, and knocked on the door. He answered a moment later.  
  
"Hey Stephanie," he said brightly, "Come to see the champion?"  
  
"Yes, congratulations again."  
  
"Thanks," he said, patting the belt which was sitting on the arm of the couch.  
  
"But that's not the only reason I came to see you," she said seriously.  
  
"Stephanie, is everything ok?" Kurt asked, dismayed by her sudden seriousness.  
  
"Um, well, there's something I needed to discuss with you."  
  
"Ok," he responded, subdued now.  
  
"I'm worried about Heyman."  
  
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked confused, "Did he threaten you or something?"  
  
"No, but well, Kurt, when you were in the Alliance, remember, wasn't Paul a slime."  
  
"Yeah, I think he's always been like that."  
  
"Exactly, and he was willing to do anything to come out on top right?"  
  
"Yeah, but what's your point?"  
  
"What if he takes his client, Big Show, and what if he takes other guys to Raw?" she said.  
  
"But you have the contracts locked up," he said.  
  
"But he'll probably find some little loophole, what if he's trying to work with Bischoff against me, I wouldn't put it past him."  
  
"You really think he might?"  
  
"I don't know, he seems like he'd work well with Bischoff, and I don't want that to happen."  
  
"And you want me to help you what?"  
  
"What does Heyman love Kurt?"  
  
"Power, why?" Kurt asked, shrugging.  
  
"Exactly, and in the WWE what signifies power?"  
  
Kurt nodded as he started to catch on, "The belt."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
A knock sounded on the door, and Kurt got up to answer it. Edge came into the room, smiling over at Stephanie. He took a seat on the couch without asking, and looked between the both of them, seeing the serious looks on their faces.  
  
"Whoa, did someone die?" Edge asked.  
  
"No," Stephanie said, "We were just discussing something."  
  
"Well, do you want me to leave, I was actually looking for you Steph, and someone said they had seen you come in here."  
  
"You don't have to leave, this affects you as well."  
  
"Really? I'm listening."  
  
"As I was saying Kurt, Heyman wants power, if he thinks that he has all the power on SmackDown, then he wouldn't be tempted to switch shows."  
  
"Wait, Heyman's switching shows?" Edge asked.  
  
"I don't know, but if he's even remotely thinking about it, you know he wouldn't go alone, he'd think I somehow screwed him by lifting Brock's suspension, and you know he'd try to get as many of my guys over there, just to mess with my roster."  
  
"So you want me to join forces with him?"  
  
"Would you? I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with Kurt," she told him.  
  
"No, I want to, I'll just tell him that I think that joining forces with him would be better for my career."  
  
"You're really willing to do it?"  
  
"It's about time I got an actual part in this plan, instead of just being your bodyguard."  
  
Stephanie laughed, "Thank you so much Kurt." She got up and hugged him tightly.  
  
"No problem."  
  
"This means a lot to me."  
  
"Hey, can we like have a special name for this? It can be like Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy."  
  
"Um, sure if you want."  
  
"Ooh, can we have code names?" Edge said, speaking up.  
  
"Yeah!" Kurt said excited now, "Code names!"  
  
"Yeah, and we can call each other by the code names," Edge said standing up.  
  
"I wanna be 'Gold Medal', no, no, 'Bald Eagle', that makes me sound fierce."  
  
"Yeah, I can be like 'Reeks of Awesomeness.'"  
  
"You should be 'Goldilocks'," Kurt said laughing.  
  
"No way, that's a chick name, I want something cool."  
  
"How about 'Bright Smile'?"  
  
"That's stupid Kurt," Edge said, shaking his head, "I want to be 'Agent Awesome.'"  
  
"Ok! You're 'Agent Awesome' and I'm 'Bald Eagle'," Kurt said, his eyes wide, "Stephanie, what do you want to be?"  
  
"I want to be anywhere but here," she said, looking at them weirdly, "You two shouldn't even be allowed in the same room together, you start acting like little kids."  
  
"Come on, have fun, you need a code name," Kurt said.  
  
"She can be 'The Boss'," Edge said.  
  
"Ooh, how formal."  
  
"I like it," Edge said, "What do you think Steph?"  
  
She looked at the both of them, then sighed, "I guess I'm 'The Boss.'"  
  
"Yes!" Kurt and Edge said, giving each other high fives.  
  
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you two," Stephanie said, shaking her head.  
  
"I'm going to go talk to Heyman," Kurt told her.  
  
"Ok, good luck Kurt."  
  
"Thanks, bye 'Agent Awesome' and 'The Boss', I'm going to go work on Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy."  
  
"Good luck and godspeed," Edge said, "Now Steph, I wanted to ask you about a match tonight........."  
  
Kurt left the room laughing, and wandered through the halls looking for Big Show's dressing room. He figured if Heyman was going to be anywhere it would be there. He just hoped that Big Show wouldn't be around. As he was walking he saw Heyman standing alone in one of the halls. Kurt made his way over to him.  
  
"Heyman, can I talk to you for a second," Kurt called out.  
  
"Why?" Heyman said suspiciously.  
  
"I've got an offer you'd be interested in."  
  
"Really?" Heyman said, his eyes intrigued, "What kind of offer?"  
  
"I need an agent, and I think you're just the person for the job."  
  
"You want me to manage you, but why?"  
  
"I don't want Brock getting his hands on my title, and I'm willing to do anything to make sure it stays in my hands. And I know you don't want Brock to get his hands on this title."  
  
"I like the way you think Kurt Angle."  
  
"I thought you would."  
  
"But what's in it for me?"  
  
"Big Show can have his rematch, whenever, wherever."  
  
"I like the sound of that."  
  
"Just agree to be my manager. And the Big Show gets the rematch."  
  
"Fine, I agree. You've made a fine choice by joining with me," Heyman said, sticking his hand out for Kurt to shake. Kurt shook it.  
  
"I think I have as well."  
  
"But how am I going to explain this to Big Show. He'll think that I'm only doing this because I want to be with the champion."  
  
"Don't you want to be with the champion?"  
  
"Of course, but not at the expense of another client."  
  
"Cut the crap Heyman, you want as much money as you can horde under your mattress. Don't worry, tell Big Show you've had this planned for a while."  
  
"What good would that do?"  
  
"Makes it look like you had his best interest at heart the whole time. And it makes it look like you screwed Brock, just a little bit more."  
  
"You're right, you're brilliant Kurt."  
  
"Yeah, I know. So we'll announce it tonight?"  
  
"Yes, in the ring. More dramatic that way," Heyman said, grinning evilly, "Until then, let's keep this our little secret."  
  
"Oh, it'll be a secret," Kurt nodded, knowingly.  
  
Kurt walked away, thinking that he had just given one of his finest performances. Luckily for him, he could act well enough to pull something like that off. Now to go tell Stephanie that he had accomplished Phase One of Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy.  
  
Kurt knocked on her door, "'Bald Eagle' ready to report to 'The Boss.'"  
  
Stephanie looked up from her desk, "'The Boss' is waiting Kurt."  
  
"Excuse me?" he said, giving her a look.  
  
"'The Boss' is waiting 'Bald Eagle'," she said blandly.  
  
"That's more like it. He felt for it. Completely and utterly fell for it. Didn't even question my motives, didn't even ask for any reasons, just fell for it."  
  
"That's wonderful. Looks like everything is going according to plan," Kurt cleared his throat, "Looks like everything is going according to Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy."  
  
"Thank you. Now I have to go out there, and make the world think that I'm an all around great guy before I shatter their hopes and dreams."  
  
"Wow, dramatic aren't we? Good luck, and I'll see you later."  
  
Kurt walked backstage. It was good to not come out to predominant boos all the time. Almost a refreshing change. Too bad later he would probably get more boos than he had in a very, very long time. Oh well, the fans had no idea what was really going on.  
  
"Great job 'Bald Eagle'," Edge said from a doorway.  
  
"Thanks 'Agent Awesome', until later," Kurt said, walking on.  
  
"Wonderful speech Kurt," Heyman said, winking as he walked by. Kurt rolled his eyes as soon as Heyman passed. What a slime.  
  
"Hey Stephanie," Kurt said as he happened upon her, "How'd I do?"  
  
"Great Kurt," she said smiling, "I have a feeling Brock won't be getting that title shot."  
  
"Nope, had to forgo it to gain Heyman's partnership. But it can always come another time."  
  
"That sounds fine, but you were great out there."  
  
"Wait until later."  
  
"Oh wait, Kurt, I think we should play this up a little."  
  
"What do you have in mind?"  
  
"Come with me," she said, walking past him.  
  
She walked up to one of the backstage monitors. Kurt looked confused for a moment as he stood there.  
  
"Just watch Brock all intently," she whispered, "And follow my lead."  
  
"Ok." Kurt stood watching as Brock squashed Shannon Moore. Suddenly Kurt felt a tapping on his shoulder and looked to see Stephanie.  
  
"Kurt can I talk to you for a second?" she asked. Kurt played along.  
  
"Sure, Steph. You know Steph, I am so looking forward to facing Brock Lesnar next week. I mean, that match will be one for the ages."  
  
"Kurt, cut the crap," she said, mock angry, "Either you go out to the ring and set the record straight right now--"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Kurt, I've known you for a long time, ok, what you're doing is wrong. And if you don't go out to the ring and clear things up right now, then I'm going to have to do it."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, cause I'm looking forward to facing Brock? Steph.........what?"  
  
"Have it your way."  
  
"Hold on a second.........alright, I'll do it right now," he said walking off.  
  
Stephanie smirked as he walked off. Everything was going perfectly. She deserved a medal for conniving. She walked off intending to go back to her office and watch Kurt become even more hated.  
  
"Bravo Kurt, bravo," Stephanie said as he walked into her office later that evening.  
  
"Thank you, thank you, but I owe it all to my lovely boss who thinks up way too many schemes for her own good," he said bowing.  
  
"You all showered up?"  
  
"Yeah, you ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, grabbing her purse, "How did you get to the arena?"  
  
"Christian picked me up at the airport, and drove me to the arena."  
  
"Oh yeah, cause he lives down here."  
  
"Yeah, I feel so left out, you guys all live here, and I live in Pennsylvania."  
  
"Yeah, you miss out on all the group meetings that we have," she said sadly.  
  
"You have meetings?" Kurt asked, looking stricken.  
  
"No Kurt, we don't have meetings, usually we're too busy sleeping and actually being at home. But you should consider moving down here."  
  
"Maybe. You ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They walked out to her car, them being the last ones in the building. Stephanie had had work to do, and Kurt had to clean up after his match with Benoit. Stephanie opened the door, and they both got in before she started driving to her and Jericho's house.  
  
"I wanted to thank you guys again for letting me crash at your house," Kurt told her.  
  
"It's fine Kurt, you're our friend, and we have extra bedrooms for guests. And even if you couldn't stay with us, you could've stayed at Edge or Christian's houses."  
  
"Lucky I have so many friends, though you wouldn't think it after tonight."  
  
"Don't worry, people will appreciate you in due time."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
They arrived at the house, and they got their things and walked to the door. Stephanie took out her key, and opened the door, wondering if Jericho was in bed already. It wasn't too late, but well, you never know. He wasn't, instead he was in the kitchen getting a snack.  
  
"Hey, you guys are back."  
  
"Yeah, hey sweetie," Stephanie said, going over and kissing him quickly, before stealing a chip from the bag he was holding.  
  
"So Kurt, how does it feel to be the most hated man in wrestling.........besides Trips of course."  
  
"Eh, like any other day," Kurt said, chuckling, "And it's all part of Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy"  
  
"Who what's it now?" Jericho asked looking confused.  
  
"Just leave it be Chris," Stephanie whispered to him.  
  
"That's the name of the mission. You know, me joining with Heyman to make sure he doesn't exodus to Raw."  
  
"Ok," Jericho said, looking at Kurt weirdly.  
  
"Edge and I decided that we needed cool mission names, makes it more fun, I'm 'Bald Eagle,' Edge is 'Agent Awesome,' and Stephanie's 'The Boss.'"  
  
"You guys have code names?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Just ignore them sweetie," Stephanie said.  
  
"I want a code name!" Jericho said petulantly, "Why don't I get a code name?"  
  
"Dude, you can have one, what do you want?"  
  
"Well isn't it obvious, I wanna be 'King of the World,' come on."  
  
"Ok, cool, now Christian needs one."  
  
"Wow, now this is going to be fun."  
  
Stephanie groaned, "You all are crazy."  
  
"Hey, this way we can talk about each other without anyone knowing," Kurt said.  
  
"Like it won't be obvious," she said.  
  
"Kurt, you can choose a bedroom upstairs," Jericho said.  
  
"Ok, you know what?" he said, his eyes lighting up.  
  
"What?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"We should have a sleep-over," Kurt said, grinning like a child on Christmas morning.  
  
Jericho and Stephanie exchanged looks, "No thanks Kurt."  
  
"But we can stay up all night, and watch movies and stuff."  
  
"Kurt, maybe you should lay off the sugar," Stephanie said laughing, she took Jericho's hand, "We're going to bed."  
  
"I'd stay Kurt, but when the woman speaks, I gotta go."  
  
"Whipped," Kurt said, shaking his head.  
  
"I know," Jericho said, "But look at her, can I help it?" Stephanie batted her eyelashes innocently, and bit her lip.  
  
"I guess not," Kurt answered.  
  
"Damn straight he can't help it," Stephanie added, "But he loves it."  
  
"Well, look at all the benefits," he said winking, "And Kurt there are a lot of benefits."  
  
"Shut your mouth. Feel free to stay down here if you want Kurt."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Night," they called out, as Stephanie pulled Jericho upstairs by the hand. Stephanie came back a second later, and peeked her head around the corner of the stairway.  
  
"Kurt, I just want to thank you again for joining Heyman, I know it can't be easy."  
  
"It's cool Steph."  
  
"I hope you know how much this means to me."  
  
"I believe I told you a long time ago that if you ever needed a favor, all you ever had to do was ask."  
  
"Yeah, but you're going way above the call of duty. I'm putting you with a slime."  
  
"I think I'll be ok. I did after all team with your dad."  
  
"You've got a point there. You're a good friend Bald Eagle."  
  
"Thanks Boss." 


	49. The Date, December 23, 2002

A/N: I was going to have a special Christmas chapter, but decided against it, so I crammed it all into one chapter, that's why it's pretty long, but well, hope you and your families have a wonderful holidays for whatever you celebrate. :)  
  
And there will be a chapter on Thursday, in case anyone was wondering if there wouldn't be because of the Christmas being the day before.  
  
"So you nervous about tonight?"  
  
"Yeah. Should I be this nervous?"  
  
"I don't know, I guess if you like her that much than yeah, you should be nervous?"  
  
"Well, why weren't you nervous with Stephanie?"  
  
"Because."  
  
"Because is not an answer."  
  
"Stephanie and I.........were weird, don't base any kind of relationship tips from the two of us."  
  
"That's probably the best advice you've given me."  
  
"Are you ready for our match though?" Jericho asked, "I don't want to be the only one doing any work out there."  
  
"Yeah, I'm ready."  
  
"Well, I'm going to go visit one of our opponents," Jericho told him.  
  
"Which one would that be?"  
  
"Eh, whichever one I happen to see first, I'll see you later."  
  
"Ok," Christian said.  
  
Jericho left Christian alone, and Christian decided to go see Trish. He walked out of the locker room and down to the diva's locker room. He took a deep breath, hoping that she was there, and so he wouldn't be embarrassed if she wasn't. He knocked softly on the door. Jacqueline answered the door.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
"Um, I was wondering if Trish was here," he answered.  
  
"Hey Christian," Trish said, coming to the door, "I can take it from here Jacqui."  
  
"Fine," Jacqueline answered walking away.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Trish asked.  
  
"I just wanted to see you, make sure you didn't want to cancel or anything."  
  
"No, I don't want to cancel, but thanks for asking."  
  
"Well, I just wanted to give you a way out if you didn't want to go," he said sheepishly.  
  
"I'm looking forward to it," she said, "So do you want to meet me here?"  
  
"Sure, until later then."  
  
"I look forward to it."  
  
"You look really nice," he commented, looking down at her Santa's helper outfit.  
  
"Thanks," she said laughing, "Just a perk of the job."  
  
"I guess, and congratulations on winning your match," he said, laughing as well.  
  
"Thanks, good luck on your match later."  
  
"Oh yeah, I better go, I have to get out there soon, see you in a while."  
  
"Ok, bye."  
  
Christian walked away smiling. He walked back to his locker room, a happy guy. Jericho came upon him, walking towards the gorilla for his match. He smirked at Christian's mood.  
  
"I'm guessing you went to see Trish," Jericho said.  
  
"Yeah, how'd you know?"  
  
"Well, judging by the idiotic grin on your face, there could be no other reason."  
  
"Yeah, we're still on for tonight."  
  
"Well, that's nice, but don't forget, we're taking the red-eye back to Tampa."  
  
"I know, I know, but I've got until 1:30 don't I?"  
  
"Yeah, but if you're not there, I'm leaving without you, I've got a girl too you know."  
  
"I know. So what did you say to our opponents?"  
  
"Oh, I just found Goldust, just said some mean things to try to psych him out."  
  
"Did it work?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe. Oh, hey we get code names now," Jericho told him.  
  
"Code names?"  
  
"Yeah, we decided that code names would be cool. I'm 'King of the World.'"  
  
"What's everyone else?"  
  
"Kurt is 'Bald Eagle, Edge is 'Agent Awesome, Stephanie's 'The Boss', and we called Shane and he's 'The Money.'"  
  
"Well, I don't know what I'm going to be."  
  
"How about 'Crybaby?'"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, you know since you went through that whole period where you were being a huge baby."  
  
"So now I have the Crybaby moniker?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much Crybaby," Jericho said laughing, "Haven't you seen that movie "Crybaby", he was tough."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah," Jericho said proceeding towards the gorilla, "Come on, we gotta match, then you can get ready."  
  
"Ok, I'm ready."  
  
Jericho and Christian walked backstage after their match. They were kind of upset about losing the titles, but if they were being honest their minds weren't totally on the match. Christian had been thinking about his date with Trish, and Jericho had been thinking about his Christmas gift for Stephanie.  
  
"I'm gonna get ready," Christian said as they walked backstage.  
  
"Ok, good luck. See you at the airport."  
  
"Thanks," Christian said, jogging ahead.  
  
He reached the locker room, and took a quick shower to make sure he didn't smell, then got his bag from his locker. He quickly changed into a nice pair of pants and a blue collared shirt. He pulled his hair back behind his ears, and put some cologne on. As soon as he deemed himself presentable, he grabbed his things and headed for the women's locker room.  
  
He got there and saw that Trish was already waiting in the hallway, her bags on the floor next to her. He smiled as he took her in. Instead of the flashy clothes she wore in the ring, she was in a pair of tight jeans and a button down blouse with a jacket over it. He thought she looked great.  
  
"Hey," Trish said, grabbing her bag as he walked over.  
  
"Hey, you look beautiful."  
  
Trish blushed slightly, "Thanks. You look pretty good too."  
  
"You ready?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, leaning down to pick up her bag, but Christian was quicker and grabbed her bag for her. She smiled as she watched him.  
  
"Thanks," she said.  
  
"Not a problem," Christian said, remembering that Stephanie had said Jericho had been the perfect gentlemen on their first date.  
  
"Did you come to the arena alone?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, I have my own rental, did you come alone?"  
  
"No, Stacy and Test drove me, I knew I'd be leaving with you."  
  
"Oh, ok, wanna go then?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They walked to his car together. Christian was feeling even more nervous now than before. It was awkward, he knew it was going to be awkward, why was it so awkward? Damn it, both Jericho and Stephanie had said that they hadn't felt awkward around each other, he didn't know what to do in this situation.  
  
The drive to the restaurant was mostly silent, sometimes being filled with idle chatting. Christian was trying to think of some way to lessen the awkwardness, but everything he thought of seemed so stupid. They finally arrived at the restaurant, a sports bar & grill, and Christian ran around to the other side of the car to open the door.  
  
"You're so sweet," she said as they walked into the restaurant.  
  
"I try my best."  
  
They got a table, and spent a few minutes deciding what to order. The waiter came to take their order, and they were once again alone.  
  
"So what are you doing for Christmas?" Trish asked.  
  
"Well, tomorrow I'm going to a friend's house and we're going to have a little get-together," he said.  
  
It was true, he and Jericho were taking the red-eye to Tampa tonight where Shane, Stephanie, Edge and Kurt already were. Then tomorrow they would have a Christmas Eve get together and exchange the presents that they had gotten each other. They had done a Secret Santa this year.  
  
"Sounds like fun."  
  
"It should be, then I'm flying home on Christmas morning to spend Christmas with my family in Toronto."  
  
"Oh, is Edge going to be there?" Trish asked nervously, not knowing that he and Edge were back to how they used to be.  
  
Christian didn't realize what she was getting at though, "Yeah, why, he's my brother?"  
  
"Well, you know that falling out you guys had, it can't be easy during the holidays."  
  
Christian realized she thought he was still estranged from Edge, "We cope."  
  
"Well, that's nice I guess."  
  
"Yeah. So what are you doing for Christmas?" Christian said.  
  
"Just spending it with my family."  
  
"It's nice that we get time off."  
  
"Yeah, since we usually never get more than a few days off at a time. But well, it's the life we choose."  
  
"It is, I wouldn't trade it in either."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"How else would I have met you?"  
  
Trish smiled widely, "Christian, you're a lot different from how you come across on screen, why is that?"  
  
"Well, you know, people want to believe what they want to believe, and I just go along with that."  
  
"But you're so nice and kind, I think if you showed that side, people would love you."  
  
"I like the way I am," he told her.  
  
"Well, if you like it, then I guess that's the way you should be."  
  
"Besides I have a lot of friends who know the real me."  
  
"Like Jericho?" Trish said, a little sarcastically.  
  
"He's not that bad Trish," Christian said, defending his friend.  
  
"Then why does he have to act like a jerk all the time?"  
  
"Well, one time was to psych you out for a match, and the other was to see if you liked me," Christian said meekly.  
  
"Oh," Trish said, suddenly feeling bad about Jericho, "So, he's not a jerk?"  
  
"No, he's just like that sometimes, he doesn't mean to be."  
  
"And he doesn't want to get me in bed?"  
  
"No, he's actually taken."  
  
"Really? Who would go out with him?" she asked, laughing.  
  
"His girlfriend," Christian said, laughing.  
  
"Yeah," said, "I'd imagine she'd have to be tough to put up with him."  
  
"She is, trust me."  
  
Their food came then, and they talked animatedly throughout the rest of the meal. Christian was thoroughly enjoying himself. Trish was such a great person, of course he had known that before, but it was different now. He was glad they were able to get past that awkwardness from earlier.  
  
Before he knew it, they were standing in front of Trish's hotel room.  
  
"I had fun Christian," Trish said, "I'm glad you asked me out."  
  
"So am I."  
  
"Well, are you doing anything later this week?"  
  
"Probably not, why?"  
  
"Well, if you're going to be in Toronto, maybe we can get together?"  
  
"I'd like that," he said.  
  
"Great, here," she said taking a piece of paper and pen out of her purse, then writing something down, "Here's my home phone number, give me a call when you're in town."  
  
"Ok, great."  
  
"Thanks for tonight," she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, "Bye."  
  
"Bye," Christian said.  
  
As soon as she was through the door, Christian touched his cheek where she had kissed him. He wanted yell out in joy, but was able to refrain himself. Instead, he skipped his way down to the elevator. How he managed to get to the airport, he would never figure out.  
  
He dropped off his rental car, and walked into the airport, checking for his gate. He found the flight and made his way down to the gate, seeing Jericho reading a magazine with his feet propped on his bag. He walked over, and plopped himself down next to Jericho.  
  
"Hey man, how was it?" Jericho said, putting his magazine down.  
  
"Great," Christian said, sighing happily.  
  
"That's good, you might want to go check in though, the flight leaves in like 20 minutes."  
  
"Oh yeah." Christian got up and checked in before coming back to sit with Jericho.  
  
"So was it awkward?"  
  
"At first yeah, but then it was fun."  
  
"Did she kiss you?" Jericho said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"On the cheek."  
  
"Aww, you didn't get any?" Jericho said, jokingly.  
  
"Yeah, like you got any from Stephanie on your first date," he scoffed.  
  
"Dude, I had already kissed her twice before we got together, trust me, we kissed on our first date."  
  
"Whatever, come on, the plane's boarding."  
  
The two of the boarded the plane, and then tried to get some sleep while they were flying. They arrived very early in the morning, around 3:30, and they de-boarded the plane, and looked around for Stephanie who was picking them up.  
  
"Hey you guys," she said as soon as they were off the jetway.  
  
"Hey baby," Jericho said, kissing her.  
  
"You were so mean to Goldust tonight," she told him.  
  
"I was just trying to psych him out."  
  
"Well, you were still pretty mean to him, although I do think you're sexy when you get all serious like that."  
  
"Hmm.........good to know."  
  
"You two look tired," she commented.  
  
"Probably because we are," Jericho answered.  
  
"Well, let's get you guys home then. I went to bed early so I would be ok to drive," she explained.  
  
"Uh-huh," Christian said sleepily.  
  
"How was your date Christian?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Great."  
  
"That's good," she said, "Did you get a kiss out of it?"  
  
"What is with you two?" Christian asked, turning to them, "It's like you have the same brain or something."  
  
"What did I say?" Stephanie asked as Jericho wrapped an arm around her waist.  
  
"Oh, I asked him if he got a kiss. He got one on the cheek."  
  
"Oh, that's sweet."  
  
"You gave me more than a kiss on the cheek," Jericho said cheekily.  
  
"Shut up, you make it sound like I slept with you on our first date. I just kissed you."  
  
"Still, more than a kiss on the cheek."  
  
They got to Stephanie's car, and they climbed in. They dropped Christian off at his house before going to their house, and retiring for the evening.  
  
THE NEXT AFTERNOON  
  
"When's it time for presents?" Kurt whined.  
  
"God Kurt, can't you be patient?" Shane said.  
  
"No," he chuckled.  
  
Everyone was over at Jericho and Stephanie's house celebrating Christmas. Since everyone was going to visit their families the next day, they had decided to meet on Christmas Eve. Ever since Jericho and Stephanie had told them about their relationship, their little group had become very close.  
  
"We can open presents now or wait until after dinner," Stephanie said.  
  
"Now!" they yelled.  
  
"Fine, fine, who wants to go first?" she asked.  
  
"I'll go," Kurt said.  
  
"Who'd you draw?" Edge asked.  
  
"Here Chris," Kurt said, handing Jericho a gift.  
  
"I hope it's not a picture of yourself," Jericho said, reminding Kurt of the gift he had given for his birthday.  
  
"No, no picture."  
  
"Ok," Jericho took off the top part of the gift and opened it, "Hair ties?"  
  
"Yeah, for your hair, or that monstrosity of a beard."  
  
"Thanks," Jericho said laughing. He opened the rest of the gift, "Hey, this is awesome."  
  
He held up a Spider-man button down shirt.  
  
"Well, I knew you had another one, so I figured you'd like this one as well."  
  
"I do, thanks Kurt."  
  
"You're welcome, I hope it's your size."  
  
Jericho looked in the shirt, "Yeah, my size."  
  
"Ok, sweetie, you go next," Stephanie said.  
  
"Ok," Jericho grabbed a gift, "This is for you Edge."  
  
"Thanks." There were two gifts. Edge opened the first one, "Very funny Chris."  
  
"What?" Jericho asked innocently.  
  
"A teeth whitening kit." Everyone else laughed.  
  
"I thought you could use one. Besides there's more."  
  
"I'm afraid to open it."  
  
"Ha, it's not bad."  
  
Edge opened the rest of the gift, and found a new pair of sunglasses, "Wow, these are actually pretty nice."  
  
"Well, you always come out in sunglasses, so I thought you could use another pair."  
  
"Thanks for the gift, well, the non-teeth whitening part anyways."  
  
"And I thought that was the best part too," Jericho said.  
  
"I'm sure you did, I'm next," Edge said, getting his gift, "Where did Stephanie go?"  
  
"She just went into the kitchen to get some more wine," Shane said.  
  
Edge walked over to the door, "Steph, I have your gift."  
  
"Ok, I'm coming," she said, standing in the doorway.  
  
"Uh-oh," Christian said.  
  
"What?" they both asked,  
  
"Look up," Shane said. Edge and Stephanie looked up and saw that they were standing under some mistletoe.  
  
"Chris, I thought I told you to take this down," Stephanie said.  
  
"Sorry, I was so preoccupied with the making out under the mistletoe I forgot to take it down."  
  
"You guys have to kiss," Kurt teased.  
  
"Yeah, it's tradition," Shane said.  
  
"You guys," Stephanie whined.  
  
"You gotta," Christian added.  
  
"Don't think this will be a normal occurrence Edge," Chris said in a kidding manner, "But well, you can't mess with tradition."  
  
"Fine," Edge said. Stephanie rolled her eyes. Edge leaned down and kissed her quickly, while all the other guys yelled catcalls and jeers.  
  
"You know about 4 months ago, I would've dreamed about kissing you," Edge said.  
  
"I knew, trust me."  
  
"I knew too," Jericho interjected.  
  
"Yeah, and that's why I got a nice shiner."  
  
"You were about to kiss my girlfriend," Jericho said indignantly.  
  
"He's right you know," Stephanie said, going over to Jericho and sitting on his lap.  
  
"Yeah," Edge conceded, "Here's your present."  
  
"Thank you," Stephanie said, taking it and unwrapping it quickly, "Ooh, what a pretty day planner."  
  
"I noticed that you were really messy with all your papers, so I thought you could use one. And this way you know whether you're coming or your going."  
  
"This is so thoughtful of you," Stephanie said, getting up and hugging Edge.  
  
"Hey, first you kiss him and then you hug him, are you dumping me for Edge?" Jericho said.  
  
"Yes, hate to break it to you like this," Stephanie said, sitting in Edge's lap.  
  
"Damn it," Jericho muttered. Stephanie got up and went back over to Jericho, giving him a quick kiss.  
  
"You know I'll always be yours," she whispered, "Now I get to give my gift."  
  
She grabbed another gift, and handed it to Christian.  
  
"Ooh, what could it be?" Christian said.  
  
"I just want you to know that you are one hard person to shop for Christian."  
  
"Wow, I didn't know that."  
  
"Well, now you do," she said giggling.  
  
"It's not ass cream is it?" Christian said, "Because I already got that."  
  
"No, no ass cream."  
  
Christian opened it up and found a photo album with his name embroidered in gold stitch, but his name wasn't the only one, it also had Trish's name. He opened it up, and found pictures of them separately from different WWE events.  
  
"Whoa, Steph, this is gorgeous."  
  
"Thanks, I made it myself," she said, smiling softly.  
  
"You embroidered this?" he asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, my grandma taught me how to sew when I was younger, Shane can sew too," Stephanie said.  
  
"Thanks for letting that out Steph," Shane said, laughing.  
  
"What, it's the truth, it comes in handy."  
  
"My woman has many talents," Jericho said proudly.  
  
"Don't call me your woman," she chastised.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I don't like it."  
  
"Fine, fine."  
  
"Well, I figured, you can start putting pictures of you and Trish in there," Stephanie said, turning back to Christian.  
  
"Don't you think that's a little premature?" Kurt asked.  
  
"No, Christian said they had a great time," Stephanie said.  
  
"We're going to see each other when we go back to Toronto," Christian told them.  
  
"See?" Stephanie said.  
  
"Wow, so you really hit it off?" Shane said.  
  
"Yeah, she's great."  
  
"So you going to tell her about all of this?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I don't know, I don't know if she likes you guys all that much," Christian said, not knowing how they'd react.  
  
"Well, whatever you decide to do is fine Christian," Stephanie said rationally, "It's your choice."  
  
"Thanks guys," he said, "And thanks for the gift Stephanie, it's really sweet of you."  
  
"You're turn," Kurt said. Christian handed his gift to Shane.  
  
"I didn't really know what to get the guy who has everything," Christian said, laughing.  
  
"Well, I don't have everything," Shane laughed, before opening up his gift. It was an engraved money clip with SBM on it, "This is nice, Christian."  
  
"Thanks, I figured you'd like it, I didn't know if you had one."  
  
"No, I just have a wallet, but this'll come in handy."  
  
"Gotta carry around all your hundreds?" Edge said, jokingly.  
  
"Hundreds? Please, more like thousands," Shane joked.  
  
"I knew it! I knew you had everything!" Christian said.  
  
"Well, I didn't want to brag," Shane kidded.  
  
"Who's bragging, if I had tons of cash, I'd be wearing it," Edge said.  
  
"Yeah, I can just imagine you walking down the street in a money suit," Kurt said, guffawing.  
  
"Hey, it'd attract the ladies."  
  
"A bit desperate," Christian said.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Shane, you're next," Stephanie said, moving the present giving along.  
  
"Ok, who's the only person without a present?" Shane said.  
  
Kurt pouted, "Me, I've got nothing."  
  
"Here Kurt," Shane said, giving him a package.  
  
Kurt ripped it open, "An electric hair razor."  
  
"For your head, when you shave it, this'll make it easier for you to do instead of the old-fashioned way."  
  
"How'd you know that I shave it the old fashioned way?"  
  
"Because Stephanie said you did."  
  
"Oh, well, thanks now I won't cut myself, this'll come in handy."  
  
"Hey Kurt?" Edge said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Who shaved your hair again?" Edge said, mock thinking.  
  
"Oh, I don't know, someone with a huge smile," Kurt countered.  
  
"Ooh," everyone else said.  
  
"Hey, let's have a toast," Stephanie said, going around and filling everyone's glasses.  
  
"To what?" Shane asked.  
  
"Jericho, you give a toast," Christian said.  
  
"Fine," Jericho cleared his throat, "To new friendships and old, to new relationships, and ones that have been around for while. And that the new year will be as great as the last few months of this year have been. Cheers!"  
  
"Cheers!" everyone said, as they clinked glasses.  
  
"Now let's go have dinner," Edge said, "I'm starving."  
  
LATER THAT EVENING  
  
The house was pretty much quiet. Edge and Christian had gone back to their houses, and Shane and Kurt were upstairs in the guest bedrooms sleeping. Jericho and Stephanie were sitting in front of the fireplace watching the flames dance. Stephanie was snuggled up against Jericho's side as they leaned back against the couch.  
  
"I have to give you my present," Jericho said.  
  
"I have your present too."  
  
"Ok, let's exchange them."  
  
Jericho and Stephanie got the boxes from under the tree, and Stephanie gave Jericho hers.  
  
"You can open yours first."  
  
"Ok," he said. He took the box, and ripped the package open. Inside was a brand new leather jacket.  
  
"You always seem to wear the same one, so I thought you could use another one."  
  
"This one is nice."  
  
"It should be, for what I paid for it," she said, laughing softly.  
  
"Thank you," he said, leaning over to kiss her tenderly, "You can never have too many jackets."  
  
"I figured."  
  
"Here's my gift," he said, handing her a flat box.  
  
She tore it open to find a diamond and sapphire bracelet. The diamonds sparkled in the dim light from the fireplace, and she was in awe of its beauty. She would never figure out how Jericho could have such good taste in jewelry.  
  
"This is gorgeous sweetie," she said, still in awe.  
  
"You think so, I got it so it would match your necklace."  
  
"It's just so.........wonderful, thank you so much," she said, leaning over to kiss him deeply.  
  
"I'm glad you like it."  
  
"I love it, you're so good to me, you always get me the most beautiful things."  
  
"Well, beautiful women deserve beautiful things."  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too," he said, kissing her lightly.  
  
"I wish that I could spend Christmas with you."  
  
"Well, you're family is gonna want to see you, and my family wants to see me. We'll only be away from each other until Friday, and then you get to come home to me."  
  
"Yeah, but I still wish that I didn't have to be away from you."  
  
"I'll call you everyday I'm not with you."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Ok," she said smiling gently. He kissed her again.  
  
"Merry Christmas Stephy."  
  
"Merry Christmas Chris." 


	50. Kurt's Such a Trooper, December 26, 2002

A/N: I don't really like this chapter for some reason, so sorry if it sucks.  
  
And there won't be a chapter next Monday since it's not actually a live Raw, but a "Best of 2002" show. Just giving you a heads up. :)  
  
"This is perfect."  
  
"I'm not getting you."  
  
"We can pawn this all off on Brock."  
  
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Well, remember what happened after last week's show?" Heyman said, a gleam in his eye.  
  
"Yeah, Brock beat me up. He targeted my knee. It was sore for a while after it, but not that bad. What are you getting at?"  
  
"We blame Brock for this injury," Heyman said, looking at him with a sinister smile.  
  
"But it's not his fault."  
  
"Kurt, Kurt, Kurt, you're obviously not listening to me. What better way to get sympathy for your match? We play this up, and you don't have to work until your match. You just show up and make like you're angry, and Brock gets the blame."  
  
"Fine, I'll go along with it," Kurt said, nodding.  
  
"Fabulous. Now let's go tell Stephanie of the unfortunate accident you suffered at the hands of that dastardly Brock Lesner."  
  
Kurt almost wanted to start laughing at the faces that Heyman was making. He reminded Kurt of a cartoon villain. He was just so comically evil that it was funny. At least he was entertained while having to execute Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy. It could be worse he supposed.  
  
They walked slowly down the hallway, Kurt relying on his crutches. Heyman walked ahead of him, but made sure that Kurt was behind him at all times. They finally made their way to Stephanie's office.  
  
"Now let me do all the talking ok?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
Heyman opened the door, and held it for Kurt. Kurt hobbled in followed closely by Heyman. Stephanie looked up and looked wide-eyed as she saw the current condition that Kurt was in.  
  
"What happened?" she asked, alarmed.  
  
"This is Brock's handiwork," Heyman said, shaking his head.  
  
"What do you mean this is Brock's handiwork?"  
  
"Remember what happened after the show last week?"  
  
"Yes, what about it?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"It put Kurt here out until probably Royal Rumble," Heyman said sadly, though it sounded fake.  
  
Stephanie looked over at Kurt, and then looked down at his knee. She knew that Heyman was lying to her. She had seen Kurt not two days ago, and he had been fine. This obviously wasn't Brock's doing. Stephanie decided to just go along with this story.  
  
"Well, that's awful, I can't believe he did that," Stephanie said, mock indignantly.  
  
"I know, I know, it's terrible. And my client is suffering, SUFFERING because of it. Don't you think something needs to be done about it?"  
  
"What did you have in mind?" she asked.  
  
"Brock should be punished for what he did."  
  
"Well, you know what Heyman? I'll see what I can do about it, but I make no promises."  
  
"And Kurt cannot wrestle tonight," Heyman said.  
  
"Well, I think I can see that," Stephanie said sarcastically, "I'll be sure to explain that to the fans."  
  
"Thank you Stephanie," Heyman said, sincerely. Of course sincere to Heyman meant insincere to everyone else.  
  
"I'll be putting Big Show in a number one contender's match tonight, just so you know," she said, nonchalantly.  
  
"What?" Heyman cried, suddenly dismayed, "But he's already the number one contender."  
  
"Yes, as named by you. Unless I've been misinformed for the past several months, I'm the General Manager Paul, and that means I make the decisions. And frankly I don't think it's fair for you to just name your contender's at will. So he'll be facing Chris Benoit tonight. It was going to be a surprise, but well, I'd rather see your face when I announce it."  
  
"Very well. That's fine Stephanie, do what you want. Big Show WILL be the number one contender."  
  
"I'm glad you're sure, now you can leave," she said, looking pointedly towards the door.  
  
"Fine, fine," he muttered, "Come on Kurt."  
  
"Actually, I'm going to stay and talk to Stephanie for a second," Kurt said, looking at Paul.  
  
"Oh," Paul said, smiling knowingly, "That's fine, I'll see you later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye," Paul said, before walking out.  
  
"Now what really happened to your knee Kurt?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"I slipped on a patch of ice at my mom's house on Christmas Day," he said, sitting down on the chair.  
  
"I'm sorry, are you going to be ok?"  
  
"Yeah, I should be fine. I wanted to give you a report on Operation: Infiltrate the Enemy."  
  
"Go ahead," she said, listening intently, "The Boss is listening."  
  
"Well, as far as I can tell, he hasn't been talking to Bischoff. But I don't know about when I'm not around. But Bald Eagle will look into it."  
  
"Ok, and this whole little plan with Brock........."  
  
"Heyman wanted it, so I just went along with it."  
  
"Fine, I don't know what goes through his mind sometimes."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
"So how was your Christmas?"  
  
"It was good, got to see all my brothers and my sister and their families. How was your Christmas?"  
  
"It was fine, had to spend it with my parents, and Shane, very quiet. I missed Chris."  
  
"I'm sure you did," Kurt said winking at her.  
  
Stephanie blushed, "Whatever, well, the show's about to start so I better go out there and explain."  
  
"Ok, hey Boss, have you seen Agent Awesome?"  
  
"Um, he should be in his locker room."  
  
"Oh ok, just wanted to say hi, and ask how Crybaby and Trish were."  
  
"Oh yeah, they met again, give me the details after you get them," she told him.  
  
"Of course, and then you'll tell The King of the World , it's how this little group goes," Kurt laughed.  
  
"Yeah, see you in a while."  
  
"Bye Boss."  
  
"Bye Bald Eagle," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes before exiting.  
  
Kurt slowly got out of his chair and picked up his crutches. As he was turning around, Edge walked into the office without knocking. He saw Kurt, but no Stephanie. He looked confused as he saw Kurt's knee."  
  
"Hey Bald Eagle, what happened to you?"  
  
"Slipped on some ice."  
  
"Nice going slick," Edge said laughing, "Where's The Boss?"  
  
"She's going to go explain why I can't compete."  
  
"She's going out there just to tell everyone you slipped on some ice."  
  
"No, Heyman said we should blame it on Brock after what he did after the show last week."  
  
"Oh, I see. Makes sense."  
  
"Actually I was looking for you."  
  
"You were?" Edge asked.  
  
"Yeah, I wanted to get the dirt about your brother and his girl. So did anything happen?"  
  
"Yes, yes it did," Edge said smiling.  
  
"Well, come on, don't hold out on me."  
  
"He took her ice skating. Said they had a blast. Then he took her to dinner, they're really hitting it off."  
  
"That's good for him, I'm glad he's found someone. And Trish, she's good people."  
  
"You sound like a mobster or something, 'she's good people."  
  
"What? She is?"  
  
"Whatever, I'll see you later Bald Eagle, I gotta prepare for my match."  
  
"Bye, good luck."  
  
"Yeah, you too."  
  
Stephanie walked backstage, satisfied by what had happened. She hadn't really expected Big Show to actually come out there, but he had, and she was proud of herself for not backing down. No one messed with Stephanie McMahon.  
  
She stepped into her office, and immediately walked over to her bag, grabbing her cell phone. She hadn't seen Jericho in two days, and she missed him. Sure, she was just being weird, it was two days after all. But she really hadn't been away from Jericho for any extended period of time since she had officially moved into his house. She quickly dialed the number to their house and waited for him to pick up.  
  
"Hi, you've reached the King of the World's house, I'm not here right now, and neither is my girlfriend, since we didn't pick up. Didn't know I had a girlfriend, well, now you do, leave a message for us, and we'll call you back if you're worthy to talk to us," the message said.  
  
"Hey sweetie, I don't know where you can be. I guess you're out with Christian or something. Better be out with Christian, and not with some girl," Stephanie said, laughing, "But call me back when you get home. Love you sweetie."  
  
Stephanie hung up, and took some papers out of her bag. She looked over some documents, before remembering that she wanted to watch the show. She turned on the television in her office to find the Edge/Kidman vs. Los Guerreros match. She cheered on Edge, and was dismayed when she saw Albert attack Edge. She would have to see how he was later. But she knew the footage of what had happened to Kurt would be airing next.  
  
She watched the footage silently. The attack had indeed been brutal, and it really did look like Kurt had been hurt by the attack. If she hadn't seen him on Christmas Eve, and known that he was fine, she would have actually believed that he had been injured in the attack. She had to hand it to Heyman for thinking up the false story.  
  
Suddenly her cell phone rang. She grabbed it blindly, not taking her eyes off the screen. By now Heyman was out there, and speaking, and she wanted to know what about. She answered the phone without looking at the display.  
  
"Stephanie McMahon speaking," she said.  
  
"What the hell happened to Kurt?" came the voice on the other side.  
  
"He slipped on some ice at his mom's house."  
  
"Oh, cause he was fine when we saw him."  
  
"Yeah, Heyman's lying," Stephanie said as she watched poor Kurt hobble to the ring, and struggle to make it up the steps. She felt proud to be Kurt's friend, he didn't have to come to the show, but he had, he was such a trooper.  
  
"Well, that beat-down did look pretty bad."  
  
"I know. Did you get my message?"  
  
"Yeah, I got it, I was out getting some take out," he said.  
  
"Ooh, what kind of take-out?"  
  
"Chinese, I was in the mood. Sorry, I missed you though."  
  
"It's ok.........I miss you," she said softly.  
  
"Stephy, you'll see me tomorrow ok? How was your Christmas evening?" Jericho asked, seeing as how he hadn't talked to Stephanie since Christmas morning.  
  
"It was fine, just had dinner with the family, and yours?"  
  
"Yeah, me too, but I had all my aunts and uncles and cousins over so it was a mad house."  
  
"I wish I could've been there," she sighed.  
  
"Next year, I promise you can come. My parents would probably like to meet you."  
  
"Who says we'll still be together next year?" she joked.  
  
"Planning on breaking up with me?"  
  
"Well, I can't now since it wouldn't be a surprise."  
  
"Oh, ok. I got to give Heyman some credit, this is pretty funny."  
  
"Isn't it?"  
  
"Wait, who the hell is he bring out.........Team Angle?"  
  
They both watched as Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas came out as Team Angle. Heyman introduced them both, and Kurt was grinning. He was obviously finding this whole thing funny, just like Jericho and Stephanie were.  
  
"Those are two of the rookies we've been interested in," Stephanie said.  
  
"They look like they came straight off the set of American Gladiators," Jericho chuckled.  
  
"You know, you're right," Stephanie giggled.  
  
"Of course I am."  
  
"Far be it for me to question the King of the World. I didn't even know you had that on our answering machine."  
  
"Well now you do. Gotta live the character baby."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Are you wearing my bracelet?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I am. It's beautiful. I even wore it at my parent's."  
  
"You did? And your dad didn't question it?"  
  
"Of course not, like my dad would notice jewelry. My mom asked though, so I told her you gave it to me. She said you have great taste."  
  
"I like to think so," he said cockily, "I did choose you."  
  
"You didn't choose me. You were lucky enough for me to want you. My mom got you a gift though."  
  
"She did?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm bringing it home tomorrow."  
  
"Hey Boss," Kurt said, hobbling into the room, "Oh, sorry, didn't know you were on the phone."  
  
"Oh, it's ok, I'm just on the phone with Ch-King of the World," she corrected herself.  
  
"Oh, tell him I said hi," Kurt said, as he sat down, and put his crutches on the ground.  
  
"Bald Eagle says hi," she told Jericho.  
  
"Oh, tell him I said hi, and sorry about the knee."  
  
"He says hi and sorry about the knee," Stephanie told Kurt.  
  
"Oh thanks."  
  
"Sweetie, I'll see you tomorrow ok? I love you."  
  
"I love you too baby, see you tomorrow." Stephanie hung up the phone.  
  
"So what do you think of Team Angle?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I think it's.........great. You're the captain of your own team, what could be better?"  
  
"Me not having to team with Heyman."  
  
"Aww, you're making me feel bad."  
  
"Don't feel bad, I want to help you."  
  
"Thanks again Kurt."  
  
"You don't have to thank me over and over again, I'm just glad I can help."  
  
"You're very convincing as a bad guy."  
  
"I don't know if that's a good thing of a bad thing," he said, laughing.  
  
"Good in this case. I can't believe to what lengths Heyman is willing to go to please you."  
  
"I know, it's kind of ridiculous. But as long as it keeps him and others away from Raw, I'll go along with it."  
  
"Just part of a well executed plan," she said.  
  
"Plans can be a lot fun."  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Yeah, how else would I get to be captain of my own team?" 


	51. New Year, Same Secrets, January 2, 2003

A/N: Did ya miss me? Whew, I haven't gone a week without writing a chapter since last July, wow! Well, I'm back with a new chappie. Hope you enjoy. :)  
  
Kurt hobbled towards Stephanie's office. It had been a whole week since he had seen her. His knee was doing a little better and he wanted to tell her. He still wasn't in any condition to wrestle, but he just wanted to tell her his progress.  
  
Before he could get to her office, he was confronted by Heyman and Team Angle. Heyman gave him that sleazy smile of his, and Kurt just returned with a smile of his own. Time to play the asshole. It was actually kind of fun when he got into it.  
  
"Kurt, how's the knee?" Heyman asked.  
  
"It's getting better."  
  
"That's good, that's good," Heyman said, rubbing his hands together, "Well, tonight Team Angle will be facing your opponent at the Royal Rumble."  
  
"Ok," Kurt said, nodding.  
  
"They'll be showing him a lesson."  
  
"Great," Kurt said, trying to be enthused.  
  
"And you'll be accompanying them. As the captain I feel it's your duty."  
  
"That's fine Heyman."  
  
"And I think they should accompany you backstage as well."  
  
"What?" Kurt asked, "Like bodyguards?"  
  
"You're very, very vulnerable Kurt. Anybody could take advantage of your injury."  
  
"I don't think that'll happen."  
  
"Oh, but people these days Kurt. They'll do anything to get on top, I really think you need some protection."  
  
"You really think so?"  
  
"Yes, definitely. What if you're attacked by Brock? What are you going to do to defend yourself?"  
  
"I could hit him with my crutch," Kurt said, laughing. Heyman didn't find it funny, and Kurt stopped laughing.  
  
"Oh Kurt, you need Team Angle at all times."  
  
"Fine, whatever."  
  
"Good thinking. Come on boys." Haas and Benjamin went to stand behind Kurt.  
  
"When the show starts," Kurt said, "Until then, I'm on my own."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No, Heyman," Kurt said hobbling away. He couldn't talk to Steph with his two stooges around.  
  
"Fine, but if you get hurt, it's not my fault."  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes and hobbled down the hallway. He finally reached Stephanie's office. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. It was hard work on crutches. He knocked on the door until he was invited in by Stephanie.  
  
"Kurt hi," she said happily, "Come sit down."  
  
"Thanks Boss," he said as he sat down, "You never call me by my code name."  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just weird, I think it should just be a guy thing."  
  
"We'll get you into it, just you wait," he said, laughing.  
  
"We'll see, so what's up?"  
  
"I just wanted to come and say hi, it's been a whole week since I last saw you."  
  
"Oh, did you miss me Kurt?"  
  
"Of course I did, what would life be without you Boss?"  
  
"A lot less complicated I suppose," she laughed.  
  
"Well, yeah, I wouldn't have so many secrets that I have to keep, but where would I find fun without all these plans?"  
  
"Yes, you're life would be pretty boring wouldn't it?"  
  
"Absolutely, so how was your New Year's?" he asked.  
  
"Uneventful," she answered.  
  
"Well that's no fun."  
  
"Oh, it was fun, trust me, just nothing spectacular happened," she said.  
  
"Oh, so you and the King didn't produce any fireworks of your own?"  
  
Stephanie blushed, "That's none of your business. We just stayed at home, and had our own little celebration. We brought in the New Year's alone is what I'm saying."  
  
"Oh, I see," Kurt winked.  
  
"How was your New Year's?"  
  
"Well, I didn't get a kiss at midnight like I'm sure you did."  
  
"Oh, you'll find someone Kurt, so did you spend it with your family?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much. It was nice to get to see them all."  
  
"That's good. I see my family to much as it is," Stephanie laughed.  
  
"I figured you did. How was the King of the World's Christmas I haven't gotten to talk to him."  
  
"He said it was fun. A madhouse."  
  
"Sounds like how mine was."  
  
"So is that what you came to talk about?"  
  
"Pretty much. I also talked to Heyman a little while ago."  
  
"Oh, how did that go?"  
  
"It was fine. He's so comically evil though, I have a hard time not laughing."  
  
"So the situation isn't going too badly for you is it?"  
  
"No, it's fine. He wants Team Angle to be my bodyguards though."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, I said he could let them follow me when the show started, but not a second before."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"How else could I come talk to you?"  
  
"You're right. Your team has a match tonight against Benoit and a partner of his choosing," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Thanks for letting me know, I knew they had a match tonight, but I didn't know against who."  
  
"Well, now you know. Are you going to be ready before the Rumble?"  
  
"Yeah, I should be. I better go," he said, getting up and grabbing his crutches.  
  
"Ok, bye Kurt."  
  
"Bye Boss, tell the King I said hello."  
  
"Of course."  
  
Kurt left then, and started walking back towards the locker room for his team. He passed Edge's locker room, and decided to go talk to him. He knocked quickly. He heard shuffling and Kurt waited until Edge opened the door.  
  
"Bald Eagle, what's up?"  
  
"Not much, just waiting for the show to start. Then I get my bodyguards."  
  
"Bodyguards?" Edge asked, confused.  
  
"Yeah, Heyman thinks that Team Angle should hang around me."  
  
"Oh my."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Oh, before I forget, I'm Benoit's mystery partner tonight. He came by a while ago, and asked me to go out there with him."  
  
"Ok, I might have to interfere though, just so you know."  
  
"It's ok, I understand, part of the whole act."  
  
"Ok, I better get going, I don't want Heyman scouring everywhere for me," Kurt said.  
  
"Bye Bald Eagle."  
  
"See you Agent Awesome."  
  
"Man, I love code names!" Edge said, grinning.  
  
"Bye man."  
  
Stephanie watched as Dawn Marie said she was getting married in the nude. No way in hell was Stephanie going to let that happen. It was one thing to allow this marriage to take place on her show, but letting her go nude, that was not going to happen.  
  
She would just have to talk to Dawn Marie. She wasn't against a wedding on her show. It was nice every once in while. Sure Al Wilson was old, and Dawn Marie, probably just using him, but weddings were pretty nice.  
  
She got up and decided that she would cut Dawn Marie off at the pass. Now how would she effectively stop Dawn Marie from going nude? She just had to threaten punishment on her. That was what she was going to do. She committed herself, and started walking towards Dawn Marie's office.  
  
LATER  
  
Stephanie watched in disgust as Dawn Marie started to strip Al Wilson. Oh God, this was beyond disturbing. She should've put stipulations on this wedding. Damn it, she wouldn't be surprised if there were people all over the country changing channels.  
  
She went back to some paperwork, not paying attention to the wedding anymore. It was just disturbing. And it made her think a little too much about what a wedding of her own would be like. A good wedding. Not a wedding ruined by druggings or lies, but a nice quiet wedding.  
  
She hoped that would be in the future for her and Chris. They had been together for a while. Almost six months. It was just too bad that hardly anyone knew about them. Someday, she though, someday the whole world would know, and then she could have that perfect wedding.  
  
She noticed the wedding was over, and that the Team Angle match was starting. She watched as Edge was revealed as the mystery partner. She wondered if Kurt knew about that. He probably did. She watched at how vicious Kurt was being. It amazed her that he could be such a nice guy one minute, then turn into an asshole the next.  
  
After the match, she decided that she would leave for the rest of the show. She wasn't really doing anything, and she knew the talent was capable of managing itself. She gathered her things, and went out to her personal limo.  
  
She walked into her hotel room, and found Jericho strumming on a guitar. Sometimes he brought it with him on the road. He would write songs for Fozzy. And sometimes he wrote songs for her. She smiled as she listened to him play.  
  
"It sounds beautiful," she said.  
  
He looked up, "Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"You're here early," he said.  
  
"I left early."  
  
"How was the show?"  
  
"It was ok, didn't you watch?"  
  
"I caught parts."  
  
"Which parts?"  
  
"Um, Kurt and Edge's, oh and part of the wedding," he said, nodding towards the television, which was still on.  
  
"Oh, wasn't that something?" she asked sitting in one of the chairs.  
  
"Yes, not a very good something, well, except for maybe when you went and talked to Dawn Marie. And that's just cause I like seeing you."  
  
She giggled, "You're so sweet."  
  
"Aren't I?"  
  
"I hate seeing weddings though," she said, pouting a little.  
  
"Why baby?"  
  
"I want a wedding."  
  
"Oh baby, you'll get one eventually," he said, winking at her.  
  
"Will I?" she asked.  
  
"I'm positive you will."  
  
"Soon?"  
  
"Depends."  
  
"On what?"  
  
"When we let the cat out of the bag."  
  
"So you're saying you'll be the one marrying me? That's a little presumptuous of you isn't it?"  
  
"Nope, I don't think so," he smiled.  
  
"Well, you're the one I want."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Why, do you have a ring or anything?"  
  
"Who knows?"  
  
"You're so mean."  
  
"I know," he laughed.  
  
"So what were you playing?"  
  
"A tune I was working on."  
  
"For me?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, grinning at her.  
  
"Can I hear it?"  
  
"Of course you can." He started playing a tune for her. She smiled as she listened to it.  
  
"It's beautiful."  
  
"Well, it's for you."  
  
"You write beautiful songs."  
  
"I have a beautiful inspiration." She smiled at him.  
  
"So someday we'll be getting married?"  
  
"We'll have to wait and see." 


	52. He's Winning the Rumble, January 6, 2003

She giggled as he wrapped an arm around her. They had decided to fly to Phoenix together from Toronto. He smiled down at her and locked the doors on the rental car they were sharing. He let go of her and grabbed her bag for her.  
  
"You don't have to carry my bag," she said.  
  
"It's ok, I want to."  
  
She kissed his cheek, "That's so sweet of you."  
  
He grinned, "I know."  
  
She laughed and smiled at him. They walked into the arena, and made their way down to Christian's locker room. She held the door open for him, and he walked in and put his things down. Jericho looked up from his place on the bench.  
  
"Hey man," Jericho said.  
  
"Hey," Christian answered, before going into the bathroom.  
  
"Hi Trish," Jericho said, looking at the woman.  
  
"Hi Jericho," she said, uncomfortably.  
  
"You can call me Chris," Jericho said, smiling.  
  
"Ok.........Chris," she said, still standing in the doorway.  
  
"You can come inside," Jericho said to her, "I'm not going to offer you any Vitamin C."  
  
She giggled, and walked in, "I guess if you don't offer me anything."  
  
"I won't, my girlfriend would probably kill me if I did."  
  
"I didn't even know you had a girlfriend before a couple of weeks ago."  
  
"Not many people do," Jericho said laughing, "But I wouldn't break her trust like that."  
  
"He's whipped," Christian added, coming into the room.  
  
"Shut up man," Jericho said.  
  
"Come on, you know you're whipped."  
  
"Trish, you wanna get your boyfriend in line?" Jericho laughed.  
  
"Hey, I'm not saying anything that's not the truth," Christian said, "You should see him Trish, she's got him wrapped around her finger."  
  
"I believe it," Trish said.  
  
"God, everyone's ganging up on me," Jericho pouted.  
  
"Hey, maybe we can double date sometime?" Trish said, excitedly.  
  
Christian and Jericho shared a look. A look filled with fear. Christian had previously told them that he wasn't going to tell Trish about everything until he knew that he could trust her. With the other people in on the plan, they knew they could trust them off the bat, but no one really knew Trish.  
  
"Well, my girlfriend she doesn't travel with me," Jericho lied.  
  
"Does she live in Tampa?" Trish asked.  
  
"Um," Jericho thought for a moment, "Actually no, she lives in New England, we have a long distance relationship."  
  
"Oh, how long have you been together?"  
  
"Um, going on six months," Jericho smiled, thinking about Stephanie.  
  
"Wow, congratulations," she said.  
  
"I think you should give her the congratulations for sticking with him for so long," Christian interjected.  
  
"Ha ha," Jericho said blandly.  
  
"What's her name?" Trish asked.  
  
Jericho froze for a moment, "Marie," he said, thinking of Stephanie's middle name.  
  
"What a pretty name." Jericho's phone rang, and he picked it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Now who's the one who never looks at the display," she said.  
  
"Hey baby," he said happily, "What did you call for?"  
  
"To hear your voice," she said coyly.  
  
"Well that's a stupid reason to call."  
  
"No, not so much. What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm talking with Christian and Trish," he told her.  
  
"Oh, should I go?" she asked.  
  
"No, it's ok."  
  
"Ok. So have you decided about the Royal Rumble?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so."  
  
He had been thinking about the Royal Rumble for the past couple weeks. He wanted to regain his glory from last year. And winning the Royal Rumble was the easiest way to do that.  
  
"And what's you decision?"  
  
"I'm gonna enter."  
  
"Good for you," she said happily, "Winning the Royal Rumble is one of the only things you haven't done."  
  
"I know baby."  
  
"I know you know, I'm just saying is all."  
  
"I know you know I know."  
  
"Well, I know you know I know you know."  
  
"This could go on for a while," Christian whispered to Trish.  
  
"Are he and his girlfriend always like that?" she whispered back.  
  
"Yes, trust me. How bout I walk you to your dressing room?"  
  
"Sure," she smiled.  
  
"Ok."  
  
Christian picked up her bag, and wrapped his other arm around Trish's waist. They laughed when they saw Jericho still arguing on the phone with his girlfriend. They left the locker room, and walked the short distance to Trish's locker room. They stopped in front of it.  
  
"I'll see you after the show," Christian said.  
  
"Of course, I'll be waiting."  
  
"I have the main event, so I hope you don't mind waiting."  
  
Trish kissed him lightly, "I don't mind."  
  
Christian smiled, "Good luck in your match."  
  
"Thank you, good luck in yours."  
  
Christian kissed her one more time then went back to his dressing room. Jericho was still on the phone with Stephanie. He walked past him and lounged on one of the benches for a while, thinking about his match later.  
  
"I know you know I know you know I know you know I know you know," Jericho said proudly.  
  
"I know you know I know you know I know you know I know you know I know you know I know," Stephanie said smugly.  
  
"I hate you," Jericho said.  
  
"No you don't," she said defiantly.  
  
"I do," he said.  
  
"No you don't," she countered.  
  
"Can I win just one time?"  
  
"Fine, you hate me," she giggled, "Does this mean I have to leave your room?"  
  
"No, I'll still want my way with you later, but I gotta go ok, I'm going to announce to the world, I'm going to be in the Rumble, but first I have to tell Bischoff."  
  
"Oh, good luck sweetie, I'll see you later."  
  
"Bye baby." Jericho hung up the phone and grabbed the top to his "sparkly pajamas."  
  
"You going somewhere?" Christian asked.  
  
"I'm going to talk to Bischoff about entering the Royal Rumble, then I'm going to go out there and announce it."  
  
"Cool, cool," Christian nodded.  
  
"So you and Trish, I assume you're officially an item."  
  
"Yeah," Christian sighed happily.  
  
"Whoa, I hope I was never that way," Jericho said, chuckling.  
  
"What way?"  
  
"All wishy-washy like you are."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Really man, I'm happy for you, at least you get a relationship you don't have to hide," Jericho said, frowning a little.  
  
"Dude, you'll get to tell everyone soon enough. Besides, you guys, you have one of the best relationships I've ever seen. You two belong together."  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Well yeah, I don't think anyone else will put up with you two."  
  
Jericho shook his head, "I'm going to talk to Bischoff."  
  
"See you in a while man."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho walked down the hallway. He was feeling pretty good about the whole Rumble thing. Maybe he'd go on to WrestleMania and win the title again. It would be nice to be the champ again. Once he had gotten that taste of world title gold, it was hard to give up. He reached Bischoff's office and walked in unannounced.  
  
"Chris Jericho, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Bischoff said smarmily.  
  
"I want in the Rumble Bischoff."  
  
"Oh, you want in the Rumble. Well, I'll think about it."  
  
"I want an answer Bischoff."  
  
"What's the rush?"  
  
"I was going to go announce it to the crowd."  
  
"Well then, far be it for me to say no. Of course you can be in the Rumble."  
  
"Thanks," Jericho said mildly. Then he left.  
  
"Thanks for covering me out there," Jericho said to Christian.  
  
"No problem man, you know I got your back."  
  
"Good to know. How's your woman after that match?"  
  
"She's ok, I'm about to kick Richard's ass for what he did. Trish said not to bother. She's like that."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Independent like that. Doesn't want my help," Christian shrugged.  
  
"You know who is like that too. I mean, she'll ask help with the big stuff. But the small stuff, she likes to handle it herself."  
  
"I know what you mean."  
  
"Well, we better get ready for our match."  
  
Jericho and Christian walked to the gorilla for their match. The tension was a little high after that argument they had just had. They stood waiting for their cue to go out there for their match.  
  
"Sorry about that back there," Jericho mumbled.  
  
"Huh?" Christian said.  
  
"Didn't mean to get all snippy. I'm glad you're entering the Rumble. I hope you do well."  
  
"Thanks man, you too."  
  
Jericho paused for a moment, "Do you really think my beard is stupid?"  
  
Christian looked away for a second, "Yeah."  
  
"That's what everyone thinks," Jericho said, thinking.  
  
"Makes you look Amish," Christian said.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, all you need is the black clothes and to have a barn-raising."  
  
"Shut up," Jericho said.  
  
"Well, do you really think my tattoo looks like a blob of ink?"  
  
"Yeah, it does."  
  
"Oh, ok," Christian shrugged.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Hey boys," Randy said coming up to them, "Is the air clear around here?"  
  
Jericho and Christian looked at each for a moment, shook their heads, then walking out for the match.  
  
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Rumble himself."  
  
"The one and only," Jericho said, putting his bag down, then standing up proudly.  
  
"So are you going to add Royal Rumble winner to your resume?"  
  
"You betcha," he said, jumping on the bed next to her, and grinning cheekily.  
  
"So you dream about WrestleMania, and how you would've won?" she said, frowning a little.  
  
"Sometimes," he said, not noticing her face.  
  
"Oh.........I'm sorry."  
  
"What? What are you sorry for?" he said, taking one of her hands in his.  
  
"If it weren't for me, you probably would've won."  
  
"How do you figure that?"  
  
"I didn't do a good enough job for you. You were probably distracted by me."  
  
"Baby, you weren't a distraction and you tried your best."  
  
"But it wasn't good enough was it? And you kept having to protect me, you were distracted."  
  
"No I wasn't, I lost because on that night, and that night only, Hunter happened to be slightly better than me. Not because of you."  
  
"I don't believe you, but thanks for trying to make me feel better."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her, "You should believe me."  
  
She smiled a little, "Ok, I believe you, and only because you've never steered me wrong before."  
  
"Thank you," he kissed her hand, "And you know when I dream about WrestleMania?"  
  
"Uh huh," she said.  
  
"You wanna know why I dream about WrestleMania? The truth?"  
  
"Sure," she said shrugging.  
  
"Because it lets me dream about you."  
  
Stephanie giggled, "Well, I hope you get to WrestleMania so you can relive past glory."  
  
"I hope so too." 


	53. Hope You're Not Tired, January 9, 2003

"So anything new on your front?"  
  
"No, nothing."  
  
"Oh, well, that's ok then," she said.  
  
"I'm sorry I can't be more help."  
  
"No Kurt," Stephanie said, "It's fine."  
  
"As far as I can tell, he hasn't been talking to Bischoff or anyone on Raw."  
  
"That's good, at least he's not doing that behind my back."  
  
"No, I don't think he is."  
  
"So how your team thing going?"  
  
"It's pretty cool actually. Haas and Benjamin are going to be great one day."  
  
"Have you ever seen them wrestle?"  
  
"Amateur or professional?"  
  
"Amateur."  
  
"Yeah, they live up to the hype trust me. You know, actually, you're really lucky that they're on you show and not on Raw."  
  
Stephanie laughed, "Yeah, I know."  
  
There was a knock on the door. Stephanie, looked at the door, "Who is it?"  
  
"It's Agent Awesome."  
  
"Oh, come in," she called out.  
  
Edge walked in and surveyed his surroundings. He looked between Kurt and Stephanie, confused for a moment. Then he went over and sat down.  
  
"So what's going on here?"  
  
"A little meeting."  
  
"Oh, so that's what you called me in here for," Edge said.  
  
"Yeah, just a little get together."  
  
"Something tells me this isn't all for pleasure," Kurt said.  
  
"No, no it's not," Stephanie answered.  
  
"So what's this about?" Edge asked.  
  
"Well, I know that one half of your team Kurt, is facing Edge tonight."  
  
"Haas," Edge supplied.  
  
"Yeah, well, I wanted to know what was going to go down."  
  
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Interference, plans, anything of that sort."  
  
"Well, I wasn't planning anything," Kurt answered.  
  
"Well, I'm sure that Heyman is going to want you to do something," Edge interjected.  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Yeah, I don't think that he's just going to let Haas go out there and just fight me."  
  
"Edge is right," Stephanie said, "Heyman won't let you just do nothing."  
  
"So what should I do?"  
  
"I say that we plan a little something for after the match," Edge said.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Bald Eagle, you're a little dense aren't you?" Edge said, laughing.  
  
"I am not dense," Kurt said, petulantly.  
  
"Whatever man, what I'm trying to say is that you should attack me after the match."  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Yes, it's ok, get your little buddies to do it as well. It'll keep Heyman satisfied, and keep up appearances."  
  
"You don't mind?"  
  
"Nah, I'm used to it," Edge said, laughing.  
  
"Well, I'll bring it up to my guys."  
  
"I'm also going to get Benoit out there with me, just so you know."  
  
"Ok, I'll get in some shots with him too."  
  
"See, wasn't this meeting a good idea?" Stephanie said smugly.  
  
"Someone's tooting their own horn," Edge chuckled.  
  
"Whatever, you're crazy."  
  
"Well, I'm going to go talk to the troops," Kurt said, getting up slowly.  
  
"Yeah, and I need to talk to Benoit," Edge said.  
  
"See you later, Steph," Kurt said, before leaving.  
  
"Yeah, bye Steph, tell the boyfriend I said hi."  
  
"Ok."  
  
Kurt stuck his head back in the door, "Oh, tell him I said hi too."  
  
"Yes, Kurt, I will."  
  
"Oh, and tell him I hope he wins the Rumble," Kurt said.  
  
"Kurt, I'm sure you'll see him before the Rumble."  
  
"Well, in case I don't, just tell him."  
  
"Ok, Kurt I promise I will," Stephanie said, shaking her head and laughing.  
  
Edge walked down the hallway, looking for Benoit's locker room. He saw a production guy, and asked him where it was. He finally found it, and knocked on the door. Benoit answered a moment later, and looked at Edge with that intense look of his.  
  
"What do you want?" Benoit said, emotionless.  
  
"I wanted to ask of a favor."  
  
"What kind of favor?"  
  
"I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me to the ring tonight?"  
  
"Why would I want to do that?"  
  
"Well, I'm facing Haas tonight, and I heard that Kurt was going to accompany him to the ring and--"  
  
"And you thought I would want to be there since I'm facing Kurt," Benoit finished.  
  
"Exactly," Edge said, nodding.  
  
"And what's in it for me? I know what's in it for you, protection."  
  
"Well, don't you want to get in a few shots at Angle before the Royal Rumble? It's not like he's going to be having matches."  
  
"You've got a point," Benoit thought for a second, "Fine, I'll be there."  
  
"Thanks Benoit," Edge said, sticking his hand out. Benoit shook it deftly.  
  
"I'll see you later," Benoit said shortly.  
  
"Fine," Edge said, before walking off.  
  
On the other side of the arena, Kurt was busy in his dressing room. Heyman and Big Show were talking in one corner of the locker room, while Kurt and his team were in another.  
  
"Now, you guys are going to go out there and win," Kurt said. They both nodded mutely.  
  
"Do what you have to do. You two are two of the best right now. You're actual wrestlers. You're going to smoke them in the ring. Haas, Edge is going to be a piece of cake, you've got him in the bag. Benjamin, Benoit will be tough, but you're better than he is! You are going to beat them. And I'm going to be there to make sure it happens."  
  
They nodded again, vigorously. Kurt calmed down for a moment.  
  
"You two don't really talk much do you?"  
  
"We just want to go out there, wrestle, and win," Haas said.  
  
"Yeah," Benjamin agreed.  
  
"Well, that's great," Kurt nodded. He turned to look at Heyman, rolling his eyes along the way. These guys were kind of dull.  
  
After Benjamin's match against Benoit, Kurt walked backstage. He told his team to go ahead to their locker room. He made his way to Edge's locker room, and knocked quickly. Edge came to the door a moment later, and let Kurt in.  
  
"Hey, just wanted to make sure you were ok," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Edge said.  
  
"Ok, good, didn't want you to be too hurt after that beat down I laid on you."  
  
"Beat down, you call that a beat down?" Edge laughed.  
  
"I took it easy on you cause you're a friend."  
  
"Edge?" Stephanie's voice came from the other side of the door.  
  
"Come in Boss."  
  
Stephanie walked in, "Oh Kurt, you're here."  
  
"Yeah, making sure Edge was ok."  
  
"Oh, I wanted to ask how it went."  
  
"Didn't you watch?" Kurt asked.  
  
"Yeah, of course, but you never know."  
  
"Yeah, I guess. I'll see you two later, I've got work to do."  
  
"Ok, bye Boss," Kurt and Edge said together.  
  
"I watched SmackDown for nothing," Jericho said as Stephanie walked in.  
  
"What do you mean for nothing?" she asked, setting her things down.  
  
"You weren't even on."  
  
"Well, you know sometimes I'm so busy I just can't make an appearance."  
  
"Then what is there to watch for?"  
  
She leaned down and kissed his forehead, "Um, your friends Kurt and Edge maybe. I know they watch Raw because of you and Christian."  
  
"But I like seeing you."  
  
"Well, I like seeing me too, but sometimes that just can't happen."  
  
"Well then that sucks. You know if we could just tell everyone about--"  
  
Stephanie kissed him, "Sweetie, you know we can't."  
  
Jericho sighed, "I know. Just asking again in case your point of view has changed."  
  
"Oh sweetie, I know it's hard, but in the end, it'll all be worth it."  
  
He leaned up and kissed her chin, "It better be missy. I don't want to have put up with you for six months for nothing."  
  
"It will be, you just wait and see." 


	54. H Without Clothes, Yikes, January 13, 20...

Christian ran out of the locker room. He had been watching Trish's match in the back and watched horrified as Trish was attacked after the match. He had been proud of her holding his own until she had been double-teamed. Then he had seen the Hurricane rush down to help her. He was relieved that she had friends who cared about her.

He ran to the gorilla where Trish was walking out from, and hugged her tightly. He noticed that she winced in pain, and pulled away quickly, embarrassed that he had hugged her so tightly. To his surprise, she grabbed him and pulled him into another hug.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry."

"You were attacked," he said.

"It happens, I'm a wrestler, it's my job to get beat up."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I like watching it."

"Well, that's so sweet of you," she said, kissing his cheek, "But you're going to have to get used to it."

Christian laughed, "Yeah, I guess I will."

"I watch you get beat up."

"I know, I know," Christian turned to Hurricane, who was standing off to the side, "Thanks for helping her."

"No problem, just helping a friend," Hurricane said.

"Yeah, I want to thank you too," Trish said, wrapping her arms around Christian's waist before turning to Hurricane.

"It really wasn't a problem, I was glad to do it, would you like to accompany me for my match later against Steven Richards, you'll probably be able to get some shots on Victoria in?" he asked.

"Thanks, I'll be there."

"Cool," Hurricane said before leaving.

"I would've helped you out there," Christian said, as he walked her back to their locker room that they were sharing with Jericho.

"I know you would've, but it's ok that you didn't."

"And people, they would probably react weirdly towards us, seeing as how the crowd loves you and hates me."

Trish giggled, "Yeah, they don't really need to know, besides all our friends know, and everyone backstage knows, and if fans see us around, then they can know too."

Christian stopped in front of their locker room and kissed her, "You're so smart."

"And you're so cute."

"And you are so making me want to vomit," a voice came from behind them. They turned to see Jericho standing there.

"Sorry," Christian smiled, "But it's only fair you see us like this."

"And why is that?" Jericho said, crossing his arms.

"Because of having to see you and your girlfriend be all cutesy all the time."

"Touché," he muttered, "But you think you guys can move?"

"Why?" Trish asked.

"Cause you're kind of blocking the doorway."

"Oh sorry," Christian said, then pulled Trish out of the way so Jericho could get in the room. They followed him inside.

"Thanks," Jericho mumbled.

"Hey man, you ok?" Christian asked, noticing that Jericho seemed upset or something.

"No, I just went and talked to Bischoff."

"What happened?" Trish asked as she brushed out her hair.

"I wanted to ask for the number one spot in the Rumble and he practically denied me the spot. I want to prove I'm the best and he won't let me."

"Sorry man," Christian said.

"Maybe it's better you're not number one, I mean, look at all the guys you'd have to go through," Trish said, rationally.

"I know, but that's the point. I have to go through all those guys in order really be the top."

"Yeah," Christian mumbled.

"You know what?" Jericho said.

"Huh?" Christian said.

"Maybe I have to go above Bischoff," Jericho said, thinking aloud.

"What do you have in mind?" Trish said.

"Well, Vinnie Mac is here tonight, about to make an announcement, maybe I have to go straight to the boss."

"You're going to ask Vince?" Christian said, amazed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna ask Vince."

"Well, man, good luck," Christian said.

"Yeah, good luck," Trish echoed.

"Maybe I should call the better half first," Jericho said aloud, then mentally slapped his forehead as he realized Trish was in the room.

"Why?" Trish asked.

"Um, I just like to check in with her from time to time," he lied, well, it wasn't all a lie.

"That is such a sweet thing to do," Trish said.

Jericho breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah, I guess."

"Dude, Vince is already out there," Christian said, looking at the television he had just turned on.

"He is?" Jericho said, looking at the television for an affirmative.

"Yup."

"Damn, I have to get out there," he said, before leaving.

Jericho walked out onto the ramp to greet Vince McMahon. He had to admit to himself he was kind of nervous. Not of asking Vince for his spot in the Rumble, but just because of who Vince was. No, not the head of the company, but rather the father of his girlfriend, the woman he loved.

He felt the need to make Vince like him. He knew that the rest of Stephanie's family knew about them, and her mother had given her blessing to them, but this was her father. He wanted him to like him. He would also have to watch what he said and not suddenly burst out that he loved his daughter. Jericho chuckled silently to himself at the thought.

Jericho smiled at Vince, and felt the inexplicable urge to suck up to the man. He sucked up to him as best he could, but Vince was not taking it to kindly. Uh-oh, this wasn't going well. Jericho did not need Vince to dislike him. Not only for business, but because right now, Vince's only daughter was waiting in a hotel room for him. And she had been with him for just about six months. Vince told him that he could choose the number of the over-the-top challenge, and Jericho was happy to hear that, but then it was immediately taken back when Vince clarified that they could have any number except number one. That had already been given out to HBK, much to Jericho's dismay.

Jericho gave him a look. If he didn't want to totally get on Vince's bad side, he should leave right now. He hesitantly got out of the ring, and walked back up the ramp. Damn, he hadn't wanted Vince to get upset at him. That would definitely not bode well.

Jericho walked backstage and sat in a lone folding chair. He had a feeling he had just jeopardized any chance of Vince giving his blessing to him and Stephanie. Damn, he had blown it, but he had expected Vince to be so uptight. He figured it was the lack of television time. Jericho didn't notice that Vince had stopped speaking and had gone backstage. Vince was now standing in front of him.

"Don't look so glum Jericho," Vince spoke up. Jericho looked up surprised.

"Um, sorry Vince."

"No, I'm sorry you couldn't be number one, I would've let you had Shawn not come to me first."

"Well thanks," Jericho said.

"You keep up the good work," Vince said, patting his shoulder before walking off. Moments later Bischoff went running by in chase of Vince.

Jericho looked up and smiled. Maybe all hope wasn't lost. It seemed that Vince wasn't all that pissed off at him. Maybe it was more because he had interrupted him then anything else. Jericho got up and walked back to his locker room to get ready.

Jericho walked backstage after his match and his subsequent beat down by Michaels. He'd show the Heartbreak Kid on Sunday who was the better man. He went to his now deserted locker room, since Christian and Trish had left earlier. He got a quick shower, and grabbed his things before heading back to his hotel.

He arrived at his hotel, and asked the clerk which room was registered under his name. Stephanie always registered under his name, just in case someone were to find out that she had registered and find it suspicious. He got the room number, and key, and walked upstairs. He found the room, and walked in.

"Oh, you're back," Stephanie said, "Look who came to visit."

Jericho looked and saw Shane sitting on the couch of the living area. Jericho looked confusedly at Shane for a moment before walking further inside and setting his things down. Stephanie got up and kissed him.

"Shane, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"You didn't see me on Raw?" Shane said.

"No, sorry, you were on the show?"

Stephanie led Jericho to the couch and pushed him down lightly, then settled herself in his lap. Jericho wrapped an arm loosely around her waist as she rested her head on top of his.

"Well, I came with my dad. He issued an ultimatum to Bischoff. Shape up or ship out type deal. And my dad used me as intimidation."

"Daddy said that Shane could be head of Raw if Bischoff didn't do well, isn't that great," Stephanie said, giddily.

"So you mean, that this plan could all be over soon?" Jericho said enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Stephanie said, leaning down to kiss Jericho.

"Oh my God, but how did this come about?" he asked.

"Well, I've been mentioning to my dad that maybe Bischoff wasn't the best prospect," Shane said, "Thankfully he's actually willing to listen to me. I think my dad has also been noticing that Raw has been lackluster as of late."

"Wow," Jericho muttered, "Thanks Shane."

"Hey, I want Bischoff out as much as the next guy," Shane laughed.

"I've been trying to sweet talk Daddy too," Stephanie chimed in. Jericho smiled at her.

"Did you know Shane was even here Steph?"

"No, he surprised me."

"I called her up earlier. Had to get away from Dad though, that was the hard part."

"Well, I'm glad you came to visit us."

"Yeah, Dad was kind of pissed at Bischoff," Shane said.

"I was scared he was pissed at me," Jericho said, "But he came up after his announcement, and we're cool."

"Good, I don't want Daddy to hate you when we tell him about us," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, me neither," Jericho answered.

"Though you were sucking up to him pretty hard," Stephanie giggled.

"Well, I wanted to make a good impression."

"He likes you," Shane said, "Well, I better go before Dad gets suspicious about why I had to leave, but I'll see you guys later."

Stephanie and Jericho got up and Stephanie gave Shane a hug. Jericho shook Shane's hand and they walked him to the door.

"It was nice seeing you big bro."

"You too little girl, bye Jericho."

"Bye," they said in unison before closing the door. They walked back to the couch.

"I was nervous to talk to your dad," Jericho admitted.

"Why?"

"Because he's your dad, I wanted him to like me. You know so he won't be mad that I'm dating you."

"He wouldn't be mad," she said laughing, "I promise he likes you."

"Good," Jericho smiled.

"So you're number two," Stephanie said, hitting him lightly in the arm.

"Yup, it's basically the same as number one, it's just number one is like more prestigious I suppose."

"Well, you're going to knock their socks off sweetie," she said, kissing him.

Jericho laughed, "Speaking of socks, I'm sure you saw what happened to your ex-husband."

Stephanie burst into a fit of laughter, "Oh my God, yes. That was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

"It was pretty funny. Though I didn't really need to see that."

"Hey, I've seen worse."

"I think I can finally tell why you said he came up a little bit short," Jericho chuckled.

"I think the whole world could tell," Stephanie said, still laughing, "That was a long time coming though, a long time coming. You know what else is a long time coming?"

"What?"

"You winning the Royal Rumble, luckily you get to do that on Sunday."

"Don't congratulate me yet, there's still 29 other guys I have to go through."

"It'll be a piece of cake."

"For you baby, you just have to watch. I have to be in the match."

"Well, when you eliminate that last guy, I'll be the first one to congratulate you."

"You usually are."


	55. H's Ass and Underwear, This is Hell, Jan...

A/N: Now I know you're wondering, what the hell is this? A chapter on Tuesday! How could this be? Well, I was watching the anniversary show, and since it was like a regular show since everyone seemed to be in character, I decided to write a chapter for it. Aren't you all so very lucky?

Oh, and I'd like to comment on the fact that Jericho was sitting like one table over from Stephanie, and was totally able to stare at her all night under the pretense that he was looking at the stage. How convenient. And now you know how desperate I am for anything Smoochy. ;)

Jericho walked out of the bathroom. She looked up from her place at the vanity, and Stephanie's jaw dropped as she looked at him. He did a little twirl for her and smiled. She stared at him in disbelief, then tried to smile, but it ended up looking like she was cringing.

"That's what you're wearing?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, smiling proudly.

"That's what you're wearing?" she asked again, giving him a once over.

"Yes, Stephanie this is what I'm wearing."

"Oh."

"You don't like it."

"It's just.........different," she said.

"Well, yeah, that's what I was going for," he said.

"Well, if that's what you were going for, then you succeeded."

"You don't like it," Jericho said, pouting.

"It's not that sweetie, it's just well, this is a nice affair, and you're wearing.........that."

"I'm not changing."

"That's fine, it's not like I'm being seen with you or anything."

Jericho came over and stood behind her as she put on her make-up. He kissed the top of her head and she smiled. Then he looked at her through the mirror.

"Too bad we can't be seen together, I'd love to have you on my arm tonight," he commented, "You look beautiful."

She grinned, "Thank you."

"Just telling the truth."

A knock sounded at the door, and Jericho looked at his watch, "They're early."

"Go look through the peephole," Stephanie said, still working on her make-up.

"Fine master," Jericho said sarcastically.

"That's right and don't you forget it," she laughed.

Jericho walked over to the door, and looked through the peephole. He saw Linda standing outside, waiting to be let in. He looked back at Stephanie.

"Who is it sweetie?"

"It's your mom," Jericho answered.

"Well, let her in," Stephanie said, looking back at the mirror.

Jericho opened the door, and Linda looked at him in surprise.

"Chris, I wasn't expecting you here."

"Yeah, I'm just waiting with Stephanie."

"Ok, I wanted to tell her to come up to my room when she's ready to go."

"Ok Mom," Stephanie called out.

"You look interesting Chris," Linda said.

"Thanks," he said grinning.

"Well, I better be going, you're father was trying to decide what to wear last time I checked with him."

"Ok Mom, I'll see you in a while."

"Bye Mrs. McMahon," Jericho said.

"Chris, call me Linda, Mrs. McMahon makes me sound like I'm your boss."

"You are my boss," Jericho chuckled.

"Well, right now, I'm your girlfriend's mother, not your boss."

"Ok.........Linda. Does this mean I still call you Mrs. McMahon at work?"

"Yes," she said laughing, before leaving.

Jericho closed the door, "I'm glad your mom approves of us."

"So am I," Stephanie said, getting up, "How do I look?"

"Fabulous."

"Christian, what do you think of my dress," Trish said.

Christian's jaw dropped, "You look amazing."

She grinned, "Really?"

"Yes, I mean, yeah, that dress, and your hair, wow."

"Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

"I really like it, wow, you just look spectacular."

Trish grinned again, "You always know the right things to say."

"I've had practice."

She kissed him, "I adore you."

"Looking good Bald Eagle," Jericho said as he let Kurt into the room.

"You're looking shiny King of the World," Kurt said, looking over Jericho's outfit.

"Can you guys quit with the names for one night?" Stephanie said, coming out of the bathroom.

"Fine," Jericho and Kurt said in unison.

"Thank you," she sighed.

"Hey look at me," Kurt said and walked around unaided.

"I'm assuming you're feeling better," Jericho said.

"Yup, completely healed," Kurt said. Stephanie walked into the room.

"Wow, looking smoking Steph," Kurt whistled.

"Thank you," Stephanie said, giving a little twirl.

Jericho walked over and kissed her, "Ego much?"

"You're trying to tell me about ego, that's rich."

Kurt went and sat on the couch, "So where's everyone?"

"Christian can't come, he's with Trish, Edge and Shane should be on their way."

"Oh ok," Kurt said, lounging on the couch.

"Make yourself at home Kurt," Stephanie said, laughing.

"Thanks," he said, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Jericho laughed as Stephanie rolled her eyes.

There was another knock at the door and Stephanie went to answer it. Edge and Shane walked into the room. Shane was carrying a bottle of champagne.

"Hey, I thought we'd make this party fun," Shane said, holding up the bottle, "Got any glasses?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said

She got up and went over the bar that was in her suite. She grabbed five glasses and handed them around to everyone. After she was finished, she went and sat on Jericho's lap. Shane then walked around and poured everyone a glass.

"We're all looking very dapper tonight," Edge said, "Well, everyone except you Chris."

"God, why is everyone ragging on my outfit?"

"Because it's so.........loud," Shane said.

"I like it," Jericho said indignantly.

"Well, if you like it, I guess that's all that counts," Edge said.

"Yeah," Jericho said, fixing his collar.

"We should have a toast," Stephanie said.

"Why are we always making toasts?" Kurt asked.

"Because we're weird," Edge answered.

"Well, yeah, but still every time we're all together we have to toast."

"I nominate Kurt to give the toast," Edge said.

"I second that," Shane said.

Jericho and Stephanie looked at each other, "We third."

"Oh my God, now you're answering together," Edge groaned.

"Yeah," they both said. All the other guys shook their head.

"Get with the toast Angle," Shane spoke up.

"Fine, fine. That we all win something, well, those of us nominated. That we can have many more meetings like this. And that Bischoff gets fired so we're not the only ones who have to suffer watching Chris and Stephanie make goo-goo eyes at each other all the time."

"Ha ha," Jericho said.

They all toasted, and drank their champagne. Jericho and Stephanie started kissing after they had drunk their champagne. The rest of the guys rolled their eyes as they saw them.

"Can't you two quit for two minutes?" Edge said.

"No, because I have to look at her for two hours and not get to touch her, I'm making up for it now," Jericho answered, then went back to kissing Stephanie.

"They're impossible," Shane said.

Kurt looked at his watch, "Man, we gotta go. Hey, you two, come up for air, we have to leave."

"Fine, fine," Jericho muttered.

"Ok, I'm going with Kurt, so we're going to head out," Jericho said, "See you later baby."

"You're sneaking to my room later right sweetie?" Stephanie said.

"Yeah," he said, kissing her quickly.

"Why do you guys have separate rooms?" Kurt asked, getting up as well.

"Since everyone from both sides is here, we figured it might be better if we got separate rooms, for show of course," Jericho answered.

"Oh, I see," Kurt said, "Well, we've got to go." Jericho and Kurt left.

"Well, I'm gonna go, I'm driving myself," Edge said, laughing, "See you guys later."

"Bye," Stephanie and Shane called out.

"Well, we better go upstairs and meet with Mom and Daddy," Stephanie said, getting up.

"Yeah," Shane said and held his arm out to Stephanie.

"Let's get this show on the road.

"Hey man, nice outfit," Christian snickered as Jericho sat down.

"Shut up," Jericho said, shaking his head. It was going to be a long night.

"It's very you though, what did the missus think of it?"

"One, we're not married--"

"Yet anyway, and besides you seem like it."

"And two, she didn't like it."

"Surprise, surprise."

"Where's your girl?"

"Over there," Christian said, pointing at Trish, who was sitting at another table.

"Why's she over there."

"Assigned seating man."

"Oh, yeah," Jericho said.

Then he noticed that Stephanie was walking in on the arm of her brother. She looked even better than she did before if that was even possible. The lighting made her look fantastic. She winked at him as she glanced over, and he smiled.

"You two are obvious," Christian whispered.

"What?" Jericho said, whipping his head around.

"Well, not to the naked eye, but to the trained eye, you guys are so obvious."

"Oh, ok, you had me worried for a second."

As soon as everyone was seated, and the clock struck nine, the show started. Jericho kept staring at Stephanie. It didn't help that she was in the front row and that from the angle he was at, he had a great view of her. She would occasionally glance back at him and kind of smile.

Michaels came out, and Jericho scowled, thinking about how he wasn't going to be the number one position in the Royal Rumble. No, Michaels had to beat him to the punch. He heard him announce Trish as the Diva of the Decade, and then Christian whistled loudly.

"That's my girlfriend," Christian said proudly. Jericho shook his head and laughed.

Trish gave her acceptance speech, and smiled down at Christian. Christian was clapping like a madman, proud that his girlfriend had made enough impact that she would win an award.

Christian leaned over to Jericho, "My girlfriend won an award."

"Yeah, man, I can see that," Jericho chuckled.

The Don't Try This At Home award was next and Shane came out to present it. They showed the nominees, and Kurt Angle turned out to be the winner. Jericho and Christian clapped for him, glad he had won something. Even Edge managed to clap a little without too much suspicion.

Kurt walked up there. He knew he would win, he even prepared a speech and everything. His followers, er, team, walked with him and held the American flag. Kurt started his speech, knowing everyone would be enthralled with what he had to say. Just as he was getting to the good stuff, they cut him off. Kurt looked around in disbelief. How could they do this to him? He was ushered off the stage, a little bit upset.

Jericho laughed at Kurt's antics, then watched as Booker T came out next. Booker just had to make mention of his outfit. He was starting to regret wearing it a little bit. But he kind of liked being the center of attention. It was kind of fun, so he shrugged it off. He did notice Stephanie trying no to burst out in laughter.

"I'm up next," Jericho said, then discreetly got up.

He had been chosen to present the award for best microphone work. He knew that he was a shoo-in. There was no one better than him. He went backstage and waited for his cue to go out. He went out there, ready to accept the award. He saw Stephanie grin at him as he sent her a couple looks.

He went on to present the award to himself, but was flabbergasted that The Rock had won. Over him? No way. Jericho decided since Rock wasn't there, he should get it instead, it was only fair. He grabbed the award from Lillian and was about to take it when the Rock showed up. Jericho rolled his eyes.

The Rock berated Jericho, and Jericho just stood there. It was nice to hear boos for Rocky. Jericho went backstage and listened to Rock's little diatribe. He was tempted to go back out there and defend Stephanie when Rock was teasing her but refrained. Instead he walked back to his seat.

"Sorry bout that man," Christian said.

"Whatever man, I should've won," Jericho said.

"Yeah, you should've."

"Oh well."

The award for the best romance came up next. Jericho watched in disinterest until they showed the McMahon-Helmsley affair. He was disgusted by what he saw. Sure, he didn't really like her back then, but it was still painful to watch. Mostly because he and Stephanie hid their relationship.

His jaw dropped slightly as Stephanie and HHH won. This was great, just great. He snorted loudly, and tried to act nonchalant, but in actuality was pissed off. HHH walked past him, and Jericho had the urge to trip the man. Well, Stephanie would just go up there, accept the award, and then leave. Simple as that.

Stephanie's mouth dropped as she heard her name announced. She couldn't believe this. Who the hell had decided this? She reluctantly got up and walked on the stage. She sent Jericho a look saying that she would rather be anywhere but here. Jericho looked at HHH in disdain. Well, the faster she got this over with the better.

Hunter tried to pull some crap over Stephanie about kissing him. She was shocked that he would want that, but then HHH pulled Stephanie towards him. She was a little shocked, maybe she would get a little bit of revenge on HHH here and now. She had been waiting for this. Maybe she should slap him, or push, or something.

Jericho's fists were clenched at his sides, and he was biting his lip so hard it was bleeding. That asshole wanted to kiss his girlfriend, HIS girlfriend. And he was pulling her towards him. Jericho resisted the urge to rush the stage and start beating on HHH right then and there, plan be damned. Christian, Edge, Kurt, and Shane were all looking at Jericho's reaction. They didn't want to have to break up any fights.

Stephanie was not going to fall for this shit. Nonetheless, she closed her eyes. Seconds later, she opened them to see HHH pulling his pants down. She rolled her eyes, she had actually wasted two years of her life with this man? An idea floated in Stephanie's brain, and she looked evilly at Jericho.

Jericho loosened up a bit as he saw Stephanie look at him. He knew she was going to do something. She looked at her hand than HHH's very, very ugly ass. Then she gave Jericho a smirk and slapped the hell out of HHH's backside. Then she grabbed the award and walked off satisfied.

HHH stumbled backstage, trying to pull his pants up. He managed to get them all the way up, and ran towards Stephanie. He put his hand on her shoulder and she turned around and laughed.

"What the hell was that?"

"What Hunter?" she said innocently.

"You know you want a kiss from me Steph, I could see it in your eyes."

"The only thing in my eyes Hunter was disgust at seeing you drop your pants."

"Come on, Steph, let's relive old times, we can relive old time all night," he said, brushing some of her hair away. Stephanie smirked, and got an idea.

"You want me Hunter?" she said, biting her lip coyly.

"Definitely," he said, caressing her cheek.

"Have you been needing me, craving me?"

"Yes, so much," he said leaning in closer and closer.

"How much Hunter?" she said, seductively.

"I've missed you Steph, come on, let's just go back to my hotel room."

"Can I give you a sneak peek at what's to come?" she said.

"Yeah baby," he said eagerly.

"This."

She reared her hand back, and delivered the best slap of her life. HHH stumbled back a little, the shock of the blow knocking him back. Stephanie smirked cruelly at him, and dusted off her hands.

"I don't want you Hunter, I don't want you ever again. Remember that. You are nothing to me. Now, I have to go wash my hands. Never know where your ass has been."

Jericho was getting kind of nervous. Stephanie still hadn't returned to her seat. She'd been backstage for an awful long time. He hadn't see HHH come back out either. Had they decided to be "nostalgic" after all? Jericho kept looking to the side of the stage, hoping that Stephanie would come out already. Then he saw HHH come out, and breathed a small sigh of relief as he saw a huge red mark on the side of HHH's face. Seems his ass wasn't the only thing slapped.

Stephanie went to the bathroom, then came back out and went back to her seat. She saw Jericho smile at her and she discreetly winked at him as she went to sit down. He smiled even wider at her.

The show went by fairly quickly. Jericho and Christian were pretty stoked about winning best match. And then Edge had come out to present best Raw moment, and everyone had gone on the stage. Jericho stood with Christian and Kurt, with Edge right in front of them. Stephanie was about five people down from him. She sent him a small smile which he returned.

"Congratulations," Kurt said to Jericho and Christian.

"Thanks, you too," Jericho said.

"Yeah, got cut off," Kurt said bitterly.

"Hey, so did we," Jericho said.

"Oh yeah."

They left the stage after the show, and got in their respective rides and drove the short while back to the hotel. Jericho went to his room, and changed into some pajamas. He stuck his head out of the door and looked both ways. He and Stephanie were about three doors away from each other. He didn't see anyone and ran barefoot down the hallway to Stephanie's room. He put the key in and ran inside. Stephanie was in her robe, taking off her make-up when Jericho ran inside.

"Well hello," she said, turning to him.

"Hey baby."

"That's award winner to you," she said, glancing at the trophy sitting on the nightstand.

"You took it?"

"I had to put up with Hunter for two years, I deserved it."

"I got my trophy too."

"How did you manage that?"

"Timing, all timing," he said as he lay on the bed.

"I guess," she finished up with her make-up and went to the bed. She lay down, and cuddled next to Jericho.

"I got kind of worried earlier," he told her.

"Because of Hunter and I?"

"Yeah, I thought you were really going to kiss. You didn't look like you would've resisted."

"Oh, sweetie I would've, I didn't want his filthy lips anywhere near me."

"I'm glad," he said, kissing her, "Then you were backstage for an awful long time."

"Yeah, because Hunter was trying to get me to bed."

"He was?"

"Yeah, I slapped the hell out of him, don't worry."

"I know, I saw the red mark on his face."

"Oops," she giggled. A knock was heard on the door.

"Who is that?" Jericho said.

"I don't know, I'll be right back," she said, getting up.

She went to the door, and opened it without looking first, expecting her mom or Shane or something. She should've looked as she saw HHH standing there, looking down at her. She frowned.

"What do you want Hunter?" she said, loudly so Jericho wouldn't come out of the bedroom.

"I'm giving you one last chance."

"No."

"Steph, you want me, I know it."

"No," she repeated.

He ran his finger down her neck, and started to go down to her robe, but she swatted his hand away.

"Don't fight this Steph, people see we're meant to be."

"No."

"We're right for each other, and you know it."

"No," she said again.

"Stop saying that," he said, starting to get angry.

"No."

"Stephanie, I'm giving you one last chance. We can make this night memorable."

She scowled, "No."

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play, you blew it Steph, blew it." He started to leave.

"No, Hunter, I don't think I did," she called out, "One question though Hunter."

He turned around and growled, "What?"

"Was it just me, or were you wearing the same underwear as last night? That's kinda gross," she said, before slamming the door.

Jericho came out, and walked up behind her and started kissing her neck, "Wow, you sure told him."

"He was being annoying."

"I could hear," he said, still kissing.

"I don't want to have sex with him ever again."

"I know. But how about we go be 'nostalgic?'"

"How so?"

"You're nothing but a filthy, dirty, disgusting, bottom-feeding trash bag ho," he whispered against her skin.

"I hate you Jericho."

"You know, I'm going to do something I should've done a long time ago."

"And what's that?" she sneered.

"I'm going to make you scream louder than that assclown of a husband ever did."


	56. Let the Countdown Begin, January 16, 200...

A/N: Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize in advance if this chapter sucks. My heart wasn't really into it. We had to put one of my dogs to sleep today, so I really wasn't up for anything. But hey, the story must go on. If it sucks, I'm sorry you had to suffer through it. ;)

"Well, you look happy tonight."

"I am happy Edge, very happy," she said.

"That's good, any particular reason why?"

"Well, of course I have a reason," she said, smiling.

"Do I really want to know?" he asked cautiously.

"Why, what do you think I'm happy about it?"

"Um.........I don't think I want to tell you."

"Come on," she said, pushing him lightly, "Tell me."

"I don't know, something with the boy."

"Do you think I'm happy because I got some?" she asked suspiciously.

"Um.........no, of course not, that's not what I thought," Edge said, looking everywhere but Stephanie.

"You did! And you claim to hate hearing about me and him."

"I just wanted to know."

"I'm happy because Bischoff's days are numbered," she said, grinning widely.

"Oh," Edge said, nodding, "I got you."

"Yeah, and then we can tell the entire world."

"I'm sure everyone is just waiting on the edge of their seats for the update of your love life."

"Really, I thought so too," Stephanie said smirking.

"What's on my plate tonight?"

"You have a tag match with Benoit."

"Cool, cool, who against?"

"Team Angle."

"Ah, so Benjamin and Haas again."

"Well, not exactly. Heyman wanted a 3 on 2 match, and I gave it to him."

"Wait, so we get a partner or........." Edge trailed off as realization struck him.

"Yeah," Stephanie answered, not needing him to finish.

"Well, that's cool. I'll just go talk to him about the match."

"Be careful, he probably has his lackeys with him."

"Do they just follow him everywhere?"

"Apparently. I never see him without them at shows."

"That must suck," Edge said.

"Actually, I think Kurt likes it. I mean, it's like he's the boss."

"And we all know how much people like being the boss, don't we?"

"I get the funny feeling that was a dig at me."

"It wasn't a dig," Edge said, pinching her cheek lightly, "It was a plain, outright truth."

"Do you really want to get on the bad side of your boss?"

"Oh God, what will happen to me?"

"Hmm.........that's a tough one, I'm sure I'd have fun thinking of it though," she said, getting a mischievous look in her eye.

"I don't like that look," Edge laughed.

"Don't worry Edge," she said, patting him on the head, "It won't be too bad."

"You're so kind."

Stephanie looked at her watch, "Oh, the show already started, I hadn't even realized it. I have to go out and make an announcement."

"What kind of announcement?"

"Just some Royal Rumble notes."

"Oh, cool. I guess I'll go back to my dressing room."

"I'll see you later."

"Oh, if you see Kurt can you tell him I'm looking for him?"

She nodded, "Of course I will."

Stephanie walked backstage, and saw Kurt down the hallway. He was with his lackeys, and he was actually using a crutch. She walked quicker to catch up to him. When she reached him, she tapped his shoulder lightly. Kurt turned around, and smiled.

"Kurt, I'd like a word with you in my office," Stephanie said, eyeing Benjamin and Haas.

"Um, sure Stephanie," he turned to his team, "You guys can go back to the locker room, I'll be there shortly."

The two nodded, and then left wordlessly. Stephanie and Kurt walked to Stephanie's office. Stephanie closed the door behind them.

"So what's up Boss?"

"Well, first things first, what's with the crutch?"

"Oh, this," Kurt said, tossing his crutch onto the floor, "Heyman thinks I should pretend I need it then throw it away during the match."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "He would think up something so stupid."

"What was the other thing?"

"Huh?"

"You said first things first, so I'm assuming there's something else."

"Oh," Stephanie said, shaking her head, "Edge wanted you to meet with him to go over your match before hand."

"That'll be tough with my cronies always hanging around."

"Do they follow you everywhere?" she asked.

"Yeah," Kurt sighed, "It's like, every time I turn around, there they are. I mean, it's cool and all, I like having them, but man, sometimes I want some privacy."

"Poor Kurt," Stephanie said, shaking her head amused.

"I know, poor me," Kurt pouted.

"So just be sure to meet Edge."

"Ok, I'll try."

"If you need a distraction, let me know, and I'll help you out."

"Thanks for the offer. I'm just going to go over there right now. I'll just take the back way so I don't run into Shelton or Charlie."

"Ok, it was nice seeing you Kurt."

"Wow, so formal," Kurt commented.

"Get out of here," she chuckled.

"Fine, fine, touchy aren't we?" Kurt winked. He bent down to pick up his crutch and left the room.

Kurt walked down the hallway and went the back way to Edge's locker room. Luckily he hadn't run into his cronies, or they'd be following him like sick, little puppy dogs. He went up to Edge's door and knocked.

"Hey man," Edge said as he let Kurt in, "I thought your knee was healed."

"It is, Heyman's idea," Kurt said.

"Oh, he's such a mastermind," Edge said sarcastically.

"Heh, yeah, whatever. So what's this about our match tonight?"

"Just wanted to know if anything fishy would be going down."

"None that I know of. At least not with you. It's more Benoit that I'm after at least."

Edge shook his head, "What happened to compadres, bosom buddies, friends til the end?"

Kurt laughed, "Well, the Boss is a better friend, and she asked for a favor."

"She's hard to say no to."

"Yeah, I know. How Chris manages to handle her I'll never know."

"Yeah," Edge echoed.

"I better get out of here before my team sends out the search dogs because I'm not back yet. I'll see you out there."

"Yeah, you'll see me when I'm kicking your ass."

"You wish," Kurt chuckled before leaving.

Stephanie was sitting on her desk watching the show. It didn't seem to be going to bad at the moment. Nothing overly spectacular, but nothing all that bad. Well, except for maybe Dawn Marie, but what can you do? Suddenly her cell phone rang. She picked it up.

"Stephanie McMahon speaking."

"Stephanie McMahon's older brother speaking."

"Hey Shane, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was bored."

"Well, I'm glad you thought of me in this trying time."

"Of course I thought of you. If anyone can keep me bored it's my little sister."

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk. Show going well?"

"Yes, it's going fine. I just saw you two days ago Shane, what could we possibly have to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know, the person who may be fired in less that 30 days."

Stephanie grinned, "Well, that's always a good subject with me. I'm so happy."

"I know you are little girl. For more reasons than one."

"Well, yeah, I mean, one, I get to declare myself the best General Manager ever, and two, I finally get to show off my boyfriend to everyone."

"Yeah, because no one knows who Chris Jericho is."

"Shut up Shane, let me have my moment."

Shane remained silent for a second, "Did you have it?"

"I hate you."

"Aww, is little sister going to cry?" Shane teased.

"No," she whined, "Why is it, every time I talk to you, I feel seven again?"

"Because you feel inferior?"

"No, I think it's because you're so immature," she said smugly.

"Is there any more news on the Bischoff front from Daddy?"

"Not that I know of."

"Not that you know of?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Yes, I understand perfectly what your saying, I find it a little hard to believe that you didn't overhear anything."

"I didn't Stephanie, I don't listen at the doors like you do."

"So fine, what about the 30 day deadline, is Bischoff going to get fired or what?"

"Stephanie, I don't know, I'm not a mind reader." Stephanie answered him as Brock walked in, talking about how he didn't need a partner that evening. She appeased him to the best of her ability since he was one of the stars of the show. Even though he was being very difficult. She was used to it though, this had been her job for a while. "Hey man, you ok?" Edge asked as he and Kurt were backstage alone later.

"Yeah, my neck is a bit sore from the Crossface, but other than that, I'm fine," Kurt said, rubbing his neck.

"Ok, good match out there though."

"Yeah, good match, see you later," Kurt said, giving Edge a high five before leaving.

Stephanie's phone rang as she walked off the elevator. She stopped for a moment, then reached into her bag, and rooted around for her phone. She finally found it underneath a bunch of junk.

"Stephanie McMahon speaking," she answered as she walked to her room.

"Me again."

"Yeah Shane."

"Well, you were kind of rude to me earlier."

"I'm sorry, but Brock was in the room," she apologized.

"It's ok. As I was saying, I haven't been able to pry anything out of Dad yet."

Stephanie unlocked the hotel room door, and walked inside, "What do you mean yet?"

"Just what I mean Steph, I'll try to break him down, but you know Dad."

Stephanie smiled at Jericho who had just gotten a beer out of the mini-bar. He came over and kissed her quickly. She smiled mutely in return.

"Yes, I know Daddy, I'm just so anxious for this Bischoff thing to happen."

"I understand, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't know anything for sure, but I'm trying."

"Thank you Shane."

"Yes, thank you Shane," Jericho yelled from his spot on the couch.

"I'll talk to you about this later," she said.

"Fine, talk to you later little girl, love you."

"Love you too Shane."

"Love you too Shane O," Jericho yelled. Stephanie hung up the phone.

"Are you drunk?" Stephanie asked as she sat down next to him and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"No, just glad your back."

She kissed him, "You're too sweet."

"You forgot something tonight," he told her.

She looked at him confused, "What did I forget?"

He turned to her and fingered her necklace, "Did you wear this tonight?"

Stephanie gasped and grabbed her necklace, "Oh my God, I didn't even realize."

"Yeah, I love seeing it on you though for the whole world to see."

"I didn't even know, I'm so used to wearing it when I'm not at a show."

"It's ok, you're just getting a little ahead of yourself. Bischoff isn't fired yet."

"Yeah, then I can tell everyone about us."

"I hope it really happens," Jericho said.

"So do I."

"Then I get to bring you to all the shows," he said.

"And you can come to my show," she said eagerly.

"I can't wait."

"27 days and counting."


	57. Eliminated by Test, Yuck, Royal Rumble, ...

A/N: I can't say how disappointed I am by tonight's Royal Rumble. Jericho eliminated a lot of guys, was doing wonderfully! Then he gets eliminated by.........Test. Not that I—ok, yes, I do have a problem. Test is un-over, completely boring, useless. And he eliminates Jericho. That is bullshit. And I don't care about the whole HBK distracted him crap, hell, they could have had RVD eliminate him, but no. Ok, enough ranting.  
  
Jericho jumped around his locker room trying to loosen up. Tonight was a big match, the Royal Rumble, the road to WrestleMania. And he knew, he knew that this was his for the taking. He was trying to calm himself down so he wouldn't get too cocky and get eliminated early.  
  
Christian walked in, Trish hanging on to his arm. She was laughing at something that he said. Jericho kept jumping up and down, trying to calm down his nerves. Christian and Trish looked at him for a second, before Jericho noticed and stopped.  
  
"Nervous?" Christian asked.  
  
Jericho took a deep breath, "A little."  
  
"Don't be," Christian said, nonchalantly.  
  
"You're not the one entering as number two," Jericho said, laughing slightly.  
  
"No, but I'll be in there."  
  
"I'm sure you'll do great Chris," Trish said.  
  
"Thanks Trish."  
  
"But I'm not rooting for you," Trish laughed, "I've got someone else I'm cheering for."  
  
Christian turned to her, "Now who might that be?"  
  
Trish leaned up to kiss him, "Just a guy, nothing special."  
  
"Oh, nothing special huh?"  
  
"No, no one special." Trish winked.  
  
"I beg to differ," Christian said, then picked her up and spun her around, while Trish squealed.  
  
"Christian, put me down!"  
  
Christian put her down then kissed her deeply. Jericho rolled his eyes a little at their little display. It was kind of weird to be on the other side of the spectrum. Usually it was him getting teased for being lovey- dovey with Stephanie. He now felt kind of bad for doing this in front of his friends.  
  
"You guys, this isn't easing my tenseness," Jericho said.  
  
Christian and Trish broke apart guiltily, "Sorry."  
  
"It's ok, I'm just nervous about tonight, I mean, I have 29 other guys to eliminate, literally."  
  
"That is a lot," Christian said.  
  
"Thanks man, I appreciate your sympathy," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey you know, talking to Christian calms me down," Trish said, "Maybe if you call Marie then you'll feel better."  
  
"Marie?" Christian asked, a bit stupefied.  
  
Jericho shot him a look, "My girlfriend."  
  
"Oh, THAT Marie," Christian said, covering his slip-up.  
  
"That's a nice thought," Jericho said, "Um, maybe I'll do that."  
  
"I'm sure she'll help," Trish said.  
  
"Yeah, she usually does."  
  
"I'm glad I could suggest it," Trish smiled.  
  
Jericho nodded at her, before grabbing his cell phone, "I'm going to find an empty locker room and call her."  
  
"Oh, you don't have to leave we'll leave," Trish said, looking at Christian.  
  
Christian knew that Jericho wanted to go visit Stephanie, but Trish didn't know that Jericho's girlfriend was in the arena. Jericho glanced at Christian, letting him know that he didn't want to stay.  
  
"Trish, wanna help me get ready for the Rumble?" Christian said suggestively.  
  
"Ok," Trish smirked.  
  
"And that's my cue to get the hell out of here," Jericho said.  
  
Jericho stealthily made his way over to Stephanie's office. He hated this sneaking around, this hiding, but hopefully it would all be over soon. Hopefully, within the next few weeks, he'd finally get to show the world he loved Stephanie McMahon. He opened the door expecting her to be there, but she wasn't. He looked around before going to sit in her leather desk chair.  
  
Stephanie smiled satisfied after talking with Bischoff. She felt like she had the upper hand. And she was a McMahon, that meant the world if she wanted. She walked into her office, a smirk firmly planted on her face. Suddenly her desk chair turned around, and she gasped before she realized it was Jericho. She breathed a sigh of relief and took her hand off her heart.  
  
"You scared me to death," she said.  
  
"Sorry baby," Jericho said, holding his arms out.  
  
She locked the door, and walked over to him. He pulled her down and she sat in her lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head against her shoulder. He sighed and she stroked his hair.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Trish suggested I talk to my girlfriend to calm my nerves."  
  
"And your nerves are not calm?"  
  
"No, actually I'm kinda nervous."  
  
She ran her fingers against his scalp, "It'll be ok, you're going to do great, you're going to go out there and you're going to wow that crowd."  
  
"I don't know, what if Michaels eliminates me?"  
  
"He won't," she whispered before kissing the top of his head, "You'll eliminate him in no time flat."  
  
"You always know how to make me feel better, how do you do that?"  
  
"Because I know you."  
  
"You do."  
  
"Yeah, that's what comes from living with you and loving you as much as I do."  
  
"Where were you?" he asked curiously, "I came in and you weren't here."  
  
"Just discussing something."  
  
"You're not going to tell me where you were?" Jericho said, his brow furrowing.  
  
She kissed him lightly, "It's nothing you have to worry about."  
  
"You weren't with another guy or anything were you?"  
  
She laughed airily and shook her head, "No, I was talking to Bischoff, gloating really."  
  
"Oh, ok."  
  
"You know what you should do about Michaels?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Fool him."  
  
"Fool him?" Jericho asked, confused.  
  
"You should get Christian to dress up as you, and then you can sneak in and jump Shawn from behind."  
  
"You are a genius."  
  
Stephanie grinned widely, "Yes, so I've been told."  
  
"How do you manage to be so calculating?"  
  
"I'm a McMahon, it's what we do."  
  
"I better go and talk to Christian about it," Jericho said.  
  
"Do you have to?" Stephanie pouted.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Fine," she said getting up. Jericho got off the chair and started to leave. Stephanie grabbed his arm.  
  
"Wait," she said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You're just going to leave?" she said, her bottom lip stuck out.  
  
"Of course not."  
  
Jericho took Stephanie into his arms and pulled her close. She smiled up at him, and he leaned down and pressed his lips against her passionately. They made out for a few moments, before pulling away, both out of breath.  
  
"For luck," she whispered, kissing him again.  
  
"Thank you baby."  
  
Stephanie pulled away for a moment. Jericho watched her inquisitively. She took a piece of paper and ripped off a piece. She took the piece of paper and kissed it, leaving her lip prints on it. She took the paper and slipped it into the back of his tights.  
  
"Stephy, what are you doing?"  
  
"Now you have a piece of me with you out there."  
  
Jericho just shook his head and kissed Stephanie one last time. He left her office, and started to go back to his own. He ran into Kurt and his team in the hallway.  
  
"Hey Kurt," Jericho said.  
  
"Hey man, what are you up to?"  
  
"Just trying to loosen up for the Rumble, how are you?"  
  
Kurt clapped his hands together, "I'm ready, I'm going to beat Benoit and keep my title."  
  
"I'm sure you are."  
  
"Yeah, I am, and you're going to kick ass in the Rumble."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Good luck to you," Kurt said.  
  
"You too, I gotta go talk to Christian."  
  
"Bye man."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho continued walking down the hallway, intending to go straight to his locker room. As he was walking he happened by Edge.  
  
"Good luck," Jericho whispered as he walked past.  
  
"You too," Edge whispered.  
  
Jericho kept walking, and eventually reached his dressing room. He knocked on the door, then tentatively opened the door, hoping he wasn't interrupting anything.  
  
"Is it ok for me to come in?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah," Christian told him.  
  
Jericho walked in, "Christian, I have a proposition for you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"How would you feel dressing up like me?"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"You go out there dressed as me, then I can sneak in and attack Michaels."  
  
"Wow, that's a pretty good plan, think of that yourself."  
  
"Um.........yeah," Jericho said, not knowing what else to say.  
  
"Sure, I'll do it," Christian said shrugging.  
  
"Cool," Jericho said, going over to his bag and pulling out some clothes, "Here."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No, thank you."  
  
Stephanie watched as Christian pretended to be Jericho. Then she saw Jericho sneak up behind Michaels, and give him a low blow. She smiled, satisfied that her little plan had worked. Kurt walked into the room.  
  
"Hey Steph."  
  
"Kurt, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I showered quickly so I could watch the Rumble, I have a few friends in it."  
  
"Really? So do I."  
  
"What a coincidence."  
  
"Congratulations on retaining."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"How did you get away from your lackeys?"  
  
"I told them that I was leaving," he said.  
  
"Oh good idea."  
  
"Yeah," Kurt said, sitting on the desk.  
  
They watched as Jericho and Michaels fought against each other. Nowinski came in next, but refused to get in the ring. Then before they knew it, Jericho had eliminated Michaels. Kurt and Stephanie looked on in wonder.  
  
"Wow," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah," Stephanie said, at a loss for words.  
  
"That was quick, just wow."  
  
"I know."  
  
Jericho was fighting when he heard Edge's music. Edge came running to the ring. He started beating on everyone including Jericho. As Edge was punching Jericho he started talking to him.  
  
"Sorry bout this man, but you know it's every man for himself," Edge whispered.  
  
"I know, do what you have to do."  
  
Kurt and Stephanie witnessed Edge and Jericho fighting each other. They knew that this match was every man for himself so they weren't all that surprised. But they did both wonder what they were talking about. Christian came in as the next superstar.  
  
"Oh my," Stephanie said.  
  
"Yeah, now I'm going to have a hard time with knowing who to root for," Kurt chuckled.  
  
Christian ran into the ring and immediately went to Edge. He gave Edge a huge hug.  
  
"Good luck," Christian whispered.  
  
"You too."  
  
"Now let's pretend like we hate each other."  
  
Edge smiled and then proceeded to go and spear his brother. They fought for a while, before focusing on other people. The match went on, with more people coming in. Tommy Dreamer came equipped with hardcore items. He took out a Singapore cane and hit random people. Christian took two hits, as did Jericho, but Jericho got one right between the eyes.  
  
"Oh my God, is he ok?" Stephanie said alarmed, as Jericho and Christian did a garbage lid conchairto.  
  
Kurt winced as they showed Jericho. His face had a huge knot in it, and it was bleeding. He glanced at Stephanie, as she looked on in horror, her mouth agape.  
  
"He looks horrible."  
  
"I'm sure he's fine Steph, look, he's still going."  
  
"Yeah, but it looks awful," she said again.  
  
They saw Edge trying to eliminate Jericho, and him pull himself back into the ring. They were both pretty amazed by his strength of holding on. Jericho then ran towards Edge and Christian and eliminated them both in one fell swoop.  
  
"I can't believe he just eliminated them both," Stephanie said.  
  
"Well, I guess now I know who to cheer for," Kurt laughed.  
  
Jericho ran towards Edge and Christian. He hated to do this, but it was a necessary evil in the Royal Rumble. You had to eliminate friends.  
  
"Sorry guys," Jericho said as he hit them.  
  
As Edge and Christian got back up they both sent Jericho a look. Not a look of anger, just a look of luck for the rest of the match. Jericho sent them a look of sorry, hoping that they wouldn't be too upset with him.  
  
Kurt and Stephanie kept watching as Jericho fought on. They noticed Jimmy Korderas, one of the referees, periodically checking on Jericho. He didn't make the symbol that he was hurt so Stephanie wasn't letting herself get too worried.  
  
Edge walked into the room, ready and showered. Kurt and Stephanie both nodded towards him. He came and sat next to Kurt on the desk.  
  
"Congratulations Kurt," Edge said.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Where's your brother?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"With Trish."  
  
"Oh. Edge, do you know how Chris is?" Stephanie said.  
  
"He seemed ok. I know he muttered that it hurt like a bitch, but other than that, I'm sure he's fine."  
  
"Thanks, I was pretty worried."  
  
"You always are."  
  
They went silent as they kept an eye on Jericho. He was doing pretty well, he would rest every so often, but then would participate in the match. It seemed to be working for him as he was still in there. They could tell he was getting tired.  
  
"Why does he keep touching his ass?" Edge said.  
  
"Maybe he landed on his butt," Kurt said.  
  
"I think he landed on his butt a couple times, it's what he does Kurt."  
  
"Well, maybe he hurt it."  
  
"His good luck charm is there," Stephanie interjected.  
  
"Good luck charm?" Edge asked.  
  
"Just a little something I gave him."  
  
"Oh, a little something," Edge said, nudging Kurt as they started laughing.  
  
"Shut up you two," Stephanie said, "Watch the match."  
  
They went back to watching the match. Jericho was still going strong, but then they saw Michaels running down the walkway.  
  
"What the hell is he doing?" Stephanie muttered.  
  
They watched in rapture as Michaels started beating up on Jericho. They were stunned when, of all people, Test eliminated Jericho. Stephanie felt like punching the wall.  
  
"Damn it," she said loudly. Edge and Kurt looked at her in shock.  
  
"Stupid fucking Has-Been Kid," she yelled and threw her day planner across the room.  
  
"Steph, calm down," Kurt said, standing up and putting his arm around her.  
  
"No, I'm not going to calm down. Because of Michael's stupid antics my boyfriend was eliminated by Test! Test!"  
  
Edge went over and picked up her day planner, "Hey, I gave this to you."  
  
"Edge, shut up," Stephanie said, laughing a little.  
  
"Ah, there was a smile, I saw it," Kurt said, "It's ok Steph, Jericho did what he wanted to do, he eliminated Michaels."  
  
"Yeah, but he wanted to win the Rumble too."  
  
"Well, maybe next year."  
  
"This is so fucking stupid."  
  
Jericho walked backstage, his first thoughts being on kicking Shawn Michael's teeth in. He saw Michaels being held back with some referees. Jericho lunged at Michaels, and landed a good punch in on him before being pulled away.  
  
"Cool down Jericho," one of the referees said.  
  
"Fine, let me go," Jericho said, pushing out of their grasp, "I'm going to the trainer."  
  
Jericho left then, and walked back to the trainer's room. They gave him some ice to put on his head. His face was horribly swollen from the shot he took. They also cleaned off the blood that had caked itself on his face.  
  
As soon as he was finished he went back to his locker room. He noticed that Christian and Trish had already taken off. Good for them. He looked in the mirror and grimaced as he saw his face. It looked pretty bad, it felt horrible too. He touched it lightly, then winced as pain flared up.  
  
"It looks pretty bad."  
  
"I know," he said, slightly irritated.  
  
"I guess I didn't give you much good luck."  
  
"No, you gave me a lot of luck," he said, walking over to her.  
  
"Obviously not enough to win, maybe I should have put two kisses in your pants."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"You ok, though?" she said, kissing his cheek lightly.  
  
"A little worse for the wear, but all in all I'm fine."  
  
"For what it's worth, you did great out there, you eliminated Michaels."  
  
"Yeah," he laughed, "He didn't really like that too much huh?"  
  
"No, not so much."  
  
"I wonder what he's going to do tomorrow." 


	58. A Feud with Test, NO! January 20, 2003

"I want Michaels tonight," Jericho said.  
  
"I know, you've been saying that non-stop since last night."  
  
"He got me eliminated. How else am I supposed to be?"  
  
"Sweetie, I know that you're angry, but you've got to calm down."  
  
"How do you expect me to calm down! That rumble was mine for the taking. It was all about me, and I didn't even make it to the final four."  
  
"Chris, I know, I know........."  
  
"Steph, you don't know ok! You've never been in that kind of match, you've never had to suffer that kind of disappointment!"  
  
Stephanie stood up from her spot on the bed and stood in front of him, "Don't you dare tell me that I haven't suffered any kind of disappointment!"  
  
"Steph--"  
  
"No, you shut up for a minute, I know disappointment, I've suffered nothing but disappointments. I was supposed to be married to a really nice guy, but instead I was kidnapped and drugged! Do you know how much it sucks to be married to a guy you don't want to be married to? It sucks a lot Chris!"  
  
"Steph," Jericho tried to say again.  
  
"No, let me talk," she yelled.  
  
"Ok," Jericho said meekly.  
  
"And I fell in love with Hunter, I fell in love with him and he treated me like I was the only person in his world. I loved it," she said distantly.  
  
Jericho watched her silently. He felt like he was being transported back to two years before, back to the McMahon-Helmsley Era. Stephanie looked wistful, like it was kind of painful to think about.  
  
"I felt like I had finally found that one guy who was for me. Then Hunter got injured, and he decided that wrestling, that getting back into the ring was more important to him. It hurts being second best to wrestling. Why do you think I came back, why do you think I bought ECW, I wanted attention, I was disappointed that I wasn't enough for my husband to stick around."  
  
"I noticed," Jericho whispered.  
  
"What did you notice?"  
  
"You were lonely."  
  
"Of course I was lonely, my husband didn't want me, my parents didn't want me. My brother barely even wanted me. He just wanted what I could do for him."  
  
"That's why I paid attention to you," Jericho said softly.  
  
"What are you talking about Chris?"  
  
"I paid attention to you because I felt bad for you."  
  
Stephanie's eyes got teary, "You did."  
  
"I'm not blind Stephanie."  
  
Stephanie continued her sad tale, "Then my company failed, and I felt the lowest I had ever felt. I was a failure, a complete and utter failure."  
  
"You weren't a failure," Jericho said, pulling Stephanie into his arms.  
  
Stephanie pulled away and turned away from him, "I went back home and Hunter wouldn't even pay attention to me. He was still rehabbing, and spent no time with me. Then he came back, and I thought he'd finally start paying attention to me, but he didn't. It was the belt, that's all he thought about it. Gold had become more important than me. I did the only thing I could, I said I was pregnant. Then I saw you."  
  
"Saw me where?"  
  
"Saw you that one time when you and Kurt had a match against Hunter. And you walked up and stood in front of me. I looked into your eyes, and I saw something, something I wanted."  
  
"What did you see?" Jericho asked curiously.  
  
"I don't know. In that moment, that moment you looked at me, you seemed to see me more than Hunter had in the past year. I didn't delude myself to think Hunter actually cared about me when I said I was pregnant. He just cared about the baby that he thought I was carrying. But you, you seemed to pay attention to me. So I decided to stop the charade."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I sent my mom the tape," she admitted.  
  
"Wait, you sent her the tape of the fake doctor?"  
  
"Yes, I sent her the tape knowing she would tell Hunter. My mom is much too virtuous to hold something like that in."  
  
"And you decided to join up with me."  
  
"You caught me," she said, laughing hollowly, "So now you know how I've been disappointed. Kinda brings the Royal Rumble into perspective huh?"  
  
"God Steph, you sure know how to bring someone down," Jericho joked.  
  
Stephanie turned around, "I will tell you one thing though."  
  
"What one thing?"  
  
"I haven't been disappointed in a long time," she said, smiling softly.  
  
Jericho took her in his arms, and picked her up, "And I am going to make sure you are never disappointed again."  
  
"Now, I want you to go to Raw, and I want you to kick ass."  
  
"And I want you to order yourself a huge ice cream sundae and eat as much as you want."  
  
"I promise."  
  
Jericho kissed her deeply, "Now, I have to go."  
  
"See you later baby."  
  
Jericho walked into his locker room, seeing Christian in his street clothes. He threw his stuff down on the ground haphazardly.  
  
"Hey man, your forehead is looking better," Christian told him.  
  
"Yeah, it looked a hell of a lot worse last night."  
  
"I can just imagine."  
  
"So you got anything on tap for tonight?" Jericho asked.  
  
"No, nothing, I'm just hanging around for Trish."  
  
"Oh, does she have a match?"  
  
"Yeah, she's teaming with Hurricane."  
  
"Hurricane?"  
  
"Yeah, since he saved her last week."  
  
"Oh, makes sense."  
  
"How bout you? They making you work?"  
  
"Aren't they always?" Jericho kidded.  
  
"They're making you work, even after you got injured."  
  
"I got a match against Test, since he eliminated me."  
  
"That was heinous."  
  
"You're telling me," Jericho scoffed.  
  
"Aren't you pissed?"  
  
"I was, but I'm better now," Jericho said, thinking back to Stephanie.  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"I guess, I still want to kick some ass tonight."  
  
"You will. I'm going to go hang out with Trish, I'll see you later."  
  
"Yeah, bye man."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho continued getting ready for his match later on. He wasn't scheduled for an interview so he just changed immediately into his wrestling attire. He was about to open the door when someone knocked. He opened the door and found Stacy Keibler. Jericho was reminded of the time when Stacy was trying to seduce him.  
  
"I just wanted to wish you luck in your match later," Stacy said, "You'll need it against Test."  
  
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say Stacy," Jericho guffawed.  
  
"You better watch out Chris, you don't know what you're getting into."  
  
"Go away Stacy, and try to find yourselves some clothes."  
  
Jericho walked back up the ramp slowly. He really hadn't meant to hit Stacy. That had been a complete and utter accident. All he wanted to do was hit Test, but stupid ditz Stacy got in the way. Jericho actually felt kind of bad for what he had done.  
  
He got dirty looks from a lot of people backstage. He ignored them and walked back to his dressing room. Christian and Trish were waiting inside. They gave him sympathetic looks. They were the first people to give them to him.  
  
"You ok?" Christian asked.  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
"I'm sure you didn't mean that," Trish blurted out.  
  
"I didn't, seriously, I meant to hit Test."  
  
"Yeah, we know."  
  
"I think I'm going to get out of here, I was getting some pretty ugly looks just now."  
  
"We can only imagine."  
  
"Yeah, I don't really want to stick around."  
  
"We'll see you later," Trish said, getting up along with Christian.  
  
"Hey, if you hear anything about Stacy, can you call me?"  
  
"Of course," Trish said.  
  
"Thanks," Jericho said, heading for the showers.  
  
"My poor sweetie," Stephanie said, opening up her arms to which Jericho went willingly.  
  
"I really didn't mean to," he said sadly.  
  
"Of course you didn't sweetie, I saw what happened."  
  
"She just got in the way, she was like ducking behind the ringpost, and she's like a pole herself and I didn't see her."  
  
Stephanie led him over to the bed and sat him down, "Of course you didn't see her, it was obvious that you were going after Test."  
  
"I was, I mean, she just jumped out of nowhere."  
  
Stephanie kneeled behind him and started massaging his shoulders, "She should've been more careful."  
  
"But I'm the one who hit her."  
  
"Yes, but she knows that she has to be alert when she's ringside. That's just common knowledge which she was obviously lacking."  
  
Jericho laughed shortly, "She really should have been paying attention."  
  
"See, totally not your fault."  
  
"I still feel bad."  
  
"That's fine, show's that you actually have a conscience."  
  
"Were you beginning to doubt I did?"  
  
"Not for a second."  
  
"I was trying to take out my aggression with a chair though."  
  
"Like there have never been chairs in matches before. They've become almost standard. You were doing what you had to do. Don't worry about it."  
  
Jericho's cell phone rang, and Jericho reached over to pick it up, "Hello?"  
  
"Chris, it's Christian."  
  
"Hey man, what's up?"  
  
"Just calling to see how you were."  
  
"Definitely cheerier than I was earlier."  
  
"Good, good."  
  
"Any word on Stacy?"  
  
"No, haven't heard anything yet, we'll be sure to let you know though."  
  
"Thanks, well, I've got to go, but I'll talk to you in a while."  
  
"Uh huh, til then."  
  
"No word huh?" Stephanie asked, as Jericho hung up the phone.  
  
"No, none yet."  
  
"You want to join me in an ice cream sundae?" she asked.  
  
"A sundae?"  
  
"Well, I think we both need to feel better tonight."  
  
"Ok," Jericho chuckled.  
  
"Good." Stephanie went over to the hotel phone and ordered up a huge ice cream sundae from room service.  
  
About fifteen minutes later, the huge dessert arrived. The busboy rolled the cart into the room. As soon as he was tipped and left, Jericho and Stephanie dug straight into it. Jericho noticed that Stephanie had whipped cream on her nose.  
  
"Steph, you gotta little something," he motioned towards her nose.  
  
"What?" she asked, unaware.  
  
Jericho took a napkin and wiped it off, "Had some whipped cream."  
  
She leaned over and kissed him, "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome. How come ice cream always makes people feel better?"  
  
"It's a comfort food."  
  
"You're my comfort," he said.  
  
"And you're mine. You almost make me forget about my past."  
  
"Good, I'm glad. You almost made me forget about the whole Stacy thing," he admitted. She winked at him.  
  
"That was the point." 


	59. What a Crappy Surprise, January 23, 2003

Stephanie danced around the bathroom as she got ready for the show tonight. She was curling her hair for the show tonight. She was pretty excited about her announcement. She knew that people would love to see Hogan come back.  
  
"What are you doing?" Jericho asked, leaning in the doorway.  
  
"I'm curling my hair."  
  
"Since when does that involve dancing," Jericho chuckled.  
  
"Since never, I'm happy, sue me."  
  
"Well, I love seeing you happy, so please continue."  
  
She laughed, "I shall."  
  
"Why are you getting so dressed up, are you meeting with your secret boyfriend?"  
  
"You caught me," she said, looking at him through the mirror.  
  
"Damn it, now I'm going to have to follow you to make sure you don't cheat on me aren't I?"  
  
"If you want, you can follow me to SmackDown."  
  
"As much as I would love that, we can't and you know it."  
  
"We can in about 20 days," Stephanie grinned.  
  
"I can't wait," Jericho said, walking over and standing behind her, "Your hair isn't that curly back here."  
  
"Thank you for pointing that out," she said dryly.  
  
"Need help?"  
  
"You can curl hair?"  
  
"Of course I can, look at this gorgeous hair," he said, flipping his hair.  
  
"You are too full of yourself, here," she said, handing him the curling iron.  
  
"Maybe so, but so are you," he told her, curling her hair.  
  
"That's why we're so perfect together."  
  
"Yup."  
  
"You're actually pretty good at this."  
  
"I try my best,"  
  
He continued curling her hair. As soon as he was done, he pulled her hair over one shoulder and started kissing her neck. She smiled and closed her eyes. He kept kissing her neck.  
  
"Chris, I have to go soon."  
  
"Do you have to?"  
  
"Yeah, I have that surprise I'm revealing."  
  
"Oh yeah, what is that again?"  
  
"Hogan, remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah, good luck with that."  
  
"You don't sound too enthusiastic."  
  
"Eh, I've never been keen on Hogan."  
  
"Keen?"  
  
"Whatever, don't you have to go?"  
  
Stephanie looked at the clock, "Oh my God, yes!"  
  
She grabbed her things and ran out of the room, as Chris laughed and watched.  
  
Stephanie made it to the arena just in time for her announcement. She rushed into her office and placed her stuff down. She rushed over to the mirror in her office to make sure she looked presentable. Just as she was done the camera crew came into her office. Luckily she was ready to give her little announcement about her surprise later on.  
  
On the other side of the arena, Kurt and Edge were talking about their respective matches that were happening later on tonight.  
  
"So I'm facing your friend Rey tonight, got any tips?" Kurt asked.  
  
"No, not really, just be careful for him, he's really quick in the ring."  
  
"I'm quick in the ring."  
  
"Yeah, but he's quicker."  
  
"Are you saying I'm not quick?"  
  
"I'm not saying that, but he's smaller than you, by definition he's quick."  
  
"Well, I'm quick too."  
  
"Yes, we already established that."  
  
"I was just saying," Kurt protested.  
  
"I know, I heard you."  
  
"I know you heard me, I was just repeating myself."  
  
"Why? I heard you the first time."  
  
"I know you heard me the first time! I was just repeating it."  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"So you have a match against Shelton," Kurt said.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"He's good, you better be careful."  
  
"I will. I'll beat him," Edge said definitively.  
  
"He's better than you think. Don't take him lightly."  
  
"I won't."  
  
"Just making sure."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I know you know, I'm just saying," Kurt said.  
  
"I'm just answering."  
  
"Cripes on Friday you're annoying," Kurt said.  
  
"Right back at you Kurt."  
  
"I'm not annoying."  
  
"You just said cripes on Friday, and you're telling me you're not annoying."  
  
"You have big teeth," Kurt said.  
  
"So?"  
  
"So that's annoying."  
  
"How is that annoying."  
  
"Cause I have to look at them."  
  
Edge pretended to be scared, "Ooh, you really dissed me there Kurt. Please don't make fun of me anymore."  
  
"I hate you."  
  
"Aww, you know you love me very deeply."  
  
"In your dreams."  
  
"More like my nightmares."  
  
"So are you admitting you dream about me," Kurt said jokingly.  
  
"Yes, Kurt, I dream about you.........you know, beating you up, taking your title."  
  
"You'll never get your hands on this," Kurt said, patting his title.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I have to go, but just so I know, you guys are going to beat me up after the match."  
  
"Yeah, so be prepared."  
  
"Prepare for a beating? Interesting idea, how would I go about doing that."  
  
"I don't know. Think happy thoughts," Edge said.  
  
"I'm getting out of here," Kurt said, then left.  
  
Stephanie turned on her computer to try and get some work done. She pulled open some files that she needed to work on. Her computer automatically logged her onto the internet and she saw that Chris was online from their hotel room. She decided to message him.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Hey sweetie  
  
Y2Chris: Steph? Don't you have a show to run or something?  
  
LtleMsInnocent: I'm running it right now.  
  
Y2Chris: Then why are you talking to me?  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Because I felt like it.  
  
Y2Chris: Good answer.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: What are you doing?  
  
Y2Chris: Watching your show, what else? lol  
  
Y2Chris: What are you doing?  
  
LtleMsInnocent: I'm sitting here being bored.  
  
Y2Chris: Shouldn't you be watching the show or something.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: I was earlier.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: I hope my surprise is well received.  
  
Y2Chris: It will be. Unfortunately.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Why unfortunately?  
  
Y2Chris: Don't mind me, I just hate Hogan.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Well, you don't even have to see him, he's on my show.  
  
Y2Chris: I wanna be on your show.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: It'll happen, don't worry, someday it'll happen.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Then you can bug me more.  
  
Y2Chris: lol I do not bug you.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Sure you do.  
  
Y2Chris: You bug me too lol  
  
LtleMsInnocent: You're a liar  
  
Y2Chris: Nope.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Yes  
  
Y2Chris: No  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Yes  
  
Y2Chris: No  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes  
  
Just then a knock sounded at the door.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: brb  
  
Y2Chris: ok  
  
Stephanie called out for whoever was on the other side of the door to come in. Funaki came in and she did a short little interview with him, but didn't give away any of her surprise yet. As Funaki left, she looked at the poster of Hogan, and smiled. Surprise indeed. Then she remembered she was talking to Jericho and went back to her computer.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Sorry bout that sweetie, boss duties  
  
Y2Chris: Ooh, you sound so superior  
  
LtleMsInnocent: It's cause I am.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: My surprise is coming up.  
  
Y2Chris: I can't wait.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: shut up  
  
Y2Chris: What did I say?  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Nothing, just shut up.  
  
Y2Chris: Fine lol  
  
LtleMsInnocent: I'm gonna watch this, I'll see you in a little while sweetie.  
  
Y2Chris: ok baby, see you later, good luck.  
  
LtleMsInnocent: Thank you  
  
Stephanie turned off her computer and watched as Hogan made his way down to the ring. He was getting the kind of reaction she'd been hoping for. Everyone was cheering. This was great. She watched as Hogan was moved by the audience. She smiled at her accomplishment.  
  
Then she watched as her dad had come down. She hadn't even known that he had come tonight. She watched in disbelief as he berated her for her surprise. She bit her lip. She didn't think his reaction would be this bad. Then she saw Hogan beat on her father.  
  
She sat back at her desk sadly, upset that her father hadn't cared for her getting Hogan back. Before she knew it, her office door opened up and her father swaggered in. Stephanie stood up quickly.  
  
"Stephanie, I'm disappointed."  
  
"I'm sorry Daddy, I thought you would like it."  
  
"Like it? I was glad when Hogan left."  
  
"I didn't know Daddy, I was just trying to make you proud of me," Stephanie said, a tear escaping from her eye. Her father had always been able to make her emotional.  
  
"I know Stephanie," he said, regretting how he had yelled at her.  
  
"I didn't know you wouldn't like it. I thought I was doing something good."  
  
"You were baby girl, you tried. I guess that's all that counts," he said, hugging her.  
  
"Thank you Daddy."  
  
"Now why don't you get out of here, and go have some fun."  
  
"Really Daddy?"  
  
"Yes, here," Vince said, taking out his wallet and handing her a wad of bills.  
  
"Daddy, I have my own money," Stephanie said.  
  
"I know you do, but I want you to go out tomorrow and buy yourself something pretty and expensive."  
  
Stephanie grinned, "I will Daddy."  
  
"Good," he said, kissing her forehead, "Now leave, and that's an order from the boss."  
  
Stephanie gathered her things and left the arena. She got back to her hotel room, and let herself inside. Jericho was waiting for her.  
  
"I'm sorry about what your Dad said."  
  
"It's ok, we straightened everything out."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Yeah, it was no biggie, Daddy just doesn't like Hogan all that much."  
  
"Oh, I see. I thought you had to stay late at the arena."  
  
"Daddy said I could go, that he would take care of things, and guess what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Daddy gave me money, he said to buy something nice," she said playfully.  
  
"How much did he give you?"  
  
"A lot," she said, her eyes lighting up.  
  
"Wow, you really are a Daddy's girl."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I wonder if our daughter's will be Daddy's Girls?"  
  
Stephanie looked at him in surprise, "Our daughters? Since when are we having children?"  
  
"Oh, just thinking about the future."  
  
She wrapped her arms around his neck, "Really? And you see kids in our future."  
  
"Yeah," he replied honestly.  
  
"That's so sweet," she said kissing him.  
  
"It is?"  
  
"Yeah, I love that you think of things like that."  
  
"It doesn't scare you?"  
  
"No, not really. You're the one for me Chris Jericho."  
  
"You're for me too, just promise me one thing."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't fake a pregnancy with me," he winked. She laughed.  
  
"I won't, I promise." 


	60. I Like the Checkered Pants, January 27, ...

A/N: 6 months, 60 chapters, 407 reviews! Wowsa, seriously WOW! 400 reviews! 4-0-0 reviews! Freaking 400 reviews, I'm so thankful to each and every one who has reviewed. Seriously, I want to thank all of you for sticking with this story for over 6 months. Jesus, it's been 6 months! But thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, and enjoys this story. It's become like a labor of love or something. ;)

Oh, and I just wanted to mention that I don't acknowledge the overseas tours and stuff like that. I know they showed it on Raw, but in this little fic world, it's only Raws and SmackDowns, and PPVs. If I included it, then I'd have to include the fact that Stacy wasn't really injured. Oh my God, what? Yes, Stacy was NOT injured! She was in Asia over the weekend. How could she be injured and travel to Asia. Just clearing that fact up.

Jericho grabbed his bag, "I'm leaving Steph."

"Sweetie, wait," she called out.

Jericho turned around, "What?"

"I got you something," she told him smiling. She was holding something behind her back.

"You got me something?"

"Well, you know how Daddy gave me money to buy something pretty and expensive?"

"Uh huh, and you spent all of Saturday at the mall," he finished.

"Yes, while you stayed at home, because you didn't want to come with me."

"Yes, where's this going Stephy?" he said, chuckling softly.

"Like I said, I got you something with Daddy's money."

"Wasn't that money for you baby?"

"Yes, but you know what, I'd rather spend my money on you."

Jericho put his hand on her forehead, "Are you ok Steph, are you feverish?"

She swatted his hand away, "No, I'm not. I just wanted to do something nice for you. I never do anything nice for you."

"Yeah you do. You love me, that's pretty darn nice."

"Well, other than that then."

She took her hand from behind his back and handed him the wrapped box. He took it from her and smiled. She smiled back at him. He ripped open the wrapping paper and opened the package. Stephanie watched anxiously. He opened it and saw a gold cross.

"Do you like it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Like it, this is beautiful Steph," he said, fingering the gold lightly.

"I know that you're well, religious, and I thought that you would appreciate something like this."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently, "I love it, it's perfect."

"I'm glad, I saw it and I knew that I had to buy it for you."

"I'm happy you did, I love presents."

She giggled, "Are you going to wear it?"

"Absolutely," he said, taking the necklace out of the case and snapping it on, "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," she grinned, "I don't think that they go with your pants though."

Jericho looked down at his checkered pants, "Not many things do baby, not many things do."

"Now you can go."

"Ok."

"Now, remember what I told you."

"I remember. Not to accept responsibility for the Stacy thing because it wasn't my fault."

"That's right. And who's fault is it?"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's Test's for ducking."

"Good," she kissed him quickly, "Have fun."

"I'll try, see you baby."

"Bye sweetie."

Jericho was sitting in his locker room alone later that evening. He didn't have a match or anything scheduled, but he was sticking around to see Christian. He just wanted to make sure that Stacy had turned out alright. But Christian was off somewhere with Trish, so here he sat. A knock was heard, and he got up to answer it. It turned out to be Terri.

"What is it?" Jericho asked irritably.

"Chris, I wanted to know if you would do an interview with me?"

Jericho looked at the clock, he had time, "Sure, whatever."

"Thanks, come with me."

"Fine."

Jericho followed Terri down to where she usually held her interviews. She told him along the way that she would be asking about last week. That didn't bother him, he just had to remember what he had told Stephanie earlier, it wasn't his fault. He paced a bit, wondering what people's reactions were going to be.

Finally, they signaled that it was almost time for the interview. Jericho took a deep breath while pacing. Then they showed the footage from last week. Jericho thought about how he had missed the opportunity to nail Test with the chair. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Terri proceeded to tell him that they believed that he hadn't been responsible. Of course he wasn't responsible. If Test wasn't such a wuss, none of this would've happened. Terri asked if he would apologize. Right now, the Stacy thing was the farthest thing from his mind. His mind had shifted to the #1 contender's match he had next week. It had completely slipped his mind earlier, he had to get ready for that. He decided he needed to talk to the fans and left.

He walked down the ramp, ready to address the fans. He pretended to be upset so the fans wouldn't boo him out of the building just yet. Let him say what he had to say, then let them boo. He walked in the ring and grabbed a microphone. They were already starting the asshole chant. Time to drop the bomb, he thought. He could hear the boos now as he discarded anything that had happened with Stacy. It wasn't his fault after all. He did give an apology, albeit a very insincere one. It was then that he heard Christian's music. Finally a friendly face. He kind of wondered what he wanted. Christian defended him, of course.

Ah, leave it to your friends to speak the truth, Jericho thought.

Jericho went to speak about the Royal Rumble and what exactly had gone down at the Royal Rumble between him and Test. Jericho was interrupted by a familiar theme and looked in disdain while Shawn Michaels himself stood on top of the ramp. Michaels came out to spew something about how he WAS in the wrong. Jericho pushed the camera away. Why did people always bring up the pants, he liked them, they had personality.

Michaels came down to the ring, and Jericho got ready to fight. He fought with Michaels for a while, then he and Christian double teamed him. Then to Jericho's dismay, Michael's got the upper hand. Jericho left the ring and his necklace that Stephanie gave him fell out of his shirt. He thought about Stephanie to calm himself down. He and Christian walked backstage.

"God, I hate that man," Jericho muttered.

"I know," Christian said.

"Thanks for getting my back out there."

"No problem, you're my friend."

"Still thanks."

"I gotta go though, I want to wish Trish good luck before her match. It's hardcore rules you know."

"Yeah, tell her I said good luck."

"Will do."

Christian ran down the hall to Trish's dressing room, and knocked quickly. She walked out already in her ring gear. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"You're such a good friend," she told him.

"Thanks."

"Gonna walk me to the gorilla."

"Of course," Christian said, holding his arm out, which she immediately took, "Be careful out there."

"I will don't worry."

"But it's a hardcore match," he said uncertainly.

"I know, but I've been in those before, I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

"I do say so, now I have to go," she said, kissing him.

"Good luck, that's from me and Chris."

"Thank you both," she smiled then left.

Christian watched the match on one of the nearby monitors. His girlfriend took some brutal bumps. In the end she lost, and Christian cursed silently. Then he saw Jazz come down and brutalize Trish, and Christian saw red. He was about to run out there, but saw that there was already enough people. Trish was helped backstage and Christian ran over to her.

"Trish, are you ok?" he asked concernedly.

"I'm ok," she wheezed.

Christian picked her up, "Come on, I'm taking you to your dressing room."

"I can walk you know."

"I know, but you're not gonna."

Trish smiled as Christian carried her to her dressing room, "You are such a good man."

"I promise to make you feel better later."

Meanwhile, Jericho was pacing his locker room. He had to make some sort of impact tonight. He had already been humiliated by Michaels earlier, and he wasn't going to let it happen again, but he had heard Michaels was gone already. Jericho picked the next big target, Scott Steiner. He took off Stephanie's necklace so he wouldn't lose it.

He waited around until the end of the show. Scott had conveniently gone down after HHH's match and now was his opportunity. He ran down and attacked Steiner, who slammed him down. Jericho rolled out of the ring, and waited until HHH's little group finished him off.

As soon as they left, Jericho got in the ring. He took off his shirt and flexed his muscle, then kissed it just like Steiner did. He couldn't help but think that he really did have some nice arms. Much more natural looking than Steiner's or even HHH's. He bet the ladies liked to look at them.

Then he dropped down and elbowed Steiner. Immediately after that, he did some push-ups, another trademark of Scott Steiner. Now it was time for that Chris Jericho flair. He put Steiner in the Walls before the refs came down and forced him to take it off. It was a good end to the night.

He walked in to his hotel room, satisfied by the turn of events.

"I'm glad you didn't apologize."

"I listened," he said.

"Good, because you were not at fault."

"I just needed some convincing."

"You know, I'm thinking I'm going to have to change my opinion on those pants," she told him.

"Why is that?"

"Because your ass looks so cute in them."

He shook his head and laughed, "Only you."

"Only me what?"

"Only you would totally overlook everything that happened tonight to comment on my pants."

"Not the pants, your ass."

"Whatever."

"Not whatever, I was making an observation."

"Did you see what I did to Steiner?"

"I did. I love you kissing your bicep, very sexy," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"You think?"

"I know."

"So you think it's sexy when Steiner flexes?"

"Uh-uh," she shook her head, "Just you."

"Oh, I see, what else did you like about tonight?"

"I like how you fake concern."

"Really?"

"Makes you look so very attractive."

"Wow, I didn't know that."

She came over and kissed him deeply, "Well now you do. So what are you going to do with that information?" 

He flexed his arm at her, "This."

"Oh, I like that." He carried her over to the bed.

"And this," he said, kissing her.

"I like this even better."


	61. I Want a Team Angle Jumpsuit, January 30...

A/N: Thanks WWE for having a Vince/Steph scene similar to the one I had written last week, so I had to come up with an explanation for having a scene twice in this fic. What are they doing, stealing my ideas? ;)  
  
"So I'm going to beat on you during the match."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, it's what I do."  
  
"So? That doesn't mean you have to attack me."  
  
"But you attacked me last week."  
  
"You're point?" Edge asked.  
  
"It's my turn to beat on you," Kurt told him.  
  
"But why?"  
  
Kurt grunted in annoyance, "Because I said so!"  
  
"Fine, fine, don't get your thong in a bunch," Edge laughed.  
  
"As long as you don't let yours," Kurt shot back.  
  
"Ooh, touch tonight aren't we Kurt?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You guys are annoying, what are you doing in here?" Stephanie said, coming into her office.  
  
"Because we couldn't meet anywhere else," Kurt answered.  
  
"Why are you meeting in the first place?"  
  
"Because we always seem to have matches where we're on different teams," Edge said.  
  
"But that's because you guys are supposed to be enemies," Stephanie said in a smartass tone.  
  
"We know that," Kurt said, "But we like to at least go out there knowing what the other side is thinking it gives us a heads up."  
  
"Yeah, it's just good strategizing," Edge added.  
  
"You know something though, I really like my team."  
  
"You do?" Stephanie asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, despite the fact they don't talk a lot, and despite the fact that they follow me around everywhere, I think they're the best team I've ever been a part of."  
  
"Wow, that is something," Stephanie commented.  
  
"Whoa, wait a second," Edge said, holding a hand up.  
  
"What?" Kurt said.  
  
"I think you're forgetting something."  
  
"I am."  
  
"Excuse me, what about a little team called Team ECK?" Edge asked, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"Well, they were great too," Kurt said quickly.  
  
"But not the best?"  
  
"Well........."  
  
"So you're saying that Team ECK was not the best team ever?"  
  
"Did we have matching jumpsuits?"  
  
"Touché, Kurt, touché," Edge said shaking his head.  
  
"You guys are crazy."  
  
"Steph, have you felt these jumpsuits?" Kurt said, grabbing the arm of his outfit.  
  
"Can't say that I have Kurt."  
  
"Well, then you don't know how comfortable these things are."  
  
"I'm sure they're real comfortable," Stephanie said, nodding her head.  
  
"And guess what?"  
  
"What Kurt?"  
  
"They're reversible," he said proudly.  
  
"Wow, Kurt, I'm so impressed," Edge interjected as he laughed at the expression on Kurt's face.  
  
"Hey, I don't mock your stupid little vinyl trench coats that make you look like Elvis."  
  
"You just made fun of it," Edge scoffed, "And I do not look like Elvis."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
"I do say so."  
  
"Well, I happen to think you do."  
  
"Well, I think your team sucks."  
  
"They do not, you suck," Kurt told him.  
  
"No, I think you suck, hell the whole audience thinks so."  
  
"Boys, do I have to give you time outs?" Stephanie said.  
  
"Yes Mommy," Edge laughed.  
  
"We've been very bad," Kurt pouted.  
  
"Get out of my office you two. I don't know what I'm going to do with you both."  
  
"Love us," Edge said.  
  
"Whatever," Stephanie said.  
  
"Hey Steph, I was wondering something," Kurt said seriously.  
  
"Yeah, Kurt?"  
  
"If Bischoff gets fired--"Kurt got cut off as Stephanie cleared her throat deliberately, "Excuse me, WHEN Bischoff gets fired, is Chris going to come over to SmackDown?"  
  
Stephanie hadn't thought about that. Sure, she and Chris would be able to tell people about them, but would he come over here. She would love it if he were on her show, but she didn't know the stipulations to his contract, or what her father would do if Bischoff were fired. Would there still be trades and things like that? She didn't really know.  
  
"I actually haven't thought about that Kurt. I mean, I'd love it if he were here, but I think there are other factors that we have to take into consideration."  
  
"But you two love each other, don't you want to be on the same show?" Edge asked.  
  
"Well, I don't think that it really matters either way," she said.  
  
"So you'd keep hiding?" Edge said.  
  
"No! I'd just get to come with him to shows and stuff, and not hide out in the hotel all the time."  
  
"Why would he stay there though?" Kurt said.  
  
"Well, Christian's there, and Chris probably wouldn't want to leave him. And Shane would be there, and Chris and Shane have gotten to be pretty good friends. Just because he'd be on a different show doesn't mean that people couldn't know."  
  
"Well, you've got a good point," Kurt said.  
  
"Thanks, now really get out of my office, my dad said he's coming tonight, and I don't know when he's showing up. He probably wouldn't take too kindly about this little meeting."  
  
Kurt and Edge laughed, before leaving the office altogether. Stephanie went to her bag to look for her cell phone to call Jericho. She rooted through her bag, but there was no cell phone. She must've left it at the hotel.  
  
"Oh well," she muttered to herself. She went over and grabbed her office phone and called Jericho's cell phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey sweetie, I left--"  
  
"Your cell phone in the hotel room."  
  
"Yes," she laughed.  
  
"So what are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing, I was just talking to Edge and Kurt."  
  
"Oh really, sounds like fun."  
  
"Isn't it always? Sweetie, when I get back tonight, can we talk?"  
  
"Sounds serious," Jericho said, hearing Stephanie's voice change.  
  
"It is," she told him.  
  
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Jericho said.  
  
"Oh, it's--"Stephanie got cut off as her father walked into the office, "I have to go, I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone quickly.  
  
"Hello Stephanie," Vince said as he walked over to her desk.  
  
Stephanie got up and hugged him, "Hi Daddy, what are you doing here tonight?"  
  
"I made an arrangement today."  
  
"What kind of arrangement?"  
  
"I made a match for No Way Out."  
  
"But Daddy, that's my job," Stephanie said indignantly.  
  
"I know Princess, but I put it upon myself to make sure this one happened."  
  
"Fine Daddy," Stephanie pouted.  
  
"Don't pout Princess."  
  
"So what did you want to talk to me about Daddy?"  
  
"Well, I need a way to make sure that people know I have an announcement to make."  
  
"Are you asking for TV time?"  
  
"Do I have to ask?" Vince said sternly.  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"Well, I was thinking of doing a scene with you. That way the people know I'm coming out to talk to them."  
  
"That's fine Daddy. What kind of scene?"  
  
"Pretend like I'm still mad about the Hogan and we'll go from there. Just go with my lead."  
  
"Ok Daddy. Are we filming it now?"  
  
"Yes, now I'll be outside, pretend to call someone or something."  
  
Stephanie looked confused for a second, "Ok."  
  
"Just pretend."  
  
Stephanie picked up the phone and pretended to have a conversation with someone named Dominic. Her father came in and she caught him out of the corner of her eye. Time to show off her acting skills.  
  
"Sorry about the match, I didn't mean to spear you," Edge said as he and Kurt left the arena, everyone else having already left.  
  
"It's ok, I was kinda in the way."  
  
"Yeah, so why am I apologizing?" Edge laughed.  
  
"Because you feel badly for me," Kurt said, patting him on the back.  
  
"Congrats on your team winning."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They got to their cars, "See ya Kurt."  
  
"Bye Edge."  
  
"I'm back," Stephanie called out.  
  
She walked into the bedroom and saw Jericho sitting on the loveseat near the big picture window in their room. He was blowing air onto the window, and drawing little pictures into it. He turned to Stephanie and smiled.  
  
"Bored?" she asked.  
  
"No, just worrying about whatever it was you had to tell me," he answered.  
  
She came over and sat next to him. She blew onto the window and wrote, "It's not bad" on the window. He saw it and smiled. He blew on the window and wrote, "It isn't?" and she answered with "I promise."  
  
He opened up his arms to her. She crawled over and sat between his legs. She grabbed his arms and wrapped them around her own waist. Jericho leaned forward and put his chin on Stephanie's shoulder.  
  
"So what did you want to tell me?" he whispered into her ear.  
  
"I just wanted to ask if you would come over to SmackDown if Bischoff gets fired. I mean, we've never discussed it. So would you?"  
  
Jericho thought about it for a moment, "I don't know."  
  
"Neither do I."  
  
"Do you want me to?"  
  
"You don't have to. I know that you have friends over at Raw."  
  
"Yeah, but SmackDown has you. And nothing is better than you."  
  
Stephanie turned and kissed his chin, "But you don't have to, it would be fun to be able to go to Raw with you."  
  
"You're right. I guess I might stay. It depends."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, Christian and Shane would be there."  
  
"Yeah, though Edge and Kurt are on SmackDown," he said.  
  
"You'd still get to come to the show. That's the best part about all of this, you wouldn't be stuck here all night waiting for me. I'd get to show you off to everyone."  
  
"It's not like everyone doesn't know me already."  
  
She laughed, "I know, but I'd be on your arm, that's different. It's gonna be so good."  
  
"I know, then everyone would be jealous of me," he said.  
  
"I think it would be the other way around," she told him.  
  
"You wanna know something?" he asked her.  
  
"Always."  
  
Jericho leaned over and blew on the window creating a cloud of fog. Then he slowly wrote, "I love you." Stephanie grinned to herself. Sometimes Jericho could be so romantic without even trying. She took her hand and wrote something on the window.  
  
After she wrote it, she turned herself around and kissed Jericho. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him. It was a couple minutes before the writing disappeared off the window, but Stephanie and Jericho were too into each other to care. But it didn't change what she had written.  
  
Forever. 


	62. No More Apologies, February 3, 2003

A/N: After reading last week's chapter, I realized that would be the perfect ending to this story.........too bad it isn't! ;) This fic just keeps going and going, lol. It's far from over.

Chris sat backstage, watching as Stacy and Test walk down to the ring. He was glad to see that Stacy was feeling better. Despite his aloof attitude, he did have a little part of him that felt remotely bad for hitting her. Of course the part that didn't really care was dominating over that other part.

"Are you gonna go out there?" Christian said, looking at the monitor.

"I don't know. Let them have their little cutesy moment," Jericho shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Why? You think I should go out there?"

"Maybe. If you want to stir up trouble then yeah, go for it."

"Well, I do like to stir up trouble."

"Ain't that the truth."

"Why are you getting here so late?"

"I was visiting Trish this weekend," Christian told him.

"Oh yeah, I heard that she was out from that attack from Jazz last week."

"Yeah, she's pretty banged up. They told her to stay at home."

"That's cool. Tell her I hope she feels better."

"I will. I just wish I could get out of here early."

Jericho looked over at the television screen. Test seemed to be demanding an apology from him. An apology, apology for what, for telling the truth? For saying that Stacy should have been more aware in the first place? An interesting idea flitted through his brain and he turned back to Christian.

"I think I know a way to get you out of here early," Jericho told him, a sinister look on his face.

"I'm not sure that I like that look," Christian said warily.

"Well, it seems Test wants me to apologize."

"So?"

"Well, I'll give him an apology alright."

"What do you have in mind Chris?"

"Well, what if when I'm out there, I don't apologize. Then Test gets pissed and you attack him from behind."

"Ok, then what? How will that get me off early?"

"Well, you have to make yourself vulnerable. I don't know, threaten Stacy or something. Then Test is bound to beat on you. I mean, he's absolutely predictable."

"And if I get beat up, I can leave," Christian finished.

"Precisely."

"Man, you're good," Christian said.

"Thanks, I take after my girl," Jericho joked.

"You do. Well, you gonna go out there now?"

"Yeah, see you in a bit."

Jericho walked out of his locker room, and down the hallway. He waited for his countdown to start and walked out, microphone in hand. This was getting ridiculous. They both needed to get over this accident. He looked at them from the ramp, not going any further. He looked around apathetically. When in a tight spot, lie your way out of it, Jericho thought. He didn't remember who had told him that, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had been Stephanie. She had a million different ways to get out of tough situations.

He did have more important things to worry about, he had a lot of things to worry about. And one of them was not if poor Test and Stacy had their feelings hurt. They were both ok, why couldn't they just leave it at that?

Last year's WrestleMania had been great up until he lost at the very end to HHH of all people. He had had Stephanie on his arm, he didn't think anything could really get better than that. Except if he had won of course. He looked down to the ring, Test still looked perturbed. But he kept on talking.

Just like planned Christian ran out from the other side of the ring and knocked both Test and Stacy down. Jericho watched as Christian got the upper hand at first. He smirked in approval. As soon as they were both down, Christian started gloating to Stacy, turning his back to Test.

This was Jericho's cue to leave. It would look suspicious if he just stayed and watched, so he went backstage. Test beat up on Christian pretty good, but Jericho knew Christian knew what he was getting into. He must have it pretty bad for Trish to go through all this for her. He didn't blame him though, he'd get beat a million times for Stephanie. In fact, he practically had.

Jericho waited for Christian to come backstage. Before Christian came, Test and Stacy made their way to the back. They walked right past him without a word. He smirked proudly as Test sent him a dirty look. But Stacy pulled him away before he could say anything to Jericho.

Christian made his way slowly back up the ramp. He was a little dazed, but overall he was ok. He just wanted to get out of here and back to Trish. He was rapidly falling in love with her, and he loved spending every moment he could with her. Maybe he would ask her to move in with him in Florida. Stephanie had moved in with Jericho no problem. Well, actually she just kind of ended up living there, there hadn't been any formal move-in. Maybe that was the route he should take. He didn't want Trish to think they were going to fast, they had only been going out for a little over a month.

"Hey man, you got pretty banged up out there," Jericho said as Christian made his way over to him.

"All in a day's work," Christian said, holding the back of his head. Together they walked to Jericho's dressing room.

"Well, at least now you can claim you're hurt and go back to Trish."

"Yeah. Hey I was wondering something."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I mean, how long were you and your woman dating before she moved in with you?"

Jericho thought for a minute, "You know I don't really remember. She just used to stay with me on weekends, and she'd bring more and more clothes with her until she had all her clothes at my house. It was gradual."

"And now she lives with you full-time?"

"Yeah, pretty much, I mean, there's an odd weekend where we'll stay at her house, but that's usually when she has to work on the weekends. Otherwise, we live in Florida. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I was thinking of asking Trish to move to Florida with me."

"Whoa, you know that's a pretty big step."

"I know."

"And it takes a while to get used to. I mean, I had to get used to all of her little quirks at all times of the day," Jericho said laughing to himself.

"Yeah, maybe I should just let it go gradual, invite her for weekends and stuff."

"That's cool, either way."

"Yeah," Christian nodded, "Well, I'm getting out of here, and seeing if I can get a flight to Toronto."

"Good luck man," Jericho said, waving as the other man left.

Jericho sat back and watched the show as he waited for his match to begin. He saw HHH's pathetic little promo on his new stable. He kept looking at HHH's hair though, it was like he was drawn to it. It looked so poofy, it was just weird to look at.

He watched the matches come and go. Saw Michaels try to sweet talk Jeff, who wanted nothing to do with it. He involuntarily grabbed his chin as Jeff got the Sweet Chin Music. He knew how that felt.

Before he knew it, it was time for his match. He wanted to win this match and then face HHH at No Way Out. Of course, more than the title, he wanted retribution against Shawn Michaels. But it would be doubly great if her were the champion and beat the Has-Been Kid.

His match wasn't that long, but he tried his best. Unfortunately, he lost to Steiner. He was a little mad that he had gotten himself into a position where Steiner could get the upper-hand. Steiner wasn't even that good, and he had almost landed on his neck after that ugly belly to belly. He didn't envy anyone having to have a match against Steiner.

He took his shower backstage, and gathered up his things. He sighed as he got to his rental car. He was glad to be done for the night. His neck hurt a bit after that belly to belly suplex. He was lucky that he hadn't gotten injured.

He got to his hotel and walked up to his room. He dug around in his bag looking for his key card. He knew Stephanie had given it to him before he left. He didn't know if she was sleeping and didn't want to wake her if she was. He was so involved in his search, he didn't notice Vince McMahon walking down the hallway.

Jericho found the key card and held it up triumphantly. He put it in the door and opened it. He still hadn't noticed that Vince was in the same hallway, and went to walk inside when he heard footsteps.

"Jericho," Vince said, sticking his hand out for Jericho to shake.

Jericho took his free hand and shook hands with Vince, "Hi Vince."

"Did you just get back from the show?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here?"

"I was at the show tonight, making sure Bischoff knew he was running out of time."

Stephanie had heard Jericho open the door as she was lying down in the bed. She was kind of tired, and she was cozy so she didn't go out to greet him. She didn't see him coming into the room and wondered where he was.

"Chris!" she called out.

Chris froze for a moment. He had just heard Stephanie from the bedroom, and he knew that Vince had heard her too. He tried to keep his composure, and silently prayed that Vince didn't recognize Stephanie's voice. If he did, then he'd be in a shitload of trouble.

"Um, babe, I'll be right there, I'm talking to Vince McMahon," he called out nervously.

Stephanie covered her mouth and gasped. She didn't know her father was out there. She could've blown the cover. She remained silent and took the covers off in case she had to make a dash for the closet or the bathroom or something. She was very lucky that you couldn't see in the bedroom from the door.

"That voice sounded familiar," Vince said, furrowing his brow.

"Um, that was no one."

"You have a girl in your room obviously."

"That's my girlfriend," Jericho said.

"Oh, your girlfriend, I'd love to meet her."

Jericho cringed slightly. He didn't know why Vince was being all of sudden all buddy-buddy with him. Maybe it was because he thought that Jericho was dating some really pretty woman and Vince wanted to check her out or something. As much as that was the case, as Stephanie was gorgeous, he didn't think that Vince would take to kindly to the fact that Jericho was sharing a room with his daughter.

"Well, it's really late at night, and I think she was sleeping so........."

"So you don't want me to meet her," Vince chuckled.

"Well, she's one of those girls who likes to make sure they look immaculate when around people. If you stayed, she'd probably take hours to get ready just to meet you."

"Well, I better get going, nice talking to you Jericho. You've been doing a great job on Raw as of late."

"Thank you sir."

"No, thank you. People like to watch you, and that's good for business. Bischoff is lucky to have you. I'm sure my daughter is pulling her hair out that she let you get away."

Jericho had to laugh at that statement. His daughter hadn't let him get away, not by a long shot. And Bischoff didn't really have him, and in a week's time, all would be revealed. Wouldn't Vince been surprised?

"Well, I'm sure Stephanie is. But well, if you see her tell her I said hello," Jericho smiled, knowing that Stephanie was about ten feet away, lying on a bed that they were about to share.

"I will, goodnight."

"Night," Jericho said, watching him leave, then giving a deep sigh in relief.

He walked into the room, and closed the door. He walked into the bedroom where Stephanie was sitting, a scared look on her face. She was biting her lip, giving him a worried glance.

"That was close," Jericho said, jumping onto the bed.

"I'm so sorry," Stephanie said.

"It's ok, not your fault, you couldn't have known your dad was there."

"I feel like such an idiot."

"No, it's cool, everything's fine."

"You handled that well."

"I'm cool under pressure. Luckily you didn't walk out though, I'd hate to have to explain you to him."

"Yeah, that could get messy."

"I'm glad your dad didn't recognize your voice," he said.

"Me too," she laid back down, next to him, "You were really mean, leaving Christian to fight by himself."

"We planned that, he wanted to leave early and go see Trish."

"Oh. Those two are getting pretty serious."

"Yeah, Christian's even thinking of living together."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah, I know."

"Only one more week sweetie," Stephanie said excitedly.

"I know, I'm very happy about that. You know, it's actually been kinda fun sneaking around."

"Ya think?"

"A little."

"I guess it has."

"I can't wait to see your dad when he finds out it was you who was my girlfriend."

"He'll be shocked, than pissed because he'll remember we were sharing a room."

"Oh yeah, but you'll protect me right?" he said, kissing her cheek.

"Of course. But you'll have to do one little favor for me."

"And what is that?"

"You'll have to say hello to Stephanie if you see her," she joked, "What was that all about?"

"Well, I thought it was funny. Your dad didn't know you were right behind me."

"I guess, but I'm glad that I didn't let you get away," she said, leaning up to kiss him.

"I have to second that."

"Nope, I'd say that I got you just in time."


	63. Naked Kendrick is Certainly a Sight, Feb...

A/N: I just wanted to ask if you guys wanted to see more of Trish and Christian in the fic. Just let me know if you'd like to see more of them.

Kurt walked into the arena and straight to his locker room. He was once again sharing with Benjamin and Haas. He didn't mind that so much, but Big Show wasn't here tonight, so Heyman was skulking around. And if Kurt hated anyone it was that man.

"Oh, I have a special surprise tonight," Heyman said, rubbing his hands together in an evil gesture.

"Yeah, good," Kurt said uninterested.

"It's going to be such a surprise for the Undertaker."

"I'm sure."

"Don't you want to know what it is Kurt?" Heyman asked.

"No, not really."

"Of course you do," Heyman told him.

"Nah, I think I'm just going to go put my jumpsuit on," Kurt said, grabbing his jumpsuit from his bag.

"I brought in Brother Love," Heyman said, ignoring what Kurt was telling him.

"Why the hell did you bring him in?"

"Just to talk to the Undertaker," Heyman said, a smug little smile on his face.

"Ok, that's.........great," Kurt said, rolling his eyes to himself.

Benjamin and Haas walked into the room just then, both of them already in their Team Angle jumpsuits. Kurt had never been so happy to see anyone in his life. He was getting quite ticked off about hearing about Undertaker, Brother Love, Big Show, or any other nonsense like that.

"Boys, good to see you," Kurt said happily. They both nodded.

"So you ready for your big match tonight?"

"Yeah," Benjamin told him, nodding intensely.

"We're definitely ready."

"Good, good, you two are going to go out there and you are going to win the Tag Team titles."

"Yeah," they both said.

"You guys aren't really verbose are you?" Kurt said, looking at them.

"No," they both said.

"That's ok, that's ok, you guys more than make up for it in the ring."

"You're right," Haas said.

"Of course I'm right, I'm Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medallist."

"We know," Benjamin said.

"Now, after I win my match against Benoit tonight, what are we gonna do?"

"We don't know," Haas told him.

"I'm going to pretend like I'm congratulating him on a job well done, and then you two, the newly crowned Tag Team title holders will get him from behind."

"What if we don't win?" Benjamin asked.

"Don't win? You two are going to win," Kurt said definitively.

"Ok," they said together.

"What if you don't win?" Haas said.

"I'm winning, it's true, it's damn true!"

"Ok," they repeated.

Kurt was getting a bit beleaguered by this one-sided conversation. Maybe he'd go talk to Edge or Stephanie, anyone who would actually answer his questions with more than one word answers. It was getting tiring having to carry this conversation.

"Why don't you two warm up?" Kurt said to them.

"Sure," they said.

Kurt shook his head and headed down to Stephanie's office. It was his only sanctuary during the shows, so he went there every week. It was an escape from the unbelievable intensity of his own locker room. He walked to Stephanie's office and opened the door to go inside.

"Hey Kurt," Stephanie said, looking up, "Your team bugging you?"

"How did you know?"

"You have that look on your face."

"Well, maybe if they actually talked like normal people I could stand them more. I mean, they're good kids, but they have no social skills."

Stephanie laughed, "Poor Kurt."

"Yeah, I need all the sympathy I can get."

"So you ready for your match tonight?"

"I like to think so. Benoit's a good opponent."

"I know, I've seen him in action."

"Yeah, we put on good matches though."

"You do, I daresay some of the best matches I've ever seen."

"Well of course, I was in them."

"Well then, how can I dispute it?" Stephanie joked.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Kurt winked.

"Sometimes I wonder if you really are that arrogant Kurt, because sometimes you come across as the most egotistical person on the planet."

"More than your boyfriend."

"Well, I don't know, he does have a huge ego. Maybe you two are about the same, both with inflated heads."

"Then how can we be in the same room together?"

Stephanie looked at him weird, "Sometimes I just don't get you Kurt, and sometimes, I don't think I want to."

"There's a veiled insult in there somewhere I know it," Kurt said suspiciously.

"There might be, but I'll never tell."

Stephanie's phone rang then, "Hold on Kurt," she picked up the phone, "Stephanie McMahon speaking."

"Hey little sis, I got your message."

"Oh hey Shane, I'm glad you called me back."

"Not a problem, what are you up to?"

"I'm just talking to Kurt."

"Tell him I said hello."

"Shane says hello," she told Kurt.

"Tell him I said it back."

"He says hi too," Stephanie told her brother.

"I'm gonna head out Steph."

"Ok, Kurt, good luck later."

"I don't need it but thanks."

"So Steph, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"What else? Bischoff."

"Oh and what about it?"

"Have you talked to Daddy lately? What has he said, if anything, don't keep me in the dark about this Shane."

"Well, little girl, sometimes good things come to those who wait."

"Wait? I've waited over six months for this," she cried.

"Well, you only have a few more days, and then we'll see."

"We'll see? So that means you don't know anything."

"Well, I know some stuff, stuff that doesn't pertain to you."

"Doesn't pertain to me, I'm the boss around here, of course it pertains to me."

"Steph, just relax ok? Everything will turn out fine, with or without Bischoff."

"But Shane you just don't get it........."

"Of course I get it Steph, you want to be able to have a normal relationship with Chris, I get that loud and clear, but Stephanie, I can't go around giving information like it's nothing."

"And if Bischoff is around, me and Chris have to sneak around. Shane, you don't know how much Chris wants to tell everyone."

"I'm sure he really does."

Stephanie sighed, "I feel awful about it."

"What's wrong Steph? Is something up with you and Chris?"

"No, nothing's up. I just feel like I take him for granted. I mean, this guy has stuck with me for over six months, in secret, for no reason other than I asked him to."

"He loves you Steph."

"I know that, it doesn't make me feel any better though. I just want to give him a normal relationship."

"You know, for you guys being a secret, I'd say you have a very normal relationship. I mean, from what you told me, you guys hardly ever fight, seriously fight anyway."

"We don't, but that doesn't mean that if we don't reveal ourselves, he'll leave me."

"You actually think that he would do that?"

"No, but you never know, he might."

"Maybe you should talk to him about this Steph," Shane said seriously.

Stephanie let out and exasperated sigh at her brother's answers when the door to her office opened and a naked man ran in. Stephanie stood in shock as this guy turned around, naked, in front of her. She couldn't help but look down at, well, you know what.

Stephanie stood still for a moment, not know how to respond to a naked man who just introduced himself. Luckily she was saved by a bunch of referees who barged in and took him away. Stephanie watched them.

She blinked a few times, trying to process what had just happened. Maybe she should have paid more attention to the show instead of talking to her brother. Then she would've had a freaking clue about what was going on around here. She suddenly remembered Shane was still on the line.

"Shane, sorry about that."

"What the hell was all that noise?"

"Um, some naked guy named Brian Kendrick ran in here."

"Naked?"

"Yeah, as naked as well, naked."

"Why?"

"Hell if I know."

"Ok," Shane said confused, "What the hell goes on at your show?"

"Sometimes Shane, I just don't know."

"Well, when I get my hands on Raw, rest assured, it'll be the better show in no time."

"Ha ha, you wish."

"I don't wish, I'll make it a reality."

"Whatever Shane, I'd like to see you try."

"Well, with your man on my side, I'll have you beat in no time."

"I hate you," she joked.

"I know, well, I better go."

"Ok, bye Shane, love ya."

"Love you too, bye Steph."

Stephanie sat back down to finish up some work. On the other side of the arena, Kurt was trying to think of a way to psych Benoit out for their match. He looked up at the monitor and saw that Benoit was talking seriously about something, about his wife and kids, or some crap like that.

Kurt saw the perfect opportunity and decided to interrupt Benoit's little sob story. It would only be fair. He walked over to the set where it was filming and interrupted Benoit. It was time for him to speak.

"I didn't know you were going to beat up Benoit," Edge said as he and Kurt were eating later on. They had decided to grab a bite to eat after the show.

"Yeah, I thought it was appropriate."

"It would've been nice to know."

"Well, next time I'll be sure to inform you."

"That's all I ask. Sorry I had to spear you."

"Eh, it wasn't the first time I've been speared, it probably won't be the last," Kurt shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right."

"So you didn't have a match tonight," Kurt commented.

"Yeah, Steph said that I had the night off. I was all ready to go and everything."

"Yeah, I saw you in your wrestling tights."

"Oh well, at least I won't be sore tomorrow, and I got a night off from it, it's all good."

"Yeah, I wish I had the night off."

"What are you talking about, when you hurt your knee you didn't have to wrestle."

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right," Edge said.

"In your dreams."

Stephanie finally arrived back from the arena. She had had to stay late and analyze some of the ratings reports. She wanted her show to be the best, and the only way to insure that was to take all the responsibility upon herself.

She yawned as she opened the door to her hotel room. All the lights were already off, for which she was thankful. The neon lights at the arena were always so bright, it was nice to not have to squint all the time. She set her things down on the table, and saw that Chris was writing something at the small desk in the corner.

"Hey baby," he said, looking up momentarily.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just thinking of ideas."

"Ideas for what?"

"What I'm going to do for you for Valentine's Day."

"I don't want you to do anything," she told him, walking over to stand next to him.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, looking up at her.

"No, I'm not mad, I just don't like Valentine's Day."

"You don't?"

"No, and Hunter always used to do dumb stuff for me. I just don't think it's that great a holiday. Ooh, let's all paste little hearts all over the place. Barf me."

"Ok, I guess we don't have to do anything," he said crumpling up the paper.

"Good, let's just stay home and be alone."

"So you don't want any gifts or anything?" he asked incredulously.

"No, it's ok."

"Wow, are you sure? I don't want this to be some sort of trap or something."

"No trap, I really don't want anything."

"Ok," he said, still a little apprehensive, "So, you saw an eyeful tonight."

She laughed loudly, "Boy did I."

"If I was the mean type, I'd probably beat him up for showing himself naked in front of you."

"Yeah, but you're not the mean type."

"No, not really."

"Chris, if Bischoff stays, will you break up with me?" Stephanie blurted out.

Chris looked taken aback, "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want it to come out like that. I just meant, if Bischoff doesn't get fired, are you prepared to keep hiding?"

Chris hadn't really thought about the fact that Bischoff might stay. He didn't really know what to think exactly.

"Do I still get you?" he finally asked.

"Of course."

"Then I'd continue to hide. The hiding, to tell you the truth, doesn't bother me. I don't like it, but I think the fact that I have you negates that fact altogether."

"Really?" she said, flatter beyond words.

"Yeah, I mean, it would be hard, I'm not saying it wouldn't, but that doesn't mean I'd break up with you over it. Unless I really felt like it was getting to be too much."

"How was I ever so lucky as to get someone like you," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

"I'm the lucky one."

"I beg to differ."

"Differ all you want, I'm right, you're wrong and that's all there is to it."

"We'll see. When everyone knows about us, we'll see."


	64. Raw Gets Worse, February 10, 2003

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys. I appreciate each and every one of them.

"You sure you're going to be ok beautiful?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me," she told him, smiling softly.

"And your ribs, they're not too sore or anything?"

"No, not at all."

"Do you want me to fluff your pillows?"

"Christian, I'll be fine!" Trish said, laughing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm a big girl, I think I can take care of myself."

"But you're injured," Christian protested.

"I've been injured before," she told him.

"Yeah, but I wasn't with you then, and I am now."

"And you're being too overprotective of me."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it isn't, it's actually kind of cute really," she told him giggling.

"Maybe you should've stayed in Toronto?"

"Christian, don't make me stand up and push you out that door. Go! I promise you, I'll be just fine."

"Ok, ok, I'm going," Christian said, holding his hands up in defense of himself.

"Have a nice evening, I'll see you when you get back."

Christian leaned down to kiss him, "Yeah, you will."

Christian left then and went to Jericho's room so they could drive to arena together. He knocked on the door and moments later Stephanie answered the door. She grinned at him and ushered him in. As soon as he was in the door she gave him a big hug.

"Hey Christian, it's been a while."

Christian returned the hug, "Yeah, it has, how are you Steph?"

"I'm absolutely wonderful," she said brightly.

"She's chipper tonight," Jericho said, coming into the room from the bedroom, his bag in hand.

"Shut up you!" Stephanie said playfully, coming over and wrapping her arms around Jericho's waist.

"You guys look incredibly happy tonight," Christian told them.

"We are," they said simultaneously. They grinned at each other and kissed.

"Ok, come on lovebirds break it up," Christian said, shaking his head.

Stephanie clapped her hands together happily. Tonight was finally the night. It had only taken her six months, but she was finally getting the upper hand. She was finally getting her victory. And she and Jericho wouldn't have to hide, that was the best thing about it. She would get to show that she loved Chris Jericho.

"Have fun tonight, you two. I'll be watching," she told them as they walked towards the door.

"Of course you will, see you later baby," Jericho said, kissing her quickly.

Jericho and Christian left and walked down the hallway. Christian could feel the happiness emanating from Jericho. He was so hopeful for Bischoff being fired. He was happy for his friend, he deserved to be able to have a normal relationship.

"Trish came with me from Toronto," Christian said absently.

"That's cool," Jericho said, looking over.

"Yeah, she wanted to come."

"Kind of like Steph, she always wanted to come with me."

"It's just easier that way I guess."

"Yeah."

"You excited for tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping for the best you know," Jericho said, "I just want this so badly."

"I know, then you guys won't have to hide like you're doing something wrong."

They got down to their car and drove in relative silence to the arena. Jericho just kept thinking about how when this night was over, he would hopefully get to tell the world about him and Stephanie. And he could gloat to HHH about it, ok, that was just one of the perks.

They arrived and went immediately to their dressing room. One of the production guys came in and told Christian that he had a match against Test that evening and it was the first match up. He also told Jericho that he was having a match against Test at No Way Out.

"Great, just great," Jericho muttered as soon as the guy left.

"What's the matter?"

"A match against Test, just what I need. That guy just won't let it go will he?"

"Apparently not."

"He needs to get a grip. God, I hit Stacy what, three weeks ago, you think the guy would move onto more important things."

"I guess he just loves Stacy a lot or something," Christian shrugged, "I mean, if someone hit Stephanie like that, I'm pretty sure you'd be incensed."

"I would, but Stephanie is smart enough to know when to get out of the way. And Stephanie would never let me pity her enough to actually challenge the guy to a match."

"I guess, to each his own then."

"Yeah, well, you got a match against him shortly."

"Yeah, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to interfere or anything?"

"I don't think so. I don't want to get myself in any more trouble. I'll just stay out of it."

"Ok, that's cool, I'll take care of Test."

"Good. I'll just hang around, see if I can fit in the show somewhere."

"That's cool, I'm gonna get ready," Christian said, grabbing his things.

Jericho sat back in one of the chairs and let his mind wander. Tonight was the night he had been waiting for since last summer. He couldn't be happier. It had been tough hiding his feelings for so long, but he didn't have to worry about it for much longer. All signs pointed to Bischoff getting fired.

"I'm heading out," Christian said, suited up.

"Good luck out there."

"Thanks," Christian said leaving.

Jericho got up and turned on the television to catch the show. He turned it on just in time to see Bischoff threaten JR about Austin. Looked like Bischoff was desperate. Jericho laughed giddily. He watched as the Christian and Test match started.

Jericho was glad to see that Christian seemed to be holding his own. Much to Jericho's dismay, Test won the match. He scowled until he saw Christian attack Test from behind and then beat him up. And now Christian was going after Stacy. Served the little wench right for making him feel bad. Then Jeff came out and ruined everything. Stupid painted up freak.

Christian frowned on his way back to the locker room. Jeff Hardy has always been a thorn in his side. Ever since that first ladder match way back when. And now he had ruined his chance to get back at Stacy. He walked, in a huff, into his locker room. Jericho nodded at him.

"I can't believe that little snot nosed punk interfered in my beat down," Christian said.

"What is up with Hardy lately?"

"I have no idea, he's turned freak or something."

"He's always been a little weird, but with the paint and all that, it just makes him creepy."

"Yeah, I mean, what's he trying to hide?"

"Hey, did Trish ever date him?" Jericho asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, I remember that she kissed him in the ring once, I was just wondering if they ever dated."

"You know, I don't really know. That'd be kind of weird," Christian said, his face scrunched up.

"Sorry to bring it up."

"No, it's ok, I just don't know."

"You know, I think that stupid Hardy needs to be taught a lesson about interfering in other people's business."

"What are you planning on doing Chris?"

"Maybe make a match for later."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to Bischoff."

"Why do I get the feeling this is more to gloat then to ask for a match?" Christian joked.

"Me? Gloat? Of course not," Jericho laughed, "I'm outta here."

Jericho left and walked down the long hallway to Bischoff's office for the evening. He had to admit this was going to be quite fun. He opened the door to Bishoff's office, only to find them pacing. Jericho chuckled to himself as he walked further inside.

Jericho walked out with a smug little smile on his face. That was too much fun. Oh, how he wanted to see Bischoff's face when he revealed who he had been dating for his entire tenure on Raw. Who he had helped acquire Undertaker, Lesnar, and Matt Hardy. The night was really shaping up.

"So you did want to gloat," Christian said as he walked into the dressing room.

"Just a little."

"Well, I think you succeeded, 'Give my regards to Mr. McMahon,' classic."

"I thought so."

Jericho grabbed his wrestling tights and went to go put them on in the bathroom. He came out moments later. He went over and laced up his boots, preparing for his match later. By that time he hoped that Bischoff would be long gone. He smiled at the thought.

Jericho's phone rang and rushed over to pick it up, "Jericho."

"Hey there sexy."

"Hey baby, what's up?"

"I love you."

"That's what you called to tell me?"

"Yeah, I love what you did just now," she giggled.

"Yeah, I figured, I'd get it in while he was still employed."

"God, could this day get any better?"

"Well, he hasn't been fired yet, so let's not get our hopes too high."

"Oh come on sweetie, you heard what Shane told me this morning, Bischoff's as good as out."

"Yeah, I know, but I don't want to jinx it," Jericho told her.

"You couldn't. It's too perfectly set-up. For once Daddy is doing something right."

"Well, I think he was pretty right when he made you."

Stephanie smirked, "You're so weird sometimes."

"Yeah, so I've been told."

"Are you going to kick Jeff's ass tonight?"

"You know I am."

"Good, good, it'll just be the end to a great night."

"I hope so."

"Stop being so negative."

"I'm not, I'm just being realistic."

"Well, be quiet, because here comes Daddy."

Jericho and Stephanie stayed silent on either end as they watched Vince call out Bischoff and Morley. Stephanie smiled as she watched her father tell off Morley than move on to Bischoff. Hearing Bischoff say he hadn't gotten Austin was such a good thing to hear. And then the words that set her free, "You're fired." Stephanie let out a happy cry.

"Yes! Thank you Lord!" Stephanie screamed.

Jericho smiled happily, "It's over baby, it's all over. The sneaking around, the lies, the plans, everything."

"Well, we're not over right," Stephanie said.

"Never, we're just beginning. In the public eye that is."

"Oh my God, I'm so happy," Stephanie said, "I can't wait until you get back."

"Me neither."

"We are going to celebrate until the sun comes up."

"A bit ambitious aren't we baby?" Jericho said.

"Yeah, but I'll let you go and get ready for your match, I'll see you later."

"I'll definitely be seeing you later. I'm so glad right now, man, I'm just, speechless."

"Wow, speechless, I think this is cause for celebration. The incomparable Jericho rendered speechless."

"Bye baby."

"Bye sweetie."

"Congratulations," Christian said, patting Jericho on the back.

"Yeah, I know, I don't even know what to do."

"Why don't you just sit here and take it all in."

"Yeah."

Jericho sat down and just stared off into space, a huge grin on his face. He didn't know what to do first. Call everyone he knew and tell them that he was dating Stephanie. Find Vince and tell him that he was dating his daughter? Nah, that was something he and Stephanie should do together. Tell Bischoff? No, another thing he and Stephanie should do together. Tell HHH? No, again that was something he and Stephanie should do together. He loved the sound of that. Together. They could finally do things together, like normal people.

Jericho's cell phone rang again, but he hardly noticed. Instead, Christian came over and took it out of his hand and answered it for Jericho, who was still staring off, grinning goofily.

"Hello?"

"Christian?" Edge's voice said.

"Yeah, hey bro."

"What are you doing answering Chris's phone?"

"Well, Chris is sitting here spaced out, thinking about his good fortune."

"I thought as much, I just called Stephanie and she couldn't stop laughing. I just wanted to say congratulations. It's kind of sad to see it all end."

"Yeah, but I feel good for them."

"So do I."

Christian heard the call waiting on the phone, "Hold on, there's another call."

"It's probably Kurt."

"Yeah, it probably is, hold on."

Christian clicked over, "Hello?"

"Christian is that you?" Kurt said.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Where's Chris?"

"Zoned out and happy."

"Good, I'm glad, I wanted to say how happy I was for him. I'm about to call Steph as well."

"Yeah, I'll tell him that you called. He's really out there right now."

"Ok."

"I've got Edge on the other line, so I'll let you go ok?"

"That's fine, bye."

"Bye," Christian clicked back over to Edge, "Yeah, it was Kurt."

"Yeah, well, tell Chris that I'm really happy for him."

"Will do. Bye man."

"Bye."

Christian hung up the phone and looked back at Jericho. He was still spacing out, that grin on his face even wider, if that was even possible. Christian shook his shoulders. Jericho looked up at him while shaking his head.

"What?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Kurt and Edge just called and wanted to say congratulations."

"Cool."

"And you're match is going to be up soon."

"Oh yeah, my match," Jericho said, grabbing his wrist tape, "I've gotta get my mind off this, I'm going to be distracted."

"Yeah, and you don't want that while you're kicking Hardy's ass."

"That's right," he said, finishing his wrists.

Jericho got up and jogged in place for a little while. He finished warming up and walked out of the room, mentally preparing himself for his match. He had to get his mind on his match, not on the fact that Bischoff was gone. He walked out for his match.

AFTER THE MATCH

Jericho walked up the match, happy that he had won. He hadn't had the best match, one because Jeff wasn't a worthy opponent, and two, because his mind had been elsewhere. He wanted to get out of here and go back and celebrate with Stephanie.

As soon as he got backstage he grabbed his things and threw on a shirt. He'd shower at the hotel, maybe with Stephanie, he thought. Christian was already ready and they left almost immediately. The two talked about their girlfriends on the way back to the arena. They parted ways in the elevator and Jericho walked to his room ready to celebrate.

He walked into the room to see Stephanie throwing a vase at the wall in anger. She picked up another vase and Jericho dropped his bag quickly and ran over to her. He grabbed the vase and put it back down then looked at her in confusion.

"Steph, what's going on?"

"This!" she said, pointing at the television.

Jericho looked at the television and saw Vince talking to Bischoff and saying that he had a match at No Way Out against Austin. Jericho looked confused at the screen, then back at Stephanie who was fuming.

"Stephanie, what happened?"

"My dad reinstated him! I can't believe this!" Stephanie screeched.

"Steph, calm down, maybe your dad is just delaying it until after Austin comes back," Jericho thought rationally. He led her over to sit on the bed.

"Calm down! Calm down! How the fuck am I supposed to calm down!" Stephanie said as she started crying.

Jericho took her in his arms, "It's ok baby, it's ok, he'll get fired sooner rather than later."

"You think?" she said, sniffling.

"Yeah, it'll be ok."

"But us, what about us? We were supposed to tell everyone."

"So we put it off for a little while longer, we'll still be together when it happens."

"Good," she said, wiping her eyes, and trying to smile, "I just wanted everyone to know."

"Me too, but come on, we've been sneaking around for months, we can do it for a few more weeks."

"You're right," she said.

"Of course I am," he said, falling back with her onto the bed.

IN ANOTHER ROOM

"Did you ever date Jeff?" Christian asked.

"Why do you ask?" Trish said, turning to him.

"Well, you kissed him, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. I went on a couple dates with him, but it didn't work out."

"Oh, why not?"

"Because I thought he was a little weird."

"He is kind of weird," Christian laughed.

"I didn't like what he did tonight. Chris was right, he should've minded his own business. Attacking you like that."

"You didn't mind I was about to beat up Stacy."

"It's Stacy, of course I don't care."

"I'm sensing a strong dislike."

"Dislike? More like hate, I don't like Stacy, thinks she's so pretty and great."

"Well, you've got her beat in every category, trust me."

"Thank you," she said, leaning over to kiss him.

"Just telling what I know."

"You seem to know a lot."

"I do," Christian said, superiorly.

"Know what's going to happen now?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"I can only imagine."


	65. Valentine's Sucked, You Know Why, Februa...

A/N: Thanks again WWE for throwing me a loop with Kurt and Steph. And I have no comment about the recent unpleasantness about H and Steph. ;)

And sorry this chapter took so long to get out, there was no way I could get the chapter up before closed. :)

"Do you think it looks ok?"

"I think it looks great, you look great."

"You think?"

"I know," Jericho said, watching Stephanie from the doorway.

"You don't think the bangs make me look too childish?"

"No, I think they make you even more beautiful than you already are."

"Good answer," she said looking at him through the mirror.

Jericho walked over to her and started kissing her neck, "I told you yesterday when you cut it, you look fabulous. It's like a new look for you, different."

"But not too different right?"

"No, you're still Stephanie through and through."

"Good. I hope everyone else likes it."

"As long as you like it then it shouldn't matter one bit."

She smiled at him, "Ok, I'll take your word for it."

"Good, now get outta here."

"Why are you so eager to get me to leave?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I don't want to see your horrible haircut anymore," he joked.

"Hey!" she said touching her hair self-consciously.

"I'm kidding."

"Ok," she said, kissing him, "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

As soon as Stephanie left, Jericho closed the door and locked it, just in case Stephanie forgot something and had to come back. He rushed over to the nightstand next to the bed and picked up his cell phone. He deftly dialed Shane's number and rang him.

"Hey Shane, it's me," Jericho said.

"Hey Chris, what's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you knew what was going to happen tomorrow."

"We've gone over it a thousand times, I think I know the drill," Shane said laughing.

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure."

"I'm sure, don't worry."

Stephanie went down the hallway to Edge's room and knocked on his door. Edge was giving her a ride to the arena tonight. A few moments later, Edge opened the door and looked at her in surprise.

"Wow, new haircut Steph," he commented.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"I think you look great, it suits you."

"Thanks, I'm still getting used to it."

"Well, I like it, what does Chris think?"

"He liked it too."

"Well, if you both like it I guess that's all that matters."

"I suppose. Are we gonna get going?"

"Yeah, here let me get your things," he said, taking her bag from her.

"Thanks Edge."

"No problem."

"So are you doing anything for Valentine's?" he asked.

"No," she answered.

"Chris isn't doing anything for you, and he calls himself a romantic."

"I don't like Valentine's Day, so I told him that nothing was necessary."

"Wow, you don't like Valentine's, I figured you would be all over that holiday."

"Nah," she shrugged, "I just don't buy into it."

"That's cool, I guess," Edge said, arriving at his car.

"What about you?" Stephanie asked as they both got into the car.

"Actually I have a date," Edge said proudly.

"Really, anyone I know?"

"No, I met her at this coffee place about two weeks ago, and this is the first time we're going out."

"What a nice day to choose huh?"

"Yeah, should be fun."

They arrived at the arena and parted ways. Stephanie went to her office to settle in for the long evening. She didn't think there was anything really eventful planned, but that didn't mean things couldn't go awry during her show. And they usually did.

She managed to get some work done before the show started. She checked her watch and realized the show was already in progress by a few minutes. She turned the television on and started watching the show. It was during one of the commercial breaks when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Steph, it's me."

"Hey Shane."

"Hey, I called because Mom told me to tell you she has a meeting planned for tomorrow to go over some demographics, so we need you in Greenwich tomorrow. I booked you on the red eye, so you just have to fly there tonight."

Stephanie sighed, "Fine Shane, thanks for the notice."

"I'm sorry, but this was last minute. Chris doesn't mind if you aren't home tomorrow does he?"

"No, he probably won't. I'll tell him later. Bye Shane."

"Bye Steph, just head to the airport later and come home."

"Fine, bye," she said, hanging up the phone.

As this was going down, Edge was stopping by Kurt's locker room. He had just had his match with Haas, and was done for the night. He walked in without knocking, not knowing if he could just walk in like that, but not really caring either.

"Hey man," Edge said as Kurt looked up at him.

"Hey, good match, sorry you lost."

"Eh, it's ok. You got a match tonight."

"Nope, just hanging around doing nothing."

"Nothing eh? Stephanie got a new haircut."

"She did?"

"Yeah, looks pretty good."

"I'll have to go see her," Kurt said.

"Hey, did you know Stephanie doesn't like Valentine's Day?"

"She doesn't?"

"No, I thought that was weird."

"It kinda is."

Edge got a roguish grin on his face, "Yeah.........."

"I don't like that look."

"What if she had someone trying to be her Valentine?"

"What are you talking about, and why do I get the feeling that it's not going to be good for me?"

"You should be Steph's Valentine," Edge laughed.

"What? Yeah, and have Chris kill me in the process."

"Not for real, just go in there and pretend, play a little joke."

"Again, and have Chris kill me."

"Just say it's a joke. Come on, Steph will think it's funny, and maybe she'll lighten up about the whole Valentine's Day thing."

"And why does she need lightening up?"

"Because I have it on good authority that Chris is doing something really nice for her for Valentine's Day, and I want him to be able to enjoy it without Stephanie coming out and saying what he did was stupid."

"How come I'm so out of the loop about Chris's surprise?" Kurt frowned.

"Because everyone knows you can't keep a secret."

"Whatever. So what do you want me to do?"

"Well, I heard that Kidman gave Torrie roses, so I'll go get one of them, and you can give it to Steph."

"Man, this is going to backfire so badly," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"No it won't, it'll be great."

"Fine, get the damn rose."

"Cool, I'll be right back," Edge said running out of the room.

Moments later, Edge came back into the room, rose in hand. He smirked as he gave the rose to Kurt.

"Will you be my Valentine Kurt," Edge joked.

"Of course, I thought you'd never ask," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"Oh, I'm so happy," Edge said, putting his hands over his heart and sighing.

"I'm getting out of here before you try to kiss me or something," Kurt said, leaving.

As soon as he left, Edge went over to Kurt's bag and grabbed his cell phone. He dialed up Jericho's number and waited for him to answer the phone. This plan was going so well, Edge laughed to himself.

"Jericho here."

"I got Kurt to do it," Edge said.

"You actually got him to give the rose to Stephanie?" Jericho asked, surprised.

"Of course. I told him that it was for something for you, but I didn't tell him what."

"Ok, that's good."

"So he's going to go over there and pretend to flirt with her and stuff."

"She'll think it's hilarious."

"I know. Well, I'm going to go take a shower, so I'm going to go."

"Ok, thanks again Edge."

"No problem."

Kurt shuffled down the hallway. He was a really big idiot for doing this. He couldn't believe he let Edge talk him into this. It was stupid, but Edge had said it was for Jericho. So if Jericho knew about it, then it's ok to do. He just hoped that Stephanie wouldn't slap him or something. And who said he couldn't keep a secret, he was great at keeping secrets.

Kurt knocked on Stephanie's door, but got no answer. He knocked again a little louder in case she wasn't there. When there was no answer, he pushed the door open slightly and poked his head into the room. He didn't see her in there so he let himself in. He looked around, then sat down in her chair to wait for her.

He thought he might as well make himself comfortable and put his feet up on her desk. He looked at the rose as Stephanie walked into her office. Stephanie looked at him and he scrambled out of the chair and hid the rose behind his back. She walked over and gave him a suspicious look. He started talking, but she wanted to discuss business. She was confused by his behavior, that was for sure

Kurt started to lean in to kiss her. He knew that Stephanie would never let him kiss her, but he did think she would think it was funny. She knew that he would just joke around with her. He looked at her and her face looked absolutely horrified. He wanted to laugh when someone came in.

Kurt looked pissed, if anything could damper his mood it was Brock Lesnar, he infuriated Kurt to no end. Brock was talking about their match, and it made him so angry. He watched as he left then took his rose back much to Stephanie's surprise. He was angry. He took a deep breath and turned back to Stephanie.

"Sorry Steph," he said, handing her back the rose.

"Thanks Kurt," she said smiling, "Though I must question your motives."

"No motives, just thought I'd do something nice for you for Valentine's Day."

"You know I hate it."

"I know, but you knew you could always change your mind."

"I suppose. And why the hell did you try to kiss me?" she asked.

"To see your face," Kurt laughed, "Actually I just wanted to make you laugh."

"Thanks. You did, it's sweet of you."

"Then I did my job. I'm going to go now, I've taken up enough of your time."

"Thanks Kurt, I have to leave anyways, I have to go home."

"Why? Something with Chris?"

"No, like actual home, like Greenwich, I have to go to a meeting tomorrow."

"Oh, that's cool."

"I guess, I'm gonna head out now so I can make the flight," she grabbed her things, "Thanks again for the rose Kurt."

"Not a problem Steph, have fun."

She looked at him weird, "Ok."

Stephanie left and headed back to the hotel to get her things. She walked in and saw Jericho watching the show. He looked up at her, looked back at the TV, then back at her. Stephanie let out a laugh.

"What are you doing here?"

"Picking up my things."

"Huh?" Jericho asked, though he knew why she was really here. 

"I'm leaving tonight," she said, grabbing her suitcase.

"Where you going? You leaving me?"

"No, I have to go to a meeting in Greenwich," she sighed, "Shane called me about it."

"Oh, you want me to come?" Jericho asked, hoping that Stephanie wouldn't ask him along.

"No, that's ok, it shouldn't take all day, I'll fly home tomorrow afternoon."

"Ok," he said, standing and giving her a kiss, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok baby, I love you."

"Love you too."

Stephanie left and Jericho started gathering his things. He had a plane to catch back to Tampa. He was going out of a different airport. He got his things, then waited a while to make sure Stephanie didn't come back. As soon as he was sure she was well on her way, he himself left and checked out of the hotel.

VALENTINE'S DAY

Stephanie sat in the meeting, bored out of her mind. What a way to spend her off day, listening to her mom drone on and on about pointless stuff. She tapped her pencil impatiently against the table. Shane and Linda gave each other a look, knowing that this meeting was going as intended. They had to keep her here for a little while longer.

"Did you get that Stephanie?" Linda asked.

Stephanie looked up, "Yeah Mom, I got it."

"Good, good, I think we've got everything about covered."

"Finally," Stephanie said to herself, before gathering up her things.

"What was that Steph?" Shane said, laughing.

"Nothing," she said as they walked out together, "Are you giving me a ride?"

"Yeah, when do you want to go?"

"Right now," she said as she walked into her office and grabbed her things.

They got to Shane's car, and he drove her to the airport to catch her flight. She got on the plane and wondered if Jericho knew he had to pick her up. She grabbed the plane phone and dialed his cell number.

"Jericho."

"Sweetie, are you picking me up at the airport?"

"I can't, but I called a limo service and they'll be picking you up."

"That's fine, I'll see you in a little while then."

"Yeah, you will."

"Do you wanna order some Chinese or something for dinner?"

"We'll see when you get home ok?" Jericho smiled.

"Ok, bye sweetie."

"Bye," he said.

Stephanie dozed off for the rest of the flight and before she knew it they were landing in Tampa. She got her things and walked off the plane looking for her driver. She located him and walked to her limo and got inside. The ride home wasn't that long and they arrived quickly. The driver helped her get her things and she tipped him before going to the front door.

She took out her key and opened the door. She walked inside then saw rose petals littered all over the ground in a trail. She looked around bewildered but there was no Jericho in sight. She left her suitcase by the door and followed the trail of rose petals.

They led her out into the backyard where the sliding door was open. She walked out and looked up. She gasped in surprise. The sun was setting and Jericho had placed candles all around the pool. In the middle of the grassy area was a table set for two with a beautiful candelabra in the middle. There were rose petals all over the ground and Jericho was standing there, dressed in a dress shirt and neatly pressed pants, grinning at her. Stephanie raised a hand to her mouth.

"What is this?" she asked in awe.

"Happy Valentine's," he said smiling widely.

"But Chris I told you I didn't like Valentine's Day."

"I was hoping to change your mind on the subject."

"I can't believe this, any of this," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You're not mad are you?"

"Mad? How could I be mad?"

"I just wanted you to like everything, you may not like the day, but I figured that I could at least do something nice for you."

"This is beyond wonderful."

She ran over to him and threw her arms around him and gave him a fierce hug. He returned her embrace and pulled away to see tears in her eyes. He kissed her cheeks and held her close.

"Shall we sit down for dinner?"

"We shall," she said.

He pulled her chair for her and she sat down and smiled at him. He ran back inside and came back out with two plates. He set one down in front of her, and then put the other one on the other side of the table. She looked down and saw a beautiful meal sitting in front of her.

"Did you make this sweetie?"

"Yeah, I figured I'd show off my cooking skills."

Stephanie laughed, then started eating, "This is wonderful."

"I'm glad you like it," he said, starting to eat as well.

"You were lucky that I was gone today weren't you?" she said.

"Or maybe I had it all planned," he said sneakily.

She looked up at him, "What?"

"It was all an elaborate plan to get you out of the house today," he said proudly.

"But-but how.........."

"Well, I had Shane and your mom set up that meeting with you to get you to Greenwich. Then I asked Edge to ask Kurt to give you the flower to help you lighten up about Valentine's Day. So while you were in your meeting, I was doing all this."

"Wow, I had absolutely no idea. Though I should have suspected something when you didn't care that Kurt gave me the flower."

"Nah, I knew about it, I thought it up."

"I love all this," she said, finishing up with her food.

"This isn't it."

"You got me something?" she said.

"No. You said you didn't want a present, so this is your gift."

"Well, I love it, she said.

"Want to see the second half?"

"Always."

"Then come on," he said, standing up and grabbing her hand.

He led her upstairs and into their bedroom. There were candles burning everywhere, sending the rich fragrances of lilac and orange over the whole room. There was a single rose laying on her pillow and rose petals all around the bed.

"You know this is going to be hell to clean up all these roses later don't you?" Stephanie said as she made her way to the bed.

"Yeah, but it was worth it to see your face," he said, laying on the bed.

"This doesn't change my opinion on Valentine's Day, I still hate it."

"Well, then think of this as a consolation prize for not getting to tell everyone about us."

"I guess that's a good way to look at things," she said.

"Speaking of looking at things, there's some things I would love to look at," he said, grinning impishly.

"Oh, I'm sure there are."


	66. I'll Help Chris with the Keys, February ...

Jericho was already late for Raw that evening. The snow was horrible and he was having trouble getting a ride to the arena, despite the fact it wasn't even that far away. He had been trying to get a hold of Christian, but was having trouble. The weather was horrendous and he was just hoping he could get to the arena at all. His cell phone rang and he answered it hoping it was Christian.

"Hello?"

"Jericho, where the hell are you?"

"Bischoff?"

Stephanie looked up at him from the table she was sitting at and mouthed, "Bischoff?"

Jericho nodded, "What do you want?"

"Where are you? Don't make me ask again?"

"I'm having trouble getting to the arena ok, I'll be there as soon as I get there," he said irritated.

"Well, you better get here soon, you have a match tonight."

"What?"

"You and Christian against Jeff Hardy and Shawn Michaels," he said, spitting out the final name.

"Well, I'm trying to get there ok?"

"Well, try harder," Bischoff said, hanging up.

Jericho scowled, "Have I mentioned lately how much I hate that man."

"Not in the last couple days, no," Stephanie said.

"Well, I'm saying it now," he looked at his watch, "Damn I'm so late."

"Why don't you wear your tights to the arena so you don't have to change," she suggested.

"Great idea, now I know why I keep you around," he smiled.

"I knew there was some reason."

Jericho went over and grabbed three pairs of tights, "Which ones, the blue and purple ones, the black ones, or the pink ones?"

"The pink ones, they match your sparkly pajamas."

"Ok, good choice," Jericho said, dropping his pants and changing right there.

"I love the show," Stephanie said clapping.

"Shut up, I can change in front of you," he said, sticking his tongue out.

"I never said I minded."

Jericho's cell phone rang again, he picked it up, "What now?"

"Chris, it's Chrisitian."

"Oh, sorry man, I thought you were Bischoff."

"Oh, did he call you too."

"Yeah," Jericho sighed, "So where the hell are you?"

"I'm downstairs, come down and we'll go."

"Ok, good."

"Our match is no DQ," Christian told him.

"It is?"

"Yeah," he answered.

Jericho thought for a moment, "I've got a plan."

"What kind of plan?"

"You'll see when we get to the arena, I'll be right down."

"Ok, see you in a few."

Jericho went over and rooted through his bag looking for something that he knew was in there. He couldn't find them anywhere. Maybe they were in Stephanie's bag. He went over to Stephanie's bag and looked through there. He found them at the very bottom under a pair of pants. He picked them up and held them up proudly.

He slipped them into his wrestling bag quickly, not wanting Stephanie to know that she had taken them. Stephanie looked up again from her work and just watched what he was doing. He came over and kissed her forehead quickly.

"I'll see you later baby."

"What were you just doing sweetie?" she asked.

"You'll see on the show, go watch it."

"Why? You're not there yet."

"But I will be."

"Fine, fine, I'll go watch," she said, kissing him.

"Good, til later," he said, grabbing his bag and running out of the room.

He met Christian downstairs and they walked out into the chilly parking lot and into Christian's rental. They drove fairly slowly to the arena, not wanting to get in an accident on the icy roads. They got to the arena safely and walked inside. They had about fifteen minutes until their match.

"So what was this little plan of yours," Christian said, claiming a locker.

"This," Jericho said pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

"Whoa, where the hell did those come from," Christian saw Jericho give him a look, "Ok, maybe I really don't want to know."

"Good boy, that's the right thing," he said, patting Christian's shoulder.

"So where do those work into our match?"

"I was thinking we handcuff Michaels to the ring, that way, we can beat on him whenever we want, and that leaves Jeff alone to fend for himself and he has no way to retaliate against us, we're much too good."

"Damn right we are. I'm game for this little plan."

"Cool, this'll be great," Jericho said, high fiving Christian.

"Just let me give my woman a call."

Jericho rolled his eyes, "Fine."

Christian grabbed his cell phone and dialed Trish's number, "Hello my beautiful girlfriend."

"Hey Chrissy," Trish said, "Did you make it there alright?"

"Yeah, safe and sound, how are you?"

"I'm ok, just sitting here lonely," she said laughing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll be there tomorrow and I'll keep you company all week long I promise."

"I can't wait," she said.

"Good, but I've gotta go now, I have to get ready for my match."

"Ok Chrissy, I'll see you in a while," she said.

Christian hung up the phone and sighed happily. Everything was going so well with Trish. Better than he could have ever possibly imagined. He didn't think he had ever been happier than he was now. Jericho looked over at him, a grin on his face after thinking and preparing for his match.

AFTER THE MATCH

Jericho stalked up the ramp. He was beyond pissed off. He had just lost to Jeff Hardy. Jeff Hardy! Jeff Hardy of all people. This was terrible. If it weren't for that asshole HBK, he would've had the match won, but no, of course not.

Christian trailed after Jericho, wondering if he was ok. He seemed very angry. Jericho started trashing things and cursing about losing to Jeff Hardy. Christian tried to calm him down but it was hard. Jericho threw various things around before Christian convinced him to come back to the locker room.

Along the way they walked past HHH and his little cronies. They snickered as Jericho and Christian walked by. Jericho's eyes blazed in anger and he stopped and looked back at HHH. He walked straight up to the man and frowned.

"What the hell are you snickering at asshole," Jericho spat out.

"Just seeing you lose to Jeff Hardy of all people," HHH laughed.

"As I recall you once lost to Jeff Hardy, for a title I believe."

HHH's face darkened, then became blank, "Let's go guys."

"What, too afraid of me," Jericho said.

"I don't want to waste my time on you Jericho," HHH said.

"Fine don't," Jericho smirked, "Look Christian, I think evolution just passed me by. But in Hunter's case I think it's reverse evolution."

HHH's nostrils flared, which was very noticeable considering his huge nose. Jericho just laughed heartily and walked away, glad that he had walked away with the upper hand. Served the stupid dick right. If there was anyone he hated in the company is was that man right there, and it surpassed more than just his past with Stephanie.

Jericho walked into the locker room, losing his air of cool as soon as he walked in. He was still incredibly pissed off. He kicked around his bag and punched the wall, luckily not leaving a dent in it. Christian just watched him.

"Chris, how bout we leave ok? I don't think that we should hang around here, you might get even angrier."

"Whatever," Jericho said, leaning against the wall testily.

"Ok."

Jericho gathered up his things that he had strewn about, and packed it all into his bag. He and Christian bundled themselves up before going out into the bitter cold. They got into their car and made their way, slowly like before, back to the hotel. Jericho was silent the entire time, but Christian could tell he was fuming.

Jericho got out at his hotel and made his way up to the room, still irritated, with a frown on his face. As soon as he was in the room he threw his bag at the wall causing a loud bang, causing Stephanie to jump in fright, she had never seen him this angry, and it was kind of scaring her.

"Chris," she said meekly.

"Shut up Stephanie!" he yelled.

Stephanie was taken aback by his behavior, "I just wanted to say--"

"I don't want to hear it ok," he snapped, "I don't need any fucking comforting right now, I'm just fucking pissed off at everything!"

"Sorry," Stephanie said quietly.

"I hate all this you know! I hate all this fucking bullshit! First with Bischoff not getting fired, then with fucking Jeff Hardy, then with your fucking ex-husband that never lays off!"

"What happened with Hunter?" Stephanie asked timidly.

"He's a fucking asshole that's what! What the fuck do you think I was going to say!?!"

Stephanie's eyes started to water, she didn't like this side of Jericho, "I don't know."

She made her escape to the bedroom and climbed under the covers, starting to cry silently. She didn't know why, but this all felt like her fault. If she had tried harder to get Bischoff fired, or if she hadn't asked Jericho to hide everything.

Jericho paced the room, just thinking about tonight. So many things were wrong with it, it wasn't even worth thinking about it all. Sometimes the stress just got to him. He had to let it all out somehow. Usually he did it in the ring, but tonight just wasn't' fun at all. He managed to calm down considerably and walked into the bedroom.

He looked over at the bed and thought that Stephanie was sleeping. He grabbed some pajamas and changed, then went and brushed his teeth. He got into bed and lay down on his side. After a while he could hear Stephanie's quiet sobbing. He realized he had treated her horribly earlier and felt dreadful about it.

"Steph," he whispered.

She didn't answer.

"Stephy," he whispered again.

She still didn't answer. Jericho scooted over and wrapped an arm around her waist and cuddled up behind her. He leaned down and kissed her cheek softly, tasting the saltiness of her tears on his lips. He sighed to himself.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. And I shouldn't have been rude to you and discarded you like I did. It's just I was mad about my match. Then after the match Hunter commented on how bad it was that I lost to Jeff, and that made me even more angry. None of this had anything to do with you."

"I didn't like that guy that was just here," she said quietly, "He frightened me."

Jericho sighed, "I'm so sorry baby, I didn't mean to blow up like that."

"Promise never to do it again."

"I promise that I'll never let you see me like that again."

She smiled softly, "Ok. Then I'm sorry about tonight."

"It'll be ok."

"I thought it was all my fault you were angry."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't try hard enough to let us be known."

"I'm fine with that. And I could never be angry at you.........unless you know, you cheat on me or we fight or something," he chuckled.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm glad you're not angry anymore."

"I'll just wait until No Way Out to let this anger out."

"Good idea. Sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"Were those our handcuffs you used tonight?"


	67. A Year Ago, Tomorrow, It Began, February...

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. :)  
  
And I know that Edge is injured, but since they didn't say it on the show and there might be an angle on Sunday about it, I'm not writing it in right now. And as for Sunday, there may not be a chapter. It depends on whether I see the PPV or not. Just letting you know ahead of time. :)  
  
"I'm coming with you today."  
  
"What?!?"  
  
"You heard me, I'm coming with you tonight," he said.  
  
"You can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because Chris, you know that."  
  
"I wanna come."  
  
"But no one can see you."  
  
"I know that."  
  
"Well, if you know that, why do you want to come?"  
  
"Just cause. I just want to see you in action, being all business like and all 'Ooh, look at me, I'm the General Manager.' You know like that."  
  
"Well, I can do that here."  
  
"Yeah, but it's no fun with just you and me."  
  
"Oh really, that's not what you were saying last night," Stephanie answered, looking at him pointedly.  
  
"Yeah, but I have motives for wanting to come, so please," he said, sticking his bottom lip out and looking a pathetic as he possibly could.  
  
"Motives? What kind of motives?"  
  
"You can't know."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I said so, and what I say is gospel."  
  
"Yeah, right, maybe in your own mind, but nowhere else," she told him, laughing.  
  
"So are you going to let me come or not?"  
  
"Do you promise not to reek havoc?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Do you promise not to let yourself be seen?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Do you promise not to interrupt my work?"  
  
"Well, see that's where I may have to draw--"  
  
"Chris," she said, warningly.  
  
"Fine, fine, I promise not to interrupt your work," he conceded.  
  
"Then you may come."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"If you're coming then we need to leave."  
  
"Ok, let's jet."  
  
Jericho picked up Stephanie's bag and she sent him a smile. Luckily Stephanie was arriving way earlier today, so there wouldn't be a lot of people around to see him. He drove her to the arena and parked close to the arena in case they needed to get out quickly.  
  
Stephanie went up to the door and opened it, looking inside to see if there was anyone there. She didn't see anyone so she signaled for Jericho to follow her. He came over and together made their way down the hallway to Stephanie's office, always looking around them for people who would blow their careful cover.  
  
They got to the office undetected and Stephanie ushered Jericho inside. As soon as they were both inside, Stephanie locked the doors, making sure that anyone who wanted to come in would have to knock first. Jericho made himself comfortable on the leather sofa that was up against the wall.  
  
"I still don't understand why you wanted to come tonight."  
  
"Is it so bad that your boyfriend wanted to spend the night at work with you?"  
  
"When all of five people know that you and your boyfriend are together, and everyone else thinks that we hate each other, and if your career can be in jeopardy by it, then you I think it is that bad," she said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, when you put it like that," Jericho joked.  
  
"Sorry sweetie, but it's the truth, and you know what they say, the truth hurts."  
  
The hours passed slowly, and everyone started arriving. Stephanie had had to leave a few times to look or discuss things going on with the show. Jericho just hang out in the office, generally being quiet and letting Stephanie go about her work.  
  
He loved watching her work though. She had the cutest face when she was concentrating. She would bite her lip in the most adorable way, and he couldn't help but smile every time he saw that face. And she was so driven and in charge, he was proud to call her his girlfriend.  
  
The show started and Stephanie was up and about, busy working and making sure everything was going to plan. Jericho watched the show from the couch. They were about 30 minutes into the show when he heard Stephanie's secret knock. He went and opened the door.  
  
Stephanie walked back into the room, "Sorry bout that sweetie, but I needed to have a meeting with someone."  
  
"Oh who?"  
  
"Me," Edge said, walking into the room, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to be with Stephanie while she worked."  
  
"Well, I guess that's sweet of you," Edge said awkwardly.  
  
"So what did you want to talk about Edge?" Stephanie asked, sitting back down behind her desk.  
  
"I was wondering if I could have the night off."  
  
"Why do you need the night off?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I think I'm coming down with something, and I know that I wouldn't be on top of my game if I were to wrestle, and I don't think that would be good for me or any opponent I was to go against."  
  
"And you don't think that it would be good to go out there?" she asked seriously.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, I don't want to go out there and mess up horribly."  
  
"Well, I guess I could let you have this one night off, but don't think that this will be a normal occurrence."  
  
"Thanks Steph, I really appreciate this."  
  
"It's ok Edge, I hope that you feel better."  
  
"Me too," Jericho cut in.  
  
"Thanks you guys, I'm going to go back to my dressing room and rest, I'm so tired."  
  
"Ok, bye Edge," Stephanie said.  
  
"Yeah, bye man," Jericho told him as he left.  
  
"Great," Stephanie said, as he left.  
  
"What's the matter babe?"  
  
"Nothing, I just have to fill out the card without Edge," she said, getting up to lock the door again.  
  
"I'm sure you'll be able to."  
  
"I know I will, it's just more work for me, yay," she said, blandly.  
  
"You lose all sense of humor at work, you know that."  
  
"Wow, thanks for your great commentary," she answered, dryly.  
  
"Cheer up," he said, taking her in his arms and pulling her down on top of him on the couch.  
  
"I'm not upset."  
  
"Doesn't matter, I want you to cheer up. This is a good night."  
  
"Just why is this a good night Chris?"  
  
"It just is," he said, leaning up to kiss her.  
  
"But--"she started, but was cut off by his lips on hers again.  
  
They made out in earnest for a while. Jericho ran his hands up and down Stephanie's back. She sighed happily as he moved down to kiss her neck. She ran her hands through his hair. Things were starting to get pretty heated up when there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Let's ignore it," Jericho whispered.  
  
"Sounds good to me," Stephanie whispered back, then when back to kissing him.  
  
The person knocked again, "Hey Steph, it's Kurt."  
  
"Kurt, I'm busy!" Stephanie called out, causing Jericho to laugh lowly.  
  
"But Steph, I need to talk."  
  
"Can it wait Kurt?"  
  
"No, because my match is coming up in a little while and I need to talk to you about it," he called out.  
  
Stephanie sighed, "Ok Kurt, I'll be right there."  
  
Jericho groaned as Stephanie got off of him. She stood up and adjusted her blouse, straightening it out. Jericho smirked at her and sat up, smoothing his shirt. Stephanie got up and walked over to the door. She let Kurt in, and made sure he was alone. She locked the door behind him.  
  
"Chris?" he said, surprised to see him there.  
  
"Yeah, hey."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"Being with Stephanie."  
  
"Oh, well, Stephanie, I needed to discuss my match with you."  
  
"Ok, let's get to it then," Stephanie said, sitting on top of her desk.  
  
"I don't think that I should fight Brock tonight," he said, straight out.  
  
"What do you mean? You wanted this match and everything."  
  
"Well, I was thinking. This really isn't a match you should show on a SmackDown, you should wait for a Pay Per View."  
  
Stephanie thought for a moment, "That is a smart idea, but what are you going to do for tonight, I've already signed off the match."  
  
"Well, I was thinking. Maybe I make it a stipulation match."  
  
"What kind of stipulation?"  
  
"If Brock can beat Shelton and Charlie then he can get to me," Kurt told her.  
  
"But what if he beats them both?"  
  
"I'm confident that one of them can beat him, or at least get him tired enough he doesn't want to fight."  
  
"But if he does?"  
  
"Well, then I'll just have them interfere and then I get disqualified, and end of match."  
  
"Why did you have to ask me for?"  
  
"I just wanted to get your opinion on the matter."  
  
"I think that's fine Kurt. Edge is sick so I can give you more time to execute this plan. Just be ready by about 9:30 ok?" she said.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds great, thanks Stephanie, I knew that you'd give me the best advice."  
  
"That's what I'm here for after all isn't it?"  
  
"I suppose so," Kurt turned to Jericho, "So really, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I just wanted to be with Steph," Jericho answered, "You all act as if that's some sort of crime."  
  
"Well, I mean, it can be construed as that by some people who have disdain for you."  
  
"Now who could hate me?" Jericho said, giving his best innocent look.  
  
"Shawn Michaels, for one," Kurt said, chuckling.  
  
"Eh, he's a has-been, his opinion doesn't matter," Jericho said, bitterly.  
  
"Chris is still upset about what happened on Monday," Stephanie told Kurt.  
  
"I saw, that did suck," Kurt said.  
  
"That's why I gave up the Test match for No Way Out."  
  
"You gave up your match against Test?" Kurt asked incredulously, "So what are you going to do on Sunday?"  
  
"I'm facing Jeff. I think it's about time that stupid little rainbow- haired punk deserves a patented Y2J beating. Thinks he can beat me!?! Me, of all people, I don't think so."  
  
"That's in the bag," Kurt said, "He's not even a challenge."  
  
"I know, that makes it even better. He'll just be practice for when I finally get my hands on Michaels."  
  
"Be careful though, HBK might want to interfere, seeing as how he looks like he's trying to be Jeff's mentor," Kurt said derisively.  
  
"You're right," Jericho said, "I'll definitely be on the look-out."  
  
"Kurt, you might want to go," Stephanie said, "Your match, or whatever, is up soon."  
  
"Oh thanks for letting me know Steph, nice seeing you man," he said, shaking Jericho's hand.  
  
"Yeah, talk to you later Kurt," Jericho said.  
  
"Bye Kurt," Stephanie said, closing the door behind him and locking it again.  
  
"Hey Stephanie, do you remember a SmackDown that happened last year?" Jericho said, coming over to sit on the desk.  
  
"Sweetie, there was a lot of SmackDown's last year," she said, laughing.  
  
"Well, how about the one that happened a year ago tomorrow?"  
  
"A year ago tomorrow, what's today?"  
  
"February 20," he said.  
  
"So tomorrow would be February 21st," she answered.  
  
"Yeah, ring any bells?"  
  
"Bells, should it?" she asked.  
  
"Stephanie I'm insulted you don't remember."  
  
"Remember what?"  
  
"Nothing," Jericho said, looking away, disappointed that Stephanie seemed to forget what had happened on the show a year ago tomorrow.  
  
Stephanie came up to him and gently put her hand up to his cheek. Jericho tried to move away, but she would just put her hand back where it was. She moved his face to look into her eyes. He looked into her eyes, still upset that she didn't know why he had decided to spend this particular night with her.  
  
She smirked at him, "So Chris, what do you say we be 'more than friends'? Let's be business partners, what do you say?  
  
Jericho looked at her and grinned, she had remembered, "What do I say? I say Triple H's worst nightmare just came true."  
  
"How could I possibly forget that night Chris?" she asked, leaning in to kiss him softly.  
  
"I thought you had."  
  
"Never, I could never forget the night that you told me, what was it you told me, never meaning anything--"  
  
"I believe I said that I was wrong about how I thought about you, Stephanie. That in reality, I actually kind of admire you Steph."  
  
"Ah, that's it. Shocked the hell out of me, you did."  
  
"I was surprised you actually wanted to partner with me."  
  
"Of course I would, I'm not stupid."  
  
"So it was that night that ultimately was the catalyst for all of this I guess," he said.  
  
"It was wasn't it?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"So I guess I have to thank you for interrupting me that night."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Thank you for coming into my life Chris, and thank you for saving me, not only from Hunter, but from myself as well."  
  
"You know what, I saw you standing out there, yelling at your ex-husband. I couldn't help but come out there. You needed to be interrupted. You were talking to much."  
  
"You always managed to shut me up didn't you?"  
  
He kissed her, "It was my unending charm and charisma."  
  
"I think it was your vinyl pants, I've never been able to resist you in those pants, even when I hated your guts."  
  
"Ah, so that's why you wanted to be my partner, cause I was wearing the vinyl pants."  
  
"You caught me."  
  
"Happy partnership anniversary."  
  
"I'm glad we became 'more than friends.'" 


	68. Chris Won Clean, Yay, No Way Out, Februa...

A/N: I decided to do the chapter. Man, I think I'm hooked on writing this story. ;)  
  
I'm writing under the assumption that it was Team Angle who "beat up" Edge and I hope, hope, hope that WWE doesn't try to swerve us and have it be someone completely different.  
  
"Are you going to be great?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Are going to kick ass?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Are you going to win?"  
  
"Hell yeah!"  
  
"Then get out there and prove it to me!" she said loudly, but not loud enough for people to hear.  
  
"Ok!"  
  
Jericho leaned over and kissed Stephanie before going out for his match against Jeff Hardy. Stephanie sat on her desk and turned on the television, preparing herself to see her boyfriend kick some major ass.  
  
Jericho walked backstage, happy and excited that he had just won. It wasn't so much that he beat Jeff Hardy, just the fact that he had won the match. It was all good. Except for Michaels coming out after the match. He had no business being down there. Why the hell did he have to come out? Just to get back at Jericho, how pathetic was he?  
  
"Good job out there man," Christian said.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Jeff Hardy never stood a chance."  
  
"I know, it's pathetic for him to even try to be in my league."  
  
As they were walking down the hallway, they saw Kurt walking down the hallway. They waved him over. Kurt smiled then jogged over to the both of them.  
  
"Congratulations on your match," Kurt said, shaking Jericho's hand.  
  
"Thanks Kurt, where are you headed off to?"  
  
"Oh, I have to talk to someone about something."  
  
"Oh really, about your match later, perhaps," Jericho said.  
  
"Maybe," was the only information that Kurt would divulge.  
  
"Well, good luck later," Christian said.  
  
"Yeah, thanks, I hope it will be."  
  
"It will, you'll kick ass out there," Jericho said, "Now, I want to go get a shower and get back to my woman."  
  
"Ok, see you guys later," Kurt said to their retreating figures.  
  
Kurt walked down the corridor to Edge's dressing room. He looked both ways before knocking. He could always say he was trying to psych out Edge if someone came by, but he didn't want to rock right in if there were other people out there.  
  
"Come in," Edge called out.  
  
Kurt walked into the room and closed the door, "Hey man."  
  
"Oh hey, you ready for our match later."  
  
"Yeah, but there's a favor I need to ask you."  
  
"Favor? You aren't going to ask me to take it easy on you are you Kurt?" Edge joked.  
  
"Never, but I was wondering if you wanted to get the night off."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, I just want my team to win, but most importantly, I want my hands on Lesnar."  
  
"Ok, but why can't I be there."  
  
"I just want it to be a little bit easier."  
  
"Well, I can't just get out of the match Kurt."  
  
"I can help, I talked to my team, and we came up with a plan."  
  
"I'm not sure that I like the sound of your voice when you say plan," Edge said, cautiously.  
  
"Trust me, you won't get hurt. It'll all be cool I promise."  
  
"Are you absolutely positive?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Fine, but I hope you know I'm only doing this because I'm your friend, and I don't mind backing out of a match because we're buddies."  
  
Kurt smiled, "Thanks man."  
  
"So what's the plan?"  
  
"Well, I was going to execute a little beat-down."  
  
"On me?" Edge said nervously.  
  
"Yeah, except it would just be me."  
  
"Oh, ok, so you wouldn't actually be beating me up."  
  
"Exactly, just enough for you to be unable to perform for your match," Kurt said, grinning like an idiot about his plan.  
  
"Ok, sounds cool, when should we do this."  
  
"As soon as possible, I'll go get the boys, I told them I had a plan to gain the advantage. You walk backstage over by the production trucks and I'll come attack you while they watch."  
  
"Ok, I'll leave as soon as you leave."  
  
"Cool, thanks again Edge," Kurt said, patting his back.  
  
"It's ok, what are friends for huh?"  
  
"Yeah," Kurt chuckled, "See you in a few."  
  
Kurt walked back to his locker room and walked in. Benjamin and Haas were sitting there waiting for their match. Kurt signaled them over, that it was time to execute his little plan. They walked down the corridor to where Kurt knew Edge would be. They turned the corner and Edge was standing there, pretending to be oblivious.  
  
"Now stay here while I go kick his sorry ass," Kurt whispered to his team. They nodded in comprehension.  
  
Kurt walked over and turned Edge around quickly, pretending to punch Edge. Edge staggered back like he had actually been hit. Kurt then pretended to hit him in the stomach and Edge doubled over in "pain." Kurt continued his fake assault of Edge, while Edge played along.  
  
Then something unfortunate happened. Haas and Shelton began to get antsy. They wanted to get in on this action. They ran over quickly and started pummeling Edge. Except this was real plummeting, brutal and unyielding. Kurt was pushed out of the way by the two.  
  
"We'll take care of him Boss," Haas muttered as they continued their assault of Edge.  
  
Kurt stood there, unsure of what to do. He wanted to help Edge, but at what expense. Everything Stephanie and Jericho had worked so carefully to build. But he couldn't watch this anymore. Edge was starting to cough up blood and was now what seemed to be unconscious.  
  
"Boys, I think you've taken care of him," Kurt said, trying to pull them away from his fallen friend.  
  
"Come on, let us finish him," Benjamin said.  
  
Kurt looked down in horror, "No, you've done enough ok. We only wanted him out of the match."  
  
"Looks like he won't be in matches for a while," Haas, said laughing.  
  
"Come on," Kurt snapped, walking away.  
  
Meanwhile, Jericho had just finished up his shower and was on his way to Stephanie's office. He was done for the evening, and while Stephanie had to stay, he figured that he could hang around her for the rest of the night. Suddenly he saw Benoit running down the hallway.  
  
"Hey Benoit, where's the fire?" Jericho said to his former rival.  
  
"Someone attacked Edge, he's unconscious, I've gotta go see him," Benoit said, before running away.  
  
Jericho stood, mouth agape for a moment, then continued quickly to Stephanie's office. She needed to be informed of this, immediately. She was the boss, and she needed to know that one of her most popular superstars was hurt.  
  
He walked into Stephanie's office without knocking, not caring if there was anyone in there or not. Unfortunately Vince McMahon himself was in the office. Jericho stood frozen for a moment looking at the two of them sitting there discussing something.  
  
"Jericho?" Vince said, confused.  
  
"Um, yeah."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Stephanie looked at him, shock plain on her face, not knowing what to do. Oh God, there plan was screwed, everything was screwed because of this. She tried to remain calm, but she couldn't help but feel like the world was crumbling down around her.  
  
"Jericho," she said snidely, putting on her cover.  
  
"Stephanie," Jericho said just as sarcastically.  
  
"What the hell do you want?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I was walking down the hallway and Benoit wanted me to tell you something."  
  
"Why didn't he just tell me himself, instead of sending someone who I despise," Stephanie said rudely, hoping that this was convincing her father.  
  
"Chris, why don't you just tell her what Benoit told you."  
  
"Your precious little Edge got attacked and is unconscious out back, might want to go check on that," Jericho said, walking out.  
  
He breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he was able to put on a disinterested front for Vince. Stephanie ran out of the room a second later, intent on finding out just what had happened. Jericho watched her go, then Vince left the office as well.  
  
"Thank you Jericho," he said.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For telling Stephanie about Edge even though you hate her."  
  
Jericho wanted to laugh. Hate Stephanie? Nothing could be further from the truth. How great it would be if he could just tell Vince that he loved Stephanie. That he was madly in love with her, and wanted to marry her, and spend the rest of his days with her by his side. He was so very tempted.........so tempted.  
  
"Vince," Jericho started.  
  
"Yes Jericho?"  
  
Jericho sighed, "It wasn't a problem telling her. I had to."  
  
Jericho walked away. God, he couldn't believe he had almost told Vince. Stephanie would probably break up with him if he had told Vince. Jericho sighed again, thinking about how shitty it was that he had to keep this secret. Then he remembered Christian had no idea what was going on and ran back to their dressing room. He burst into the room.  
  
"Yeah Trish, I'll be there as soon as I can, I was just about to leave," Christian said, talking to Trish on his cell phone.  
  
"Christian, you can't leave," Jericho said, breathless.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's Edge."  
  
"Trish, can I call you back later," Christian said into his phone, "K, bye."  
  
"You might not be able to make it tonight."  
  
"What happened with Edge?"  
  
"He got attacked, a little while ago. I don't know how bad, but he was unconscious," Jericho told him.  
  
"Oh my God!" Christian exclaimed.  
  
Jericho's cell phone rang and he quickly went over and picked it up, "Jericho speaking."  
  
"Sweetie, it's me," Stephanie said on the other line.  
  
"Steph, what happened? Where are you?"  
  
"I'm on my way to the hospital," she answered.  
  
"Hospital?" Jericho asked, eyeing Christian, who was now pacing nervously.  
  
"Yeah, it's bad sweetie, he's still unconscious. Who could do such a thing?"  
  
"I don't know baby, are you going to be staying at the hospital?"  
  
"Yeah, I can't leave him."  
  
"We're coming down," Jericho said firmly.  
  
"We?"  
  
"Christian and I. Where are you headed?" He heard Stephanie ask someone where they were going, before coming back on the line.  
  
"Sequoia Hospital," she said.  
  
"Ok, I know where that is, we'll be there shortly."  
  
"Ok, love you."  
  
"Love you too," Jericho said, hanging up.  
  
"What's going on Chris?" Christian asked, horribly worried.  
  
"They're taking him to the hospital right now. We're leaving right now," Jericho said, grabbing his things.  
  
Christian grabbed his things as well, and together walked quickly out of the arena. They were tempted to wait for Kurt's match to finish, but they saw that it was still going on and decided that Kurt could come of his own volition.  
  
What Jericho and Christian didn't see was the fact that Kurt was very much distracted. He didn't even know why Benjamin and Haas had decided to be so violent with Edge. He couldn't ask them anything without someone getting suspicious.  
  
He tried to keep his mind on the match, but was finding it exceedingly difficult. He couldn't stop seeing Benjamin and Haas beating up on a defenseless Edge. He had tried to stop it, but by the time he had stepped in, Edge was already in a bad way. Kurt sighed and tagged in.  
  
Jericho and Christian drove silently to the hospital. Jericho understood that Christian probably didn't want to talk right now. He probably had bigger things on his mind. Even Jericho himself had other things on his mind. Like who exactly could've done this? Who would be callous enough to beat someone so badly? It made his blood cold to think about the possibilities.  
  
They reached the hospital and as soon as Jericho had parked, Christian was off and running towards the entrance doors. Jericho got out and followed him, trying to catch up to the other blond man.  
  
"Hi, did someone come in here, professional wrestler," Christian said, rushing up to Information.  
  
"Christian," a female voice said. He looked up to see Stephanie walking over to him. He ran over to her.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"He's in with the doctors right now, they can't tell me anything because I'm not family."  
  
"Well I am! And I want to know what's going on!" Christian exclaimed, looking for the nearest doctor.  
  
Jericho came up and wrapped an arm around Stephanie, "How you holding up beautiful?"  
  
"I'm ok, I'm not the one in there."  
  
"Yeah, but Edge is your friend, our friend, and you have every right to be concerned."  
  
"I know, but I feel more badly for Edge and Christian than I do for myself."  
  
"I know. I'm proud that you were able to keep your composure during that whole thing," he told her, kissing her temple.  
  
"How did you know I kept my composure?"  
  
"I saw it on the television in the locker room."  
  
"Oh," she sighed, "I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."  
  
"Me too."  
  
Christian walked back over to them, "Well, I just talked to the doctor."  
  
"And?" Jericho asked.  
  
"He said that Edge injured his neck and it looks pretty bad, and it'll require some serious surgery."  
  
Stephanie gasped, "Oh my God."  
  
Jericho shook his head, "I can't believe this."  
  
"Who could possibly do this?" she asked out loud.  
  
Kurt was gathering his things. His match was over, his team lost, but that didn't matter right now. Kurt had already taken a quick shower and was going to go straight to the hospital. He really hadn't meant for any of this to happen. Edge was his friend, he'd never want to see him hurt.  
  
Kurt rushed out as soon as he was done getting all his things together. He had found out through the grapevine which hospital Edge was at. He rushed over there and into the hospital. After finding out where Edge was, he went up to the room that Edge had been moved to.  
  
He took the elevator up and to the floor that Edge was on. He looked around for the room, before finding it and walking in. He found Christian sitting next to the bed, looking at the still unconscious Edge. Jericho was in another chair, with Stephanie sitting on his lap, her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed. He looked at them sadly.  
  
"Hey," he said simply.  
  
They turned to him, Christian spoke first, "Hey Kurt."  
  
"How is he?"  
  
"His neck is in bad shape. He's gonna need surgery," Christian filled him in.  
  
"Oh man," Kurt muttered, then sat next to Stephanie and Jericho.  
  
"How was your match?" Jericho asked.  
  
"We lost, it's ok though."  
  
"Sorry Kurt," Stephanie said, opening her eyes and yawning.  
  
"I had other things on my mind."  
  
"I'm sure," Jericho said.  
  
Stephanie's cell phone rang, "Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"Steph, it's Shane."  
  
"Oh hey Shane."  
  
"How's Edge?"  
  
"He's gonna need neck surgery. The serious kind."  
  
"Oh man. That sucks, I just wanted to call and wish him well. I was hoping it wasn't too serious."  
  
"It is. Shane, do me a favor, call Daddy and tell him about Edge's condition and tell him not to come down here if you could."  
  
"Sure thing Steph, I'll get right on that."  
  
"Thanks Shane," she said, "Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Kurt looked at Edge. Then at Christian, "You guys I know who did this?"  
  
Everyone looked at him, "Who?"  
  
"It was Shelton and Charlie."  
  
"What?!?" Stephanie practically yelled.  
  
"I had made a plan with Edge to pretend to beat him up."  
  
"Why?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Because I wanted to win the match, but also to be able to get my hands on Brock."  
  
"So you beat him up?" Christian asked.  
  
"No. I pretended to beat him up."  
  
"So how did Haas and Benjamin get involved?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"I don't know all of a sudden they were beating him up, even though I told them to stay back."  
  
"I can't believe they did this?" Stephanie said softly.  
  
"I feel like this is all my fault," Kurt said sullenly.  
  
"Did you participate in beating him up?" Christian asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Did you try to stop them?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then it wasn't your fault."  
  
"I just feel like it is," Kurt sighed.  
  
"It wasn't," came a fifth voice. They all turned to see Edge lying awake.  
  
"You're awake," Christian said happily.  
  
"Yeah, I'm awake."  
  
"I'm so glad," Stephanie said.  
  
"Good to see you man," Jericho said.  
  
"I'm really sorry about what happened tonight," Kurt told him sheepishly.  
  
"It's ok. You couldn't have predicted that would happen. I mean, you were doing such a good job of pretending to beat me up, they actually wanted to join in," Edge said, laughing a little, then wincing in pain.  
  
"You ok?" Christian asked.  
  
"No, in pain. What did the doctor say?"  
  
Everyone avoided his gaze.  
  
"It's not good is it?" he said.  
  
"It's bad," Stephanie spoke up.  
  
"Damn, how long am I going to be out?"  
  
"A long time," Christian said, "Upwards of a year."  
  
Edge groaned, "You've got to be kidding me? Please tell me you're kidding me?"  
  
"Sorry Edge," Christian said.  
  
"Damn it!" he yelled angrily, "This is just fucking great!"  
  
"I'm so sorry man, if I hadn't thought of that stupid plan," Kurt said, angry at himself.  
  
"Kurt, it's not your fault, really. But next time, leave the scheming to the professionals, like Stephanie," Edge said, turning slightly to smile at the brunette.  
  
"I would take offense to that, but it's kind of a compliment," she said.  
  
"It's ok, I'll be fine. A year will go back faster than I know it, and well, maybe I can find myself a good woman while I'm out on injury."  
  
"Leave it to you to think of a way to pass the time," Christian said.  
  
"Well, you know, I'm sure chicks will dig the neckbrace." 


	69. No H, Color Me Shocked, February 24, 200...

"I'm so glad to be back."  
  
"I'm glad you're back too."  
  
"It sucks being away on injury," she said.  
  
"I'm sure it was, sitting at home, just wishing you could be out there."  
  
"Don't rub it in," she said, wrapping her arm loosely around his waist.  
  
"I'm not," he said, leaning down to kiss her chin.  
  
"Speaking of, um, about what happened to Edge last night," Trish said uneasily.  
  
Christian turned to her as she turned to look up at him. She didn't know that he had spent the entire night in Edge's hospital room. She didn't know that Kurt, Jericho, and Stephanie had stay with him until the wee hours of the morning. He was starting to not like lying to Trish about his alliances and friends. Maybe he'd talk to Jericho or Stephanie, and tell them that he thought they could trust Trish enough to tell her.  
  
"Yeah, I saw what happened," Christian finally answered.  
  
"Um, did you go see him?"  
  
"I'm not sure he'd want to see me. I mean, we want him to recover, not injure himself any more than he already is."  
  
"I'm sure he'd love to see you," she said, reassuringly.  
  
"I don't really want to talk about it Trishy," he said, becoming uncomfortable by the situation.  
  
"I understand honey," she said, smiling supportively.  
  
He smiled apprehensively and looped his arm around her bare waist. They walked down to the women's locker room and Christian leaned down to kiss her. Trish kissed him back, before they both pulled away.  
  
"I'll see you later then," Christian said.  
  
"Actually, you know what, how about I just share with you and Chris?"  
  
"If you want," he said.  
  
"Ok, great," she said smiling.  
  
They walked down to the other dressing room and walked inside. Jericho wasn't around yet, so they settled themselves in. After putting their things away, they sat down on the couch. They took the opportunity of being alone and started making out. It was on this scene that Jericho walked in on.  
  
"Gonna come up for air soon," Jericho commented.  
  
Christian and Trish looked up, sheepishly. Jericho laughed at the blushes that were quickly coming to both their faces. He threw his bag into one of the lockers and jumped into one of the chairs in the room.  
  
"Nice to see you back Trish."  
  
"Thanks Chris," she smiled, "It's good to be back."  
  
"Well, it's not like you had to far to go right?"  
  
"Yeah, since we're in my hometown and everything."  
  
"Oh, Christian, I forgot to tell you, we have a match tonight," Jericho said, turning to Christian.  
  
"Really?" Christian said, pulling Trish against him with an arm, "Who are we facing?"  
  
"Get this, Test and Stacy Keibler," Jericho said laughing.  
  
"You're kidding me," he said.  
  
"No, I was talking to Morley and he said that Bischoff is punishing them for laughing at him when he got his ass kicked by Austin last night."  
  
"Well, that's kind of not fair," Trish said.  
  
"We don't book the matches Trishy, we just go along with them," Christian said.  
  
"Well, are you going to beat up on Stacy?"  
  
"Hell yeah!" was Jericho's response.  
  
"You'll beat up on a girl?" she asked, incredulously.  
  
"As long as she's in the ring, and my opponent, sure, I don't see any problem with that," he said.  
  
"But she's defenseless," Trish said.  
  
"Well, that's not my fault," Jericho said, "I'm just going to do my job."  
  
Jericho reached for a remote and turned on the television, not wanting to get in an argument with Christian's girlfriend. They were showing the women's match between Jazz and Jacqui. Trish's eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman who had taken her out for the last few weeks. The match ended and Trish stood up.  
  
"Where ya going?" Christian asked.  
  
"I've got some business to take care of," she said determinedly.  
  
"Ok, see you later?"  
  
"Yeah, you will," she said, then leaving the room.  
  
"She's going to go kick Jazz's ass you know," Jericho chuckled.  
  
"You think?" Christian said sarcastically.  
  
"How's your brother?"  
  
"He's as good as he can be. He's trying not to let it phase him, but he's disappointed."  
  
"I would be too. It couldn't come at a worse time for him."  
  
"Yeah, after they do the surgery, he's going to stay with me for a while, it'll be just like old times."  
  
"But what about Trish?" Jericho asked, "She doesn't know about you and Edge, or any of us."  
  
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."  
  
"Ok," Jericho said, a little bit confused at the seriousness of Christian's tone.  
  
"I was wondering if we could tell Trish about all of this. I just feel bad for keeping it from her. I mean, I'm falling in love with her, and I'm keeping this big, huge secret from her, and it's just not right," Christian said honestly.  
  
"I understand where you're coming from man. I just don't know if it's my place. I mean, this is Steph's plan ultimately. I can ask her and get back to her," he said.  
  
"I would really appreciate that."  
  
"I'm sure Steph will say it's fine. I mean, she didn't want you to keep this from Trish in the first place."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
Christian looked at the screen and saw Trish beating on Jazz. She was really kicking ass out there. They even had referees trying to get Trish to calm down. Christian had never seen this side of Trish before..........but he liked it.  
  
"I'm going to go wait for her by the gorilla," Christian said, standing up.  
  
"Ok, see you for our match later."  
  
"Yeah, see you."  
  
Christian walked down the corridor and to the gorilla. Just as he got there, Trish was taken backstage, still struggling against the referees who were restraining her. Jazz came in a moment later, and she was being restrained as well.  
  
Christian was going to walk over to Trish, when Trish broke free of the referees and went and attacked Jazz. She started laying into the woman. Christian rushed over and put a firm arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.  
  
"No, let me at her!" Trish yelled.  
  
"Trish calm down!" Christian said, wrapping his other arm around her as she tried to squirm out of her grasp.  
  
"You think you're the bitch Jazz, you aren't even close. Don't mess with me!" Trish said as Christian dragged her away.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you have to calm down Trish," Christian said, holding Trish against him as they walked back to the dressing room.  
  
"Ugh, I can't stand her, seriously, who the hell does she think she is. Comes back and tries to attack me! I don't think so!"  
  
"Ok, yes, I know, but you can't let this get to you, you have to keep a sense of control ok. Don't let her get to you."  
  
Trish took a deep breath, "You're right, I won't. You can let go of me now. I won't charge her or anything."  
  
"Nah, I think I'll stay right where I am."  
  
"So are you ready for your match?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
  
They got to their locker room and found that Jericho was gone from the room again. They both wondered where he was, but they didn't think much of it as they sat down and watched the show together.  
  
Jericho was standing out in the bitter cold his cell phone in hand. He wanted privacy, and he knew that Christian and Trish were in there. And he could freely talk while they were in there. He dialed Stephanie's number and waited for her to pick up.  
  
"Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"It's good to hear your voice," he said, his teeth starting to chatter.  
  
"What in the past two hours you haven't heard it?" she said sarcastically.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"So what's going on? Why did you feel the need to call in the middle of the show?"  
  
"Oh, I was talking with Christian earlier, and before I forget, I wanted to tell you that he wants to tell Trish about everything."  
  
"That's fine, let him."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"You know, how about we go one up on just telling her. We can invite everyone over to our house next week after SmackDown. It'll be close enough for Edge to come, and Trish can stay with Christian and Shane and Kurt can stay with us."  
  
"I love that idea, I'll bring it up to him after the match, then I'll call you back ok."  
  
"Ok sweetie."  
  
"Bye, I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
Jericho walked back to his locker room, mentally preparing himself for his match. He was plotting another little something for Test and Stacy, similar to what he had done for Shawn Michaels. He had exacted his revenge on Jeff at No Way Out, and now it was time for Test to pay as well.  
  
"Christian, you ready?" Jericho said from the doorway.  
  
"Yeah, let's go do this," Christian said, getting up, but not before kissing Trish.  
  
As they were walking to their match, Jericho turned to Christian, "I talked to my woman, and she said you can tell her, but we had a good idea."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Invite Trish to Florida, and then you guys can come over to our house and everyone will be there."  
  
"Like a party?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Ok, sounds great," Christian said, smiling.  
  
"Good," Jericho said, right before his music hit.  
  
After the match, Jericho and Christian retreated back to their locker room. Jericho grabbed his cell phone and once again went outside to talk to Stephanie. He was so hot after his match that the cold air felt good.  
  
"Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"I told Christian and we're going ahead with the plan."  
  
"Ok, great. Our handcuffs sure are getting a lot of use there aren't they?" Stephanie joked.  
  
Jericho laughed, "I guess you can say that."  
  
"I can't believe you put Stacy in the Walls like you did?"  
  
"Payback for all that hitting on me she tried to do," Jericho said.  
  
"I suppose, she really did look like you were hurting her."  
  
"I might have put a little too much pressure. I guess I got a little carried away, I just don't like her at all."  
  
"It never really hurt when you put me in the Walls," she commented.  
  
"That's cause I never wanted to hurt you."  
  
"Are you saying you went easy on me?"  
  
"Yeah, I did. I didn't want you to actually get hurt. That's why I was always concerned when I hit you."  
  
"Well, I appreciate it, because I did not want what Stacy got tonight."  
  
"You never will trust me."  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"Well, I have that Battle Royal I'm in, so I have to go get ready again baby."  
  
"Ok sweetie, see you later."  
  
"Yup, bye," he said, hanging up, then walking back to get ready for his other match.  
  
Christian walked backstage. He had done pretty well in that Battle Royal, considering. He didn't expect to win so it was no big loss. He walked back to where he knew Trish was waiting and walked inside.  
  
"Chris already left," Trish said as soon as she saw him.  
  
"Oh, ok."  
  
"He told me to tell you that he'll see you next week."  
  
"Great."  
  
"What was that about? He'll see you at Raw next week he means."  
  
Christian started gathering her things, "No, well, yeah, I'll see him, but.........were you doing anything next weekend after the show?"  
  
"Um, no, not really why?"  
  
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to spend your time in Tampa with me?"  
  
Trish smiled brightly, "I'd love to!"  
  
Christian smiled as well, "Fantastic. There's some things that I need to tell you."  
  
"What kind of things?"  
  
"Well, how would you feel about doubling with Chris and his girlfriend."  
  
"Oh, the elusive Marie," Trish said.  
  
"Um, yeah. Actually, Trish, there's a lot of things you need to know."  
  
"Good or bad?"  
  
"It can go either way." 


	70. This Story Has No Plot, February 27, 200...

Stephanie sat in her office, looking over some contracts when there was a knock on the door. Before she could answer it, her father walked into the room. She stood up quickly and smiled at him. He came around the desk and hugged her. She returned the hug.

"What are you doing here Daddy?" she asked.

"I came to make a little announcement."

"What kind of announcement Daddy?"

"No need to worry yourself Princess," he said, "Just something about Hogan."

"He's not here tonight."

"What?" Vince said.

"He had a family emergency."

"Even better," Vince smiled calculatingly.

"Ok Daddy, is Rock going to be here tonight?" she asked, as she had seen him, much to her surprise on Raw on Monday.

"No. I told the Rock that he could come and go to any show as he pleases."

"But Daddy," Stephanie whined, "I signed him to my show, he can't go back and forth."

"Stephanie, he's a big name in this company, I think that I should grant him to go anywhere he sees fit."

"It's just because he's your new lackey isn't it Daddy?" Stephanie said bitingly.

"Don't take that tone with me young lady," Vince warned.

"But Daddy, you know I'm right! If you grant Rock the privilege of being on either show then you have to grant it to other guys as well."

"No, I don't," Vince said, "I run this company, I'll do as I please."

Stephanie sighed, this was going nowhere, "Fine Daddy. So why did you come to see me?"

"Is it so wrong for a father to want to visit his daughter."

Stephanie smiled a little, "I suppose not."

"I also got a follow-up call today from Hugh Heffner," Vince mentioned.

"And?"

"Well, we came to an agreement and he's agreed to use one of your divas for the cover and a pictorial in one of his upcoming magazines."

Despite the fact that Stephanie didn't really like the idea of one of the girls in Playboy, she knew it was good publicity, "And who did he choose Daddy?"

"Torrie Wilson."

"That's fine, I'll announce it tonight. Why Torrie though?"

"I guess he thought she had the best look among all the SmackDown divas. And there was no way that you would even get considered. He asked if you were available, and I said absolutely not. No daughter of mine is going to pose in Playboy."

"I don't want to pose in Playboy Daddy, ever."

"Good girl," Vince told her.

"Daddy, the show is starting in a few minutes, you can go out first if you wanted," she said sweetly.

"Thank you Princess, it's been nice seeing you, it seems you're never around anymore."

"I don't know what you mean Daddy," Stephanie said, trying to avoid the subject.

"You never come visit your mother and I anymore. You too grown up to visit your parents?"

"No Daddy, I've just been so busy with being the General Manager, I haven't had much time to do anything else."

"Princess, you're not trying to avoid being around people are you, after Hunter, have you started dating again?"

Stephanie was taken aback by her father's question. She knew that he was only looking out for her, and that her father had always had a soft spot for her, but she knew that she would have to lie to her father. She didn't want to, but hell, it wasn't the first time. And hadn't she been lying for a long time as it was.

"Daddy, I'm fine ok. Hunter didn't break my spirit or anything. But I'll come visit you and mom more often if it means that much to you," she said, "I'll even get Shane to come over."

Vince laughed, "Bye Princess."

"Bye Daddy."

Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief once her father was gone. She always felt bad whenever they talked because she knew her father would like to know that she was dating Jericho. She knew that Vince liked Jericho so it wouldn't be a problem. She just hated all the lying. Maybe she'd start suggesting that he fire Bischoff again.

Stephanie started looking over her contracts once again. It was really too bad about what happened to Edge. Not only from a personal standpoint, but from a professional standpoint as well. Edge was one of her most popular and talented superstars, and now he was going to be out for a year. Maybe through some fancy talking she could get Jericho back on her show. That'd be the day.

As if on cue, her phone rang. Since she hadn't been doing anything of note, she actually had time to look at the display. She saw that it was Edge's cell phone number. She answered the phone immediately.

"Edge?" she said.

"Hey Steph."

"What's up?"

"I was bored just sitting here."

"I'm sorry, anything I can do to help."

"No, not really, I'm watching the show right now. You're dad is talking."

"Yeah, I know," Stephanie said, grabbing her own remote and turning on her television.

"I guess this just goes to show that the show can run without me," Edge chuckled.

"Yeah, but it's not as much fun."

"Thanks, I really needed a pick-me-up."

"Glad I could help, so how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok, the doctors have given me painkillers, so I'm blissfully numb."

"Well, I guess that's better than being in pain."

"Yeah, definitely. I hate being injured."

"Everyone does."

"So I heard we're having a little shin-dig at your house next week."

"Yeah, will you be up for it?"

"Up for a party? You can be damn sure I'll be up for a party. So this is all for Christian and Trish?"

"Yeah, I figure that well, it might be easier for her to believe what Christian tells her if she can see it for herself."

"Good idea," he said.

"I like to think so. It'll be fun, and that's probably what you need right now right?"

"Yeah," he paused, "Stephanie, I gotta go, they're telling me to get off the phone."

"Ok Edge, feel better ok. That's from both me and Chris."

"Thanks to you both. Tell him I said hi."

"Bye Edge."

"Bye."

As soon as she was through with the phone, she realized that now would be an opportune time to make her little announcement about Torrie. She was out there having a match with Funaki. Maybe she'd have a little fun with the audience, make them think that she was the one to be posing. Man she could be evil sometimes.

She walked into her office, still laughing about her little trick and Brian Kendrick asking for a match against Kurt. The poor kid didn't know what he was in for. Poor thing, he was going to get pummeled later on. She only hoped that Kurt didn't really hurt the kid. Moments later, Kurt walked into her office.

"Speak of the devil," Stephanie laughed.

"Devil? Is your ex-husband here?" Kurt winked.

Stephanie laughed loudly, "No, thank God."

"Oh good, I would've kicked his ass for you."

"I'm sure you would have Kurt."

"So what's this I hear about a match later?"

"Oh, well, he asked for it Kurt, I couldn't turn him down."

"I don't want to be on a kid like that," Kurt said.

"Well then take it easy on him," Stephanie suggested.

"Yeah, but then I don't want to make it look like I'm actually going easy on him. I do have a reputation to keep Steph," he laughed.

"Well God forbid your reputation get tarnished," she guffawed, "So you go easy on him until he starts to fight back for real."

"I guess that could work. So have you heard from Edge?"

"Actually I heard from him earlier, before I went out on stage."

"How is he? I talked to him yesterday."

"He's bored already," she shrugged.

"I feel so terrible about it. I mean, it was my idea, and if I had just gone by myself none of this would've happened."

"Don't dwell on the what-ifs Kurt. I happened and we can't go back and undo it. It wasn't your fault, even Edge says it."

"Yeah, you're all right I suppose."

"Don't get yourself down Kurt," she told him supportively, "Hey, before I forget, are you doing anything after the show next week?"

"No, just going home."

"How would you like to come stay with Chris and I?"

"What for?"

"Trish is going to find out about us," she said, her eyes lighting up.

"Wow, finally huh?"

"Yup, and we're going to get together, so she can feel included, it's at Chris and my house next week, everyone will be there, so you in?"

"Of course I'm in, I'm always thinking we never get together enough."

"Kurt, you're so weird, I see you every week."

"Yeah, YOU do, what about Chris and Christian, and Shane for that matter?"

"Point well taken, well, you'll see everyone next week."

"Good, I'll let you get back to work."

"Finally, all I've been doing is talking non-stop."

"Well, sorry," Kurt said sarcastically.

"You should be," she called out, laughing, as he left.

Stephanie sat down at her computer to finally get some work done when Heyman came into her office. Damn it, could she ever get her work done? One of these days she was going to bolt her door shut. Granted, she had needed to see Heyman, but couldn't he have waited just a few minutes so she could be alone for two seconds?

Heyman mentioned something about life not being fair, and wasn't that the truth. She could reveal her relationship to anyone. She kept asking Jericho to hide the best thing that ever happened to both of them. She was lying to her father. Life certainly wasn't fair.

Stephanie watched him leave and realized that she was never going to get any work done if she hung around here any longer. She decided that she was just going to have to finish her work back at her hotel. At least Jericho knew when she needed to be quiet and work, more than she could say for the people around her.

She packed up her things and made sure that she had everything before she left. She passed by Kurt on her way out and winked at him and wished him luck for his match later on. Not that he needed luck to win, but just luck that he would kill this kid in the ring. He was a rookie after all.

She got to her rental and drove herself back to the hotel. Everything was so routine when she was at shows. She'd drive there, do work, film, finish work, drive back to hotel. She was glad to have Jericho to break the monotony of her life. He always kept her on her toes.

Before she knew it she was at her hotel room opening the door. She walked in and found Jericho doing sit-ups on the ground. He stopped when he saw her and smiled up at her. She smiled back down at him.

"Have to work," she said then set her things down on the table.

Jericho finished doing his sit-ups before standing back up again, "I'm going to take a shower."

"That's fine," she said, not looking up from her work. He came over and she felt his lips on her cheek before he went to the bathroom. She smiled to herself.

She kept working, looking over contracts, demographics, ratings. She needed to see what the people liked and didn't like. She could hear the water running then stop. Jericho came out a short while later, clad in a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. He sat next to her and watched her.

"Don't you think you've worked enough for tonight?" he asked.

The words were starting to spin in front of her, "Yeah, you're probably right."

"I'm always--"

"Don't say what I know you're going to say," she said, turning off her laptop and yawning.

"Ok. I'll say this instead, I love your outfit, you look fabulous."

"Thanks," she smiled, "I knew you'd like it."

He picked her up and took her to the bedroom, "You look exhausted."

"I am," she said, closing her eyes as he set her on the bed.

"I can tell," he said, as he started to undo her pants.

"What are you doing?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking down at him.

"Changing you into your pjs," he said, smiling innocently.

"Fine," she yawned again.

He pulled off her pants and started to pull up her top, "You scared the shit out of me tonight."

"Huh?" she asked, opening her eyes a little.

"I thought you were the one posing for Playboy for a second," he chuckled.

She laughed softly as he unhooked her bra and took it off, "So you bought my little joke?"

"Hook, line and sinker," he said as he got off the bed to grab her pajamas, "I mean, you even started pulling down your top."

"I knew that would get you. You mean, I can't pose in Playboy if I was asked."

"No. Well, I wouldn't want you to, but it's ultimately your decision," he said as he went back to the bed.

"Wow, that's so rational of you. But what are you really thinking?"

"That I'm the only one who should get to see the Billion Dollar body," he smirked.

"You are, and you always will be," she said, "I would never pose in Playboy."

"Oh really?" he asked, pulling her pants on.

"Yeah, and besides, do you actually think my father would let me. He told me tonight that he would never let me pose in any nudie magazine."

"Well, good, because I don't want anyone to see the goods but me," he said, putting her shirt on as he kissed her cheek chastely.

"I promise, but only if you promise me something," she said, snuggling up to him as he went to lay next to her.

"What's that?"

"That you never pose in Playgirl."

Jericho started laughing hysterically, "It's a deal baby."

"Good, cause if no one gets to see my goods, then no one gets to see yours."


	71. Please End This TestJericho Thing, March...

A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews, I love them all, they make my day a little brighter. ;)

"So I get to finally meet your girlfriend."

"Yeah, she's excited to see you."

"Great, so am I," Trish said, coming out of the bathroom in her ring gear.

"You look nice," Jericho told her.

"Thank you," she said, smiling.

"Hey idiot, aren't you going to compliment your girlfriend?" Jericho said to Christian.

"What? Oh yeah, you look great Trishy," Christian said.

Trish came over and sat on Christian's lap, "Something on your mind Chrissy?"

"I was just thinking about why Bischoff wanted us to go meet with Austin, is he that afraid of the man?"

"Did you see the ass-kicking he gave him at No Way Out, of course he's afraid," Jericho said, chuckling to himself.

"I don't get why you agreed though man," Christian said, turning to Jericho.

"You think I'm actually going to help that ass clown, no way. I'll let him think I'm helping him, and if it comes to it, I'll just walk away when it comes time to actually deliver."

"Nice, tonight just gets better and better."

"Yeah, since you won Chrissy," Trish said, planting a kiss on him.

"And you'll win too," he said, kissing her back.

"We'll all win our matches," Jericho said.

"Trish, shouldn't you get going?" Christian told her, looking at the clock.

"Yeah, you're right," she said getting up, "Wish me luck."

"You don't need it, but good luck," Christian replied. She leaned over to kiss him again, then left.

"So how do you think she's going to take the news?" Jericho asked as soon as he knew Trish was out of earshot.

"I hope well."

Christian knew it was time to tell Trish the truth. Not only because she deserved to know, but he hated knowing that he was keeping a secret from her. Whenever the discussion would revert to his brother or to Jericho's girlfriend he would feel even more guilty. It was getting worse and worse.

"Well, I just hope she's willing to put her past with Stephanie behind."

"I didn't think of that, you don't think they'll like get in a fight or anything do you?" Christian asked, fearful of the potential meeting between Stephanie and Trish.

"Well, I know that Steph won't try to fight her, I think Stephanie genuinely wants to be friends with her."

"And Trish could kick her ass."

"Whoa, wait a second, you think that Trish could take on Steph?" Jericho asked incredulously.

"Hell yeah I do, look at her," Christian said, gesturing towards the television showing Trish's match.

"Excuse me? Stephanie could kick anyone's ass she wanted to. She could kick my ass if she really wanted to," Jericho said.

"Sure you keep thinking that."

"I will."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Why are we fighting?" Christian said laughing.

"I have no clue," Jericho said, laughing as well.

"I'm sure they'll get along, if only because they have to be because we're there."

"Well, Steph is going all out with this, she's even trying to cook," Jericho said uneasily.

"Wait, but Steph doesn't cook," Christian answered.

"Dude, trust me I know, her meals that she's made at home have been.........interesting to say the least. I'll probably end up either helping her or making it myself."

"I'd imagine," Christian laughed.

Trish entered the room then and Christian and Jericho immediately shut up about Stephanie. Trish gave them a weird look before going over to get some things for the shower. They watched her get her things and then she looked at them weirdly again.

"Were you just talking about me?"

"No," they said in unison.

"Ok," she said slowly, "I'll be back."

"Ok Trishy," Christian said, as she walked into the bathroom.

"I'm going to go to the gorilla for my match," Jericho said getting up.

"Oh man, wait, what's the surprise you had in store for Test?"

"Oh yeah, I have some footage from that Girls Gone Wild thing he did," Jericho said, rolling his eyes. Thank God Stephanie would never put him through that.

"Oh interesting, and what do you plan to do with that?"

"Show the world. Oh, and you got my back right, for the match?"

"Of course."

"Cool, see you then."

Jericho left the room and started walking down the hallway when he heard Stacy and Test talking. He stopped for a moment. It never hurt to eavesdrop on your opponents. Maybe he could work this to his advantage somehow.

"I can't believe Torrie is posing for Playboy," Stacy said to Test.

"Uh huh," Test said, oiling himself up.

"And what was with Stephanie trying to act all sexy," Stacy scoffed. Jericho listened a little closer when he heard Stephanie's name.

"I know what you mean," Test said.

"Like she could ever get in Playboy," Stacy laughed, "She couldn't make Playboy in a million years."

"Definitely, she's gotten fat, she's a heifer," Test said. Stacy laughed.

Jericho's jaw set tightly. How dare they call his girlfriend fat, she was gorgeous. At least she wasn't a pole like Stacy was. And not good enough for Playboy? She had a beautiful body that millions of women would die for. How dare they talk about his girlfriend like that! He was going to take it easy on Stacy tonight, but now it was really on.

Jericho went out there and showed off his footage of Test. He was glad when it seemed to cause a little riff between the two lovebirds. He couldn't be happier to see them fight. Served them right actually and when Test got out there, he was going to kick his ass.

Jericho was smack dab in the middle of beating on Test, when Stacy decided to make an appearance. Jericho smirked to himself, this was perfect, now they were both here, and he was going to include Stacy in this little beat-down. And Christian being down here just made it that much easier.

As Jericho was taking off the turnbuckle, he saw Stacy trying to climb up on the apron. Seeing a perfect opportunity, he went over and grabbed her by the hair. He began taunting her and she reared back and slapped him, which only made him angrier than he was before. Maybe a conchairto was in order.

After the match, Jericho saw the chance to get the girl who dared insult his girlfriend. He threw her in the ring, and motioned for him and Christian to get the chairs, it was time to teach this dumb broad a lesson. Unfortunately they interrupted by Test. Oh well, Jericho thought, if they couldn't get Stacy, Test was the next best thing. They gave him the conchairto, which left Stacy helpless.

Jericho told Christian to grab Stacy, which he did. Jericho took the chair he was holding and was going to hit Stacy when he heard the familiar roar of the crowd. He looked and saw Shawn Michaels coming down to ruin all his fun. It was time to get back at the Has Been Kid.

After initially getting knocked down, Jericho grabbed the chair again and nailed it into his head. As he watched the blood pour down Michael's face, he thought of a great idea. He wanted to kick Michael's ass, but he knew just when he wanted to do it.

Jericho smirked and raised his hands. It was on now. He had made the challenge. He was going to end Michael's career if it was the last thing he did. He got Christian and together they walked backstage. Unfortunately, they had to stay to be a part of Bischoff's "line of defense."

LATER THAT EVENING

Jericho heard Stephanie talking in the bedroom and didn't want to disturb her, so he sat down on the couch and turned on the television. Thank goodness Bischoff said that he didn't need him to beat on Austin anymore. He just wanted to leave and get back to Stephanie.

"Yeah Edge, so you're at Christian's right now," Stephanie said in the bedroom.

"Yeah, I'm here, it's all lonely by myself though."

"Oh, that's too bad, but don't worry, we'll hang out tomorrow," she answered, "Oh and you know what, you can come over for dinner tomorrow night, you and Christian, I'm cooking."

Jericho groaned and muttered, "You're better off eating take out."

"Sounds good Steph, we'll be there," Edge said, then yawned.

"Oh you must be tired," Stephanie said, "I'll let you get your rest."

"Ok, but it was nice talking to you, I was so bored."

"It was my pleasure, bye."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone then got off the bed and walked into the living area. She walked over and sat on the couch next to Jericho. He smiled over at her and she scooted over to sit next to him on the couch.

"So you finally challenged him huh?"

"Yeah, I did, I was just waiting for the perfect moment."

"And that perfect moment happened to be when he was down on the ground bleeding," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, seemed right. And I didn't want him going and making another match before I got the chance to challenge him."

"Smart thinking."

"I like to think so."

"So, you really are brutal on Stacy and Test," she commented.

"They deserve it," Jericho said angrily.

"Why?" she asked unknowingly.

"I just didn't like some of the stuff they were saying that's all."

"Like what? What were they saying?"

"It doesn't matter ok baby," Jericho said, kissing Stephanie.

"Don't try to change the subject."

"Fine. They were talking crap about you," he conceded.

"Me? What about me?"

"They said you were fat."

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, said that there was no way you would even be considered to be in Playboy and that it was because you were fat."

"Well, that's rude."

"Yeah, and they can't talk about you like that," he said, indignantly.

"Well, I'm glad you stuck up for me, in the way you did anyway," she smiled.

He kissed her, "I don't like people talking about you like that. And you are so beautiful, they had no right to even think that."

"I love you."

"I love you too, which is why I'm going to be honest with you right now."

Stephanie pulled away from him, "What are you talking about? What do you want to tell me?"

"Stephanie, I cannot in good conscience let you cook anymore," he said seriously.

She pouted, "But why? I've been trying so hard."

"I know, but baby, there's something I have to say. And it's going to hurt, but it must be said."

"What is it?"

"You're a terrible cook."


	72. One Less Person to Tell, March 6, 2003

A/N: Hey guys, I just wanted to mention that I know Kurt is injured ::sobs:: but since they didn't say that he was injured on the show, he's not injured in the story. And since I assume that they'll have some sort of injury angle with him when he faces Brock (which I'm not happy they're making him wrestle with an injured neck), so I'm holding off on him being injured in the fic. Thanks. :)

And this is probably the longest chapter I've ever written lol. ;)

"Kurt, I need you to talk to Stephanie."

"Why Paul?"

"You gotta get me out of this match Kurt. I know you have a thing with Stephanie."

"I don't have a "thing" with Stephanie," Kurt said, looking at him crazy.

"Sure you do, you're friends, play that card, get me out of this match Kurt," Heyman pleaded.

"Fine, I'll talk to her for a while later ok?"

"Ok."

Kurt exhaled loudly then started making his way down to Stephanie's office. He had a feeling Stephanie wouldn't let up on the match, but they would have fun thinking of ways to dupe Heyman. He knocked on her door.

"Come in."

"Hey Steph," he said, walking in.

"Hey Kurt, what are you doing here?"

"I'm bored in my locker room."

"Bored, I figured it'd be anything but boring since Heyman has to fight Brock tonight," Stephanie said.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about that too. Actually, I was forced to come talk to you."

"About?"

"Heyman wants out of the match."

"You know I can't do that Kurt. It's signed."

"Yes, I know, but I just had to at least ask so I wasn't lying. He actually said I should ask you because we had a thing going on."

"A thing?"

"Yeah, I said there was no thing," he said, chuckling.

"Ok, so what are you gonna do now?"

"Well, I guess, I'll just go back there and tell him you said no."

"Or you can do it one better," Stephanie said deviously.

"Stephanie Marie McMahon, what do you have up your sleeve?" Kurt asked.

"So Paul thought we had a thing?"

"Uh oh," Kurt muttered.

"Why don't we play a little joke on our friend Mr. Heyman?"

"What purpose would that serve?"

"He wouldn't ever ask you for a favor again if we were to have a little.........falling out," she said, raising her eyebrow at him, and then smirking.

"Sometimes I like the way you think," Kurt nodded.

"Well, why don't you go act like you never came in here? And when you do get in here, just do what you feel," she winked.

"Will do Steph."

"Kurt, before you go, I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"Well, as a preview, maybe, I decided that if Brock wins tonight, you'll have a match against him next week for the title."

"But why Steph?"

"To generate interest for WrestleMania Kurt. And I know you're going to interfere in tonight's match, so I'm not worried that Brock will win."

"Ok, Steph, thanks for telling me."

"See you in a while Kurt."

Kurt walked back to the locker room. He saw that Heyman was talking with Big Show. Kurt shook his head and walked in, and up to the two of them. He listened to Heyman whine about how he couldn't go out there. Kurt guessed it was time to step in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa what's wrong man, you look worried. The steel cage match tonight?" Kurt said, knowing full well what it was.

"Yes, it's the steel cage match tonight," Heyman said, "I can't be locked inside of a steel cage with Brock Lesnar. He thinks I screwed him over. He wants to get revenge on me-"

"Paul, Paul," Big Show, stopped him, much to Kurt's relief, "We have your back, you have nothing to worry about."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second," Kurt said, "Some people like to settle their matters with their brawn. I like to do it with my brain. Listen, I'm going to go talk Stephanie ok. And whether you realize this or not, as the WWE champion, and uh, well, my personal relationship with Stephanie, if you know what I mean. I think I can talk her out of this match tonight."

"Please Kurt, please. Please do this for me Kurt, please," Heyman said.

"You got it man. I'll go right now, yeah."

Heyman kept thanking him as they walked down the corridor. It was like leading a lamb to slaughter. This was going to be very, very funny. Heyman was always being annoying and overbearing, it would be nice to see him locked in a cage with Brock Lesnar, and get what was coming to him.

Stephanie sat in her office, waiting for Kurt and Heyman to stop by. Kurt had said he wouldn't be long. She had even pinned up her hair for her little performance with Kurt. This was going to be so much fun. Sometimes she hated how she had to act, all nice and diplomatic. She found herself boring at times. What she wouldn't give to be like she was when she was with Jericho, a complete bitch who took no prisoners. She heard Kurt knocking. Heyman was so pathetic when he was trying to get out of a match. He had no shame whatsoever, not that she should've been surprised, but to resort to begging, it was just scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Kurt had to forcibly throw the man out of the room. Kurt knew that Heyman would be standing outside of the door listening. Now was the time to end this little delusion that Heyman had that Kurt could just ask Stephanie to do whatever he wanted at any time. No way would Kurt take advantage of his friendship to Stephanie.

And they both knew that personal relationship was nothing but friendship. And if it were more, then they would have to answer to Jericho, and neither one of them really wanted that. Kurt started to take off her jacket. Stephanie was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

She turned around and tried to look all seductive like. Kurt was about to bust out laughing, so he bit his lip. He put his arms on her side as she untied her hair, letting her brown tresses fall down around her shoulders. This was almost way too soap-opera for the two of them.

The plan went off without a hitch. Kurt went to leave, but the camera crew left as soon as Stephanie had told him to leave. He went outside the door and saw Heyman just like he thought he would. Sniveling weasel, he was so damn predictable.

"I heard what happened Kurt, you got on her bad side!"

"I guess I won't be asking favors from Steph anymore," Kurt shrugged.

"Damn it!" Heyman stalked away.

Kurt went back into the room, "Nice job Ms. McMahon."

"You too Mr. Angle. You almost had me believing you actually wanted me."

"I'm just a great actor. But I'm glad we got through to the slime and you killed two birds with one stone when you announced that stipulation."

"It's called quick thinking on the job Kurt," she beamed.

"I suppose, I have to talk to the team now, but I'll see you after the show right?"

"Yeah, we'll catch the late plane and Chris will pick us up at the airport."

"Great, later Steph."

As soon as Kurt left, Stephanie's cell phone rang, "Stephanie McMahon speaking?"

"So are you having an affair with Kurt behind my back?"

"Of course, I'm just sorry they caught it on tape for the whole world to see."

"So really, what was that about?"

"Well, Kurt wanted Heyman to get off his back, so we staged a little "break up" of sorts," she clarified.

"Oh, good, I didn't want to have to kill anyone tonight."

"Hey, speaking of killing and fighting, what if we played a little trick on Kurt?"

"Stephy," he said warningly.

"Nothing bad," she said, "Let's just make him think that you're really angry about what happened tonight."

"And why do I want to go along with this?"

"Because I'm your girlfriend and you love me."

"That's it. That's how you're supposed to win me over."

"You won't get to play with me for a week."

"Ok, so what do I have to do," he said quickly.

"Knew you'd give in. Just act like you're pissed. It'll scare Kurt shitless."

"Ok, see you in a while baby."

"Til then sweetie."

Stephanie was just getting back to work when her father burst in, "Do you have a thing going with Kurt Angle?"

Stephanie looked up, surprised, "No Daddy!"

"Are you sure?" he asked suspiciously.

"I swear Daddy, there's nothing between me and Kurt."

"Then I ought to have a long talk with Kurt about how he was treating you just now."

"Daddy, it was nothing really, it's ok."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Daddy."

"If you're sure."

"What are you doing here anyways Daddy?"

"Just came to talk to the fans, bye Princess."

"Bye," she said as she watched him go. Her Dad was crazy sometimes.

After the show ended, Kurt came staggering up the ramp. The blood loss was making him a little woozy. He needed to bandage up these cuts right now. He went immediately to the trainer to get bandaged. After that he went to his locker room, grabbed a clean shirt and changed. He made sure that no one was around and went out to the parking lot.

Stephanie had parked at the far end of the lot and that's where he knew she was waiting. They couldn't be seen leaving together so they had planned to meet in the car. He got there and quickly got in the passenger side.

"You ok?" she asked as they drove to the airport.

"Yeah, I just really don't want to face Brock next week."

"Don't worry, you'll beat him, I know you will."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"Anytime."

They got to the airport, went to the gate, and made it just in time to board the plane. The plane ride down to Florida wasn't that long at all. They got there and Kurt got his and Stephanie's bag. They walked off and met Jericho.

"What the hell do you think you were doing Angle?" Jericho said angrily.

"Huh?"

"Thinking you can hit on MY girlfriend!"

"Chris, man it--"

"I don't want to hear it Angle, I want you out of our sight, and if I ever catch you touching my girlfriend again, I will rip you a new one so fast," Jericho said, getting in Kurt's face.

"Chris--"

"Shut up! Who do you think you are? Undressing my girl, and then attempting to kiss her! You are not welcome in our house again, and you can just forget about our friendship."

Kurt looked like he was going to cry, "But-but........."

"Gotcha," Jericho and Stephanie said in unison.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard it."

"You're joking!?!"

"Yeah," Jericho laughed.

"Oh, I hate you two," Kurt said, shaking his head and starting to walk away, "I can't believe you two. Goodness, no wonder you're together, you're both cruel."

"Oh, like your little stunt tonight wasn't cruel."

"Fine, let's get out of here," Kurt scowled as they left the airport, "So do you think tomorrow will run smoothly?"

"Only time will tell," Stephanie said.

THE NEXT DAY

Christian waited impatiently for Trish's plane to land. Truth be told he was really nervous about what would happen tonight. He wanted so much for Trish to like his friends. He knew they came off as assholes to the world, but they really weren't. And if Trish didn't like them, then he just couldn't see himself having a relationship with her.

"Christian," Trish's voice said.

He blinked and realized he had been zoned out for a while, "Hey you, I didn't even know you were here."

"Yeah, you were on a different planet entirely."

"Just thinking about things," he said as he picked up her bag.

"What kind of things?"

He took her hand as they started to walk out of the airport, "Just about how you'll like Chris's girlfriend."

"That's weird, I'm sure we'll get along."

"I hope so."

Meanwhile, Jericho and Stephanie were trying to get everything fixed for the little get-together tonight. Edge had been staying with them, along with Shane and Kurt. Christian didn't want Trish to find out about Edge until she found out about everyone else, so Jericho and Stephanie's house was packed to the brim with people.

"Steph, do you want to chop the onions for me?" Jericho asked.

"Oh, so you're letting me cut stuff, aren't you afraid I'll screw it up?" she said blandly.

He turned to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Baby, let it go, you tried, ok, that's more than some people, and you can help with the cooking, you just can't do the cooking."

"But I really did try, I didn't think it was that bad," she cried indignantly.

"It was that bad," Kurt said, coming into the kitchen.

"Kurt, that's so rude," Stephanie said.

"Sorry Steph, but it's the truth."

Stephanie buried her face into Jericho's shoulder, "Isn't anyone on my side?"

"I'm always on your side baby," Jericho said, pulling her away and kissing her deeply.

"Get a room," Shane said, looking for a beer in the fridge.

"We don't have to, it's our house," Stephanie said.

"So you guys have a room, use it," Shane laughed.

"Are you kidding Shane? If we went up there right now, we know how much you guys would torment us," Jericho told him.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, I'm getting ignored in here!"

"Sorry Edge, are you doing ok?" Stephanie called out.

"I'm lonely," he whined.

"I guess I'll go keep the baby company," Shane said, walking out.

Jericho went back to kissing Stephanie, "So you going to chop those onions for me?"

"Fine, fine."

Christian looked over at Trish. She was looking out the window, smiling happily. He was glad that she seemed to like being in Tampa with him. Maybe if everything went well with them, she would come live with him down here. Or he could live with her, either way, he just wanted to be happy.

"We're stopping at your house first, right Chrissy?" Trish asked, turning herself to him.

"Yeah, you can get ready there. Then we'll head over to Chris's."

"So what's his girlfriend like?"

"She's.........like him, actually. Both have egos the size of Texas. But she's nice, once you get to know her."

"She sounds like she's perfect for Chris."

"She is."

"That's nice."

"Hey Trish?"

"Yeah."

"You don't mind if there's other people there tonight do you?"

"No, I don't mind. Are they friends of Chris's?"

"Yeah, but they're friends of mine too."

"Great," she grinned, "I'd love to meet them."

"Good," he said, pulling into his driveway. He took a deep breath before getting out of the car.

As soon as they walked inside Trish said, "I'm going upstairs to get ready ok?"

"Fine Trishy," he said, kissing her softly, "Though I think you look great right now."

"Christian, I just got off a plane, I look horrible."

"Not to me."

She blushed and went upstairs. As soon as Christian saw her disappear from his sight, he ran towards the phone. He picked it up and dialed Jericho and Stephanie's number. He waited impatiently for someone to pick up.

"Jericho speaking."

"Chris, it's me."

"Christian?"

"Yeah."

"Since when do you get the 'it's me' privilege? That's only for Steph."

"Whatever, I'm at home right now. And I'm nervous out of my mind."

"Ok, calm down ok, calm down," he said slowly.

"Who is it sweetie?" Christian could hear Stephanie's voice.

"Christian."

"You guys, do I tell her before we get there?"

"Let me have the phone," Stephanie said.

"I can handle it baby."

"Let me have it."

"No," Jericho said.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"You guys," Christian said, "This is no time for arguing!"

"Christian, do whatever you feel is right," Stephanie's voice said over the line, and Christian knew that Jericho had relinquished the phone to her. She did have him wrapped around her finger.

"Ok, I just can't tell her before, I'm too nervous."

"Then bring her over, and we can explain then ok?"

"Ok," Christian said uneasily.

"Ok, we'll see you then," she said, trying to sound positive.

Christian hung up the phone and took a deep breath. It would all be ok. So why was he shaking? Why did he have a feeling this would all come crashing down on his head? This was not good, not good at all. Maybe he could back out. Yes, he'd back out, save this for another day. He went to pick up the phone again.

"Christian, I'm ready," Trish's voice said behind him.

He turned around, "Hey."

"How do I look?" She was dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with short blue sleeves.

"You look great," he said, smiling a little

"I'm not underdressed or anything am I?"

"No, we're just barbequing or something. Nothing fancy."

"Ok, are you ready?" she asked, looking him over.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"So let's go then," Trish said brightly.

"Before we go," Christian said, then went over and started kissing her. They kissed for a few moments before Christian pulled away.

"What was that for?"

"Just cause," Christian said. Actually, if Trish broke up with him after she found out the truth, he wanted one last kiss from her.

"You're so sweet, come on, let's go," she said, grabbing his hand. He reluctantly followed her.

"Hey Edge, did you want to come outside with everyone?" Kurt said, sticking his head into the room.

"Ya think?" Edge answered sarcastically.

"Hey, no need to get touchy," Kurt said, "We just figured you were bored in here by yourself."

"I am."

"Here, let me help you outside," Kurt said, walking in.

He went over to the couch and slowly helped Edge off the couch. Kurt was still feeling a little guilty about what had happened to Edge. Edge slowly made his way outside into the fresh afternoon air.

"Well, look who decided to show," Jericho said as he saw him.

"Very funny, I hate being stuck on the couch all day."

"Awww, poor Edge," Stephanie said from her spot on one of the loungers, "You come sit over here on the lawn furniture."

Edge came over and slowly lowered himself onto the lounger, "Thanks."

"No problem, if you need anything, just ask," Stephanie said.

"You look quite comfy," Edge commented.

"Just sunbathing."

"Hey, stop checking out my girlfriend," Jericho joked.

"I can't help it, god Steph, you call that little thing a bikini?" Edge said.

She stuck her tongue out at him, "Shut up, I just wanted to get a nice tan."

"Well, you're welcome to take it off and get a full body tan," Edge said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" Stephanie said, getting up.

Jericho ran around and picked her up and threw her in the pool. Stephanie screamed as she hit the water. Edge laughed the expression on her face. Kurt saw this and pushed Jericho into the pool as well. He laughed at them both.

"Angle!" Jericho yelled.

"Yeah?" Kurt said as innocently as he could muster.

Stephanie got herself out of the pool, "I'm going to put a tank top and some shorts on."

"Ooh, can I help?" Jericho said.

"Sure, come on," she said, grabbing his hand.

"We'll be back in a few," Jericho said, as Stephanie dragged him inside, "Shane, can you watch the grill for me?"

"Sure," Shane said, shaking his head, "And my little sister everyone, all grown up."

"Shut up Shane," Stephanie called from inside.

Jericho and Stephanie went upstairs. They started kissing and they fell on the bed together. They kept kissing for a while, Stephanie running her fingers through his hair. He sighed against her lips.

"We can't do anything," he said.

"I know," she answered, looking up at him, "That would be weird."

"Yeah, damn it, do you think everyone would mind leaving for like an hour?"

She laughed, "Yes, I do think they would.

"You know today's our anniversary," he said coyly.

"No it isn't," she told him.

"Sure it is, it's the anniversary of the first time we ever hugged."

"Aww, how do you remember all of this?"

"Because I watch the tapes of us every now and then," he smiled.

"God I love you."

"I love you too."

"Now get off me so I can change."

Jericho laughed and reluctantly got off of her and she went into their joint walk-in closet. Though in the past five or so months that they had been living together, she had somehow made more than half the closet filled with her clothes. She began looking through her things. Jericho went and changed into another pair of shorts.

"Baby, I'll be downstairs ok," he said, looking into the closet.

"Ok, see you down there."

Jericho went downstairs and into the kitchen. He went into the fridge and took out a beer. Popping it open he took a long sip, and sat on the counter waiting for Stephanie to come down. He heard a knocking on the door and went to answer it. It was probably Christian and Trish. He opened the door.

"Hey guys," he said to Christian and Trish.

"Hey Chris," Trish said, giving him a hug, "How are you?"

"Great, and you guys?" he asked, looking pointedly at Christian.

"I'm fine, Christian's fine too, a little quiet today though," she said kidding with him.

"Why don't you guys come in, everyone's already here."

"Great, I can't wait to meet everyone," Trish said.

"I'm sure they'd all love to see you," Jericho said, laughing to himself.

Just then Stephanie came bounding down the stairs, not knowing that Trish and Christian had just arrived. She was wearing some shorts and a black tank top, but she couldn't find the tank top that she had wanted to wear and wanted to know if Jericho had washed it or something.

"Sweetie, where's my pink tank top?" Stephanie asked, then coming to a stop when she saw who Jericho was with.

Trish looked baffled and in shock, "Stephanie?"

"Hi Trish," Stephanie said, smiling, then looking at Jericho, "You didn't tell me they were here."

"Yeah, because they just got here," Jericho said.

"What's going on Christian?" Trish asked, looking at him.

"Um, Trish, I'd like you to meet Jericho's girlfriend," Christian said tensely.

"Girlfriend? But I thought his girlfriend was named Marie," Trish said, even more confused now.

"Stephanie MARIE McMahon," Jericho said, laughing, trying to ease the tension. He went over and wrapped an arm around Stephanie.

"Oh my God," Trish said, "What the hell is all this?"

"Stephanie is my girlfriend."

"What?"

"It's true Trish. I've been dating him since last July," she explained.

"July!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," she said, wrapping her arm around Jericho's waist.

"Hey guys, the grill is ready?" Shane said coming in then freezing.

"Shane!" Trish said, blinking her eyes. She had no clue what was going on, "Christian, please explain this."

"Um, Trish, there's a lot of things that you don't know about. A LOT of things," he said, trying to laugh.

"Well, can I know these things?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course, that's why we asked you here."

"Why don't we go outside?" Stephanie said, forgetting about her tank top in light of recent events.

"Ok," Trish said, not even believing this.

She walked out into the backyard, clinging to Christian's hand when she saw Edge lounging in the chair, talking to Kurt Angle. Her jaw dropped at the sight.

"Guys, they're here," Jericho said.

Kurt and Edge turned to look over. Trish just looked around at everybody, overwhelmed by the sight in front of her. She had a feeling that she was about to find out a lot of crazy things. She needed to sit down.

"I think it's time we explained huh?" Kurt said.

"Duh Kurt," Edge said, trying to sit up a little.

"Shut up," Kurt scoffed.

"Ok, please, explain, cause I'm about to faint or something," Trish said, sitting in the nearest chair.

"Well, like I said inside, I'm dating Stephanie, and have been since she came back to be General Manager of SmackDown."

"And you live together?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we do," Stephanie said, smiling up at Jericho, who in turn leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"But I thought you hated each other?"

"You thought wrong, we're very happy together."

"So why are you on different shows?"

"We're a secret to everyone except for the people here and Steph's mom," Jericho answered, "I'm kind of a spy for Stephanie. If I see anything important going down I tell her."

"And then I found out about them," Kurt said.

"Then I found out," Edge told her, "And so I'm actually friends with Kurt and Jericho, despite it looking like I hated them. Every time we've fought each other, or attacked each other, it's been planned."

"So when you got hurt at No Way Out?"

"Well, that wasn't Kurt's fault, he tried to stop them," Edge said.

"And then I found out about the two of them," Shane interjected.

"And then they decided to reunite me with Edge, so they let me in on the little secret," Christian said.

"Wait, so you and Edge, you don't hate each other?"

"No, we're just like we used to be," Edge said.

"Yeah, so we're all friends," Christian said.

"You lied to me?" Trish said to him.

"I didn't want to lie to you Trish, but it wasn't my secret to tell. I couldn't break Jericho and Steph's trust, because they worked so hard to hide everything."

"We're sorry Trish," Stephanie said.

"I think I need time to think, is that ok?" she said, standing up.

"Take all the time you need," Christian said, gently.

"Thanks," she said, then got up.

She walked through the house and out the door. She needed to think things over. She had just gotten a lot of information in the last few minutes. It was all a little hard to digest. Jericho and Stephanie? Together? Edge and Christian? Reunited? Everyone having some sort of secret plan? She was flabbergasted.

"She hates me," Christian lamented, sitting down heavily.

"Don't think that," Edge said.

"But she does, she'll never forgive me."

"She just needs to think man," Jericho said, "Give her a few minutes."

"Ok," he said, sadly.

"I guess I'll start cooking," Jericho said, "Can't starve can we?"

"I'll help you sweetie," Stephanie said, following him into the kitchen.

"I'm thirsty, I'm gonna grab a beer," Kurt said.

"I'm gonna check the grill," Shane said.

"I'm not going to move, cause I can't," Edge said.

Christian laughed, "I don't know what she's thinking."

"The worst that can happen is that she tells you she doesn't want to be with you."

"Thanks for that Edge," Christian deadpanned.

"Yeah, but then you can woo her back."

"Woo?"

"You know what I mean man."

"Yeah, I know. I just, I don't know what to do."

"You just have to wait."

Trish walked around the block, thinking about things. It wasn't a bad set-up. I mean, everyone seemed to be friends with everyone else, enough that they all saw each other. And well, Christian had seemed at ease with everyone. And she liked Christian a lot, and didn't want to lose him. And if he could be friends with all of them, then so could she. She walked back to the house, and inside the front door.

"Guys, do you know where Christian is?" Trish asked the three people in the kitchen.

"Yeah Trish, he's outside," Stephanie smiled.

"Thanks," she said, smiling back.

Trish walked outside, and saw Christian talking with Edge. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and looked at her, apprehensive about her reaction to what they had to tell her.

"Can I speak to you alone for a second?" she said, eyeing Edge.

"Yeah," Christian told her, bringing her over to the other side of the backyard.

Edge tried to look away, but found himself spying on them. Shane looked at them from the barbeque. And Jericho, Kurt, and Stephanie were all spying on them from the kitchen window.

"Move outta the way, I can't see," Kurt said.

"But I'm a girl, I'm smalled than you guys," she said elbowing Jericho.

"Hey! Don't do that!" he cried.

"You're both crowding me," she said.

"Here," Jericho said, pulling Stephanie in front of him and putting his chin on her shoulder.

"Better."

Meanwhile, Trish looked up at Christian, "I was thinking about what you guys told me."

"Yeah?" he said panicky.

"I'm glad you have such a tight knit group of friends. And I'm glad that they reunited you with your brother. And I'm glad that you've invited me to join you guys in what's obviously a good group of people."

"So what are you saying Trish?" Christian said, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I'm saying that I'd like to try and be all of your friends as well," she said, smiling at him.

Christian sighed in relief and then pulled Trish against him. He hugged her tightly. Trish hugged him back. He was so glad that she was able to accept all of this. He knew that he had just thrown her into the mix, but was ecstatic that she was willing to join them.

"You guys, she's in!" Christian yelled.

They walked back over to where the barbeque was. Jericho, Kurt, and Stephanie came out from inside and walked over. They all had grins on their face.

"I'm glad you decided to let me in on this little secret," Trish said.

"We're glad you aren't going to rat us out," Jericho laughed.

"Nah, I think I'll stick around."


	73. Can't Think of a Title, March 10, 2003

A/N: I'd like to thank you guys SO much for the reviews. I really, really mean that. They really mean a lot, and make me really happy to continue this story as long as I have. The reviews are really what keep this story going. I'm glad that so many of you are loyal readers. And even if you don't review but read it every time I post, I thank you guys too. :)  
  
Jericho burst into the room, "Guess what?"  
  
Christian and Trish broke apart from their little makeup session. They looked up at Jericho who was currently dancing around the room. Trish and Christian looked at him, then looked at each other and burst out laughing.  
  
"What?" Christian finally asked.  
  
"We have the first match," Jericho said brightly.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Well, that means we can leave early, usually we're on late, or have to stay late, but tonight we can go."  
  
"Sorry Chris, but my match isn't on until a little later."  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot that we have you with us Trish," Jericho said.  
  
"Is that such a problem?" she asked jokingly.  
  
"No, I guess not, I was just hoping to get back to Stephanie, that's all," he said, collapsing into one of the chairs in the room.  
  
"I'm still shocked that you're actually with Stephanie."  
  
"Really? Cause everyone who knows wasn't really surprised at all that I was dating her."  
  
"Maybe it's cause I don't know you guys that well, but it came as a shock to me. I mean, seeing Stephanie running down your stairs, it was just a shock."  
  
"But why would it be such a shock?"  
  
"Well, you two hated each other. Everyone knew that, I mean, you did make fun of her all the time."  
  
"Yeah, but we've been friends since we were business partners," he told her.  
  
"Hey, question Chris," Trish said, "Were you two actually just business partners?"  
  
Jericho looked a little taken aback by the question. Nobody had ever asked him that question. It wasn't so much the question that surprised him, but the fact that no one had thought to ask it in the year since he and Stephanie had been together.  
  
"Actually," he paused for dramatic effect, "Yes, we were just partners, there was no hanky panky."  
  
"That didn't come til later," Christian joked.  
  
Jericho rolled his eyes, "Well, look at you two, I'm always walking in on you making out. That's not fun for me."  
  
"It's fun for us," Trish said.  
  
"Hey Trishy, you're lucky you've only known about Chris and Steph for three days. They are like the two most lovey-dovey people on the planet."  
  
"Wow, Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon being cutesy, I don't think I believe that."  
  
Jericho sat back and watched the two of them talk.  
  
"They are, the two of them even answer at the same time, it's like they have one brain or something."  
  
"I think that's kind of cute, have you thought about marriage Chris?"  
  
"Wow, um, yeah, we've thought about it."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't know that," Christian cried.  
  
"Well, it's not like we advertise the fact that we've thought about getting married."  
  
"You do realize if you get married, you will be part of the McMahon family."  
  
"No really Christian, I didn't even think of that," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"You mentioned that Linda knew about you, I didn't hear too much about that," Trish questioned.  
  
"Yeah, Stephanie told her on Thanksgiving, she's cool with it, she likes me, I guess, she said Vince liked me as well," Jericho shrugged.  
  
"Man, you in the McMahon family, you'll be set for life," Christian said in amazement.  
  
"Hey, that's not why I'm with her, I'm not like Trips, using her for her power and her money. I could care less about that, I just love Stephanie," Jericho answered truthfully.  
  
It had never been about what Stephanie could give him, or what she could do for him. If it had been about that, he would have pounced on her the moment that she had become available, which was right around the time they became business partners, but he kept that relationship strictly platonic. He liked Stephanie for Stephanie.  
  
"I think that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Trish said, sighing dreamily.  
  
"Thanks Chris, now I have to impress my girlfriend cause you were so sweet."  
  
"Sorry man, wasn't my intention," Jericho checked his watch, "Well, all this talking is nice, but we have to get out there and fight."  
  
"Ok, let's go," Christian said, kissing Trish before getting up.  
  
Jericho clutched his jaw as he walked backstage. Damn that Michaels for giving him some Sweet Chin Music. Now his jaw was hurting like a bitch. He looked into a nearby mirror and made sure there wasn't any bruising or anything. Christian came backstage a few moments later.  
  
"You ok Chris?"  
  
"Yes," Jericho said, moving his jaw around, "I'll be fine."  
  
"Well, looks like HBK accepted your challenge."  
  
"Good, I can't wait to beat his ass at WrestleMania."  
  
"I'm sure you will."  
  
They walked back to the dressing room, Jericho every once in a while making sure that his jaw was ok. It was starting to throb a little. He hoped that he hadn't broken anything. It would probably go away tomorrow, he kept thinking.  
  
When they got back to their dressing room they got their things and showered. They got out and got dressed back in their street clothes. Trish had already changed into her ring gear and was warming up when they went back in the room.  
  
"Trishy, who are you facing tonight?" Christian said, coming up behind her and kissing her neck.  
  
"Jazz."  
  
"Be careful ok, she's tough."  
  
"I'm always careful Chrissy," Trish said, "You don't have to worry about me."  
  
"You always say that," Christian said, "But I never worry any less."  
  
"Well, it's not like I'm Stacy Keibler and can't defend myself."  
  
Jericho looked over from where he was watching the television, "Good one Trish."  
  
"Thanks Chris."  
  
"Ok, but you'll be on the lookout for Victoria right, she's so weird, you never know what she'll do."  
  
"Listen to the man Trish, we've tagged with her, she's crazy," Jericho added his input.  
  
"I know you guys, you both worry too much," she said, "I'll be just fine."  
  
"Don't say we didn't warn you," Jericho said.  
  
Trish stuck her tongue out at them and walked out. Christian just shook his head and sat down next to Jericho to watch his girlfriend's match. He sat silently, watching proudly as Trish went down to the ring to wait for Jazz. The match got started and to his dismay, Victoria came out and laid out Trish and Jazz. He watched with intent as they showed Trish rolling out of the ring on her own volition.  
  
"I'm gonna go wait for her backstage," Christian said, standing up.  
  
"I'll come with you, I got nothing better to do," Jericho said, getting up as well.  
  
They went out into the hallway and started walking towards the gorilla. Just as they walked up to a couple of unmarked doors, two girls stepped out of them. They were both wearing very short skirts and orange tops tied up to make them tiny. They stood in front of the two blonde Canadians.  
  
"Excuse us," Jericho told them.  
  
"You're Chris Jericho," the tall one said.  
  
"Yeah, how perceptive of you," Jericho answered, annoyed.  
  
"You two are really cute," the other girl said.  
  
"Well, thanks, we really appreciate that you've noticed," Christian answered, "Unfortunately, we'd just like to get by."  
  
"We're big fans," the tall girl said, "I'm Janice, and this is Sam."  
  
"Hi," Sam said in a flirty tone.  
  
"Good, nice to meet you, we really just want to get by," Jericho told them.  
  
"We're from the Girls Gone Wild thing," Janice said.  
  
"Oh, great, glad you guys are being so productive," Jericho said mildly.  
  
"We're gonna be in the wet t-shirt contest," Sam said.  
  
"Good luck with that," Christian said, getting impatient now. Would these girls just move so he could get to his girlfriend.  
  
"We can give you boys a sneak peek," Sam told them.  
  
"You know what, no thanks, you see, we're both--"Jericho started, but was cut off.  
  
"We'd love to show you a good time," Janice said, start to suck on her finger.  
  
"No thank you," Jericho said.  
  
"We're taken," Christian answered.  
  
"So?" one of them said.  
  
The girls came over and Janice, the tall one, put her hand on Jericho's chest, while Sam put hers on Christian. They both took a step back, but the girls just persisted. God, this was annoying, they wanted to push the girl's away so they could pass, but they were both too chivalrous to just push girls.  
  
"We want some huge doses of Vitamin C," Sam said.  
  
Jericho's cell phone went off, and he picked it up, "Jericho."  
  
"Hey sweetie, just called to ask when you're coming back to the hotel?"  
  
"Um, I should be back as soon as Trish is ready to leave."  
  
"Ok, I miss you."  
  
"I miss you too," he said, trying to swat away the girl's hand that was trying to run down his arm.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Getting hit on by some pathetic girls," he answered, sending the girls a dirty look.  
  
"Huh? Explain now."  
  
"I'll tell you later ok, baby, I promise."  
  
"You better, I'll be waiting."  
  
"Ok, love you."  
  
"I'll withhold my love you until I find out what you're doing."  
  
"Fair enough, bye baby."  
  
"Bye sweetie."  
  
Jericho hung up his phone, "Ok bimbos, get out of me and my friend's face before we remove you from our personal space."  
  
"We are bimbos, don't you want to have fun with us?" Janice said.  
  
Christian and Jericho were about to push these girls out of the way. God, where did they find these girls, they were dumber than posts. They just weren't getting the freaking clue, and it was becoming more than the two of them could bear.  
  
"Get your hands off of them," a voice said from behind the girls.  
  
Jericho and Christian were relieved to see Trish standing in front of them. The girls turned around and were met with a very angry Trish, who was holding the back of her head. Christian looked at her worried.  
  
"This doesn't concern you," Sam said.  
  
"Yes, it does, in case you two couldn't tell, and I don't think you could because it seems your brains have dropped down to your tits, but they don't want you near them," Trish said with venom in her voice. Christian and Jericho looked at each other in surprise.  
  
"Whoa, who the hell do you think you are?" Janice said.  
  
"Take yourself and your little floozy friend and get your filty, slutty hands off my boyfriend and my friend, before I remove them for you."  
  
"Fine, fine, they were no fun anyways," Janice said as she and Sam walked away.  
  
Christian looked dumbfounded at Trish, "Wow, you were.........awesome."  
  
"Hey, no blond floozy is going to hit on my boyfriend."  
  
"Thanks Trish, we never thought they were going to leave," Jericho said.  
  
"No problem, don't want your girlfriend to kill you," she said, "Come on, I just want to go back to the hotel."  
  
"So how are you feeling?" Christian asked as he and Trish walked into their hotel room.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, I forgot to ask you at the arena, but you took a belt shot to the head, that had to hurt."  
  
"I'll be just fine," Trish said, kissing him softly.  
  
"Ok, I didn't want to be a bad boyfriend and not pay attention to you."  
  
"I don't think you could be a bad boyfriend if you tried."  
  
"So how do I make your head feel better right now?" he asked.  
  
She pulled him to her and kissed him deeply, "I've got a few things in mind."  
  
"Ok buddy, explain," Stephanie said, her arms crossed as she stood right in front of the door when Jericho walked in.  
  
"Wow, have you been waiting there long?"  
  
"No, just since I heard the doorknob."  
  
"Ok," he said, sitting his stuff down on the floor.  
  
"Chris, I want to know what you were doing when I called."  
  
Jericho ran over to her and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She squealed and tried to squirm out of his grasp. She reached down and slapped his butt. He retaliated by slapping hers.  
  
"You need to calm down Stephy."  
  
"I do not, I just want to know what the hell was going on. When you say that you were getting hit on, I'm going to naturally be curious."  
  
"Curious or ready for combat?" he said, taking her into the bathroom and sitting her on the counter.  
  
"A little from Column A, a lot from Column B."  
  
"That's what I thought," he said, running the bath.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Well, if I want you relaxed, what better way then a nice bath?" he said, throwing some bubble bath.  
  
"Are you trying to butter me up and then you're going to drop a bombshell like you cheated on me or something?" she asked suspiciously, though she knew that he wouldn't have done anything.  
  
"Baby, if I cheated on you, do you think I would be within a fifty mile radius of you? No way, I'd be running for the hills."  
  
"You better," she said, undressing then getting into the tub, "Ok, I'm relaxing now."  
  
"Did you see what Michaels did to me tonight?" Jericho said, rubbing his jaw a little.  
  
"Yes, I did, poor baby," she said, running her hand down his jaw, "Now stop changing the subject."  
  
"But it really hurt."  
  
"Oh," she said, then pulled him closer so he was kneeling next to the tub. She started kissing along his jaw, "Feeling better?"  
  
"Much."  
  
"Now, tell me what happened," she said, still kissing his jaw.  
  
"It was nothing actually, just some of those chicks from Girls Gone Wile or whatever that stupid thing is. They were trying to hit on me and Christian when we were trying to go wait for Trish. Wouldn't let us walk by and shit like that. Trish had to come save us."  
  
"Oh, so you needed a whole bath just to tell me that? That's not so bad."  
  
"Nah, I just wanted to see you naked," he said, grinning mischievously. Stephanie splashed him with some water.  
  
"You pig."  
  
Jericho pouted, "Aww, I'm sorry. How can I make it up to you?"  
  
"Get in here." 


	74. Isn't Kendrick Cute? March 13, 2003

A/N: I still know Kurt's injured, but it still won't appear in the story.

"Kurt, what happened to your eye?"

"Last week, in the steel cage," Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

Stephanie came over to stand in front of him. She grabbed the sides of his face and turned his face so she could look into his eye. She examined his bad eye and then let go of his face.

"It looks awful."

"I know, it just makes me want to get Brock more."

"Are you ready for your match later?" she asked.

He didn't look at her, "Yeah, I'd say I'm ready."

"What's wrong with you Kurt?"

"Nothing, I'm just nervous about later," he said uncomfortably.

"You! Nervous? Well, that's something I've never seen you be before."

"I don't know, it's just the nerves talking, I'll be fine," he said, smiling his usual bright smile.

"I hope so. I know you'll win, you're great Kurt, I can't tell you enough how good you are in the ring. You really, truly are the best."

"Has your boyfriend heard you say that?" he winked.

"No, but I wouldn't hesitate to tell him that either. He knows your good Kurt, and besides, that whole 'I'm the King of the World' bit is just an act for everyone."

"I know, but saying I'm a better wrestler than your boyfriend, that might not sit well."

"Well, sue me, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"I'm not doubting you. In fact, thank you for saying it in the first place."

"Not a problem."

"So how's Trish dealing with our little secret?"

"She's actually really cool about it. She asked Chris some questions about us on Monday, but she's really understanding."

"What kind of questions?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, just how Chris and I are, if we had discussed marriage, if my mom knew, stuff like that," she answered.

"Marriage?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You guys have thought about marriage?" Kurt asked dubiously.

"Yes, we've thought about marriage," she answered, "Kurt, we've been going out for almost eight months, it was bound to come up some time."

"But you and marriage," he said, his tone changing.

"What about me and marriage?"

"You didn't seem to go quite so well the last time."

"Well that's because I was married to an asshole who pretended to care about me. Hunter drugged me and married me against his will, he's lucky that I stayed with him. I figure this time will be better, seeing as how the guy actually loves me."

"Will be? You sound pretty sure that you guys will get married."

"I don't know, marriage may be in the cards."

"Marriage?" a third voice came from the door.

Kurt and Stephanie looked at each other, both wincing slightly at the voice. They didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Stephanie closed her eyes. How did she keep getting herself into these situations? She tried to keep hush-hush about her and Jericho, but it became ever increasing that she would slip and talk freely about her relationship.

"Hello Daddy," Stephanie said, opening her eyes slowly, hoping her dad would just disappear.

"What's this I hear about marriage?"

"Nothing Daddy," she said.

"Kurt, are you dating my little girl?"

Kurt stood up quickly, "No sir."

"Then why talk about marriage?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We were just talking about if I would ever consider getting married again," Stephanie said.

"Oh really, and what was your answer pray tell?"

"I told Kurt that if the right guy ever happened to come along, that yes I would get married again."

"The right guy, who's this right guy Princess?"

Stephanie looked at Kurt. Could her father have heard her talking about Jericho earlier? He couldn't have, wouldn't they have noticed, or were they too into their conversation to know that her father was listening in? She had to tread with extreme caution.

"I don't know Daddy, someone who loves me I suppose."

"He better love you, I don't want you with someone like Hunter again."

"Neither do I," Stephanie said.

"You know there are a lot of nice guys in the company who would die to go out with you Princess, you really should start dating again," Vince told her.

"Daddy, what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying that there's a lot of fine gentlemen here that would love to take you out. Take Kurt for example."

Kurt stood with his hands up, like he had just been caught in the cookie jar, "Me?"

"Yes, you'd love to go out with Stephanie, wouldn't you Kurt?"

"Um, sure," Kurt said uncertainly.

"Sorry Kurt, but you're not my type," Stephanie said.

"Well, there are plenty of other men, you know there's a junior executive that I could set you up--"

"I really, really appreciate that Daddy, but I don't think I'd have time for anyone who wasn't in the company," she said, laughing slightly.

"Well, someone in the company then?"

"Daddy, why are you trying to fix me up," Stephanie whined.

"I just want you to be happy Stephanie, you've thrown yourself into your work, I can tell. I don't even see you having a social life."

Stephanie wanted to laugh aloud. Not have a social life, oh well, what Vince didn't know couldn't hurt him. It was kind of funny that he was the only one in her family that didn't know about her and Jericho. She knew if he were having this discussion with Linda, that she would dissuade Vince on setting Stephanie up, but Linda wasn't here.

"I do Daddy, I swear."

"Well, there are some nice talent that you could go out with."

Stephanie sighed and gave in, "Like who Daddy?"

"Well, there's Kurt, and Edge, I saw you getting friendly with him. And well, I don't know about Rob Van Dam, but I know that Charlie Haas is single."

Stephanie cringed, "Yeah."

"And well, I know that you were friends with Chris Jericho for a while there. He's a good guy you know?"

Stephanie held in a laugh. She looked to Kurt, who was smirking to himself. She could tell he was trying to hold in his laughter as well. Oh, what a tangled web this was becoming. Nice to know her dad approved of her dating Jericho at least.

"But he switched shows, he left me Daddy."

"So? I thought you two got along now," he paused, "Oh wait, that's right, Chris has a girlfriend, or at least he did last month."

"Yeah, he does," Kurt interjected, "She's a spitfire."

"Oh, you've met her Kurt?" Vince said.

"Yeah, a time or two. I can tell you this, I don't envy Jericho, she's, well, I don't know how to describe her. Crazy is the first word that comes to mind."

"Hey!" Stephanie cried before she could catch herself.

"What's wrong Stephanie?"

"Well, I just don't think it's nice to say stuff about someone who can't defend themselves."

"Uh huh," Kurt said knowingly.

Vince's cell phone went off, "I'm sorry Princess, I have to take this, come to dinner this weekend, your mother would love to see you."

"Ok Daddy, I'll come home on Sunday," Stephanie said, mentally thinking to see if she and Jericho had plans.

Vince left the room and Stephanie went over and pushed Kurt. He started laughing as he took a step back. She glared at him and crossed her arms, giving him a very convincing pout.

"Don't give me that look," he said.

"You called me crazy," she told him.

"It was a joke Steph, I know you're not crazy, I just said it because it was you I was talking about," he laughed.

"Still wasn't nice."

"I have to go and be with my team right now, but you have to tell Chris what your dad said."

"About him?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like to know."

"Why is that?"

"Because Chris always thinks that your dad would disapprove of you two."

"No he doesn't," she said, scoffing at him.

"Steph, you may be his girlfriend, but I'm his best friend, and he tells me things ok, just tell him."

"What kind of things?" she asked.

"Oh, wouldn't you love to know," Kurt said, winking before he made his escape.

Stephanie shook her head and sat down behind her desk. She should at least try to get some work done. That's what she was supposed to be doing anyways. But that hardly ever worked, she usually had to finish all her work on the weekends. She decided that she would call Edge, and see how he was doing. She dialed Christian's number where he knew he was staying.

"Hello?" Stephanie could tell it was Trish.

"Trish, it's Stephanie."

"Oh, hey Stephanie," Trish said cheerfully.

"Hey, I was wondering if Edge was there?"

"Actually, no, he went out with Christian to pick up some food for us."

"Oh, ok, I just wanted to see how he was doing."

"He seems pretty good, he's more up and about now. It's just good to see the two of them together. I mean, I know they've been reunited for months now, but you know, just seeing them is cool."

"I understand, don't worry about it. Sorry about your match on Monday."

"Oh, it's ok, I'm fine now, luckily I've taken shots to the head before."

Stephanie laughed, "Oops, I've probably contributed to that huh?"

"Well, it's in the past, and looking back, I really don't blame you."

"I'm glad that we could put the past behind us."

"Well, you sure have with Chris," Trish joked.

"Ain't that the truth."

"I think that's what shocked me the most about the whole thing. I mean, Kurt and Edge being friends was big, but you and Chris, I never would've guessed that in a million years, you guys are so good at hiding it."

"Yeah, we know, but we've been hiding it for so long, we've just fallen into habit."

"Do you guys ever fight about it?"

"That's the thing, Chris and I don't seem to really care about it, and if he does, he's never really told me."

"I asked if you guys had thought about marriage?"

"Yeah, he told me."

"Christian actually said you guys were totally cutesy together."

"You're kidding," Stephanie laughed as she heard a knock on the door, "Come in."

"No, I couldn't believe the two of you being cutesy, I had to ask Chris about it?"

"And then what'd he say?"

"He didn't say anything, but you two being cute and all lovey-dovey, I just can't picture it," Trish told her.

Stephanie looked up and saw Brian Kendrick holding some flowers, "Hey, hold on, listen, I have to put you on hold for a second."

"Ok."

Stephanie put Trish on hold and stood up from her desk. She walked over to the front of her desk. Brian was walking with the flowers held in front of him and she smiled at him. She hated to admit it, but he was just an adorable little guy. She took the flowers and was really touched when he thanked her for the match. She was glad that she could help him out.

"Did you have business to attend to?" Trish asked when Stephanie got back on the phone.

"Actually, no, just someone thanking me," she said, picking up the flowers and smelling their beautiful fragrance.

"That's nice."

"So you were saying about me and Chris?"

"Yeah, you two being all cute, I just can't picture it."

"Well, I guess you could say we are, I don't know, whatever."

"Oh, Edge and Christian just got back, I have to go, did you want to say hi to Edge."

"Nah, I don't want to interrupt your dinner, just tell him I said hi, and that I hope he's feeling well."

"Ok, bye Steph."

"See ya Trish."

Stephanie hung up the phone and looked at the flowers again. It really was sweet of him to give her flowers just as a thank you. It was a nice change to get thanks for doing something for someone. She went back to her work, keeping one eye on the monitor she had going in the corner. She went about her work until she saw Team Angle interrupt the match for the #1 contenders to the Tag titles. She shook her head and went out to give them a piece of her mind.

She got up purposefully and left her office. She walked down the corridor to where she could get to them as soon as they walked backstage. She had an idea pop into her head and she smiled wickedly. Yes, this plan would work out fine. If Team Angle didn't like playing by the rules, she'd make them play by the rules.

After she went and told Benjamin and Haas about the little changes in her match, she went back to her office to watch the rest of the show. Hopefully there wouldn't be anymore little squabbles or fights or trickery. But of course, she never got her wish.

Later, she watched as Kurt came out for his match. She watched the match suspiciously, wondering why Kurt wasn't taking off his jumpsuit. Then she watched in shock as someone was switching in the ring, and then saw Kurt roll-up Brock for the win. What the hell was going on?

Then she watched as Eric Angle made himself known. Stephanie couldn't believe that Kurt had duped them, and not just them, but hadn't told her. He always told her when he planned stuff, why wouldn't he tell her? She scowled and got up.

She walked to Kurt's locker room and knocked loudly. A moment later, Benjamin answered the door. She looked up at him.

"I'd like to speak to Kurt.........alone."

"It's ok guys, give us some time alone."

Benjamin and Haas left accordingly. Stephanie stepped into the room and closed the door behind her before turning to Kurt, a frown on her face. Kurt knew he was in trouble the moment he saw her face.

"Kurt, what the hell was that out there?" she asked angrily.

"Stephanie, I didn't get a chance to tell you."

"No chance, you only had the whole freaking show to tell me, but you didn't! Kurt, you're supposed to tell me these things."

"Steph, how could I? You're the boss, you wouldn't go along with this, not with a high profile match."

"Why didn't you just do that match Kurt?"

"Because I just don't think that I should fight him before it's time."

"Then tell me that, I'll understand I swear."

"I'm sorry Steph, really," Kurt said, grabbing her hands.

"Don't do it again ok," she sighed.

"I promise, I swear," he told her.

She sighed again, "Ok, you're forgiven, for now Kurt, but don't do it again."

"Ok."

"Well, I have to get outta here, I'll see you Kurt."

He hugged her, "Thanks Steph."

"I'm such a sucker for you, you know that right."

He smiled, "I know."

Stephanie walked into her hotel room later on, still looking at the flowers that Brian Kendrick had given her. She didn't get flowers often. Not that she thought Chris needed to get her flowers all the time, it was just a little nice touch. And he had picked not your typical flowers either. It really was sweet of him.

"So, you got flowers huh?" she heard Jericho say.

She looked up at him, "Yeah, they're beautiful aren't they?"

"I suppose," he said indifferently.

"You can't possibly tell me you're jealous," she said skeptically.

"I'm not jealous, just seeing you fawn all over those flowers."

"Sweetie, he was just being nice," she said, walking over to one of the hotel vases and taking out the existing flowers and putting her in there.

Jericho walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "I should be the only one getting you flowers."

"It was a thank you, nothing more. I think he's adorable anyways, how could I turn them down."

"Adorable?"

"Yeah, he's sweet, a little on the naïve side, but cute nonetheless."

"I'm cute."

"I know you are. Hell, even my dad was trying to fix me up with you."

"Pardon?"

"Daddy seems to think that it's time I started dating again instead of throwing myself into my work."

"Ok."

She leaned against him, "He said your name among the names of guys who I could go out with, until he realized you had a girlfriend."

"Yeah, best girlfriend in the world."

"I know I am," she said teasingly.

"Chris, my dad does like you, you know," she said, turning to face him.

"I know."

"No, I don't think you do," she said seriously, "He really won't care that I'm dating you. He likes you."

"You really think he does?"

"I know he does. He knows you're a good guy. And when he finds out about this, I know that he'll be happy for me. For us."

"I just don't know. I mean, I never pictured myself as the type of guy you're father would think is right for you. I mean, I'm just a wrestler."

"Hunter was just a wrestler."

"Yeah, but he kind of didn't give you a choice in the whole marriage thing. And, he has that whole Greenwich upbringing with the wealth and stuff. It's just sometimes, I think you're too good for me."

She put a finger to his lips, "Shh, stop thinking that nonsense, why don't you tell me you feel these things?"

"Because, I'm just afraid you'll laugh in my face, I guess."

"I would never laugh at your concerns. Sweetie, I'm with you because you are right for me, and you're what I want."

"But why Steph, why me?"

"Why not you?" she laughed, "You're sweet, kind, funny, gorgeous, arrogant, ego as big as all out, you are my perfect match."

"I guess."

"And not good enough for me? Sweetie, I'm no angel, I'm the lucky one that you put up with me."

"I guess we're both lucky huh?" he said, smiling at her.

"Luckiest bitch and asshole in the world, I'd say."


	75. Trish and Jeff, Oy Vey, March 17, 2003

A/N: I love a nice challenge. ;)  
  
"So time's winding down sweetie."  
  
"I know."  
  
"You getting nervous at all?"  
  
"No, not really," he told her.  
  
"That's good, I just know it's like your dream to face Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania."  
  
"It is, but I'm confident that I'll come out on top."  
  
"I hope you do, I'll be in my office cheering you on," Stephanie said.  
  
"I wish it could be like last year," Jericho answered, twisting some of Stephanie's hair around his finger.  
  
"I know, so do I, but those are the breaks I guess."  
  
"The breaks suck then."  
  
She laughed, "I suppose."  
  
"You know, I was afraid you were going to turn on me."  
  
"Turn on you? At WrestleMania?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, a part of me thought you were still secretly with Trips and that you were just with me to screw me over and give Trips the belt."  
  
"But I didn't screw you over."  
  
"No, I'm glad you didn't."  
  
"Me too," she said, leaning in a kissing him, "Jesus Christ, that beard is so awful, can you at least shave around your goatee."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm getting scratched with all that stubble," she said unhappily.  
  
"Fine, fine," he got up and walked into the bathroom, "The things I do for you, you know."  
  
"Yeah, but you think I'm worth it."  
  
Jericho grumbled, "Of course you are."  
  
He came out a few minutes later. His face neatly shaven except for his goatee, which was very neatly tied up. Stephanie smiled in approval, and got up to stand in front of him. She kissed him deeply.  
  
"Mmm, much better."  
  
"Good, I'm glad, I gotta go."  
  
"I thought Christian and Trish were going to come up here and pick you up?"  
  
"Nah, we nixed that idea, I'm driving myself."  
  
"Oh, so I'm stuck here all night," she said, pursing her lips.  
  
"Were you planning on going somewhere?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"No, but I just like the thought of being able to be mobile."  
  
"Well, call a limo or a cab if you want to go out," he joked.  
  
"Go away, have fun."  
  
"I'll try, even though I don't really have much fun when you're not around."  
  
She shook her head and pushed him out the door. Jericho walked downstairs and out to his rental car. The ride to the arena was uneventful and before he knew it, he was parking his car at the arena. He got his things and went to his locker room.  
  
"Hey Chris," Christian said.  
  
"Hey, what do we got tonight?"  
  
"Test and a partner of his choice."  
  
"Oh, got any ideas who he's gonna choose?"  
  
"No, none."  
  
"Oh well," Jericho said, tossing his stuff aside, "How about you Trish, what do you have?"  
  
"A tag match, Jazz and I against Victoria and Stevie Richards."  
  
"Ooh, brutal, how'd you get stuck with that one?"  
  
"No clue, I just hope that Jazz doesn't bail out on me."  
  
"If she does, I'll kick her ass," Christian said, kissing her temple.  
  
"I'm going to go talk to people," Jericho said, walking out, "See you later."  
  
"Yeah, see you," Christian said.  
  
"Bye," Trish called out.  
  
"I'm nervous about your match tonight," Christian told her.  
  
Trish turned to Christian. She loved that he was always concerned for her. She'd had a lot of guys be concerned for her because they thought she was fragile or because she was pretty. But Christian was never like that. He really cared about her. She leaned up and kissed him softly.  
  
"Don't be."  
  
"But you're in there with a guy and two women who hate you. The odds are not in your favor Trishy," he said worriedly.  
  
"I know, but I can hold my own, you know that, you've been in matches with me."  
  
"I know, but you'll be 3 to 1, there won't be anyone one completely on your side."  
  
"So you come out and save me, or someone else does."  
  
"You think someone will?"  
  
"I know someone will. There's always someone willing to help."  
  
"I guess you're right," Christian gave in.  
  
"Good, now what about your match?"  
  
"Please Trishy, Chris and I got that covered."  
  
"Well, aren't you a little full of yourself?"  
  
"Hey, we're the best, we'll be fine."  
  
"So I'm sure it'll be a good night for us then."  
  
"It will.........hey Trishy."  
  
"Yeah?" she smiled.  
  
Christian took a deep breath. He had been wanting to say this for a while, but he could never find the right time to say it. And if he had found the right time, he'd chicken out and not tell her. But he wanted to tell her so badly.  
  
"I love you," he revealed.  
  
Trish looked at him shocked, "Wow, I don't know what to say."  
  
"Well, that wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for."  
  
"I.........I'm just.........speechless," she said, covering her mouth, "And don't think that I'm not grateful that you said it--"  
  
"You just don't feel the same way," Christian said, looking down, and feeling humiliated.  
  
"No, that's not it at all Chrissy, I've just never had anyone tell me that before."  
  
Christian looked up at her in surprise. Here this beautiful, intelligent, strong woman sat in front of him, and no man had told he that he loved her. There was something seriously wrong with the male race if they had never thought to love this woman.  
  
"You mean, no guy has ever told you that."  
  
"No," she shrugged, "I was never with a guy long enough for him to say it."  
  
"Well, I love you Trish. You are just perfect inside and out."  
  
"Thank you Christian, I love you too."  
  
"You don't have to say it just cause I said it Trishy."  
  
"No, I mean it," she nodded.  
  
He pulled her into a hug. She returned it by hugging him tightly. He was happy that she had returned his sentiment. There would be nothing worse than if she had rejected his claim of love. Talk about your embarrassing moments. He was just glad this turned out as well as it did.  
  
"I have to get out there for my match," Trish said.  
  
"Ok," he told her, pulling away.  
  
She kissed him quickly, then got up, "Wish me luck."  
  
"Good luck."  
  
Trish left, and Christian sat back in his place on the couch. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television to watch Trish's match. He smiled when he saw her walk out. He watched the match, disinterested in the parts that didn't include his girlfriend.  
  
He was outraged when he saw Jazz leave Trish high and dry. He stood up and watched, knowing Trish wouldn't want him to come out there, even if she was outnumbered. But if there was any real trouble brewing he was ready to go out there at a moment's notice.  
  
After the match had finished, and Victoria had won, much to Christian's chagrin, he watched as Richards held Trish back. Then saw Victoria grab a chair. He was about to rush out there, when he saw Jeff Hardy running down the ramp. Assured that the situation was at least a little taken care of, he relaxed a bit.  
  
Trish was still down on the far end of the ring, Christian noted. He knew that she was just shaken up, but he wanted her to get up. Eventually Victoria and Richards left and Jeff went to help Trish. As they stood up, Christian watched as Jeff and Trish kissed.  
  
He felt his heart drop down somewhere near his stomach. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. This couldn't be happening. His girlfriend had just kissed another guy, on national television no less. He turned off the television and just stood there motionless.  
  
He managed to remember he had a match and left the locker room. He avoided everyone's eyes and looked at the ground as he walked over to the gorilla. He was so absorbed in not looking up, he ran right into Trish.  
  
"Christian," she said nervously.  
  
He looked up, "Go away."  
  
"Christian, please we have to--"  
  
"I said get away," he snapped.  
  
She sighed and walked past him. He didn't want to talk to her right now. He looked up and saw Jericho doing an interview with Coach. He decided to go interrupt, and get Jericho away from everyone so he could confide his anger that was beginning to seep through the numbness.  
  
He walked over, "Chris, tag match with Test is next, you ready?"  
  
"Who's his partner?"  
  
"Does it matter?" Christian said, emotionless.  
  
"No, it doesn't," Jericho said, walking away.  
  
Christian ran to catch up with him, "Did you see what just happened?"  
  
"No, what?"  
  
"Trish kissed Jeff," Christian said, his heart breaking a little more.  
  
"What?" Jericho said, turning to face his friend.  
  
Christian collapsed into a nearby folding chair, "I don't know, Jeff went out there and she kissed him, they kissed each other. I don't know what to do."  
  
Jericho patted his shoulder, "You have to talk to her."  
  
"I can't, I don't want to."  
  
"You have to."  
  
"I told her I loved her earlier, and she went and kissed another guy," Christian moaned.  
  
Jericho felt for his friend, "Just talk to her ok, maybe she was disoriented or something."  
  
"I don't know, let's just get this match over with."  
  
"Ok."  
  
Christian went out there, and knew already that he wasn't going to do well in this match. He was too distracted by the earlier events to concentrate. He did try his best though, so as not to leave Jericho to fend for himself, but he had a difficult time.  
  
Christian walked back up the ramp, supporting Jericho who was holding up his hands in victory. As soon as he was backstage, his happy face changed to a look of anger, and he walked back to his locker room, Jericho following close behind.  
  
"How you doing?" Jericho asked.  
  
"I'm pissed, I know that much."  
  
They walked into the locker room and saw Trish sitting down biting on one of her nails. Christian halted in the doorway. She looked up at him, sadness in her eyes. Jericho noticed the tenseness of the situation and decided that these two needed some time alone. He quickly grabbed his stuff and left, opting to take a shower back at the hotel.  
  
"Christian, I'm so sorry," Trish said, getting up to stand in front of him.  
  
"I don't want to here it," Christian said.  
  
"I didn't mean to."  
  
"Didn't mean to what Trish, kiss him?"  
  
"It just happened."  
  
"Oh, that makes it so much easier to tolerate. Hmm, maybe I'll go kiss Stacy and say it just happened."  
  
"Christian, please don't be like this," Trish pleaded.  
  
"How the hell am I supposed to be Trish, you kissed another guy!"  
  
"I know, and I apologize."  
  
"Oh, you think that's going to make this any better, make me feel better? Well, it doesn't."  
  
"I didn't go out there thinking I was going to kiss anyone."  
  
"I don't care ok."  
  
"But you love me," she told him.  
  
"I do love you Trish, that's what makes this so fucked up. I love you so much that I don't even want to look at another woman, but you feel the need to go kiss other guys. It's nice to know that you're so devoted to our relationship," he practically yelled.  
  
"I am, I love you too!"  
  
"No you don't! If you loved me, you wouldn't have kissed him, regardless if he had saved you or not!"  
  
"I didn't know what was going on," she tried to explain.  
  
"He didn't force the kiss on you Trish, you kissed him freely and willingly," Christian said, grabbing and packing his stuff like a madman.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"To a hotel, away from you."  
  
"Christian, please, let's talk about this."  
  
"There's nothing to talk about Trish, you can go kiss Jeff if you want, go fuck him if you want, I don't care," Christian said, leaving.  
  
Trish sat down on the couch and cried. She really hadn't mean to kiss Jeff. It had kind of just happened. She really did love Christian. And as soon as Jeff's lips had touched hers, she had regretted it. She closed her eyes painfully.  
  
Jericho saw Christian storm out of the locker room and no Trish to be found. He sighed to himself and went back to the locker room he had been assigned to that evening. He found Trish crying, her face in her hands.  
  
"Trish," Jericho said quietly.  
  
Trish looked up at him, her mascara running, "Hey Chris."  
  
"Do you want a ride back to your hotel?"  
  
"I'd really appreciate it," she said, sniffling.  
  
"Ok, why don't you get your things and we'll head back."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Trish got her things together as Jericho watched. As soon as she was done she walked over to him, and together they went out to Jericho's rental. He unlocked the doors, and took her bag, putting it in the backseat. He got in a moment later and started the car, and went off to the hotel.  
  
"I didn't mean to kiss him," Trish said to him.  
  
"I'm sure you didn't," Jericho said.  
  
"You believe me."  
  
"Hey, I've been there, Stephanie kissed Bischoff on Halloween, remember that?"  
  
Trish turned to him, "Yeah, what happened with that? You guys didn't break up."  
  
"Nah, it was all part of our plan. Just give Christian some time to cool down."  
  
"How much time?"  
  
"I don't know, just time, he'll come around."  
  
They got to the hotel and Jericho got Trish's bag for her. They went inside and he waited as she checked in and got a room, figuring Christian wouldn't really want to see her tonight. She walked back over to where Jericho was waiting.  
  
"Did you want to come to my room for a while?" Jericho asked.  
  
"I don't want to be a burden."  
  
"You wouldn't," he told her, "Besides, I'm sure Stephanie is lonely, and would like some company that isn't me."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah, come on."  
  
They went upstairs and walked down the corridor to Jericho and Stephanie's room. Jericho took out his key card, and opened the door. Jericho could hear the radio going in the bedroom, and walked in further. He motioned for Trish to come in as well. Jericho walked into the bedroom where Stephanie was working on her laptop and listening to music.  
  
"Steph," Jericho said from the doorway, "I'm back."  
  
She looked up, "Oh hey sweetie."  
  
"I also brought someone with me," Jericho told her.  
  
Stephanie got up from the bed and walked into the other room, "Trish."  
  
Trish burst into tears again, and Stephanie rushed over and sat next to her, "He hates me Steph."  
  
Stephanie hugged Trish, "It'll be ok."  
  
"I don't know how!" she wailed.  
  
Jericho sat down in a chair and watched the two women. Stephanie and Trish had never been best friends, but he guessed in times of sorrow, it didn't really matter. Trish needed someone and Stephanie was good at solving stuff.  
  
"Now, what happened?"  
  
"I don't know, one second I'm down on the ground and the next Jeff is kissing me."  
  
"And it wasn't deliberate?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"No, it wasn't, I mean, yeah I did kiss him, but I wasn't thinking. It was like reflex, get saved, thank the guy. I just thanked him too much."  
  
"Where's Christian?"  
  
"I don't know," Trish sobbed into Stephanie's shoulder.  
  
"Sweetie," Stephanie said, turning to Jericho, "Would you mind finding out where Christian is?"  
  
"Sure baby," he said, pulling out his cell phone, and called Christian, "Hello Christian?"  
  
"What is it Chris?"  
  
"Where are you man?"  
  
"I'm in my room."  
  
"Ok, are you doing alright?"  
  
"I'm fine Chris, bye," he said, hanging up.  
  
"He's in his room," Jericho told them.  
  
"What am I gonna do?" Trish said sadly.  
  
"First off, you're going to go to your room and get a good night's sleep, clear your head, and give Christian a chance to clear his. Then tomorrow, you go see him, and you explain rationally what happened. And if he doesn't listen, you call me or Chris, and we'll talk to him. We won't try to make excuses, we'll simply tell him that he should listen to what you have to say. If he won't even listen then Chris will make him listen, won't you Chris?"  
  
"Whatever you say."  
  
"Thanks Steph," Trish said.  
  
"It's ok, it'll all be ok."  
  
"I hope so." 


	76. We Just Move On, March 20, 2003

"So, you're just going to go out there and demand an apology?"

"Yeah, pretty much, I don't really think there's anything else that I have to do."

"Well, if that's what you want to do, then go right ahead," Stephanie told him.

"Thanks," Kurt said.

"How's your brother by the way?"

"He's ok, hurt his knee, kind of like I did, remember."

"Yeah, I remember, I hope it's not too serious."

"Nah, he'll be fine."

"That's good to hear."

"So I saw your dad earlier on, I talked to him for a while. He seemed pretty intent on getting Hogan to sign that contract."

"Yeah, I know. It's like he's a man on a mission. It's only around Hogan that he gets like that though. Otherwise he's fine."

"That's weird, I wonder why he's so committed to ending Hulkamania."

"I've long since stopped trying to figure out my dad," Stephanie laughed.

"I think I would too. Are you looking forward to his match at WrestleMania?"

"Nah, I'm more concerned with Chris's match, I want him to win."

"Of course you do, you're not biased or anything," Kurt joked.

"Nope, I just want him to have a win at WrestleMania this year, cause you know I wasn't that big a help last year."

"Sure you were."

"Don't lie Kurt, I was no help at all. I got him distracted and he lost."

"I'm sure Chris doesn't think of it like that."

"He doesn't, but that's how I feel."

"I'm sure he'll win."

"I hope you win too."

"So do I, so do I."

"You'll be great out there, you and Brock one on one, nobody else," Stephanie said subtly.

"Wait a second, what do you mean nobody else?"

"Well, I'm making it so that no one can interfere in the match. And if you try to get counted out or disqualified then you forfeit the title," Stephanie said slowly.

Kurt nodded, "Thanks for telling me, I can deal with those stipulations if I have to."

"Ok, good, I was hoping you wouldn't be too upset or anything. I know that you like to have your team with you and stuff."

"I think I'll live."

"I'm sure you'll be fine without them."

"So, um, what happened on Monday?" Kurt asked gently, not knowing how to broach the subject.

Stephanie sighed and thought about the situation. After she and Jericho had comforted Trish, she had gone back to her room. From their understanding, things were as bad now, maybe worse than they were before.

"Well, Trish got caught up in the moment, and she kissed Jeff," Stephanie said simply.

"Man, how's Christian?"

"He's, I don't know actually. Chris has been trying to reach him, but he won't answer his calls. And every time he goes over there, Christian won't answer the door."

"I talked to Edge, he said that Christian is really upset about it," Kurt said.

"Yeah, I feel so bad for Trish, she really didn't mean to kiss Jeff, I think it just happened."

"Well, if Chris ever gets through to Christian, tell him I said I hope he feels better."

"Don't worry I will."

"I know you will. Well, I've got to go get ready for my promo and all that. See how Eric is doing."

"Ok, bye Kurt."

Stephanie didn't have any work to do for once, so she sat back and actually enjoyed the show. It was nice for a change not to have to go through all that paperwork. She could actually see all the stuff she worked so hard to put on. A knock came to the door and she called out to come in.

Brian Kendrick sheepishly made his way into her locker room. She had forgotten that she had asked to see him earlier. As cute as she thought he was, he kept defying her orders, and she had to put a stop to it, it was getting out of hand.

He came over and stood next to her. She took her remote and turned on her tape of last week's show. They both watched the tape silently, both with different reactions though. She could tell that he was proud of his match last week, and he confirmed it a moment later.

He looked so down that Stephanie felt badly for him. He really was just a nice kid who wanted a job. And how could she deny someone that chance. The kid had proved that he was at least dedicated to what he did. She smiled a little.

She couldn't help but smile at his youthful exuberance. It was nice to see a guy just starting out, just happy to be wrestling. She thought back to when she was with HHH. He was always so belt-driven, she never thought it was about love for the sport with him, simply the lust for gold. She heard someone clapping and she turned to see her father in the doorway.

"Daddy?"

"It's nice to see my little girl hard at work making her roster better," Vince praised.

"He deserved a chance," Stephanie said, going to sit at her desk once again.

"So have you thought about what I said?"

"What did you say?" she asked, confused as to what he was talking about.

"Starting to see people again. Stephanie, I worry about you."

"Daddy, please don't worry about me, I'm a big girl now."

"Yes, but you're still my little girl, and I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy," she cried, "Really I am Daddy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I love my job, I have great friends, and someone someday is going to come along and sweep me off my feet. He's out there Daddy, you forcing me to look at all these guys isn't going to bring him any sooner."

"I just don't like seeing you alone. I have a good mind to go to Hunter and--"

"Daddy, I'm ok now, I'm over it. And you should get over it too. Yes, it hurt to be dumped, but I didn't want Hunter anymore, I just didn't. I'm better off now. I promise."

"I'm sorry Princess, I didn't want to push you or anything."

"I know you didn't, I just think that when the time is right I'll find someone who is right for me."

"Good," he said, "And on that note, I'll take my leave."

"Thank you Daddy," she smiled, "And thank you for worrying about me."

"Well, someone has to don't they?"

Stephanie smiled as she left. She hated lying to her father. He did only want what was best for her. She did want to tell him she had already found the best she could possibly do. These secrets were getting harder and harder to keep. One of these days she was just going to crack and confess everything.

She saw Kurt talking, and decided to go out there and announce the stipulations for his match at WrestleMania. She liked going out in front of the crowd. It always sent chills up her spine, even to this day. It was that unmitigated adrenaline that undulated through her veins. God, was it fun.

"God man, I've been trying to reach you for ages."

"Sorry," Christian mumbled.

"How are you?"

"Who cares?"

"Christian, just talk to her, is that so hard to do?" Jericho said.

"You don't understand Chris ok? She kissed another guy. She kissed a guy who I hate."

"I know she did, but don't you think you should at least hear her out. She actually does have an explanation you know."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Yes, you do, don't lie."

"Chris, how would you feel if Stephanie kissed another guy?"

"Um, she did, his name was Bischoff," Jericho said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but that was part of the plan."

"Not when he kissed her it wasn't, she didn't come up with that until halfway through the kiss."

"Still, she had a definitive motive, what does Trish have. I don't want to talk to her. I don't even want to think about her."

"You know you're gonna see her on Monday."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Jericho sighed, "Don't let some stupid little kiss get in the way of something that is so totally great."

"You just don't get how I felt."

Stephanie walked in and saw Jericho talking on the phone. She mouthed to him, asking who it was. He mouthed back that it was Christian. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and made a hasty retreat to the bedroom. She changed quickly into her pajamas and came back out to sit on Jericho's lap. She held her ear close to his so she could listen in on the conversation.

"Well, why don't you enlighten me?"

"God, have you ever just felt your heart break you know. It's like you can pinpoint the exact second when it shatters into pieces. The second that my mind registered the fact that Trish was kissing Jeff I felt that," Christian said, his voice getting choked up.

"I know it hurts man, but if you don't talk to her, it's just going to hurt even more."

"I can't, what if she says that she's been in love with Jeff forever and now she finally has a chance with him?"

"She wouldn't."

"She could," Christian said, "I mean, she's already kissed him once before if I recall."

"Yeah, but nothing ever came of that."

"So, maybe she always secretly hoped something would, and now she's getting her wish, her dream come true. Maybe I was just the filler guy until her one true love came along to whisk her away."

"Don't think that."

"And the only problem was the filler guy fell in love with her."

Chris looked at Stephanie sadly, "Christian, you can sulk all weekend, but on Monday you will have to face her."

"I know, I'm gonna go ok, I'm tired."

"Bye man."

"Bye."

Jericho hung up the phone and looked at Stephanie. She gave him a sad look and then leaned in to kiss him. They pulled away and Stephanie snuggled into his embrace. They both felt terrible for their friends.

"He's doing horribly isn't he?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's kept himself walled up in his house for the past three days."

"Trish isn't doing well either, she's going crazy up in Toronto without him."

"This is all just so fucked up."

Stephanie snuggled closer, "It is. How did we get so lucky to not get in any serious fights?"

"I don't know."

"We are lucky though."

"I know, maybe it's because we're so compatible or something."

"But you'd think we'd get in more fights, what with us both being completely stubborn and hard-headed."

"Yeah, but we're both also logical, which means we can see things for what they really are."

"I suppose so," she paused, "I don't ever want to fight with you."

"I don't want to fight with you either."

"Promise you'll never break up with me Chris," Stephanie said, looking up at him.

"I can't promise that Steph."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know, I mean, the only way we wouldn't break up would be to get--"

He looked at her in surprise. What was she getting to? She looked up at him, her eyes hopeful. He could tell that she wanted him to ask that question. That question that would forever tie them together.

"Steph," he whispered.

"Chris, I just want a promise, I don't ever want to lose you."

"You won't."

"But I could, look at Christian and Trish, they were happy one moment, and now look at them."

"But we're not them baby."

"But we could just as easily break up over something stupid, and I don't want that."

"So you want me to.........propose?"

"I don't know."

"Stephy, I love you, you know I do. I love you so much that I will do anything and everything for you. But we have to be practical here. We can't get married."

She looked down sadly, "I understand."

He lifted her chin with his hand, "It's not that I don't want to, I do, really, seriously. But there's too much in the way right now."

"Ok."

"How's this, I promise to propose."

She looked at him, "Promise to propose?"

"You have my word on it, someday, I will propose to you."


	77. Man, Did I Boo H, March 24, 2003

A/N: I was at Raw tonight! And you could see me during the Jericho/HBK promo, and if you see a ton of flashes that's probably me taking pictures of Jericho since I took about 30 of him. I couldn't help it, he's such a fine specimen. ;)  
  
"Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing," Christian said sullenly.  
  
"Have you seen Trish yet?" Jericho asked.  
  
"No, and I don't plan to," Christian said firmly.  
  
"You're gonna see her you know, I mean you can't just avoid her forever."  
  
"Well, I'm going to sure as hell try."  
  
"Christian, why don' you just talk to her, sort things out. I'm sure if you talk like rational adults you'll find a resolution," Jericho reasoned.  
  
"You know what Chris, I don't want to hear this ok, cause you don't know what I'm going through, you don't know how much it hurts to see the woman you love kissing another man," Christian said angrily.  
  
"Oh don't I? I had to watch Bischoff kiss Stephanie, and that was a lot longer then Jeff and Trish. I had to watch my girlfriend accept an award for being the best couple with her ex-husband, a guy who I despise. You're not the only one who goes through shit like this."  
  
"It's different."  
  
"How is it different?"  
  
"I don't know, but it is, ok, I just love Trish so much."  
  
"Are you saying that I don't love Stephanie?" Jericho asked, taken aback.  
  
"No, that's not what I'm saying, but Stephanie would never do anything like that to you, I mean, she'd never kiss someone without ulterior motives."  
  
"And you think Trish will?"  
  
"She already did," Christian said, looking down.  
  
"Dude, I've heard it from her a thousand times, she didn't mean to, but maybe she should be the one to tell you that."  
  
"Whatever, I'm going for a walk."  
  
Jericho just shook his head and turned back to his bag. If Christian refused to listen to anyone, then he would just have to suffer the consequences. He didn't know why he would refuse to listen. He thought he was stubborn, it seemed like Christian was a thousand times worse. How could he even stand to be away from his girlfriend for a week, Jericho could barely stay away from Stephanie for a few hours.  
  
Christian walked out of the locker room he was sharing with Jericho and down the hall. He figured he'd go to catering, grab a bottle of water, then head back to his locker room to wait for his match against Steiner. He sighed to himself as he was walking.  
  
He wanted to give Trish the benefit of the doubt, but truth was, he was scared out of his wits. He was scared that she'd say that she didn't really want him and it was Jeff she had wanted the entire time. And he didn't think he could deal with that.  
  
"Christian," a soft voice came from behind him.  
  
Christian closed his eyes and stood still, "Yeah?"  
  
"Can we talk?"  
  
"I don't think there's anything to talk about."  
  
"Of course there is, we need to talk about what happened last week," Trish said quietly, "I don't want you to hate me Chrissy."  
  
"Don't call me that!" he snapped, turning around abruptly.  
  
Trish's eyes watered, "I'm so sorry."  
  
"Trish, I don't want to hear your lame excuses ok, I don't want to hear how it was an accident and you didn't mean to ok? I just want you to leave me alone."  
  
"Christian, please talk to me, I'm so sorry, I'll do anything to make it up to you," she pleaded.  
  
"I don't want anything, I'd rather you just leave me alone."  
  
"I'm not going to leave you alone Christian, so forget about it, I will keep persisting you until you decide to talk to me."  
  
Christian sighed, he just didn't want to hear her right now. His resolve was crumbling by the second, and he knew that if he stayed, he'd give in to her. And he wanted her to be hurt, just like she had hurt him last week by kissing Jeff.  
  
"Why don't you just go find Jeff or something?"  
  
"Because I don't want Jeff," she said, taking his hand in both of hers, "I want you."  
  
"Don't touch me," he said, pulling away from her.  
  
"Christian, how long are you going to punish me?"  
  
"I'm not punishing you Trish."  
  
"Hey Trish!" Jeff Hardy called from down the hallway.  
  
"Why don't you just go with your new boyfriend," Christian said, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend," she turned around, "Jeff, I'm kinda busy right now, can you talk to me later."  
  
Jeff came up to the two of them, "Actually, I just wanted to ask you to be my partner tonight, against Victoria and Steven Richards. I figure since they beat you up last week you might want a little revenge."  
  
"Um.........I was talking to Christian," Trish explained.  
  
"Oh, then it's cool," Jeff smiled.  
  
"No, you guys should go," Christian told them, "Don't want to look like cowards running away from a challenge."  
  
Trish's eyes bored into Christian's, pleading with him to let them talk. It was pretty evident that she didn't want to go out there with Jeff. But Christian did nothing to stop them.  
  
"Is that cool with you Trish?" Jeff asked politely.  
  
"Yeah, it's fine Jeff," Trish said, almost sadly.  
  
"Cool, I think we're gonna be up next or something," Jeff said, extending his hand.  
  
"Go Trish, it's what you wanna do, I know it is," Christian said morosely.  
  
Trish looked into his sad eyes and had to turn away. It was breaking her heart. She turned and took Jeff's hand. They walked away, Jeff chatting about their match, but Trish wasn't listening. She looked back to Christian, but he had already turned away. She sighed softly then turned her attention to Jeff.  
  
"Trish, you ok? Was Christian bothering you?"  
  
Trish rolled her eyes. She knew Jeff was out there, but didn't he know that she was dating Christian. Obviously not, gauging from last week's turn of events. Sometimes she didn't know where his head was. It seemed way above the clouds.  
  
"Christian doesn't bother me," she said simply.  
  
"Good, don't want anyone bothering you," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.  
  
She tried to smile at him, "Yeah, why don't we just focus on the match?"  
  
"Trish," Jeff said, "Before we go out there, I wanted to ask you if you wanted, maybe, to go out with me sometime?"  
  
Trish tried to act surprised, but she knew this had been coming. She could feel it when he kissed her. And that little display right now, well, it just cemented the fact. But Trish was torn. Christian didn't want her, and Jeff did. But she loved Christian and not Jeff. But she did feel a little bit attracted to Jeff.  
  
"Um, yeah, that sounds good, we'll figure out the details later."  
  
"Great," he smiled, "Now let's go kick some ass."  
  
"Ok," she said, smiling for the first time in a week.  
  
Christian walked back to the locker room. He had just let Trish go, he knew that she didn't want him, so he gave her the easy way out. And then the questions started popping into his brain. What did Jeff have that he didn't have? A lot of body paint was the first thing that came to mind.  
  
"Christian, are you ok?" Jericho asked as he saw his friend enter the locker room.  
  
"Yeah," Christian said, despite knowing that was a complete lie.  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"So Trish is pairing with Jeff," Jericho commented idly.  
  
"Yeah, I told her to."  
  
"You what?!?"  
  
"I told her to just go, it's obvious he's the one she wants Chris."  
  
Jericho got up and grabbed Christian by the shoulders, shaking them lightly, "Are you out of your mind? What is wrong with your mind?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm just seeing things for what they are."  
  
"You know, I'm about two seconds from kicking the shit out of you, just so you'll get some damn sense."  
  
"What?"  
  
"She loves you Christian! She adores you! If she didn't want to be with you, why would she stay with you for so long? Why would she accept me, and Stephanie, and Kurt, and Edge, and Shane as friends if she didn't want to hold on to you? She did all that because she loves you, you dumbass. You don't throw love away you know! I mean, I lost months, MONTHS with Stephanie because of my stupid blindness! I could've had her since we became business partners, but I was totally blind to every sign and signal she was sending me, and I lost precious time with her. Time that could've been spent telling people about us! I'm just lucky enough that I had enough guts to tell Stephanie that I had feelings for her before she slipped out of my grasp forever, is that what you want with Trish? Do you want her to slip through your fingers, do you want to be blind to something that can be the best thing that ever happened to you? Look at her man, she honestly loves you, she wouldn't have spent the last week crying on Stephanie's shoulder if she didn't. Don't throw something like this away because she made one mistake!"  
  
Christian blinked at Jericho's words. Never had he heard the man so passionate about something before. Not even wrestling. He was right though, as Jericho tended to be. But Christian was still afraid.  
  
"I'm just giving her options."  
  
"Options? What if she doesn't want options, what if she's made her choice. You sent the woman you love into the arms of another man, you are a huge idiot, go after her, tell her you love her, don't be an ass and give up something so good."  
  
"That's why you keep your relationship a secret huh?"  
  
Jericho looked up, "Huh?"  
  
"You and Stephanie, you keep it a secret because you don't want to give her up."  
  
"Well, of course dumbass, you think I like keeping secrets?"  
  
"No, but you do it because you love Stephanie and you don't want to lose what you have," Christian said, things becoming clear in his mind.  
  
"Yeah, I don't want to lose her, I love her Christian, I promised to marry her someday, because God knows, my life would be empty without her. Look at your life without Trish man? It's not too good is it?"  
  
Christian thought about it, "No, not as good as it can be."  
  
"Exactly. I look back, and I thought I was happy traveling alone. I thought I was happy getting my own bed, or having my own house. But now that I'm with Steph, it's like everything is just better, because she's there to make it better. And she makes my life better. Just like Trish does for you."  
  
"You're right you know, you're absolutely right, she does make my life better in every way."  
  
"I'm always right. Now don't you want to go tell her some things?"  
  
"Yeah, I do," Christian smiled.  
  
"I thought you might."  
  
"I'll see you man."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Christian ran down the hall to the gorilla where he knew Trish would be coming from in a few minutes. Like clockwork, she slowly made her way backstage after the beating she had suffered at the hands of Victoria and Jazz. She saw Christian waiting and walked over to him cautiously.  
  
"Trish, I think I'm ready to talk," he said.  
  
She perked up considerably, "Really?"  
  
"Trish, you ok?" Jeff said, coming over and putting his arm around her, and kissing the top of her head. Christian narrowed his eyes.  
  
"I'm fine Jeff, I was just--"  
  
"So about our date, I was thinking tomorrow, what do you think?" he asked.  
  
Christian's eyes widened and looked at Trish. She looked stricken as she avoided his gaze. Christian scoffed loudly and nodded his head, tears starting to prick his eyes. He wanted to turn and walk away, but he couldn't just yet.  
  
"Wow, you two and a date, have tons of fun," Christian said in a sugary sweet voice, which Trish winced at.  
  
Christian turned on his heel and walked straight back to his locker room, not looking back once. He was afraid to see what might be going on. He stormed back into his locker room and sat down heavily.  
  
"What is it now?" Jericho asked.  
  
"She's going on a date with Jeff.........tomorrow."  
  
"Oh man, I'm so sorry," Jericho said sympathetically.  
  
"Yeah, damn her," Christian muttered.  
  
"Hey, you need to calm down ok, why don't you come out to dinner with me and Stephanie after I get under HBK's skin?"  
  
"Yeah, ok, a few stiff drinks might do the trick. I've got a match," Christian said, getting up again and leaving.  
  
"Good luck," Jericho muttered to himself.  
  
Later on, after Christian's match, and he was safely tucked away in his locker room, Jericho decided it was time to make the little presentation he was preparing for Shawn Michaels. Just a little montage he thought up.  
  
He walked down the aisle, his usual cocky self, and got in the ring. As he was looking around, he noticed a sign that said, "Jericho, go over to SmackDown, Steph's waiting." He had to do a double take with that one, it surprised him. How would anyone know about him and Stephanie? Unless they were just a fan of there's, probably. But he really liked the sign, nice to know some people liked him and Stephanie together, even if that girl didn't know that they were together in real life, even though that girl really did think they were together in real life, but Jericho couldn't have known that.  
  
He said his little diatribe and waited for Michaels to show up. Once he did he showed the clips he had gathered, and how he had wanted to be just like Michaels. But he paved his own way and became Chris Jericho, one of the best in the business. He then slapped the taste out of Michael's mouth, and was truly surprised when he was struck back.  
  
He walked backstage, holding his jaw a little, it was definitely sore. He went back to his locker room to get his things and Christian. They headed out together and got in Christian's rental car they were using for the night. They drove a ways away from Arco Arena, somewhere in Dixon, a city west of Sacramento, but not too far away. They found the restaurant Stephanie was supposed to be at, and went inside. They spotted her and went over to the table.  
  
"Hey baby," Jericho said coming up behind her.  
  
"Sweetie hi, hey Christian," she said.  
  
Jericho sat down next to her, and Stephanie got up to sit in his lap. Christian sat down across from them. Stephanie looked at Jericho, wondering why Christian was here. Jericho just looked down and Stephanie knew something was up, but didn't know how to broach the subject.  
  
"So, how did you like the shirt I got you sweetie?"  
  
"It's nice, matches the pants," he told her, kissing her softly.  
  
"You look like a walking chessboard," Christian told him.  
  
"Gee, you're so kind," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"Just telling the truth."  
  
"I like it," Stephanie said, kissing him.  
  
"Thank you," he said, kissing her again.  
  
"You guys, please don't," Christian said, miserably.  
  
"Sorry," Jericho said.  
  
"What's wrong Christian?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Trish made a date with Jeff, just as I was about to tell her I forgave her. But I guess she didn't really want my forgiveness," he said, choking up with tears.  
  
Stephanie got up and went over and hugged him, "Shh, it's ok."  
  
"It's not, I knew that she wanted him."  
  
"You couldn't have known. Would you like me to talk to her?"  
  
"No, she wants to be over and done with, then you know what?"  
  
"What?" Jericho and Stephanie said in unison.  
  
"We're over and done with." 


	78. Not Much to Work With, March 27, 2003

A/N: Eh, I didn't have much to work with, so I'm sorry if this chapter kind of sucks. I'll make up for it in my WrestleMania chapter. :)  
  
"You guys really don't have to stay with me."  
  
"We're staying."  
  
"But Steph, you have SmackDown."  
  
"I can skip it one week, nothing major is going to happen, and if it does, Kurt is there to inform me."  
  
"Poor Kurt," Jericho said, "Has to be stuck there without any of his friends."  
  
"I'm sure he'll live," Edge said from the armchair.  
  
"He always manages to," Stephanie said, from Jericho's lap.  
  
"You guys, have you maybe thought that I'd like to be by myself?" Christian asked.  
  
"Yeah, we've thought about it, we're not leaving," Jericho said.  
  
They were all hanging out at Christian's house. Edge hadn't left him for the past three days, and neither had Jericho. Stephanie, had had to go to L.A. the day before to hold a press conference at the Playboy Mansion, but otherwise, she'd been here too.  
  
"Don't you think I should have moping time?"  
  
"You can't mope, we won't let you, besides what use is moping, it's not going to make you feel better," Edge told him.  
  
"Yeah, but you guys haven't left me alone."  
  
"And we're not going to," Stephanie said.  
  
"Well, you left me alone, for one day at least."  
  
"That was work-related, not because I wanted to."  
  
"You didn't want to go hang out at the Playboy Mansion?" Edge said, "Man, if I could go there and party with all of the Playboy playmates, I could die a happy man."  
  
"Yeah, Edge, I wanted to hang out with tons of girls who are prettier than me, look better in a bathing suit then I do, that's my idea of a great time," she said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, don't put yourself down like that," Jericho said to her.  
  
"Shut up sweetie, it's true and we all know it."  
  
"Hey, excuse me, I happen to think you're the most beautiful woman ever," Jericho told her.  
  
"You have to say that, you're my boyfriend."  
  
"I do not have to say it."  
  
"You are pretty Steph," Christian commented.  
  
"Yeah, hell, I went after you didn't I?" Edge said.  
  
"Whoa, back off my girl, would you?" Jericho joked.  
  
"When did this turn into the 'Let's Make Steph Feel Pretty' Show?" she asked.  
  
"You get too down on yourself," Jericho said.  
  
"Can we just turn on the show?"  
  
Christian grabbed the remote and turned on SmackDown. They managed to put it on just in time. They watched the tag match and all the backstage segments that happened. Stephanie of course had to watch since it was her show.  
  
"Is your dad there Steph?" Edge asked.  
  
"No, he's been training since Monday, with Shane."  
  
"Oh, you're dad really wants to kick Hogan's ass doesn't he?"  
  
"Yeah, I don't know why Daddy has such a harsh vendetta against him. I just don't bother with it."  
  
"God, Shane must hate helping him," Christian said.  
  
"I don't know, I haven't talked to him in a while, he's always so busy."  
  
Christian's phone rang and he got up to go answer it. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, bringing it back into the living room. He sat back down again, before seeing who was calling him.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Christian," a woman's voice said over the line.  
  
Christian sighed, "Trish, I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to talk to you."  
  
Edge, Jericho, and Stephanie's interest was piqued by the phone conversation. Trish had been trying to reach Christian for the past few days, and he had been blowing her off every time, either not answering the phone or hanging up on her. Edge looked over at the couple and they decided to give Christian some privacy. They went upstairs into the upstairs lounge and turned on the television in there.  
  
"I don't know what to think about her," Edge told the two of them as they claimed the loveseat, named appropriate for the two of them.  
  
"I think she just genuinely made a mistake and she dug herself a hole," Stephanie said.  
  
"How do you figure?" Edge asked.  
  
"Well, I know she didn't mean to, but then she agreed to a date with Jeff, before she even knew what was going to happen between her and Christian."  
  
"But then why'd she make the date?"  
  
"Maybe because she was confused about her feelings. Maybe she's attracted to both guys, and she just doesn't know what she's feeling. It is possible to be attracted to more than one person."  
  
"Oh really?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, when I was married to Hunter, I was attracted to Kurt. And then I was attracted to you."  
  
"You were attracted to Kurt?" Edge asked.  
  
"Sure, I mean, he was nice to me, in a time when I didn't have many friends, he respected me, didn't call me a filthy, dirty, disgusting, skanky, bottom-feeding trash-bag ho," she said, turning to look at Jericho.  
  
"Oh, so it's my fault you were attracted to Kurt?" he asked.  
  
"Pretty much, but all I'm saying is the girl is probably just confused."  
  
"I guess so, but she shouldn't have broken my brother's heart," Edge said, with a twinge of bitterness.  
  
"You guys, maybe we should let them try to work this out by themselves," Jericho interrupted.  
  
"Maybe," Edge and Stephanie said at the same moment, causing everyone to laugh.  
  
Meanwhile, downstairs, Christian was talking with Trish on the phone. He had decided to hear her out for right now. Despite being angry with her, he hated just hanging up the phone on her. Even she deserved better.  
  
"Trish, I'm willing to talk to you, but that doesn't change anything between us."  
  
"Christian, I'm just asking for another chance."  
  
"Trish, I don't want to give it to you. I mean, you really, really hurt me when you kissed Jeff. You told me that there was never anything between you. That you thought he was weird."  
  
"Christian, I'm going to be honest with you. I liked it when he kissed me," she said softly.  
  
Christian scoffed, "I thought as much."  
  
"But I like when you kiss me better."  
  
"Trish, answer me this. If I had gone out to help, let's say, Stacy, and I had kissed her, knowing full well what I was doing, and that I was with you, would you be so easy to forgive me?"  
  
"No," she said quietly.  
  
"That's what I thought Trish. That's exactly what I thought. And you know what, maybe you'll be happier with Jeff. Because you probably weren't happy with me."  
  
"But I was happy with you, you make me happy Christian."  
  
"Trish, please don't lie to me, that's the only think I ask of you, please don't lie."  
  
"You and Jeff are different, and I like you both for different reasons, do I see myself with one of you, yes, do I see myself with you more, I do, and that's the truth."  
  
"But you see, there's that lingering doubt, because you can see yourself with one of us, and that's the problem, there isn't room for two of us to be with you Trish. Just one."  
  
"But I'm confused," she cried.  
  
"Then figure it out Trish. If you can honestly come to me and say that you love me and only me, then I will be willing to talk things over with you to see if we could ever be a couple again. But if you don't, or can't say that to me, then I'm just going to assume we're over. Is that fair enough for you?"  
  
"Yes, I guess I can live with that."  
  
"I don't hate you Trish, I really don't. I just don't like feeling like a guy you can just cast away, I thought we were better than that."  
  
"We were."  
  
"And I didn't want a perfect relationship. I didn't want to be like Chris and Stephanie who seem to be too perfect for words, to the point you want to gag. I just wanted to be us, but well, I can accept it if it doesn't happen. I hope it does, because I love you, I've loved you for a really long time, and it took me a lot of courage to ask you out in the first place."  
  
"Ok, I'll let you know then, bye Christian."  
  
"Bye Trish."  
  
Upstairs, Jericho, Stephanie, and Edge were all watching SmackDown. Of course, they all had what was going on downstairs in mind. They were all curious as to the discussion that Christian was having with Trish.  
  
"What do you think they're talking about?" Stephanie asked, breaking the silence.  
  
"I wouldn't know," Edge said.  
  
"Me neither."  
  
"Actually, I told her to go to Jeff, and see if she wants to be with him," Christian's voice said from the doorway.  
  
"And?" Edge said.  
  
"And if she wants me over him, then I'd be willing to talk about things."  
  
"That's smart," Jericho said.  
  
"I hope so," he said, coming over to sit next to Edge on the couch, "So what's been going on?"  
  
"Not much, just some stuff with Nathan Jones, Big Show, and A-Train. And Dawn and Torrie, plus they showed Steph from the Playboy Mansion. And Vince training with Shane. They showed Kurt talking to Brock."  
  
"Oh, not too much then."  
  
"No," Jericho said,  
  
"So are you ok Christian?" Stephanie asked, obviously the more sensitive person in the group.  
  
"Um.........I'm not sure right now, ask me in a couple of days."  
  
"We'll be here," Jericho laughed, his cell phone suddenly ringing, "Jericho speaking."  
  
"Hey Jericho, it's Shane, would you happen to know where my sister is?"  
  
"Yeah, she's right next to me, hold on."  
  
"Who is it sweetie?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"It's your brother," he answered, giving her the phone.  
  
"Shane?"  
  
"Steph, I'm going crazy here," an exasperated Shane said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Dad is going nuts training against his match with Hogan, it's so frustrating, I can't take much more of this."  
  
"And what do you want me to do?"  
  
"Talk to him, I don't know, mention that you want me to come look over documents with you, I don't care, anything to get me out of here."  
  
"Fine, fine, give me the phone then," she said, rolling her eyes at Jericho.  
  
"Thank you," a relieved Shane told her.  
  
Stephanie could hear shuffling on the line before she heard her father's voice asking her what was the matter. Stephanie put on her best coy voice to talk to him. Shane knew she was a Daddy's girl and would get what she wanted.  
  
"Daddy, I need Shane to help with some of the storylines, I think they may be a little too girly," she said.  
  
"But Princess, he's helping me train for my big match."  
  
"Oh, I know Daddy," she said innocently, "And I'm sure you're going to win, but Daddy, I really need his help. So can you spare him some time so he can come help me, pretty please Daddy."  
  
Stephanie knew that she had turned the big guns on her father. There was no way that he would turn her down. She had known how to get her father to do what she wanted each and every single time. It was a gift really.  
  
"Ok Princess," he said, then she heard him turn away from the phone, "Shane, go over to your sister's house and help her with her work."  
  
"Fine Pops," Shane said, silently thanking Stephanie.  
  
"Thank you Daddy."  
  
"Bye Princess, I've still got lots of things to do to prepare."  
  
"Good luck Daddy," she said hanging up.  
  
"What was that about?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Shane was getting sick of Daddy, so he asked me to help bail him out from training duty."  
  
"You guys, SmackDown's over," Christian said.  
  
"You're telling me, I've been so preoccupied with everything that I missed most of my own show," Stephanie said.  
  
"Yup, pretty much," Edge chuckled.  
  
"Luckily I taped it, so I can watch it later," she said thoughtfully, "So what happened at the end?"  
  
"Our dear friend Kurt nailed Brock with a two-by-four. Hit him pretty hard too, Brock went down," Christian said.  
  
"Damn it, I wish those two wouldn't get so worked up around each other. They need to settle it on the ring on Sunday," Stephanie said.  
  
"And they will, you can be sure of that," Jericho said.  
  
"I think it'll be a good match, if both of them go into it at full steam," Edge said, "I just wish that I could be at WrestleMania, but instead I'm stuck here, watching it on TV."  
  
"Poor thing," Stephanie sympathized, "You'll be there in spirit."  
  
"Oh, that helps," he said derisively.  
  
"Well, I'm just trying to help," she laughed.  
  
"What about you Chris," Edge said, "You excited."  
  
"Getting to prove I'm better than HBK in every way, you're damn straight I'm excited."  
  
"My man is going to kick some major ass," Stephanie said.  
  
"I can only hope so." 


	79. Chris Loses, H Wins, Yuck, WrestleMania,...

A/N: Bad booking WWE, very bad booking. You took a great match and stuck it with a pretty crappy ending.  
  
"Wow, so those are your new tights?"  
  
"Yeah, what do you think?"  
  
"I think they look great on you," she commented.  
  
"Good, I think so too, blue brings out my eyes don't they?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Yes Chris, they bring out those beautiful baby blues, makes me want to kiss you repeatedly," a voice said.  
  
Jericho turned around, "So help me God Kurt, if you ever try to kiss me, you'll lose a limb."  
  
"No, sugar, I'll lose my heart to you," Kurt said.  
  
"Well, someone seems rather at ease considering one of the biggest matches of their career is coming up later," Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around Jericho from behind.  
  
"I'm going to win, it's that simple."  
  
"A little cocky aren't we?" Jericho said.  
  
"Yeah, but look at me, I have every right."  
  
"Wow, three of the biggest egos in one room," another voice said, "How did you all fit?"  
  
"Wow, looking dapper Shane O," Jericho said.  
  
"Have to, you know, project the right image and all, I AM a McMahon," he said all business-like.  
  
"Ooh, I'm shivering," Kurt said.  
  
"You should be Kurt, I am one of your boss's."  
  
"I answer to two people, Steph and Vince," Kurt said.  
  
"I answer to Steph too," Jericho said, "But that's for an entirely different reason."  
  
"You ready for your match Chris, I hear it's coming up soon," Shane told him.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be I suppose."  
  
"You'll be great," Stephanie said, "You're going to steal the show."  
  
Kurt cleared his throat, "Ahem."  
  
"Sorry Kurt, girlfriend rules, I have to root for my man to steal the show."  
  
"Those are the breaks Angle," Jericho shrugged laughing.  
  
"You know, one day, you and I are going to be on the same roster, and I am going to fight you."  
  
"Nah, we're friends."  
  
"Yeah, but one day, I swear to God, I'm going to kick your ass, and make you tap," Kurt said.  
  
"Oh, is that so?"  
  
"Oh it's true.........."  
  
"It's damn true," everyone else said.  
  
"You are SO predictable Kurt," Shane said.  
  
"You know, they say it's a good thing you can choose your friends, but right now, I'm not so sure about that."  
  
"We love you too Kurt," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Well, that makes it all better, thank you guys, now I can go out there with a clear conscience, knowing that a girl and two GUYS love me."  
  
"I do love you Kurt," Jericho said, mock seriously.  
  
"Shut up man."  
  
Jericho walked closer, "But Kurt, don't you want me?"  
  
"Like I want the plague."  
  
Jericho grasped his chest, "Oh, you've shattered me, ruined me for other men, I'll never be the same again."  
  
"You are creeping me out man."  
  
"Kurt, you gonna steal my boyfriend?" Stephanie joked.  
  
"No way, you can have him."  
  
A knock came on the door, "Mr. Jericho, you're up in 10 minutes."  
  
"Thanks," he called out.  
  
"Hey, where's Christian?" Shane asked.  
  
"He's still moping around at home," Stephanie said, "I think he's watching the show with Edge."  
  
"Why didn't he come?" Shane said.  
  
"He was afraid he'd run into Trish and Jeff, and that was the last thing he said he needed," Jericho told him.  
  
"Poor guy."  
  
"Yeah, I talked to Edge," Kurt said, "Christian really misses her."  
  
"That sucks, I don't even know if she's with Jeff," Stephanie said, "I haven't gotten the courage to ask her yet."  
  
"You should, just to know, you know," Jericho told her.  
  
"I guess. Maybe if I see her around backstage."  
  
"You do that, but in the meantime, I've got a match to win."  
  
"Which you will win," Stephanie said confidently.  
  
"Now don't get too excited, I haven't won yet."  
  
"But you will."  
  
"You guys, can I have some alone time with my girlfriend?" Jericho asked.  
  
"That means he's kicking us out," Shane laughed.  
  
"Good luck Chris."  
  
"Yeah, good luck man."  
  
"Thanks, I'll see you guys later."  
  
Shane and Kurt left the room discreetly and closed the door behind them. Jericho went over to lock the door before turning to Stephanie. She smiled and sat on the edge of the couch. He walked over to her and started kissing her. They fell against the couch, still kissing. Stephanie ran her hands along Jericho's hair, messing it up.  
  
"Mmm, we can't do what you want to do," Stephanie whispered.  
  
"I know, but still, I need to calm my nerves."  
  
"You'll be fine."  
  
"I'm nervous."  
  
"Don't be."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because despite whether you win or lose, I know you're going to go out there and give it your all, just like you do every night. You are one of the best Chris Jericho, whether the people recognize it or not, you are one of the best there is. And you are going to steal the show."  
  
"You always manage to sound so convincing."  
  
"I only say what I know, and don't worry, I'll be watching the match, probably with Daddy and Shane, but I'll be rooting for you all the way."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Now, I don't want you to be nervous, you will be fine."  
  
"Yeah," he said, trying to psych himself up.  
  
"Now make me proud."  
  
"I will, I need to fix my hair first though."  
  
"It looks fine," she looked at her watch, "You have to go, come on, get out of here."  
  
He kissed her, "I love you."  
  
"I love you too, good luck."  
  
Jericho left the dressing room, and Stephanie watched him go. She sat up and readjusted her top. She couldn't let her father see her in this state of disarray, he might get the wrong idea. She got up and opened the door a little, seeing if the coast was clear. She didn't see anyone so she left. She was walking down the hallways when she saw Trish walking around with the belt on her shoulder proudly.  
  
"Trish!" she called out.  
  
Trish turned around, "Stephanie hi!"  
  
"Congratulations on your victory."  
  
She grinned, "Thanks, I'm really excited myself."  
  
"It looks good on you. So how are you?"  
  
"I'm as good as I can be, you know, given Christian hates me."  
  
"Oh, are you with Jeff now?"  
  
"No, nothing official or anything, I don't know what's going on with that situation. I'm still just confused."  
  
"Well, you know, if you ever want to talk, you know where to reach me."  
  
"Yeah, thanks Steph, I'm actually glad you turned out to be you know who's girlfriend."  
  
"Wow, thanks, I've got to jet though, I have a certain match I'm very interested to see."  
  
"I figured as much, I'll see you."  
  
"Yeah, congratulations again."  
  
Trish watched as Stephanie went off. She went back to her locker room, and walked inside. She had already showered and dressed in her street clothes. She sat down, intending to watch the rest of the Pay-Per-View when her cell phone rang. Instinct told her that it was Christian, she knew it had to be.  
  
"Christian?"  
  
"You knew it was me."  
  
"I was hoping you'd call."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"So much," she said honestly.  
  
"Congratulations on your win."  
  
"Thank you Christian, it really means a lot that you called me," she said, smiling softly.  
  
"I had to call you, you won the championship, you should be celebrating," Christian laughed. It seemed like ages since she had heard that.  
  
"Yeah, but you're not here."  
  
"Is Jeff there?"  
  
"No, he's not."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Christian, I miss you."  
  
"Trish, I have to go ok, Chris's match is starting."  
  
"Why won't you talk to me Christian?" she said, on the verge of tears.  
  
"Trish, make your decision, then we'll talk."  
  
"Bye Christian."  
  
"See ya Trish."  
  
Trish sighed and went back to watching the show. On the other side of the arena, Stephanie was walking into her father's dressing room/office/training room. She saw Shane sitting on one of the couches while her father was lifting weights.  
  
"Hi Daddy," she said.  
  
"Princess," Vince said, sitting up, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Just came to see you and Shane, and watch the show."  
  
"What match is on Shane?" Vince asked.  
  
"Michaels versus Jericho," Shane answered, giving Stephanie a pointed look when he said Jericho's name.  
  
"Oh, Princess, this is a Raw match, you don't need to worry."  
  
"I'd still like to see it Daddy," she said, sitting next to Shane.  
  
"If you want."  
  
"I do."  
  
Stephanie watched as Jericho waited for Michaels to shoot off those stupid confetti guns. The match started and she saw Jericho and Michaels lock up then start brawling. The match was going fairly slowly, but she knew it would pick up in momentum later on. It was just getting started.  
  
"He's looking good Steph," Shane whispered so Vince wouldn't hear.  
  
"I know," she said smiling.  
  
"I'm sure you're rooting for Shawn, am I right Stephanie?" Vince asked, coming over to them for a moment.  
  
"Why would I root for Shawn Daddy?"  
  
"Well, Jericho left your show."  
  
"Oh, I'm over that Daddy, I don't really care who wins," she lied.  
  
"Good, impartial is best," he said, walking over to the mini-fridge in the corner.  
  
Stephanie turned back to the television in time to see Jericho do his cocky pin. She smiled as she saw him being the dominant contender. But then it seemed the momentum swung in favor of Michaels. She winced as she saw Michaels hit a moonsault on Jericho. She was glad that it only got a two count.  
  
Shane looked over to see Stephanie intent on watching the match, she was already on the edge of her seat literally. He didn't know how his father couldn't tell that she was obviously more into this match than she let on. He sighed and turned back to see Jericho lock the Walls onto Michaels. He silently hoped Michaels would tap, but he reached the ropes, much to the dismay of both the McMahon children.  
  
Stephanie was just about to start biting her nails. This match could go either way, and she was very aware of that. Every time she would think Jericho had it, Michaels wouldn't stay down. She was getting frustrated. Why couldn't Jericho just lock this up now? Jericho locked in the Walls again, and she was sure Michaels would tap.  
  
"Tap, tap, tap," Stephanie chanted under her breath.  
  
Unfortunately, Michaels reached the ropes. Stephanie fought the urge to go down there and interfere on Jericho's behalf so he would win. Hell, if she couldn't help him last year, she could help him this year right? She managed to remain seated.  
  
Vince watched his kids. They seemed very much into this match, though he couldn't understand why. He knew that Stephanie and Jericho had been friends, but he didn't know what had happened to them after he had left for Raw. Maybe his little girl had a little crush on the first ever Undisputed Champion? Maybe he'd help her find someone new?  
  
Stephanie cringed when Jericho lost. She had to resist the urge to start crying. She was surprised to see him hugging Michaels, but then had to smirk when he kicked him in the crotch. That was the Jericho she knew and loved, not some guy who actually hugged his opponents. Even if Jericho had lost, the match had been amazing and she was still proud of him.  
  
"Good match," Shane commented.  
  
"Yeah, it was," she said, "That'll be hard to top."  
  
"Hey Steph, didn't you want to go talk to Kurt about his match later, make sure he knew the stips?" Shane said, hoping she'd get what he was really saying.  
  
"What I don't--"then she realized what he was talking about, "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me."  
  
"Not a problem, tell him good luck for me," Shane said, winking.  
  
"Yes, tell him good luck Stephanie," Vince added.  
  
"Will do Daddy."  
  
Stephanie left before she'd have to talk to her dad anymore. It was always so awkward when he had no clue what was really going on. She made her way stealthily to Jericho's dressing room and walked inside. He wasn't there yet, so she sat herself down on the couch.  
  
Jericho walked down the hallway, pissed that he had lost. Sure he had had a great match, sure he had gotten the last laugh so to speak, but come on, were people going to actually remember that, of course not, they were going to remember that Michaels had won. He shook his head and walked into his dressing room, not surprised to find Stephanie there.  
  
She stood up, "I am SO proud of you."  
  
He couldn't stay mad when she was around, "Thanks baby."  
  
"You were incredible out there, win or no win."  
  
"I would've liked the W though."  
  
"Of course, but you have to admit that you went out there and had a great match, you stole the show sweetie, you were on fire tonight," she told him, coming over to kiss him.  
  
"Steph, you sure you want to be around me, I smell and I'm sweaty."  
  
"Eh, I'll take my chances," she said, kissing him again.  
  
"So you really thought it was a good match?"  
  
"Sweetie, you were so great, I mean, you had me on the edge of my seat, you had those fans in the palm of your hands. And you know, when you were hugging Shawn, they were actually behind you for a second."  
  
"Yeah, but I couldn't get away with him winning and me just being complacent."  
  
"I know. I was happy to see you kick him where it hurts," she grinned.  
  
"Ahh, it's times like these I know why I'm with you."  
  
"Good, now go take a shower, you stink."  
  
"And it's times like this, I wonder why I'm with you," he winked.  
  
"Ha ha, I'll talk to you later, probably after the show."  
  
"Aww, I have to wait that long?"  
  
"Yeah, sorry, I want to be there to watch Daddy with Shane."  
  
"Oh, I see, and there's no way I can come too."  
  
"Sorry sweetie, I don't think it would be a good idea."  
  
"Ok, I'll just go watch with Kurt then," he said, kissing her softly.  
  
"Ok, see you later."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Stephanie went back to her father's dressing room to wait out the rest of the Pay Per View. She wanted her father to win tonight, even if she was the one to sign Hogan? He was her father after all, how could she not?  
  
Jericho finished up his shower and got out and dressed into his street clothes. He made his way to Kurt's private dressing room and knocked on the door, not wanting to barge in or anything.  
  
"Who is it?" Kurt called.  
  
"Jericho."  
  
"Come in."  
  
"Hey," Jericho said, walking in.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I was bored by myself, and I thought I'd watch the show with you."  
  
"Why can't you watch it with Stephanie?"  
  
"Because she's watching with her Shane and Vince, and I'm not invited for obvious reasons," he chuckled.  
  
"Yeah, you can stay here, it's cool, make yourself comfortable."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They sat down and watched the show. They were showing the catfight between the Miller Light chicks and Torrie and Stacy. It was incredibly pointless and boring, and Jericho and Kurt were bored to tears.  
  
"What the fuck was the point of that?" Jericho said.  
  
"Beats me, I'm sure they could've made better use of their time, but what can you do?"  
  
"That was just totally pointless, they could've showed Stephanie, I don't know, doing anything, rather than that."  
  
"Well, it's over, so now we get to see Hunter and Booker."  
  
"Oh, great, let's see Hunter beat someone again," Jericho said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"You really hate him don't you?"  
  
"Trust me Kurt, if you were me, you would hate him too."  
  
"I'm not you and I hate him," Kurt told him.  
  
Jericho laughed shortly, then went back to watching the match. It was pretty boring and plodding. And in the end, just as everyone had expected, HHH won the match. This wasn't even funny anymore, didn't HHH lose to anyone?  
  
"Vince and Hogan is up next," Kurt said.  
  
"I can't wait to see how this one turns out."  
  
"Interesting, I'm sure."  
  
"I'm gonna go see if I can sneak over to see Steph, I'll be back," Jericho said.  
  
Jericho got up and left. As he was walking he walked right by Vince would was obviously going down to the gorilla to get ready for his match. He didn't think anything of it until he heard Vince stop him.  
  
"Chris, I wanted to talk to you," he said.  
  
"Um, yes, Mr. McMahon."  
  
"Mr. McMahon, you know you can call me Vince."  
  
"Ok Vince, what can I do for you?"  
  
"I have to make this quick, but are you still with your girlfriend?"  
  
"Um, why do you ask?"  
  
"I think I want to set you up with someone."  
  
"Actually, my girlfriend and I broke up a while ago," he shrugged.  
  
"Good, good, how would you feel if I asked if you wanted to go out with my daughter?"  
  
"Stephanie?" Jericho asked shocked.  
  
"Yes, now I know you two have had your differences, but I caught her watching your match very intently, and I doubt it was Shawn she was looking at."  
  
"So you think she wants to date me?"  
  
"Yes, I think you'd be good for her Chris, what do you think?"  
  
"Well, yeah, I guess I could go out with Stephanie."  
  
"Good, good, I think she has a crush on you actually."  
  
"Oh wow," Jericho said, not knowing how else to respond.  
  
"Well, wish me luck."  
  
"Good luck Vince."  
  
Vince walked off and Jericho ran back to Kurt's dressing room. He ran inside, a huge grin on his face.  
  
"Oh my God, you will not believe what Vince just told me!"  
  
"Oh my God," Kurt said, pretending to be a Valley Girl, "Like you totally have to spill."  
  
"Shut up, he told me that he would freaking set me up with Stephanie."  
  
"What? Like a date?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"But you're already dating her," Kurt said, confused.  
  
"I know that dumbass, but if Vince sets us up, then we won't have to hide anymore, because he wouldn't care, don't you get it?"  
  
"Ok ,ok, I get it, that's great news," Kurt said nodding.  
  
"I know."  
  
"Weren't you going to see said girl?"  
  
"I was, but I think I can hold out until after the show. She asked me not to see her, I'll grant her wish."  
  
"Whipped."  
  
"Who cares?"  
  
Jericho and Kurt sat down to watch the rest of the Pay Per View, well until Kurt's match that is. They watched a mediocre Hogan and Vince match. Then they watched as Rock beat Austin, finally after his third try, and then it was time for Kurt to go.  
  
"Good luck man," Jericho said.  
  
"Thanks, I just hope the match is good."  
  
"It will be, not as good as mine was, but it'll be good."  
  
"Funny Jericho, see ya," Kurt said leaving.  
  
Jericho sat there, wondering what Stephanie was doing. Probably worrying about Vince. He had lost a lot of blood during his match, and Stephanie did tend to worry about those she cared about. He wanted to go see her, but he could wait.  
  
He watched the Kurt and Brock match with interest. It was going pretty well so far. Kurt had always been good at reversing moves into the Anklelock. He watched Brock do a messy Shooting Star Press, and winced as he saw the landing again. He hoped the guy was ok, but then Brock won, so then he felt badly for his friend. But he still didn't wish injury on someone.  
  
Kurt made his way backstage. He was also worried about Brock, he had seen the way he had fallen, and it was brutal. And when he hugged him, there was definitely a glazed over look in his eyes. He got back to his dressing room.  
  
"Kurt, great match," Jericho told him.  
  
"Thanks, too bad I lost."  
  
"Hey, join the losers club, we're a good bunch."  
  
"Thanks man, I'm just going to shower and head out."  
  
"Cool, so am I, probably meet Stephanie at the hotel."  
  
"K, night."  
  
"Night man."  
  
While this was going on, Stephanie was sitting there as Shane talked to Vince about the match. She was bored to tears, but couldn't just leave. Oh well. She walked over to where they were.  
  
"Shane, can I get a ride with you back to the hotel?" she asked.  
  
"Sure Steph."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Stephanie, before I forget, I talked to Chris Jericho tonight, and he'd like to go out with you," Vince said.  
  
"Excuse me Daddy?"  
  
"I saw the way you were looking at him during your match, so I thought I'd set you up, I think he likes you."  
  
"Oh, he does, does he?" she said, "Shane, can we go?"  
  
"You gonna be ok Pops?"  
  
"Yeah, you two go ahead."  
  
"Thanks Daddy, feel better."  
  
"I will Princess."  
  
Stephanie bit her lip as she thought about Jericho. Her father was trying to set her up with him. And he had advocated this. She walked out to Shane's car and got inside. They drove in silence for a while before Shane stared talking.  
  
"I thought the show was pretty solid."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"The matches were good, Jericho and Michaels stole the show though, don't you think?"  
  
"Yeah, I do."  
  
"I assume you'll celebrate a good match with Chris."  
  
"Maybe I will."  
  
Shane stopped talking then, catching on to the fact that Stephanie didn't want to talk for some reason. They arrived at the hotel and Shane walked Stephanie up to her room. She hugged him goodnight and walked in to find Jericho sitting on the couch reading a book.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking tonight!?!" she yelled.  
  
He looked up startled, "What are you talking about baby?"  
  
"With my dad, you told him you wanted to date me!?!"  
  
"Yeah, is that such a problem?" he asked, setting the book down.  
  
"Yes, it is! First of all, why would you agree to go out with me?"  
  
"Um, because you're my girlfriend and I love you."  
  
"Yeah, but we're supposed to be a secret!"  
  
"In case you haven't noticed we ARE a secret, we've been a secret for a long time!" he said, getting angry.  
  
"Well, my dad wants to set us up, because he thinks I like you!"  
  
"You do like me!"  
  
"But we have a plan Jericho!" she said, exasperated.  
  
"You don't think I know that, excuse me, I've been around since the beginning!"  
  
"Then you know we can't tell Daddy, we can't tell anyone!"  
  
"Well, maybe I'm sick of being your dirty little secret!"  
  
"What are you talking about? You're not my dirty secret."  
  
"Then why can't we just come out in the open huh? The plan doesn't matter anymore, Stephanie, it isn't that big a deal, your dad has complete control of his company, Bischoff isn't going to usurp his power!"  
  
"You don't know that!"  
  
"I think you're afraid to tell people about us!"  
  
"Why would I be afraid?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe you're ashamed of me!" he cried.  
  
"Ashamed? Why would I ever be ashamed of you!?!"  
  
"Then TELL people about me, stop lying, stop lying to everyone. No one is going to care that we're together. Half the roster probably expects it!"  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Fine, you know what Stephanie, I can't take this anymore. I was happy tonight when you're dad asked me to date you, I thought I could finally tell people how much I loved you, but obviously I'm the only one that wants that, because you know what, if it were up to you, I would just be kept under the rug forever. And you want me to marry you, where, in a secret ceremony, and then you can't wear your rings because you'd be afraid someone would think it's suspicious. Whatever Stephanie, you know what, you don't have to keep it a secret anymore."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I'm gone, outta here," he said, going into the bedroom to grab his suitcase.  
  
She ran after him, "Where are you going?"  
  
"Why do you care Stephanie?"  
  
"Because I love you."  
  
"Bullshit, I'm just something for you to have fun with in private, never in public. No, I'm nothing to you, because you refuse to even think about people knowing about us, but you know what? Now's there's no us."  
  
"You're breaking up with me?" she said, her eyes filled with tears.  
  
"Yeah, I am. Good bye Stephanie, it's been fun."  
  
He grabbed his stuff and left. Stephanie stood there stupidly, not knowing what just happened. She stood immobile for the longest time, just trying to process what had happened. And then the tears came, and they came, as she waited for this cruel joke to be over, and Jericho to come to his senses and come back.  
  
He didn't come back that night, and Stephanie cried herself to sleep. 


	80. A Chris and H Team? Yikes, March 31, 200...

A/N: Couple of notes: 1. I know Kurt's injured, but until they work it into the storyline, it wont' appear in the story. 2. The story is FAR from over. I have absolutely no ending in sight, hell, I wouldn't even know how to end this at this point. So rest assured, it's not over.

Jericho walked dejectedly into his locker room for the evening. He didn't really feel up to performing tonight, but it was his job. He felt terrible after what had happened last night. After what had happened with Stephanie, he had gone down to Kurt's room, and spent the night there, after drinking a couple of mini bottles of vodka from the mini-bar.

He saw that Christian was there, and was surprised to see him. He didn't think Christian was supposed to be scheduled for tonight, why would he show up. He threw his stuff down and went to sit next to his friend.

"What are you doing here Christian?" Jericho asked.

"Well, I just thought I'd come to the show, you know, moral support. I'd hate to leave my partner high and dry."

"Where were you last night?" Jericho asked good-naturedly.

"Sorry man, if I could've been there to help you I would've."

"Yeah, I know."

"So what do you have on tap for the night?"

"Match against Booker T, maybe I'll go out there to talk," Jericho said emotionless.

"Is everything ok?"

"Is there any room in the 'just split up with your girlfriend' club?"

"What?!?" Christian asked shocked.

"Stephanie and I broke up last night," Jericho said, looking down.

Christian stood up, his mouth gaping, "You've got to be kidding me right? I mean, this is an early April Fool's Day joke right?"

"No, it isn't man."

"No, I don't believe this, you and Stephanie BROKE UP!?!?"

"Yeah," Jericho said sadly.

"But you two are like the prototype of a good relationship. Oh my God, if there's no hope for you two, then me and Trish are impossible!"

"Hey, don't think that, what happened between Stephanie and I was it's own thing."

"No, this is just bullshit, what the hell happened? I saw you guys last Thursday and you were just fine."

"Her father wanted to set us up on a date?"

"Wow, really?" Christian said, calming down enough to sit down to listen to his friend.

"Yeah, I thought it was great you know. We'd finally just get to let it out in the open, but Stephanie didn't want that apparently."

"Why not?"

"Because she still thinks that she can win against Bischoff, and I just got sick of it."

"But to break up over it?"

"Dude, you know how long we've been keeping this secret. It gets hard when you can't be around the woman you love, and can't even tell people that you love her."

"I'm sorry."

"I just got tired of being her little secret that she was afraid to tell."

"But you love her."

Jericho scoffed, "I love her more than anything on Earth, I love her more than wrestling man, but there's only so much I can take, you know."

"Yeah, I know, that sucks though, are you guys over for good?"

"As of right now, yeah, I just don't know man, I left her last night and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"You'll be fine, we can mope together."

"That's exactly what I want to do, hang out with you Christian."

"Hey, I know what you're going through."

"I guess you do."

"Man, you must have had a terrible night last night," Christian said.

"Ya think?" Jericho said sarcastically.

They both sat quietly after that, just sitting there watching the show. Jericho saw as Austin was fired, and his immediate thought was that Stephanie would love to get him for her show. He shook his head, trying not to think about her right now. Then he saw HHH beat on Hurricane.

"You came to see Trish didn't you?" Jericho said, breaking the quiet that had descended upon the room.

"I guess."

"What if she's with Jeff?"

"Then I'm a glutton for punishment," Christian sighed.

"I better go get ready for my match," Jericho said, standing up.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Jericho grabbed his new tights, the very tights that Stephanie was complimenting last night. He heaved a sigh as he thought about her again. It was hard not to think about her. He had only been with her for the past eight and a half months; she was part of his thinking. He got dressed quickly and went left the room.

As he was walking down the hallway, he happened by HHH and Flair, who were walking from the gorilla, they had probably been talking or something since HHH's match had ended earlier. As he walked past, he felt HHH grab his arm.

"Jericho, I want to talk."

"What is it Trips?" Jericho said exasperated.

"You're facing Booker tonight am I right?"

"Yeah, I am, what's it to you?"

"Well, he's been getting on my nerves, and I want to make sure that you beat him."

"I'll beat him Trips," Jericho said dully.

"Good, good, then I want to exact a little revenge for what he did to my friend Ric," HHH said, sharpness to his voice.

"Fine, do whatever, I don't really care."

"That's fine, see you out there then," HHH smirked.

"Yup."

Jericho walked away, and it dawned on him how much he and HHH had in common now. They had both dumped Stephanie McMahon. Probably both a little foolishly. He wondered how the other man had possibly gotten over her, because she was plaguing his every thought right now. Maybe, just maybe, he'd put aside his hatred for HHH, and get his opinion on the woman they both loved or had loved.

He made his entrance and traipsed down to the ring, his usual cocky self, but he knew that wasn't the case. He wasn't up to it tonight. He didn't know if he looked mad or upset, but inside he was feeling anything but himself. He walked slowly.

Backstage, Christian watched as Jericho made his way down the ramp. A timid knock came on the door, and Christian didn't even need to ask who it was, knowing already. He got up and went to answer the door, not surprised to see Trish on the other side.

"Trish," he said.

"Christian, I heard you were here," she said, smiling a little.

"Oh, I just wanted to come and say how proud I was of you last night," he said, smiling a little himself.

"Thank you so much," she said, hugging him.

He hugged her back, relishing in the feel of her in his arms, "You're welcome."

"I just wanted to say hi, and that I'm going to take your advice, and I'm going to see if there's anything between me and Jeff."

Christian nodded, "That's fine Trish."

"I don't know what the outcome will be Christian, but I just want you to know that I love you, I really do love you, despite who I choose."

"I know Trish, I love you too, and if Jeff ever gets fresh with you, come get me and I'll kick his glow painted ass," Christian said jovially.

Trish laughed, "I'll keep that in mind. I hope that I can make the right choice. Right now my heart says it's you, but I don't want you to think I'm being rash and just wanting you back."

"It's ok Trish, I understand. I'm not going to hold it against you anymore. We just need to find common ground between us. If it's just friends, then I'll learn to live with that. I just want you to be happy."

"And I hope I will be happy."

"Chris and Stephanie broke up," Christian informed her.

"You're kidding?" she asked, stunned.

"No, happened last night."

"Wow, that was the last thing I ever expected."

"I think it took everyone by surprise."

Jericho grabbed a microphone, intending to address what had happened last night. If only he could also announce the woman he loved to the world. Damn it, there was Stephanie again. He REALLY needed to stop thinking about her. Oh well, time to act.

Booker T made his way to ring then and Jericho looked at him with disdain, but he'd look at anyone with disdain right now, he was that angry. Jericho started wrestling, forgetting about his loss, and his break up with Stephanie. He did take out his frustrations.

Before long Jericho noticed that Flair and then HHH were coming out. He went along with what they were doing. He suddenly felt camaraderie with HHH, as weird as it felt. They had both had their hearts broken by Stephanie. Suddenly Michaels was out there, and Jericho was down, but then he and HHH got the upper hand again. He wasn't going to go down to Michaels two nights in a row. He and HHH showed them who was boss.

Jericho, HHH, and Flair walked backstage, basking in the glow of their beat down. Jericho felt a bit better after that. Not much, but a little bit. At least he got some revenge after what had happened last night.

"Good job out there," HHH said.

"Thanks."

"You want to go grab some beers with Flair and I?" HHH asked.

Jericho weighed his options. Spend the night being mopey, or spend it talking about the woman he was no longer with, with the man who had been with her before he had. The choice seemed clear to him.

"Yeah, sure, just let me get cleaned up."

"Fine, we'll meet you in 15 minutes."

"Ok."

Jericho went to his dressing room and took a quick shower then changed. Christian was nowhere to be found, but that didn't bother him. He'd rather not have to explain himself to anyone right now. He got his things and went off to HHH's locker room. He got there and knocked on the door before going in.

"You ready Jericho?" HHH said.

"Yeah, let's go."

"We got a limo, nothing but the finest for us."

"Cool, whatever."

They left and went out to the limo, getting inside. They drove back to the hotel, and they all went inside to the hotel bar. They all sat down at the counter and ordered a beer. Jericho thought they'd be a little classier, but hey, right now he didn't care.

"Hey Trips, how'd you deal with your ex-wife?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, how'd you get over her?"

"Why, you got women troubles?"

"Nah, I just saw your ex last night and she was getting on my nerves and I wonder how you ever put up with her?" Jericho said.

"Well, I mean, I loved her.........once upon a time."

"Really, you loved Stephanie McMahon." 

"Yeah, she was sweet at first, I guess I corrupted her. Whatever, it's for the best we broke up, I'm better off now."

"But dude, she had to be hard to get over."

"Hell, I'll tell you when I get over her."

"You're not over her?" Jericho asked, stupefied.

"Well, I am, and I'm not. She was my first wife, you know, first woman I ever loved, but do I want her back? No fucking way, I feel for the guy who has her, he's getting one high class bitch."

Jericho clenched his jaw. She wasn't his to defend anymore, but that still didn't mean he liked hearing her called a bitch. He took a few deep breaths before managing to calm down to the point of answering.

"Yeah, I could tell when we were partners."

"Heh, yeah, you do know what I mean."

"I guess."

Stephanie walked into the bar, intending to meet Kurt there. She had decided to stay the extra day here, not feeling up to traveling. She felt awful, she had spent the whole day crying and laying in bed. She was heartbroken over what had happened the night before, and she needed to talk to someone, and Kurt was her best friend.

She spotted Jericho sitting at the bar with HHH and she had to look again, thinking she was seeing things. But there they were engrossed in conversation. She couldn't believe it, they were together, out together. She suddenly felt stabbed in the back. He knew how much she hated HHH. But then it struck her that Jericho wasn't hers anymore and didn't care if she was hurt or not.

Jericho felt her presence. He always could, for the longest time. He looked up to see her standing in the doorway, staring at him and HHH. Probably wondering why they were together. Her eyes filled with tears and Jericho wanted to go over and protect her, and hug her and tell her it would all be ok. But he stayed in his seat, watching intently as she left the bar.

Jericho turned to HHH, "Sorry, got to go."

He got up and ran after Stephanie managing to catch her as she went into the parking lot. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. He saw the light from the streetlights reflecting off her tears.

"Stephanie," he said.

"You were talking about me weren't you?"

"I had to talk to someone who knew my situation."

"Oh, cause I hurt him too, because I hurt every guy I'm with?"

"Stephanie--"

"Chris, you know he hurt me, you know it!"

"You hurt me! Ok, you hurt me, and I'm just trying to hold myself together right now, because I want to love you Stephanie, but you won't let me show the world."

"Why do they have to know?"

"Because I want everyone to know how much I love seeing your smile, or how much I love hearing you laugh at one of my stupid jokes. I want to be able to hold your beautiful hands in public. And it hurts so much that I can't."

"I want that too."

"Stephanie, I don't think you do, and that's why I have to break this off, because if you're not the one for me forever, why am I going to linger around while someone who loves me and lets me be around her all the time is waiting out there for me? I can't do that."

"Fine Chris Jericho, fine! Be that way!"

"Don't make this any harder Stephanie, please!"

"No!" she said angrily, "You want to be like that fine! Leave me, I don't give a shit!"

She stormed off. Jericho watched her go before whispering to himself.

"God I love you Stephanie.........goodbye."


	81. I Want You To Want Me, April 3, 2003

Stephanie walked sullenly into the arena. She hadn't felt like coming to the show today, but she had to, it was her job, and she had already taken last week off to comfort Christian on his recent break up. Now it was her who needed comforting and she was all alone. Edge was rehabbing, and Kurt had gotten injured at WrestleMania, and wouldn't be here. She was alone, and it was awful.  
  
She walked into her office for the evening, and closed the door. She looked up and saw a bouquet of flowers sitting on the desk. She smiled, hoping they were from Jericho, complete with apology. She rushed over and looked for the card. She found it and tore it open to read it.  
  
Steph,  
  
Just thought these would brighten your day, and sorry I couldn't be there. Hope you're feeling better.  
  
Your friend,  
  
Kurt  
  
Stephanie sighed and put the card down. They were just from Kurt, not Jericho. It was thoughtful of Kurt to send her flowers though. He knew how down in the dumps she was. She decided a thank you call was in order and picked up her cell phone, dialing his number.  
  
"Hello?" he answered.  
  
"Hey Kurt, it's Steph."  
  
"Hey," he said brightly.  
  
"I got your flowers, I just wanted to say thank you."  
  
"You're welcome, I was hoping that they would cheer you up."  
  
"Well, they did a little."  
  
"Good, so how are you otherwise?"  
  
Stephanie sighed, "Not good. I spent the last couple days at Shane's house, I didn't know where else to go. I couldn't go down to Florida, and I didn't want to go to my house, so Shane's seemed the safe choice."  
  
"You poor thing," he said sympathetically.  
  
"I feel terrible Kurt," Stephanie said, tears welling in her eyes, for what seemed the thousandth time today.  
  
"Steph, it'll be ok."  
  
"Don't lie Kurt, it won't be ok. Chris broke up with me."  
  
"I know he did Steph, do you want me to talk to him?"  
  
"What's the point Kurt, he hates me," she said, feeling the tears start to fall.  
  
"He does not hate you," Kurt said firmly, "He could never hate you."  
  
"He did before."  
  
"But he said he never meant any of that stuff."  
  
"Yeah, well, maybe he was lying."  
  
"He wouldn't lie to you Stephanie, that's not how Chris works and you know it. Come on, I'll call him, and knock some sense into him, how does that sound?"  
  
"It won't work Kurt, he's so angry with me I don't think that he'd even want to hear my name."  
  
"So what are you going to do.........be miserable forever?" he asked.  
  
"No, just move on I guess."  
  
"I find that hard to believe. Stephanie, you and Chris are too good together, you belong with each other. Everyone who knows about you two can see it, you two are the perfect match."  
  
"Well, he doesn't see it that way."  
  
"You don't know that."  
  
"Of course I do. Kurt, I have to go ok, but thanks again for the flowers, and I hope you feel better really soon."  
  
"Bye Steph," Kurt said, sighing at the sadness in her voice.  
  
Stephanie hung up the phone and sat on the couch in her office. She pulled her knees up, and rested her arms on her knees. She thought about Jericho and every single day they had been together. She cried until the show started.  
  
Knowing she would have to make an appearance to explain the lack of Kurt and Brock, she stood up. She straightened out her clothes and made sure her hair looked ok. She dreaded looking at her makeup in the mirror, but looked anyways. Yeah, she looked like a mess.  
  
She quickly fixed her makeup and tried to look like she hadn't just been bawling her eyes out. She deemed herself presentable and walked out of her office, intending to go make her announcement. She put a fake smile on her face and walked up to the ramp.  
  
Meanwhile, someone in Florida was sitting there watching Stephanie walk out on stage. He sighed as he looked at the picture from Halloween of the two of them kissing. He hated to admit it, but he was missing Stephanie more and more every second. His phone rang and he picked it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Is this the jackass that broke up with his girlfriend?"  
  
"Yeah, that would be me, what do you want Kurt?"  
  
"To talk some sense into you."  
  
"Kurt, it's not going to work, it's over between Steph and I."  
  
"Yeah, and that's why you're probably sitting there moping around, feeling sorry for yourself, pining over pictures of Stephanie, watching her on screen right now."  
  
"I am not," Chris said, though that was exactly what he was doing.  
  
"Sure.........why don't you just admit you were wrong and go apologize to her."  
  
"Me? Apologize? I think she has to apologize Kurt, she's the one who refuses to go public with our relationship."  
  
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe she's scared?" Kurt said exasperated.  
  
"Scared? Scared of what?"  
  
"Just scared, the girl's been hurt and she's afraid to put herself out there for public scrutiny."  
  
"That doesn't change anything Kurt."  
  
"Fine, if you want to be stubborn, be stubborn, just explain to me why you were hanging out with Hunter."  
  
"He was there, and he understands what I've been through," Chris answered.  
  
"Yeah, sure, come on, the guy's a scum, he didn't treat Stephanie right, you at least treated her right."  
  
"Yeah, I guess, well, I don't know, he's not that bad."  
  
"Oh God, you are far gone. Just please promise me you'll at least talk to her or something. She loves you Chris, and I know you love her. Don't let your stubbornness end things for you. You guys were supposed to get married someday. And I was going to be the best man."  
  
"First of all, I hadn't even proposed yet--"  
  
"Yeah, but you promised to."  
  
"I know, and second, who says you'd be the best man?"  
  
"Who else would it be?"  
  
"Hmm.........Edge, Christian, Shane maybe."  
  
"Please, I know they're your friends, but who has been there since forever, yup, you know it's me."  
  
"You'd be Steph's maid of honor."  
  
"Ahh, so you do still want to marry her."  
  
Jericho rolled his eyes, "I never said I didn't, I just don't know if I see it happening.........ever."  
  
"Don't talk like that."  
  
"Whatever Kurt.........she does look beautiful tonight doesn't she?"  
  
"Yeah, she does. Kind of makes you want to call her huh?"  
  
"A little," Jericho admitted.  
  
"Thought it would."  
  
"Kurt, I don't think I can take her back if she doesn't want to let us be known," he said seriously.  
  
"Talk to her about that man."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Bye," Kurt said simply.  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho hung up the phone and went back to the television. Stephanie was off the screen now, being replaced by a match with Mysterio and Undertaker. He sighed then went back to looking at the picture of him and Stephanie. He loved her so much, and it was hard being away from her, even for the few days since he had last seen her.  
  
Stephanie walked back to her office, intending to just watch the rest of the show in the solitude of her office. She walked inside and plopped herself down in her big leather chair and grabbing the remote. She was just fine sitting here.  
  
She saw her father enter the building and was surprised to see him there. She didn't even know that he was around the area. He asked if Hogan was there, and she was worried that something might happen between her dad and his opponent from Sunday. She had to find him and talk to him. She got up and went in search of him.  
  
She walked down the corridor to her father's room, after asking one of the worker's which one it was. She hoped her father couldn't tell that she was upset. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She heard her father telling her to come in and she opened the door and walked over to him. She waited for him to get off the phone.  
  
"Hi," he said.  
  
"Hey Dad, how you holding up?"  
  
"I'll be alright."  
  
"What are you doing here tonight?" she asked hesitantly.  
  
"Well Steph, let me just say that I'm going to do tonight, in the ring, with Hogan, that I should've done a long time ago."  
  
"Well Dad, I just want to make sure that you don't do anything you're goin to regret."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
She didn't see a need to continue the conversation so she left. As soon as she was out the door, her father came out into the hallway. She turned to face him, wondering what he was going to say.  
  
"Stephanie, before I forget, when did you want me to set you up with Chris Jericho?" Stephanie's heart ached and she had to stifle a sob, "Daddy, I don't want you to set me up."  
  
"But Stephanie, I could tell that you liked him, and I could tell he liked you too."  
  
"Daddy, I-I don't think Chris would want to go out with me," she said shakily.  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"I just don't think he likes me very much."  
  
"But he said he wanted--"  
  
"Trust me Dad, I think he was just trying to get on your good side."  
  
"But--"  
  
"Daddy, trust me, he doesn't want me."  
  
"Who wouldn't want you? You're a beautiful, intelligent young woman."  
  
"Daddy, just.........don't bother."  
  
Vince could sense something was amiss with Stephanie, "Princess is everything alright?"  
  
"I'm fine Daddy."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Have you ever just been sad?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"I'm just sad Daddy."  
  
"Does this have to do with a boy? Did a boy make you upset? Did someone do something to you? Cause if someone did--"he said angrily.  
  
"No, not a boy Daddy, it's just.........I gotta go Daddy," she said quickly, knowing that she was going to start crying any second.  
  
She made her escape to her office and rushed inside before she could shed any tears. She hated feeling like this. Afraid that she would just start crying again and someone would find her, she decided to leave for the evening. She grabbed her things and made her leave.  
  
She got back to the hotel and went up to her room. It was so lonely now. She knew that Jericho wouldn't be on the other side waiting to greet her. It was so sad to just walk into an empty room. She missed hearing his heavy metal blaring over the speakers, or seeing him engrossed in a book, or simply watching television.  
  
She sat on her bed, just looking around, half expecting him to walk out of the bathroom and give her a big hug and tell her how much he missed her while she was at the show. Then she would tell him about her night and he'd make all of her problems seem so comical.  
  
She noticed the flashing button on her hotel phone, indicating she had a message. She crawled across the bed and went over to the phone. Who would leave her a message on the hotel phone? She picked it up and dialed the number to retrieve her messages, and listened.  
  
"Hey Steph, it's me. Um.........call me back ok, we need to talk. Bye."  
  
She was shocked to hear Jericho's voice on her machine. He wanted to talk. She looked at her clock, not too late. She knew Jericho would be up. She quickly dialed the house number and waited for him to pick up.  
  
"Hi, you've reached the King of the World's house, I'm not here right now, and neither is my girlfriend, since we didn't pick up. Didn't know I had a girlfriend, well, now you do, leave a message for us, and we'll call you back if you're worthy to talk to us," the message said.  
  
She smiled a little at the message, realizing that he hadn't changed it, "Chris, it's me, you wanted to talk--"  
  
"Hey," she heard his voice say.  
  
"Chris, hi," she said softly, "You called?"  
  
"Yeah, after Kurt called me to give me a lecture."  
  
"He called you?" she asked, silently thanking Kurt for not listening to her.  
  
"Yeah, he did, brought up some very good points."  
  
"Chris, I'm sorry for Monday, I shouldn't have yelled at you," she said.  
  
"It's ok, you were mad, I was mad, it's cool."  
  
"So........."  
  
"Stephanie, do you remember a conversation we had, a while ago, on my birthday?"  
  
Stephanie thought back to his birthday. They'd had a lot of conversations that day, but one stuck out in her mind. What she had told him as they lay on the grass, before she had given him the key.  
  
"Yeah," she said, knowing where this was going.  
  
"You said that if the plan ever got too hard I could leave you no questions asked."  
  
"I did say that."  
  
"Steph, it's too hard."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I don't like the situation any more than you do, but Steph, it's too hard, and I have to leave."  
  
"But Chris, I don't want it to be over."  
  
"Stephanie, I want to be with you, but I don't think it's what you want."  
  
"How can you say that? I've loved you for so long."  
  
"Steph, I want to tell people that I love you, I want to rub it in Hunter's face, I just want to be able to say, 'Here's Stephanie McMahon, my girlfriend,' but I can't. And you don't know how much that tears me up inside. I thought I could deal with it, I was dealing with it, but when you got mad at me for telling your dad I was interested in you, I snapped, and I realized this is too hard for me."  
  
"But I do want to tell."  
  
"Then why don't you? You could've told your dad tonight, but you didn't."  
  
"Because........."  
  
"That's why Steph, you hesitate, you have to think about it. I don't even have to think about wanting to tell. It's a knee-jerk reaction. But you, you have to think about it."  
  
"Maybe it's cause I'm being rational," she argued.  
  
"Then Steph, rationalize why we can't tell people about us. If you can rationalize that, I'd love to hear it."  
  
"Chris........." she pleaded.  
  
"Stephanie, you said that you'd let me go if it got too hard."  
  
"And you said you'd never give me up, do you remember that?!?"  
  
"Yes, I do, and I don't want to give you up, but if it means keeping my sanity, then I don't have any other choice."  
  
"So you really want it to be over.........forever?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Now who's hesitating?"  
  
"God I love you Stephanie," Jericho said, laughing.  
  
"Then be with me, it's that simple."  
  
"I want to, I really do, but I think you need to think things over."  
  
"What is with all the thinking bullshit?" she cried, "Trish has to think about Christian and Jeff, and I have to think about you? I don't have to think, I want you Chris!"  
  
"Stephanie, listen to me. The moment you can tell your dad about me, then come to me ok, but as of right now, we're over."  
  
"Chris, please don't do this."  
  
"I have to Stephy, for my own well-being, I can't keep going on like this."  
  
"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" she asked desperately.  
  
"Tell them." 


	82. Just One Mention of Steph, Please, April...

Jericho walked into the arena purposefully. It was time to move on. He had spent too much time moping over Stephanie. After the talk they had had last Thursday he hadn't gotten any call from her, and that hurt. It hurt that she hadn't called telling him that she would tell her father, tell everyone. He guessed that she just didn't want to come out with it.

It hurt so much more to realize that he was indeed Stephanie's dirty little secret. He should've known he guessed. Maybe Stephanie hadn't changed after all. Maybe she was still the bitch that he had hated once upon a time. He had completely fallen for her, but he was just some plaything completely for her amusement. But he had a hard time believing that. Or maybe it was he just didn't want to believe that.

But now he had resolved to turn over a new leaf. He didn't need Stephanie to be happy. She wasn't detrimental to his happiness, and who knew, maybe the girl of his dreams was out there waiting for him to sweep her off his feet. Sad as it was though, he still felt that Stephanie was the girl of his dreams.

He ran into Christian as he was walking down the hallway, "Hey Chris"

"Hey man," Jericho said nodding.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine," Jericho said coolly.

"Good, good."

"How are you?"

"Much better, I don't know, I guess I can't dwell on this Trish thing anymore. It only ends up making me feel bad all the time."

"I hear ya, you gotta match tonight?" Jericho asked.

"Nah, just hanging around."

As the two men were talking, HHH and Flair walked up to the two of them, "Jericho, you ready for our match tonight?"

"Most definitely," Jericho said, shaking HHH's hand in greeting.

"Good, we'll kick their asses."

"Damn straight."

"Hey, last week, where'd you run off to while we were at the bar?"

Jericho didn't want to tell him that he had gone after Stephanie, that wouldn't look too good. Christian eyed Jericho, surprised that Jericho had gone out with HHH after the show. He knew that the two man hated each other, but more specifically Jericho hated HHH for screwing with Stephanie.

"Saw a gorgeous looking chick, had to go after her, you know how it is," Jericho gloated.

"Of course I do," HHH scoffed, "Hey, you wanna share a locker room?"

"Actually I was gonna hang out with Christian?"

"Come on, we can talk strategy," HHH said persuasively, "And I got the best locker room in the joint, being the Champ and all."

Jericho thought about it for a second, he needed to break free from everything that reminded him of his relationship with Stephanie. And while HHH had been a catalyst for them, he didn't know about the two of them and it felt good to be around someone who didn't feel pity for him, or know about his and Stephanie's long and secret relationship.

"Sure man," Jericho said.

"Cool, let's go."

"Sorry man," Jericho shrugged, turning to Christian.

Christian looked a little confused, "That's ok man, I gotta talk to someone anyways."

"Good, see ya later," Jericho said, walking off with HHH and Flair.

Christian watched them walk away. Jericho was definitely not taking this break up well. He had turned to HHH of all people. He couldn't figure that one out if he tried. He was worried for his friend though, it wasn't like him to just blow off people and go off with people he hated.

He picked up his cell phone and called Edge, "Hey man."

"What's up bro?" Edge said.

"I'm worried about Chris."

"What?"

"He just went off to hang out with HHH."

"Holy shit, you're kidding me right? I thought they were just forced to tag together."

"I thought so too, but dude, they went out together after Raw last week."

"You mean that Chris went VOLUNTARILY out with Hunter Hearst Helmsley?" Edge asked in awe.

"Yes. I mean, he hasn't been the same since he and Stephanie split up. It's like he's changing. He kinda just blew me off."

"Maybe we should just give him time, you know, it's gotta be hard breaking up with your girlfriend, especially because she wouldn't tell anyone about you."

"Yeah, I guess, I'll just keep my eyes on him."

"Good thinking."

"Ok, I gotta go talk to someone."

"Ok, bye man," Edge said hanging up.

Edge hung up the phone and then turned it back on immediately. He dialed Stephanie's cell phone number since he didn't know where she was residing as of the present moment. A few rings later she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Steph?"

"Yeah, this is Stephanie."

"It's Edge."

"Hey Edge," she said, in a downtrodden voice, "What's up?"

"Well, I know you probably don't want to talk about him--"

"Edge, if this is about Chris, I don't want to talk about it ok," Stephanie said, her voice cracking.

"But Stephanie, I think you should know."

"I don't want to know ok, it's bad enough that he hates me, or will hate me. I just-I just need to be alone now."

"Where are you Stephanie?" Edge asked concerned.

"I'm staying with Kurt for a few days while he heals up from his injuries. I couldn't be around my mother because she's not helping, she thinks I should just tell Daddy."

"Stephanie, what are you so afraid of?" Edge asked.

"I don't know, but every time I try to let it out, something stops me."

"Ok, well, if you don't want to know then I guess I won't tell you."

"Thank you Edge."

"You're welcome," he said.

"Bye," she said hanging up.

"What did Edge want?" Kurt asked as he watched Raw.

"To tell me something about Chris."

"What about him?"

"I didn't want to know," she sighed.

"Stephanie, you can't keep hiding from him, you can't pretend he doesn't exist," he told her.

"I know, I just need time."

"Take as much time as you want, but the problem isn't going away."

She sighed again, "I just wish it would."

Kurt picked up his phone and start dialing, "I'm getting to the bottom of this."

"Who are you calling Kurt?"

"I'm calling Chris."

"What? Why?"

Kurt held the phone up to his ear, "Shh.........Hello Chris?"

"Hey Kurt, what's up?" Jericho said on the other line.

"Well, Christian called Edge, and Edge called Stephanie, and Stephanie told me that something's up with you."

"Nothing's up," Jericho said, trying to ignore the pang of yearning he got when Kurt mentioned Stephanie.

"Then why would Christian call Edge, and why would Edge feel the need to call Stephanie?"

"I don't know, I'm kind of busy, HHH and I are busy."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're with HHH?" Kurt asked, suddenly getting the picture.

"Yeah, we're just hanging out why?" Jericho asked as if it weren't that big a deal.

"You're hanging out with HHH? What is wrong with you?" Kurt said.

Stephanie looked over wide-eyed. Jericho was hanging out with her ex-husband. She realized how hurt he must be feeling if he was actually hanging out with HHH. This wasn't like him, it wasn't like him at all. She snatched the phone away from Kurt.

"You're with my ex-husband?" she barked out.

Jericho heard Stephanie's voice over the line and it surprised him. He stood up from the couch he was sitting on and left the room. He went down a deserted hallway and turned back to the conversation.

"Stephanie," he hissed, "What are you doing?"

"Why are you with him sw--Chris?" she asked, catching herself before she called him sweetie.

"What does it matter to you Stephanie?" he said angrily.

"Because I hate him, and I thought you hated him too."

"Well, you know what, we have a lot in common, we were both champions, we were both screwed over by you."

"I did not screw you over!"

"Like hell you didn't Stephanie. You know I waited all weekend waiting for you to call me, saying you would tell your dad, but you know what, I didn't get a call, and that hurt more than any injury I've ever gotten. So you know what? I feel betrayed and hurt, and you made me feel this way. You're not the only one hurt here Stephanie, because I'm hurting to, but you probably don't care."

"Don't say that!" she pleaded.

"You know, I left the room because of you, and people are going to get suspicious, I've gotta go."

"Chris, please don't."

"Stephanie, let's just move on ok, let's just get on with our lives, separately, because only one of us wants a life together," he said hanging up.

Jericho took a few calming breaths before heading back to his locker room. Along the way he happened to pass by Christian, who was talking with Trish. He didn't want to bother them, so he just nodded as he passed, though he did wonder what they were talking about.

"I saw you with Jeff earlier," Christian said.

"Yeah, I'm trying things out with him," she said.

"Good, I just want you to be happy Trish."

"I know," she said, hugging him, "At the very least, can we try to be friends?"

"I'd like that."

Jeff walked up to the couple, "Trish, you want to walk me to my match?"

"Sure Jeff," she said, smiling at him.

"Hey Jeff?" Christian said to the other man.

"Yeah?"

"Treat this one right ok, she's worth it," Christian said smiling.

Trish grinned at him and went over and hugged him and whispered softly in his ear, "I do love you, you know?"

"I know," he whispered back. She pulled away and went over to Jeff.

"Don't worry man, I will," Jeff said, taking Trish's hand.

"Good," Christian said, walking away, "Good."

"What's up with him?" Jeff asked when Christian was out of earshot.

"He's a great guy," she said, watching him until he disappeared around a corner, then she whispered to herself, "A guy I probably didn't deserve."

"What Trish?"

"Nothing Jeff, let's go."

Jericho, by this time had reached the locker room and walked inside, throwing his cell phone into his bag. He went and sat himself back down on the couch in the plush locker room. He remembered being champ and getting lavish accommodations, especially when he was with Stephanie.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Flair asked.

"Had to talk to a family member."

"Oh, nothing wrong right?"

"Nah, nothing wrong."

"Hey Jericho," HHH said, "You gotta girlfriend?"

"I used to, but I dumped her."

"Heh, well, you want go out tonight with us, maybe pick up some chicks?"

Jericho got a sinking feeling, he really didn't want to, but maybe that was just what he needed, "Sure, thanks for the invite."

"We have history man, not the best history, but history. I couldn't not invite you."

"I guess."

"And we have a lot in common."

"We do?"

"Hey, we were both with Stephanie right?" HHH said, chuckling.

"Well, I was only partners with her."

"Yeah, but you got to see the bitch that she was."

"Well, she wasn't a bitch most of the time."

"You don't have to lie man, I know that Stephanie was a complete bitch, I mean, look at what she put me through. She lied about me being a Dad."

"Maybe she was just trying to hold onto you," he rationalized.

"The bitch was only out for herself," HHH told him bitterly.

"I'm sure she had her reasons," Jericho said, realizing he was arguing for Stephanie, despite the fact he was pissed at her.

"Stephanie only looks out for one person, and that's Stephanie, if you aren't her, you don't stand a chance around her."

"You know what," Jericho said, pissed off now, "Maybe she was a little selfish, maybe she was being vindictive, but you don't have to trounce all over her like some of it wasn't your fault!"

"Whoa, why are you defending her," HHH said, getting up.

Jericho got up as well, "Because maybe she needs someone to defend her."

"Heh, Stephanie need someone, not likely, she just needs her Daddy's credit card and she's set."

Jericho shook his head, "You know what? I don't think I want to be around such an asshole anymore."

Jericho walked out of the locker room, still incensed by what HHH had said. Despite the fact that he himself was feeling like that. Maybe he was being a hypocrite, but he hated hearing Stephanie talked about like that, especially when she wasn't around to defend herself.

Suddenly Jericho was grabbed by the arm and stood face to face with HHH. Jericho sneered at the man in anger, while HHH did the same to him. They stared each other down for a few moments before Flair caught up to them. Flair tried to get them to cooperate. He guessed he could bury the hatchet. What did he have to lose anyways? It wasn't like he had to worry about Stephanie anymore. Why should he care? He walked out for his match.

Jericho walked backstage after his match, holding his back. He had just been powerbombed by the returning Kevin Nash, and it had hurt like a bitch. He saw HHH waiting for him, and he walked over.

"You ok man?" HHH asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, come on, let's get dressed and we'll go out."

"Sure," Jericho said.

After the three of them, including Flair, were ready and dressed in street clothes, they headed out to HHH's limo. The only way to travel, HHH had said. Jericho didn't mind, he had caught a taxi to the arena anyway. They drove to some club, Jericho didn't even bother to figure out the name. They got inside easily, using their status and the three walked over to the bar.

The ordered their drinks and Jericho looked around. He sighed and wished that Stephanie were there. He'd be guaranteed to have fun if she were there. She did love to dance after all. He wondered if HHH had ever bothered to figure that out about his ex-wife.

"Yo, those two chicks over there," HHH said, leaning over to him and discreetly nodding his head.

"What about them?" Jericho asked.

"We should go see if they're busy for the rest of the night if you know what I mean," HHH smirked.

"I don't know." 

"Come on Jericho, don't be a fucking wuss, get out there."

"I'm fine here," Jericho said. It was just too soon after his break up with Stephanie. It had only been eight days after all.

"Come on," HHH said, hitting his arm, "I'm sure the one on the right would want you."

"Fine, fine," Jericho said, just to get HHH off his back. He walked over to the leggy brunette, "Hey."

She turned to him, "Hi."

"You with anyone?" Jericho asked.

"Just my friend," she answered, nodding over to another brunette who HHH was currently talking up.

"Oh, cool, so can I buy you a drink?"

"Sure if you want," she smiled.

"I'm Chris."

"Katharina," she told him.

"That's a beautiful name," he commented.

"Thanks."

He got her drink for her, "My ex-girlfriend had a beautiful name too."

"Oh, recently broke up?"

"Yeah, I miss her."

"You poor thing, what happened?" she asked as they sat down.

"Well, we were kind of a secret and she didn't want to tell anyone about us, which led me to believe she didn't want us known, and that hurt so I broke up with her."

"I'm so sorry."

Jericho spent the next hour talking to the girl about Stephanie. Katharina just listened to him talk about her. Jericho really needed to get this all out, it was really eating him up in side to have an unbiased party listening to his sob story. After it was all out, he only had one thing clear in his mind.

He missed Stephanie.


	83. No Steph, No Kurt, Meh, April 10, 2003

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the show?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure, I just don't feel like it."  
  
"But it's your job," Kurt said.  
  
"I know, but without you or Edge there, or Chris waiting for me, it's so lonely," Stephanie said sadly.  
  
"We'll be back soon."  
  
"Well, you will be," she said, "And Edge will be back eventually."  
  
"And when we come back, Chris will be there waiting for you," Kurt said.  
  
Stephanie scoffed, "In case you hadn't heard Kurt, he hates me. He despises me, he probably wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole."  
  
"Ok, exaggerating much," Kurt said.  
  
"No. Just expressing the truth," Stephanie said, fingering the necklace she was wearing, the same necklace that Jericho had given her, "Besides, Daddy said I didn't have to go."  
  
She hadn't talked to him since last Monday, and she hadn't wanted to. She knew it was just going to end in them yelling, and him being even more mad at her. And if she had to give up Jericho, she at least wanted to salvage something, and maybe they could be friends again. How it used to be.  
  
"Stephanie, when did you become so pessimistic?"  
  
"When the man I love left me," she said.  
  
"You should've gone to the show, it would've taken your mind off of everything."  
  
"Yeah, and worrying about the show all night is my kind of fun. Making sure they don't act like children."  
  
"Yeah, but still, look at you Stephanie, you're a wreck, it's been over a week since you guys broke up and you look awful."  
  
Stephanie looked down. She was dressed in an old pair of sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back very simply, and she knew that her eyes were bloodshot, seeing as how she'd been crying non-stop it seemed. She did look a fright.  
  
"What's the point of dressing up?"  
  
"Stephanie, this is just destructive behavior."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So, come on, why don't we go out and have some fun, go to a club, you know you like that."  
  
"Nah," she shrugged, "I'm not in the mood."  
  
"Stephanie, if you don't at least try to get over this, then you're just going to be stuck in a slump forever."  
  
"Your point?"  
  
"Steph," Kurt whined.  
  
"I want to watch the show Kurt," she said, turning up the volume on the television.  
  
"Avoiding the subject, real nice Steph."  
  
"Fine, fine, we'll go out to a club afterwards, happy now?" she said irritably.  
  
"Yes," Kurt said, grinning.  
  
Stephanie shook her head, "Now be quiet so I can watch the show."  
  
They turned their attention to the television just in time to see Brock Lesnar arriving into the stadium. Stephanie looked over at Kurt in time to see him scowl a little at the images splaying on the screen.  
  
"I should be the one signing girl's breasts," Kurt said.  
  
Stephanie laughed for what seemed the first time in forever, "God Kurt, that's all you can think about. What about your title?"  
  
"That I'm not worried about, once I have my surgery tomorrow, then I'll get well, come back and win it again. I am an Olympic Hero you know?"  
  
"I know, what time do you have to go for your surgery tomorrow?"  
  
"Well, since I found the new procedure, I go in the morning, like 7, and then they prep me for the surgery and it just goes on from there. And the recovery time is minimal thank goodness, so I won't miss that much time."  
  
"I hope it goes well," Stephanie said seriously, "I mean, this is a fairly new surgery right?"  
  
"Yeah, but I looked into the guy and he knows what he's doing."  
  
"I hope so," Stephanie said, biting her lip, "You're my best friend Kurt."  
  
Kurt smiled, "You're my best friend too.........well, you and Chris, can't play favorites can I?"  
  
Stephanie leaned over and hugged him, "Thank you for being such a good friend through all of this."  
  
He hugged her back, "It's not a problem, I'm just glad you're here so that when I have my surgery I'll have someone waiting for me when I get through it."  
  
"Of course, I don't want anything bad to happen."  
  
"It won't, I promise."  
  
"Good," she told him, going back to watching the television, "So who do you think is going to win this tournament?"  
  
"Well, I want it to be Benoit, I mean, despite our differences, I hope that he wins."  
  
"Yeah, the crowd loves him too."  
  
"Heh, I wouldn't know how that feels," Kurt said, a slight tone of bitterness in his voice.  
  
"Don't worry Kurt, it's not all that it's cracked up to be," she answered.  
  
"I guess, and as long as I have real friends and a team to back me up, I guess I don't really need the fans to like me."  
  
"That's a good way of looking at it."  
  
"Yeah, I know. Hey, did you want some ice cream?"  
  
"Sure," she smiled.  
  
"Great, I'll go get some."  
  
Stephanie went back to watching the show. A part of her wished she were there, she did like running things, she supposed she was just a natural boss. Of course, it would have been terribly lonely had she been there. And since her father was there, who knew what he would try to do, probably set her up on a date or something. And that was the last thing on Earth she needed.  
  
Kurt came back with two cartons of ice cream and a couple of spoons. She took one of the cartons and one of the spoons. She started digging in as the Rhyno and Benoit match was starting. She sighed as she looked at Rhyno. Kurt looked over at her concerned by her sighing.  
  
"What's wrong Steph?" Kurt asked, noting her sadness.  
  
"Nothing.........thanks for the ice cream."  
  
"Hey, I know you Steph, something's wrong, you can tell me."  
  
"I was just thinking about Rhyno."  
  
"And that made you sad?" Kurt asked, slightly confused.  
  
"No, I was thinking about when I was the owner of ECW and I was backing Rhyno, and he was feuding against Chris, and then there was the match at SummerSlam where Chris kissed me."  
  
"Oh yeah, I bet you weren't expecting that," Kurt chuckled.  
  
"No, I wasn't. But it was something alright," she told him.  
  
"I can imagine."  
  
"Chris has always been like that. You know, devil may care, he just grabbed me and kissed me before I even knew what was happening."  
  
"You looked like you enjoyed it."  
  
"At the time I wouldn't have admitted it, but yeah, I secretly enjoyed it, and I think Chris did too."  
  
"I don't know if you realized it at the time, but you know he made sure you got down to the floor ok."  
  
"Yeah, I saw that later on, it puzzled me at the time."  
  
"It's cause the guy is madly in love with you," Kurt said perceptively.  
  
"WAS madly in love with me," she corrected.  
  
"Sure Steph, you just keep on believing that," Kurt said sardonically, "Stephanie, it's been less than two weeks. The guy isn't over you, and if you think he is, you're dumb."  
  
"How do you know he hadn't been planning it for a while?"  
  
"Stephanie, come on, the guy loves you, he still loves you. He was ready to propose to you, that means he wanted to bind himself to you forever. That's why he wants you to tell your dad."  
  
"I know," she said.  
  
"Why won't you tell him Stephanie, why won't you tell people?" Kurt asked turning to her.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it Kurt," she said, going back to eating her ice cream.  
  
She was embarrassed to be feeling the way that she did. Quite frankly, she was afraid that once people knew it would spell the end for her and Jericho. Of course, not telling had ended in the result that she had been trying to avoid, but it was different when six people knew you had broken up, compared to the whole world.  
  
If she and Jericho just broke up after telling everyone, it would just go to show the world what a failure she was at relationships. They would start hating her again, accusing her of being a slut, and that hurt. And that's why she was so scared, not because she didn't love him, but she thought telling the truth would spell the end for them.  
  
"Stephanie, there has to be a reason."  
  
"There is a reason, but that's between me and me, I just don't want to talk about it."  
  
"But Steph--"  
  
"Why don't we go out now?"  
  
"I thought you wanted to watch the show?"  
  
"Nah, I can tape it and watch it later," she said, "I think I need a really stiff drink."  
  
"If you say so," he shrugged.  
  
"I do," she said, getting up.  
  
She went upstairs and started getting dressed. She picked out a very tight, midriff baring halter top and a pair of leather pants. She really needed to get her mind off everything because it was beginning to take its toll on her weary soul. She put her hair up, and started putting her make up on.  
  
Jericho got out of the taxi and grabbed his duffel bag. He walked up Kurt's walkway and up to the door. He just couldn't stay at home anymore. Stephanie's things were all still there, and after Monday, seeing anything of hers just hurt. So he thought that he'd visit Kurt. He knew that Kurt would let him stay here, and Kurt probably needed company for his surgery tomorrow. And besides, he let Stephanie stay here, why not him? Luckily for him, Stephanie was at SmackDown tonight. He rang the doorbell and waited.  
  
Kurt adjusted his collared shirt when he heard the doorbell ring. He wondered who would be ringing the bell this late. Maybe it was one of his brothers. He went downstairs and to the front door. He opened it and was stunned to see Jericho on the other side. Of all the people to be standing there, he didn't expect Jericho, and with Stephanie in the house, this wouldn't be pretty.  
  
"Hey Kurt," Jericho said jovially.  
  
"Chris, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to stay, you don't mind do you?" Jericho said, letting himself inside.  
  
"Um.........no."  
  
"Why you so dressed up, you have a date or something?" Jericho asked.  
  
"I was going to go out to a club."  
  
"Heh, sounds like fun, mind if I tag along?"  
  
"I'm not sure you'd want to."  
  
"Come on. I'm here to keep you company before your surgery tomorrow."  
  
"Thanks, but--"  
  
"Oh, so you DO have a hot date huh?" Jericho joked, hitting Kurt lightly on the arm.  
  
"No, but you don't want to come?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Stephanie came running down the stairs, "Kurt, I'm ready."  
  
Jericho stared at Stephanie, his jaw almost dropping. This scene was so reminiscent of the one that had happened when Trish found out about everyone, except he was the one in shock now. And it wasn't the good kind of shock.  
  
"St-Stephanie?" Jericho stuttered, taking in her outfit. She looked like she was moving on just fine, and that gave him heart a little pang of hurt.  
  
"Chris, what are you doing here?"  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" he countered, "And dressed like that?"  
  
"We were going out Chris," Kurt said.  
  
"WHAT? You're going out with my girl!?!" Jericho erupted, not realizing that he had just called Stephanie "his girl."  
  
"No, it's not like that," Kurt clarified, "We were just going out to get our mind off of things."  
  
"Wait a second, did you just call me your girl?" Stephanie asked, taking in what he had said.  
  
"What?" Jericho said, "No."  
  
"Yes, yes you did, you just said I was your girl. And why would you care if I was going out with Kurt?"  
  
"Because you're my--"Jericho caught himself before finishing his sentence.  
  
"You're what Chris?" Stephanie said, a smirk on her face. Kurt quietly slipped out of the room and went upstairs to his room.  
  
"Nothing Steph," Jericho said, blushing slightly at what he had almost said.  
  
"Why are you here?" she asked.  
  
"Why are YOU here?"  
  
"I asked you first."  
  
"I'm here because I needed to get away."  
  
"So am I."  
  
"But you're what I needed to get away from," Jericho said.  
  
"Oh," she said, suddenly deflated.  
  
"I guess I should just go, maybe I'll just stay with Trish or something."  
  
"You don't have to go," she said quietly.  
  
"I can't be around you Stephanie, you know that, I mean with the current situation and everything........."  
  
Jericho's voice trailed off as Stephanie walked closer. Jericho had to admit she was looking so good in her outfit. She walked right up to him and put a finger over his lips. He stared down at her as she took her finger away from his mouth. She leaned closer and kissed him softly on the lips. He shuddered unconsciously, realizing just how much he missed her kisses.  
  
Before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled her against him and kissed her with more intensity. Stephanie sighed against his lips in happiness and wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed for a long moment before Jericho pulled away.  
  
"Stephanie, I can't do this," he told her, panting a little from the kiss.  
  
"Why not?" she asked, looking up at him charmingly.  
  
He almost got lost in the pale blue of her eyes, "Because it would be sacrificing everything I wanted."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I can't hide this any longer Stephanie. I can't hide us any longer."  
  
"I don't want to hide," she said, looking down.  
  
"Then why can't we tell?" he pleaded.  
  
She pulled away from him and turned her back to him. Jericho watched her, waiting for her to respond. After a few moments of silence, Jericho began to get the picture. His eyes filled with tears, which he crossly wiped away. He picked up his bag.  
  
"I guess this really means you don't want me. I tried to tell myself it wasn't that, but I guess I was wrong. Thank you for clearing that up. But know this Stephanie, I love you with all of my heart. I love you so much that I would willingly give up my life for you. But if you're not happy with me, then I don't want to stand in your way. I hope you have a beautiful life with whoever you find out there, and I hope that you'll at least look back every once in a while and smile when you think about us. Goodbye Stephanie," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.  
  
"I'm scared Chris," she divulged, turning back to him.  
  
Jericho thanked God that she had responded, "Stephanie, what are you scared of?"  
  
"Everything.........losing you, having everyone judge us, just all of things that could go wrong."  
  
"But think of how great it'll be," he said, dropping his bag and walking over to her and grabbing both of her hands in his, "Think of how wonderful it'll be for me to be able to come to SmackDown with you, think of how great it'll be for you to be able to walk me to the ramp for one of my matches, or look Hunter in the eye and tell him that you're happy without him."  
  
"It would be, but I'm still scared."  
  
"Stephanie, please get over this fear, for us, please," he implored.  
  
"I can try."  
  
He kissed her softly, "Good, but until you do, I think we should just stay friends."  
  
"But you'll stay with me right now, won't you?" she asked, looking up at him.  
  
"Of course, but we're still broken up you know," he said, smiling at her.  
  
"I know. And when I do get over this irrational fear, you'll be the first person I tell."  
  
Jericho hugged her to him, "And who'll be the second?"  
  
"The entire world."  
  
A/N: Don't get too cozy folks, there may be a bumpy ride or two in the near future. I use the term may since I have no freaking clue at this point and time. ;) 


	84. Not Chris vs Test AGAIN, April 14, 2003

A/N: Thanks you guys for the great reviews and suggestions. I'll try to take those in consideration for future chapters. :)  
  
"I'm glad you decided to shave that off."  
  
"Yeah, it does look good doesn't it?" he said, rubbing his now barren chin.  
  
"It does, of course the moment you break up with me, you decide to shave it off. You knew I hated it," Stephanie said.  
  
"I know, maybe I'm just trying to get a new start," Jericho said, turning to look at her.  
  
"Nice to know," she rubbed his chin, "Damn, why couldn't you have shaved that like three weeks ago."  
  
"I was trying to get you to break up with me, so I kept it."  
  
"Very funny."  
  
"See, this whole friendship thing, it works."  
  
"Oh, so we're working?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"And traveling together is just friendship?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Hey, we do have separate rooms," he said.  
  
"Yeah, but they're adjoining," she pointed out.  
  
"So, it's still separate rooms."  
  
"Fine," she conceded, "We're so moving on."  
  
"I like to think so."  
  
After they both had mutually decided to be friends, Jericho and Stephanie had gone back to their house in Florida. Yes, they were both still living there, but Stephanie had moved into one of the other bedrooms. They knew this was a crazy arrangement, but the two realized that they just couldn't get rid of each other, no matter how hard they tried.  
  
And now they were traveling together again, albeit in separate rooms. It was nice to have a companion on those lonely nights. And if this friendship thing worked out, it might be better for the two of them in the long run. Who knew, maybe if they tried hard enough they could actually move on.  
  
"So you going to head out to the show?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, my job."  
  
"Well, good luck," she said, standing there awkwardly.  
  
"Yeah, thanks," he told her.  
  
They stood there uncomfortably for a few moments. Usually he would leave and they would kiss, but it didn't seem quite appropriate right now. Jericho smiled at her, and she smiled back, but they could both tell it was strained. This was such a touchy situation and neither knew how to proceed.  
  
Suddenly Jericho pulled Stephanie to him and he kissed her. She kissed him back eagerly. They pulled away moments later. Stephanie sent him a small smile, not knowing why he had done that.  
  
"Um, sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Jericho said.  
  
"It's ok," Stephanie said, holding in a smile.  
  
"Force of habit," he said.  
  
"I could get used to some forces of habit," she smirked.  
  
"I'm sure you could," he told her, "Well, I really have to go."  
  
"Bye Chris."  
  
"Bye Steph."  
  
Jericho left the room and then went to his rental car. He hated being away from Stephanie, that he was willing to admit. He hated not having her with him when he needed her. But he just couldn't have the same thing he had before if she didn't tell. He didn't exactly know how he had gotten himself into such a weird situation.  
  
"Of course I know," he said to himself as he drove, "You had to go and fall in love with Stephanie McMahon."  
  
It wasn't a bad thing to be in love with her. It's just right now, it wasn't the thing that he exactly needed. His life had gotten so much more complex when she had waltzed into his life. But would he give it all back if he could. Nope, not a chance.  
  
Jericho got to the arena and went inside. He figured he'd go talk to Christian for a while, see what he was up to. He hadn't talked to him since last week, and last week he had definitely not been himself. So he figured now was as good a time as any to catch up with his friend.  
  
He saw him standing on one end of the hallway and went over to him, "Christian!"  
  
Christian turned and saw him, "Hey man! Dude, you shaved it off!"  
  
Jericho laughed, "Yeah, it was time."  
  
"You look SO much better, so much less Amish."  
  
"Thanks.........I guess. Hey, sorry about last week, I didn't mean to blow you off like I did."  
  
"Dude, it's cool, I understand."  
  
"Yeah, but it was rude of me."  
  
"Nah, I understood what you were going through."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you did."  
  
"So how are you?" Christian asked, "You holding up alright?"  
  
"Actually, Stephanie and I talked when we were both at Kurt's, and we're friends again," Jericho said smiling.  
  
"Friends, you and her are friend," Christian laughed.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"The thought of you two as friends. Chris, man, I hate to break it to you, but you and Stephanie, you'll never be friends."  
  
"Why not?" Jericho asked, not fully understanding Christian's point.  
  
"You two love each other, you just can't be friends. There's always going to be something between you. When you guys hated each other, I bet part of you really, really wanted her, that's why you couldn't stay away, that's why you kissed her twice."  
  
"Yeah, but we can just be friends."  
  
"No, I don't think you can."  
  
"Fine, I'll prove that we're just friends and I can move on."  
  
"And just how are you going to do that?"  
  
Jericho saw Stacy walking down the hallway, "Watch."  
  
Jericho walked over to the leggy blonde. He tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump a little. Stacy turned around and gave a flinch when she saw who it was. She was undoubtedly wondering if Jericho was going to do her harm like he had done in the recent past.  
  
"Don't worry Stacy, I come in peace," Jericho said.  
  
"Ok," she said, still obviously a little uneasy.  
  
"I just really wanted to apologize for the stuff I pulled awhile back, I was really being an asshole."  
  
"Oh, thanks," she said, genuinely.  
  
"Not a problem, and I hope that Test appreciates you," Jericho said, smiling.  
  
"Wow, thanks Chris."  
  
"No problem, you have a nice night."  
  
"You too, you're facing Test you know."  
  
"Oh, great, see you out there," he said, before walking back to Christian.  
  
"Ok, what the hell was that?" Christian said.  
  
"Moving on," Jericho smirked.  
  
"Did you like just hit on Stacy."  
  
"I guess if you want to call it that."  
  
"You just fucking hit on Stacy," Christian said, still amazed, "After everything, you hit on Stacy."  
  
"Don't make such a big deal about it," Jericho said, starting to walk towards his dressing room.  
  
"How can I not? Man, I guess you are moving on from Steph if you can hit on other women."  
  
"I told you so."  
  
"Well, that's the last time that I ever doubt the great Chris Jericho."  
  
"Good.........just one thing though."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't mention it to Steph."  
  
Christian laughed, "Yeah, I thought it was too good to be true.  
  
Jericho got ready quickly seeing he was early on the card. He went out for his match, sending Stacy a smile. Hey, he might as well use his newfound niceness for his own benefit. If Stacy could help him win, then so be it.  
  
He went into the match knowing that he could beat Test. What he didn't expect was for Stacy to inadvertently help him so much. He had seen what she had found in Test's bag earlier and she was justifiably upset. He knew if he had that kind of stuff and Stephanie had found it, she would kick his ass. There were those thoughts of Stephanie again. She's not your girlfriend, his mind kept replaying.  
  
He ended up winning the match and knew that part of that was based on Stacy. He was actually kind of grateful for her. Only kind of though. He went backstage and got cleaned up before sitting down to watch the rest of the show.  
  
Later on in the evening, he got thirsty and decided to find catering and get a water. He left his locker room and went in search of catering. As he was trying to find his way, he ran into his partners at Backlash.  
  
"Jericho," HHH called out.  
  
Jericho sighed and turned around. Now that he and Stephanie were back on speaking terms, he regretted ever getting mixed up with HHH. The hate he felt for the man had seeped back into him, but he realized he was in too deep to get out now, especially since the match at Backlash had already been signed for.  
  
"What is it Trips?"  
  
"I wanted to know if you got my back tonight in my match tonight."  
  
Jericho sighed, "Yeah, sure Trips, I got your back."  
  
HHH patted his shoulder, "Good, thanks."  
  
"Uh huh," Jericho said, then leaving.  
  
He really didn't want to help him, but sometimes you had to do what you had to do. He went to catering and grabbed a water before heading over to one of the monitors backstage. He decided to just watch the match from there. It would give him easy access to interfere if he had to.  
  
Even thought he hated HHH again, he knew that he had a job to do. And that job was to team with HHH and be successful. And if there's anything Jericho loved it was to be successful, he was the highlight of the night after all.  
  
After the match had ended Jericho saw the perfect opportunity to run out and attack the vulnerable Michaels and decided to take it. He ran down the ramp and into the ring immediately going for his opponent from WrestleMania. He gave him a backbreaker and punched him repeatedly.  
  
Jericho saw HHH come back into the ring with his trusty sledgehammer and grabbed both of Michael's arms pinning them back so the man was completely at their mercy. He yelled at HHH to hit Michaels, but before he could, Nash came sauntering down to the ring, and Jericho hightailed it out of there. This was not his problem to deal with and so he wouldn't. He left immediately and went backstage to grab his things.  
  
He went back to his hotel room, and saw Stephanie painting her fingernails on the couch in his room. He didn't want to own up to the truth, but he was actually glad to see her there again. Sure he had only gone two weeks with an empty room, but it felt like an infinity.  
  
"Hey there," Jericho said, coming to sit next to her.  
  
"Hey Chris, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing, did you catch the show?"  
  
"I did. It was a pretty good show if I do say so myself," she said brightly.  
  
"Yeah, I won," he smiled.  
  
"I saw that, and with the Lionsault no less," she grinned.  
  
"Yup."  
  
Jericho was hating this small talk. It was grating on his nerves. He still felt like he had to dance around things with her, and he didn't like that feeling. It was weird being around Stephanie and not being able to talk to her about anything and everything.  
  
"So Stacy helped you during your match," Stephanie commented, trying to sound detached, but he could tell she was actually very curious.  
  
"Yeah, she did, I was pretty surprised."  
  
"So you didn't plan it or anything?" she asked.  
  
"Of course not, you're the only girl I plan things with," he said, sending her a wink.  
  
She laughed, "I suppose so. I just thought you were kind of playing up to her. Different from usual that's all."  
  
"Well, I did apologize for the things I did, and talked to her civilly."  
  
"Oh," she said, looking away.  
  
Jericho took Stephanie's chin in his fingers and turned it toward him, "Just to be a nice guy, and show Christian that I can move on."  
  
"Oh, so moving on huh?"  
  
"We had to do it eventually Steph."  
  
"I know, I just figured it wouldn't be with her."  
  
"Well, who did you figure it would be with?"  
  
"I don't know.........me," she whispered indistinctively.  
  
"What was that Steph?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"Steph, I can't move on with you, if I'm practically with you as it is."  
  
She smiled softly, "I guess you're right."  
  
"I'm always right."  
  
"So I saw the scowl you had on your face when you were watching Hunter's match," she said, shifting topics.  
  
"Well, I guess I've come to my senses and hated him again."  
  
"You don't have to hate him just for me."  
  
"I want to hate him."  
  
Stephanie yawned, "Well, I'm going to go to my room and try to sleep."  
  
"Ok, night Steph."  
  
"Night."  
  
A couple hours later, Jericho was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. He could hear Stephanie moving around in the next room. How much he wanted to go in there and lay next to her, but well that went past the boundary of friends. But it was so lonesome by himself.  
  
"Chris," she called out from her room.  
  
"Yeah," he called back.  
  
"Can I come sleep with you?" she asked innocently.  
  
"Sure."  
  
Moments later she appeared in his adjoining door and she made her way blindly to the bed. He held the covers open for her and she climbed in. She got in and lay on one side of the bed while Jericho was on the other.  
  
"So?" he said.  
  
"Yeah," she answered.  
  
"This isn't the least bit uneasy," he joked.  
  
She giggled softly, "I know."  
  
Stephanie inched her way closer to Jericho, and before he knew it, she was literally right next to him. He gingerly wrapped an arm around her, and she relaxed, letting herself cuddle up to him. He sighed happily and closed his eyes, feeling her wrap an arm around his waist.  
  
"Chris?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Let's be friends with benefits."  
  
Jericho didn't even have to think, this woman, he just couldn't escape her, no matter how hard he tried. She was a part of his soul, and you never wanted to get rid of your soul, and Jericho didn't want to get rid of Stephanie. Things had to change, but for this moment, right now, Jericho let those things be forgotten.  
  
"Deal." 


	85. Steph, Where Are You? April 17, 2003

Stephanie sat at her desk working on some documents. She had a lot to catch up on since she had missed last week's show. But would she have rather been here than at Kurt's? Not a chance. She smiled softly as she thought of the situation that had presented itself last week.  
  
Sure, she hated just being friends with Jericho. Although, the line between friendship and relationship always seemed to blur with them. But it was better than not having him at all. She had gone almost a week with no contact with him and it was the most god awful time that she had ever had. She was just thankful that Jericho was willing to wait for her.  
  
As she was working she heard a loud knock on her door. She didn't know who could be bothering her. Maybe if she had paid more attention to the show, but she had been busy. She put her pen down and looked up at the door.  
  
"Come in."  
  
Big Show walked in angrily and Stephanie watched as he stormed over to her desk. She flinched in surprise as he slammed both of his large hands onto her desk. She tried not to feel intimidated by the much larger man, but it was difficult.  
  
"What can I do for you?" she asked.  
  
"Did you just see what happened?" he said in a low voice.  
  
"No, I'm sorry Big Show, I didn't see what happened, why don't you enlighten me?"  
  
"Rey Mysterio 619'ed me," he said, his nostrils flaring in anger.  
  
"You were in a match, it happens," she reasoned.  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
She stood up and looked him in the face, "I do care. You are in a match, and if you want to be childish and come in here and act like a fool go ahead, but I'm not going to listen to your whining."  
  
"You will listen."  
  
"No! I am YOUR boss, not the other way around. I call the shots around here, and you will do as I say!" she yelled.  
  
"Fine," he said dangerously, "I want him at Backlash."  
  
"Want who?"  
  
"Mysterio," he bellowed.  
  
"Will you get out of here if I grant it to you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Fine, you've got your match, I just need to see if Rey accepts."  
  
"He better accept," he said, pounding his fist with his hand.  
  
"We'll see.........now get out!"  
  
Big Show reluctantly left and Stephanie sat down, glad the confrontation was over. She just wished that it her wrestler's didn't have to be irate so much. She understood that they could be hot-tempered, but her job was a lot easier when they're was not so much fighting.  
  
She looked over some more paperwork before deciding that she would go in search of Rey Mysterio. She might as well ask him now, she didn't really have anything better to do. She left her office and walked to where she knew his locker room was and knocked on the door. He answered moments later.  
  
"Stephanie hi, what can I do for you?" he asked smiling.  
  
"Well, Big Show came to my office demanding a match, and I promised to give it to him, as long as you agreed to the match," she explained.  
  
"He wants a match against me?" he laughed.  
  
"I guess he was a little bit upset about that 619 you gave him."  
  
"Heh, good," the man said.  
  
"So about the match........."  
  
"I'm in, tell him it's fine," Rey said, nodding his head.  
  
"Ok, your match is now official for Backlash, good luck," she told him.  
  
"Thanks Stephanie."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Stephanie walked away and as she was turning the corner she almost ran into the Big Show. It wasn't that hard, seeing as how he was as big as a wall. She looked up at him, and scowled a bit.  
  
"You got your match," she said simply.  
  
"Good, that half pint won't know what's coming to him," Big Show said, laughing jovially.  
  
"Well, it's official, I hope you're happy."  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm happy," he said vindictively.  
  
Stephanie sighed and left him. She intended to go back to her office, but instead decided to go to the gorilla. She might catch the next match up, but she didn't feel like going to her office, it was kind of lonely in there.  
  
She went to the gorilla in time to catch Eddy's match against Jamie Noble. She managed to catch Benjamin and Haas berating the Guerrero's and their grandmother. How childish she thought to herself. She turned to watch Benjamin and Haas come backstage. Haas walked over to her, while Benjamin nudged him, smirked, then left.  
  
"Hey Stephanie," he said, smiling at her charmingly.  
  
"Charlie," she nodded.  
  
"So have you talked to Kurt since he had his surgery?"  
  
"Actually, yes I have, he's doing well."  
  
"Yeah, Shelt and I went to visit him."  
  
"That's really nice of you, judging from you guys, I was under the impression you only cared about yourselves."  
  
"Nah, Kurt just says you have to get people to hate you by making them think you're a bad person."  
  
"That does seem like something Kurt would say," she laughed.  
  
"Well, it seems to work for us. I don't think we really have a personal vendetta against anyone.........not yet anyways."  
  
"That's good, you'll make more friends that way."  
  
"Yeah, though it does make us look a little bit cocky."  
  
"Well, you have every right to be, I mean, you and Shelton, you're both incredible athletes, who deserve your position here, and your titles."  
  
"Thanks," he said sincerely.  
  
"Hey, just telling it like it is."  
  
"Um, speaking of telling it like it is, I was uh.........wondering if you were doing anything after the show tonight?" he asked, shifting his feet in obvious nervousness.  
  
"Wow, are you asking me out on a date?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess I am," he said smiling tentatively.  
  
Stephanie immediately felt the urge to say no, she did have Jericho after all. But then as she thought about it, did she really have Jericho? I mean, they were technically broken up, and well, they had been saying they should move on. It was like their new motto.  
  
And while she still felt like she was cheating on Jericho, she knew that maybe this was her time to move on.  
  
"Sure Charlie, I'd love to," she said, smiling at him.  
  
"Really, great," he said brightly, "I'll meet you after the show then?"  
  
"Yeah, just come by my office, what did you have in mind for tonight?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking we could hit a club, you know, go dancing or something, do you like to dance?"  
  
"That sounds like fun, I'd love to go to a club."  
  
"Great," he told her, "See you later."  
  
"Yeah, later," she echoed.  
  
She watched him walk away with a huge grin on her face. It actually felt kind of nice to be moving on. It meant she could do it. And who knew, maybe this thing with Haas would pan out and they would actually be a good couple.  
  
Stephanie chastised herself for getting ahead of herself. She hadn't even gone out with him yet, and she knew she still wasn't over Jericho. Would she ever be over Jericho? She didn't know, but this was a step in the right direction. And if she and Haas did decide to go out, well, that might be good.  
  
But then a thought hit her. If she went out with someone else then she would be breaking Jericho's heart. She wouldn't hide it, and he would be heartbroken. She felt tears come to her eyes as she pictured Jericho being sad and lost if she was able to move on and be open about a relationship. Well, what Jericho didn't know couldn't hurt him right?  
  
She walked slowly back to her office, thinking about later, and about Jericho. Her thoughts were confusing. She was still afraid to tell her dad, and she didn't know why exactly. She felt like something was holding her back. She shrugged to herself and walked into her office. She looked up as her office chair slowly turned around.  
  
"Hey Steph."  
  
"Chris!" she hissed, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Can't a friend visit their other friend?" he asked innocently.  
  
"Chris, I can't believe you came here," she said, a smile starting to break through.  
  
"Well, that's me, always full of surprises," he grinned.  
  
She walked over and sat on his lap, "Really, why are you here?"  
  
"I just wanted to see you, I missed you I dare say."  
  
"Well, all I'm doing is work."  
  
"Sounds like fun, maybe I'll stay and watch."  
  
Stephanie thought to her date later on. She couldn't have Jericho be here when Haas came to pick her up. One, it would be awkward, two she would have to explain Jericho's presence, and three, she didn't want to Jericho to know she had accepted any kind of date. She had to get him out of here.  
  
"It'll be boring Chris, I know it will."  
  
"So, it means I get to stay around you."  
  
"I know, but you'll have nothing to do."  
  
"But I can give you a ride back to the hotel," he told her.  
  
"I know, but I came in a limo, so I already have a ride, there's really no reason you have to stay here."  
  
"Are you trying to get rid of me Stephanie?" he asked.  
  
"No, no, I just don't want you interrupting my work," she lied, kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"Ok, I guess," he said, setting her down on the ground before getting up, "I'll see you later though?"  
  
"Of course, we do share a hotel room don't we?"  
  
"We share more than the room," he winked.  
  
"Chris, friends remember."  
  
"Oh yeah, friends, just friends," he said, laughing as he left, "Bye Steph."  
  
"Bye Chris."  
  
Stephanie fought the guilt that was starting to creep into her mind. She shouldn't feel guilty. It wasn't like she was cheating on Jericho, she wasn't even with him. She sighed, no matter how many times she told herself that, it wasn't the truth and she knew it. Despite her and Jericho saying they were "friends" she knew that it was so much more, and they were just both afraid to admit it, to go back to a situation that they didn't want to be in.  
  
She tried to go back to the paperwork she had been working on, but found it increasingly difficult. Thoughts of Jericho would creep in her mind. Thoughts of them together, thoughts of how torn up he had been when they were apart. And now she was potentially hurting him again. Before she knew it, she heard a knock on her door. She checked her watch, the show had ended fifteen minutes ago.  
  
She got up and answered the door, "Hey Charlie."  
  
"Hey, you ready?"  
  
"Um, just about, let me get my things," she told him.  
  
"Sure."  
  
Stephanie went over to her desk and collected her papers and other various things. Her bracelet kept hitting the table, making a sound, and she looked down. It was the bracelet Jericho had given her for Christmas. Damn it, she needed to stop this, and stop it now. She gathered her things and turned to Haas.  
  
"Ready," she said.  
  
"Great, here, let me get that stuff for you," he said, rushing over and taking her stuff from her.  
  
"Thanks," she said gratefully.  
  
"What kind of guy would I be if I didn't help," he joked.  
  
"Not a very good one," she joked back.  
  
They walked out to the parking lot, and he turned to her, "You came in a limo right?"  
  
"Yeah, do you have a rental, I mean, we can take that."  
  
"I told Shelt he could take our rental, if it's ok to use your limo."  
  
"Oh, yeah, it's fine," she said as they walked over.  
  
Haas held the door open for her as she climbed in and then got in himself. He set her papers on one of the seats and sat next to her. She asked the driver if he knew any good clubs around here, and he said he knew one and would take them there.  
  
"I hope this place is nice," she said, trying to make small talk.  
  
"Yeah, you really look great tonight."  
  
"Thanks," she said, smiling a little, "I usually have help deciding what to where."  
  
"Oh really, like a personal assistant or something?"  
  
She thought about the person who helped her, Jericho, "No, more like a friend."  
  
"Oh, that's cool, you always do look good, you guys must have great taste."  
  
"We like to think so."  
  
"You do a great job as General Manager you know, I think I'd go crazy if I had your job."  
  
"Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy," she told him, laughing slightly.  
  
He laughed, then the limo went silent. Stephanie felt kind of awkward sitting there with a guy she didn't really know. It had never been like this with Jericho, never, not even on their first date. But then, she had known Jericho for almost three years before they had started dating, and there wasn't anything he didn't know about her by then.  
  
They got to the club and they got out of the limo. They walked inside, Haas taking Stephanie's hand and going over to the bar. She took in her surroundings, it was a pretty nice club. She turned to Haas as she heard him talking to her.  
  
"Steph, did you want anything to drink?"  
  
"Um, could you get me a martini, extra dry, one olive?"  
  
"Yeah, sure no problem," he said, turning back to the bartender.  
  
Within moments they had their drinks and made their way to a little table aligning one of the walls. Haas pulled out the seat for her and she sat down, smiling up at him. He sat down opposite her. As they sipped their drinks they made idle chit chat, trying to get to know each other a little better.  
  
"Steph, you wanna dance?" he asked as they finished their drinks.  
  
"Sure," she said, setting her drink down on the table.  
  
He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and stood up, letting him lead her onto the dance floor. They danced to a fast song, and Stephanie realized she was actually having fun, it surprised her a little, she didn't think it was capable for her to have fun with Jericho around.  
  
A slower song came on and Stephanie let him pull her into his arms. She smiled as they danced closely. The feeling was nice, nowhere near as good as it was with Jericho, but it was nice nonetheless. After the song ended, she pulled away and looked at him.  
  
"So you wanna dance some more?" she asked.  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
A couple hours later, the two were headed back to the hotel. The limo parked, and the two got out. They walked into the hotel, and Haas walked Stephanie up to her room. They stopped simultaneously and faced each other.  
  
"Thanks for tonight," Stephanie said.  
  
"No, thank you," he said.  
  
She laughed, "It was fun."  
  
"Yeah, maybe we can do it again in the near future?"  
  
"Yeah, maybe we have to."  
  
"Good."  
  
Haas then leaned in and Stephanie knew what was coming next. She froze, not knowing what kind of reaction to give. He kissed her softly on the lips, and Stephanie kissed back briefly. He pulled away and smiled at her.  
  
"Sweet dreams," he said.  
  
"You too."  
  
Stephanie watched as he walked away before pulling out the key card from her pocket. She unlocked the door and walked in. Jericho was pacing the entire length of the living room. He looked up at her and his eyes were filled with worry.  
  
"God Stephanie, you had me so worried, where have you been?"  
  
"Worried?"  
  
"The show ended hours ago, I was so scared something had happened to you," he said, rushing over to her, "Are you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine Chris."  
  
He took her into his arms and pulled her tightly against him. She could feel the tenseness that he was feeling, and the worry and concern emanated off of him. She let herself be embraced by him, and laid her head against his strong, comforting chest.  
  
"Where were you?"  
  
"I went out," she told him, hoping he would leave it at that, but knowing he wouldn't.  
  
"Went out with who? By yourself? You could've asked me to--"  
  
"I wasn't alone Chris."  
  
"You weren't, did you go out with your dad or something?" he asked, not wanting it to be something else.  
  
"No, I went out with Charlie Haas," she said, not looking up at him.  
  
"What, like he needed a ride or something?"  
  
"No, like a..........date," she said hesitantly.  
  
Jericho pulled away from her, "You went out on a date?"  
  
"Yeah, he asked me tonight and I said yes."  
  
"Oh," Jericho said emotionless.  
  
"We went out to a club," she kept talking, hoping he'd say what he was really thinking.  
  
"Well, did you have fun?" he asked, trying to be interested, but it was more of a need to know thing.  
  
"Actually, yes."  
  
"Oh, well, that's good.........it's getting late, I better get to bed, um, I'll sleep on the couch tonight," he said, going over to grab a blanket and pillow from the closet.  
  
"The couch?"  
  
"Well, yeah, I mean, we're just friends right, and friends don't sleep together."  
  
"Oh.........I guess you're right."  
  
"Yeah, and you know, if something happens with you and Charlie, I don't want to be in the way," Jericho said, trying to sound supportive.  
  
"Thanks," she said, going into the bedroom.  
  
She got some pajamas and changed into them, comforting in their warmth. Then she made her way quietly into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She didn't dare look up into the mirror, fearing what she would see. Regret? Sadness? Happiness? She didn't want to know.  
  
She left the bathroom and went out into the living area to grab some papers she wanted to look at before she went to bed. She didn't want to, but she stole a glance at Jericho and saw him laying on his back, one arm over his eyes. She didn't know what he was doing until she saw a reflection of light off the tears on his cheek. She realized he was crying silently, and she almost broke down in tears at the sight.  
  
"Chris?" she whispered.  
  
"What?" he said, trying valiantly to compose himself.  
  
"Um.........goodnight," she said, not knowing what else to say.  
  
"Yeah, night."  
  
She resisted the urge to go over and comfort him. She didn't even know if she could comfort him. She knew this would happen, she KNEW it would. But what had she been trying to pull? This moving on thing was bullshit and they both knew it. They weren't any more over each other than they were "friends," even if they pretended to be, Jericho's reaction just cementing that fact. She went to walk back into her bedroom, but something stopped her.  
  
"I love you," she said, her back to him.  
  
Jericho looked up at her, "What?"  
  
"I love you, I always will."  
  
"Well, I'm glad some part of you will always love me," he said.  
  
"No," she said, turning around, "All of me loves you, every single part of me loves you."  
  
Jericho sat up, "What are you saying Stephanie?"  
  
"I think it might be time to tell Daddy."  
  
A/N: Hope you're still having fun with this fic, because I sure as hell am, but maybe that's because I know where it's headed. ;) 


	86. Chris on SD, Please, April 21, 2003

A/N: I know I say this a lot, and I know that it gets repetitive. And I know you're probably thinking, 'damn I have to read another one of her stupid author's notes, can we just get on with the damn fic already,' but I just want to thank you all again for the reviews. They really mean a lot to me, and knowing that you guys are still into this story after nine months makes me happy to write this fic week in and week out. So a BIG thank you to each and every one of you. :D  
  
And now I'm done with the diatribe and you can finally read what you came for.  
  
"One of these days I'm going to kidnap you and not let you go to work."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Yeah, and then I'm going to whisk you away to some exotic location and we're going to just lounge on the beach and drink mai tai's."  
  
He took her in his arms, "Sounds heavenly."  
  
"It will be, and then we can spend all the rest of the time in the bedroom," Stephanie said.  
  
"Ooh, sounds even better," Jericho responded.  
  
"But unfortunately tonight is not that night," she smirked.  
  
"Damn it, why not?"  
  
"Because you have to go to work, and you also have a big match coming up on Sunday that you can't miss."  
  
"Can't I miss it this once?"  
  
"Sorry sweetie, I'm not your boss," she shrugged.  
  
"Damn, but someday you will be right?"  
  
"Let's hope so."  
  
Jericho tucked some of Stephanie's hair behind her ear and leaned in to kiss her tenderly. Though not officially together, they were together in every other aspect of their lives. After Stephanie had told him that she was now willing to tell her dad, they had patched things up to the point where they were only broken up in name only.  
  
"Ok, I'm off," he said.  
  
"Good luck."  
  
"Thanks baby."  
  
Jericho left and went to the arena. He hoped that he could get off early tonight and go back to Stephanie. They had been spending all weekend making up with each other. And he wanted to make up some more, they were having lots of fun doing that. He walked into the arena and went straight to production to see when he was on.  
  
They told him that he was going to be on in the middle of the show, and he cringed. He really wanted to leave early. Maybe he'd go see Bischoff to see if he could get on any earlier if at all possible. He went to his locker room and dumped off his things. Then he went in search of Bischoff's office.  
  
As soon as he found it he walked inside without knocking, "Bischoff I need to talk."  
  
"What is it Jericho?" Bischoff said, looking up at him.  
  
"I want my match earlier," Jericho demanded.  
  
"And why should I change your match?"  
  
"I have to leave early," Jericho said. It wasn't totally a lie, but it wasn't totally the truth either. But he figured Bischoff was used to lying.  
  
"And why is that? This is your job and you are required to stay fro the duration."  
  
"It's personal ok, can you just grant me an earlier match this one time?"  
  
"Fine, fine Jericho, go do whatever you have to do, I don't really care, I've got bigger problems. Your match will be first."  
  
"Thank you," Jericho said, smiling to himself.  
  
"You better hurry then Jericho, your match is coming up soon."  
  
"Fine."  
  
Jericho rushed back to his dressing room and grabbed the first pair of tights that he came across. Throwing them on, he taped up his wrists quickly. He got ready just in time, and jogged to the gorilla. He stretched a little then made his way out for his match.  
  
Jericho walked triumphantly up the ramp, taking a quick glance at Flair who was beating on Hurricane outside of the ring. He wiped his mouth, tasting the coppery blood and winced as he realized he was bleeding. He spit some of it out before going backstage.  
  
As he was walking to his dressing room, he ran into HHH, who had just arrived. Jericho sighed and realized he was going to have to talk to him. Man, how he regretted ever becoming buddy buddy with HHH. These two had never got along and he didn't see that ever really changing, despite the fact that they both had decided to "bury the hatchet" so to speak.  
  
But both of them knew that was practically impossible. Their history was such a roller coaster, filled with feuds, and fights, and beat downs. And oddly enough, most of their feuds revolved around one thing. And that one thing was Stephanie. He had to snicker to himself as he realized he had fought for Stephanie even when he hated her guts.  
  
"Jericho, got a minute?" HHH asked as he stopped Jericho in the hallway.  
  
"What is it Trips?"  
  
"I got a match against Booker later."  
  
"Um, yeah, I know," Jericho said sarcastically.  
  
"Funny Jericho, but I got a question to ask you."  
  
"Yeah, I kinda figured that," Jericho said in a smart aleck tone.  
  
"I want you out there."  
  
"What do you mean you want me out there?"  
  
"Well didn't you hear?"  
  
"Hear what? In case you haven't noticed I just had a match right now."  
  
"Fine, Shawn Michaels was named the guest referee for my match."  
  
"Ok," Jericho shrugged.  
  
"So that means he can get his hands on me."  
  
"You have Flair out there."  
  
"Let's you and me be honest here Jericho, Flair isn't that much of a help. You, I need your help out there."  
  
"Are you admitting that you need my help?" Jericho said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"They could double team me."  
  
"Oh, and you can't take them on by yourself?"  
  
"Whatever, you gonna help me out there?"  
  
"Actually Trips, I was going to head out early, I want to go back to my girlfriend."  
  
"Girlfriend, I didn't know you had a girlfriend?" HHH said, his caveman brow furrowing.  
  
"Well, now you do."  
  
"You didn't have one when we went out last week."  
  
"We were fighting, but we made up, in fact, I've been dating her for nine months," Jericho said, smirking, knowing that HHH had no idea who he was talking about.  
  
"Oh, so you wanted to go back to your hotel?"  
  
"That was the plan, she's really, really hot."  
  
"Nice," HHH said, giving that stupid smirk of his.  
  
"Oh yeah, she's divorced too, her ex-husband was a real tool. Why he let her go I'll never know."  
  
"Well, I don't want to keep you from your woman."  
  
"Thanks, I really appreciate that," Jericho said, rolling his eyes. Like he cared if HHH gave him permission or not.  
  
"Yeah, I just figured since we have a big match on Sunday you might want to be out there to help your partners."  
  
Jericho sighed, the man was insufferable, "Fine, I'll come out for your match, but you owe me one man."  
  
"Fine, thanks," HHH said, clapping him on the back before walking away.  
  
Jericho watched him go before shaking his head and walking back to his locker room. He didn't want to stick around, but HHH had been right. He did have a big match on Sunday, and he did need to make sure that his partners were one hundred percent for the match. He went inside his locker room and collapsed on the couch.  
  
He looked around the room seeing if there was anything good to do, but didn't see anything. Instead he grabbed the remote and turned on the television. Might as well watch the show while it was on right? It wasn't like he had anything better to do.  
  
He watched with disinterest as matches came and went. And then The Rock had his little concert. Jericho couldn't help but think that he was a much better singer than Rock was. I mean, Jericho was a HUGE Rockstar after all. And before Rock had even had a concert, HE had had one with his band, and it was ten thousand times better.  
  
He watched the little debacle with Gillberg and Goldberg, and then their little chase scene. What he wouldn't give to get his hands on Goldberg. The nerve of the guy saying Jericho was too small in WCW. His interest was slightly piqued when Trish's match came on and he realized that she would be facing two other guys, with only Spike in her corner. Wasn't Jeff there to help her?  
  
He watched as Trish was beaten down by the Dudleys, more specifically Bubba Ray, and he wondered if Christian knew about this. Jericho gave a slight sigh of relief when RVD and Kane came out to help the blond diva. But then Jazz came out and beat on her even more. This was awful. Finally the beatings stopped and he could only wonder what had happened to Trish, if she was ok.  
  
Christian came waltzing into the locker room, a smile on his face. He came and sat next to Jericho and looked at the television screen which had now cut to commercial. Jericho looked at the smile on Christian's face and wondered again if he knew what had just happened.  
  
"Christian, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Can't a guy come hang out with his friend?"  
  
"Yeah but--" Jericho said, starting to explain the Trish situation.  
  
"No buts. What do you say me and you go out tonight, check out some of the hot Atlanta clubs, maybe get a few phone numbers, have a good time. I mean, we're both single men right, there's not women stopping us," Christian said, "Carpe diem man, seize the day."  
  
"Um, yeah, I'm not single anymore," Jericho said, looking at Christian oddly.  
  
"What? You found another girl?"  
  
"Um, no, Stephanie and I we're patching things up."  
  
"Congratulations! I knew you two would work it out."  
  
"Thanks, but Christian--"  
  
"The Rock has arrived!" a voice yelled out.  
  
Jericho and Christian both looked up to see Rock in the doorway, "What is it Rocky?"  
  
"Well Jericho, The Rock needs Christian's help."  
  
"Um, ok," Jericho said, rolling his eyes a little.  
  
"Don't roll your eyes at the Great One!"  
  
"Ok Rocky, sure."  
  
"What's up man?" Christian said.  
  
"How would you like to help The Rock outsmart that roody poo Goldberg?"  
  
"Sure Rock."  
  
"Great, when The Rock gets into trouble, you come down and help the Rock out."  
  
"Sure, that's fine, when."  
  
"Soon, soon," Rock said, before leaving.  
  
"Looks like I have to go," Christian said, standing up.  
  
"Ok, but Christian I've been trying to tell you since you got here, Trish just got beaten down by the Dudleys and by Jazz."  
  
"What?!?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Did Jeff come out and help her?"  
  
"I have no clue where he was, RVD and Kane came out."  
  
"Oh my God, I've got to see her."  
  
"Man, you can't you just said you'd help the Rock."  
  
"Damn it, I'll just make it quick, thanks for letting me know," Christian said, rushing out of the dressing room.  
  
He ran down the hall and out down the ramp. He ran into the ring, driving his shoulder into Goldberg's knee. He got some good shots in on Goldberg and decided that Rock could handle it from here on out. But just as he got ready to leave it seemed like Goldberg was getting the upper-hand, so Christian ran back in, only to get speared to the ground.  
  
Christian writhed in pain, but the thoughts of Trish being hurt overrode his pain for the moment. He got up and left the ring as quickly as humanly possible. He got backstage easily and went off in search of Trish's locker room. He found it and knocked deftly.  
  
"Come in," a soft voice answered.  
  
Christian pushed open the door and saw Trish lying down on the couch, clutching her head with one hand and her ribs with the other. Christian ran over to her and kneeled next to the couch. She looked up and saw him and smiled.  
  
"Christian," she said quietly, but happily.  
  
"Hey Trishy, I just heard what happened."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"You don't look fine," he said, rubbing her head.  
  
"I'll be ok, I should say."  
  
"Where's Jeff? Why didn't he help you out there?" Christian said, angry at Jeff for not being their to protect her.  
  
"I don't know, he hasn't answered my calls. I don't know where he is."  
  
"Oh Trish," Christian said sympathetically, "I'm sorry."  
  
"It's ok," she said, smiling a little, "I have you here don't I?"  
  
"You do, and you know I'll stick around."  
  
"Thank you Christian."  
  
"Hey what are friends for?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So how about I help you out of here and I drive you back to your hotel?" he asked.  
  
"I'd like that very much."  
  
"Good, because I wasn't going to take no for an answer," he told her, helping her up.  
  
He got her bag and slung it over her shoulder, before going back over to her. He wrapped his arm securely around her shoulders. Together they slowly walked out of the dressing room and out towards Christian's rental.  
  
"Hey you guys," they heard Jericho call out from behind them. They turned around.  
  
"Hey Chris," Trish said.  
  
"Hey, I just wanted to know how you were feeling?"  
  
"I'm going to be ok."  
  
"Good, good, I just wanted to make sure, I was worried about you out there."  
  
"Thanks for the concern Chris," Trish said, smiling, "Christian's helping me back to my hotel."  
  
"Oh, ok," Jericho said, winking at them, "Go 'help' her Christian."  
  
"Shut up Jericho," Christian said, shaking his head, "Shouldn't you be watching HHH's match? I mean, you are partnering with him on Sunday."  
  
"What? Their match is on?" he asked alarmed.  
  
"Um, yeah, it was just starting when we left."  
  
"Shit, I'm supposed to be out there," Jericho said, turning around to run.  
  
He got to the gorilla and walked down the ramp nonchalantly, like he was supposed to be walking in this late. Jericho went down to ringside and seeing Booker on the outside, got a few shots in while Michael's back was turned. He threw Booker back in the ring and took a spot ringside to watch the rest of the match.  
  
Jericho watched in boredom the match between HHH and Booker. He just wanted someone to win so he could get back to Stephanie. Was that too much to ask? Whenever he saw someone get the upper-hand he hoped it would be over, but no, someone always came back. He tried to help HHH as much as he could, but the stupid oaf wasn't using the advantage he had. It was just like the dumbass.  
  
Finally, they decided into their own hands. Jericho and Flair were belt- shotting, interfering, distracting. They then went all out and just started beating on Booker and Michaels, until it turned into a free-for- all. Eventually Nash came down and he and HHH had their little staredown. Jericho just watched, waiting until HHH had low-blowed Nash and then left. Him, Flair, and HHH made their way up the ramp.  
  
"We're definitely going to win on Sunday," Flair said.  
  
"Yeah, that's all well and good," Jericho told them, "But I'm outta here."  
  
Jericho went back to his locker room to retrieve his things, not bothering to talk to anybody on his way there. He left speedily, and drove back to the hotel. It seemed like forever since he had seen Stephanie, though in reality it had only been several hours. But to him, that was an eternity. He got back to his room and walked in, quickly doing a scan of the room.  
  
"Man, I have been waiting forever to get back here," Jericho said.  
  
"And I've been waiting forever to have you back," Stephanie told him.  
  
"I missed you," he whispered against her lips as he leaned in to kiss her.  
  
"I missed you too."  
  
"Good. I'm sorry I couldn't get out earlier, but your stupid ex-husband wanted me to stay for his match."  
  
"That's ok, you had to do what was right for your career."  
  
"Yeah, but now I want to do what's right for my relationship."  
  
"And what's that?" she asked coyly.  
  
Jericho picked her up, causing her to squeal. He kissed her deeply as she wrapped her arms around his neck so she could hold onto him. He carried her into the bedroom and dumped her on the bed. Then he got on the bed himself and laid next to her, hovering over her.  
  
"Making up."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Really. Have to make up for lost time," he smirked.  
  
"Mmm, Chris.........." She started, getting cut off by Jericho's lips.  
  
"No talking," he whispered.  
  
"Chris.........."  
  
"Steph, no talking."  
  
"Chris, I'm serious."  
  
Jericho pulled away, "What?"  
  
"I've been thinking."  
  
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that. You don't want to keep us still a secret right, I mean, you didn't change your mind. Cause if you changed your mind, then I can't stay here with you, and I can't do it," he rambled.  
  
Stephanie smirked and listened to him ramble on and on about how if they had to keep themselves a secret then they had to break up. She stifled a laugh as he just kept talking and talking. She could tell he was being overly nervous about the situation, but she wanted to hear what he had to say.  
  
"..........so I mean I love you Stephanie, but if you can't love me back then I'm just going to have to leave. I mean, I want to be with you, but if you don't want to be with me, then this won't work. I know you're scared but, this is for the best Steph, I know it is."  
  
Stephanie leaned up and kissed him, "Chris, shut the hell up."  
  
"That was my catchphrase."  
  
"I know, but it was appropriate, you never let me finish my statement."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I wanted to say, I've been thinking that we should tell Daddy at Backlash."  
  
"Why did you let me ramble on like that then?"  
  
"Because it was cute."  
  
"So you want to tell your dad at Backlash?"  
  
"If he's there, yes."  
  
"If he's not."  
  
"Then the next show he's on, we'll tell him." 


	87. Another Chapter Down, April 24, 2003

Stephanie sat idly in her office chair. It was so boring without Edge or Kurt around. She had no one to have fun with, no one to talk to. It was kind of sad that she only considered two people her friends on her show. Maybe she needed to socialize more, get to know her roster a little bit better. Maybe she would start doing that now?

She decided to call Trish instead. She grabbed her phone and dialed Trish's home phone number. She had heard about Jeff's firing from her brother. Well, actually she had heard it was a mutual decision, whatever. She wanted to know how Trish was doing.

"Hello?"

"Trish?"

"Steph, is that you?"

"Yeah, hey."

"Hey, what's up?"

"I just wanted to call and talk. Things have been pretty crazy lately," Stephanie said.

"You can definitely say that," Trish answered.

"So........."

"Yeah."

"I, uh, heard about Jeff."

"Oh yeah, you too?"

"Yeah, did you have any inkling that this was going to happen?" Stephanie asked, not even thinking that this could happen.

"No, I really didn't. Although I didn't know, I hadn't talked to Jeff in a few days. He didn't show up to Raw."

"You hadn't talked to him?" Stephanie asked incredulously, "But I thought that you were going out with him."

"So did I. It was weird really, I don't know what's up with him."

"So are you still going out?"

"I tried calling him and he never answered."

"That's so strange."

"I know, I'm actually kind of worried about him," Trish said, a bit uneasily.

"I don't blame you. Did you want me to talk to Matt, see what's up?"

"Would you Steph, it'd mean a lot to me."

"Of course, I was actually just thinking that I need to talk more with my roster, seeing as how Kurt and Edge are both out."

"Good, I'm just wondering if he's ok. I guess this is it for the both of us though."

"Well, he seems kind of flaky."

Trish laughed, "Yeah, I got that vibe, trust me. Makes me miss Christian even more."

"Ahh, so you miss Christian?" Stephanie said knowingly.

"I guess. I don't know why I gave him up to be quite frank. I ran after something that I thought I wanted but really didn't."

"I heard from very credible sources that he took you to your hotel room on Monday night after you got beat up."

"Nothing happened."

"Sure."

"No, seriously, he just drove me to my hotel and helped me to my room, there was no hanky panky."

"Aww, that's too bad," Stephanie said laughing.

"But I heard some news of my own," Trish said intentionally.

"Oh, you did, did you?"

"Yes, a little birdie told me that you and Chris are back together."

Stephanie grinned, "For the most part, yeah we are. He's not ready to call me his girlfriend until I tell my father."

"And when is that going to be?"

"Sunday if he's there, and if he isn't, the next show he's on."

"Wow, I'm so happy for you guys, really, you two are great together, and it sucked for the rest of us when we found out you were broken up."

"Sucked for us too."

Trish laughed, "I guess I'll let you go talk to Matt. Let me know what he says."

"Will do, talk to you in a while."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone and set it down on the desk. Well, it looked like she was going to get to know some of her roster after all. She got up and smoothed out her skirt. She hadn't worn this skirt in a long time, but it was one of her personal favorites.

She left her office and went to look for Matt, or at least Shannon, since he would know where Matt was. She went to the gorilla to see if they were there. They weren't. She then headed to catering and didn't find them either. She guessed they were in the locker room. She headed in that direction and saw Matt sitting on one of the large trunks used to store stuff. She headed over to him.

"Matt, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course Stephanie, do you want to become a Mattitude follower?"

"Um..........no. I needed to ask you something serious."

"Well, ask away."

"Uh, did you know about Trish and Jeff?"

"Of course I did Stephanie, I can watch Raw you know."

"Yeah, good, well, um, Trish hasn't heard from Jeff in a while, and she was worried about him, especially after he severed ties with the company."

"Well, I haven't talked to him in a couple days, but he's ok."

"Ok, do you have any idea why he hasn't called Trish? I mean that's kind of rude to do to her."

"No, I'm sorry Stephanie, I don't know."

"Thanks anyways Matt."

"No problem."

"So, how are you?" Stephanie asked, in attempt to get to know him.

"I'm fine, I've got my belt, I've got my followers, I'm great."

"Good, good," Stephanie said, nodding, "Well, I've gotta go, nice talking to you."

"Goodbye Stephanie."

"Uh huh, bye."

Maybe this whole getting to know the roster thing wasn't such a good idea. In fact it was kind of awkward if she thought about it. She started to walk back to her locker room, intending to maybe call Jericho, or Kurt, or maybe even Edge. She just didn't want to get caught in the boredom trap.

"Steph!" someone called out.

She turned around, "Oh hey Charlie."

"Hey," he said, jogging over to her.

"How are you?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I'm good," he took a rose from behind his back, "And this is for you."

She smiled and took it, "Thanks, that's so sweet of you."

"I just wanted to apologize. I've been trying to call you at home, but you were never there. I left messages, but I don't know if you got them."

Stephanie bit her lip. Of course she hadn't gotten them. She didn't even live full-time in that house anymore. She lived with Jericho, and her house was only like a second home to her, and only used when she needed to. But still, she usually called in to check her messages, just in case someone important, like her father called, but she'd been so wrapped up in getting back together with Jericho, she hadn't checked in days.

"I'm sorry Charlie, I was spending time with a friend in Florida and I didn't get to check my messages."

"Oh, ok, I thought you were just trying to let me down easy by not calling me," he said, laughing.

"No, I really didn't get them."

"Well, what I wanted to say was I had such a great time last week, that I wanted to do it again, maybe this weekend after Backlash?"

"Um, well.........." Stephanie wanted to let him down easy, he was a nice guy after all. It was just she had a great guy already.

"Well, maybe this will help your decision."

Out of nowhere, Charlie put one of his strong hands on the small of her back, and pulled her to him. Before she could utter a word, his lips were on hers. So disoriented, Stephanie didn't resist. He pulled away and her eyes were wide.

"Wow," she muttered.

"Thanks," he said, smirking.

"Um, you know, you really shouldn't have done that," she said, getting her bearings back.

"Why not?"

"You'll find out soon enough, but Charlie I don't think--"

Charlie put a finger to her lips, "Think about that date, get to me before Sunday after the show. I'll keep the night open if you say yes. I gotta go though, Shelt's match is coming up next."

"Um...........ok."

He walked away and Stephanie shook her head. As if the whole thing with Edge wasn't bad enough way back when, she had this new guy going after her. And Jericho would be none to happy to find out that he had kissed her. Well, maybe she'd keep this her little secret. Jericho didn't need to know everything right? Especially stuff that might hurt him.

She walked back to her office, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She sat behind her desk, thinking about what to do. Should she tell Jericho? But if she told him, she'd have to say how she hadn't resisted. But that wasn't really her fault, she was in such a state of shock she couldn't have helped it, or could she?

One of her production assistants came in and told her that her father had called and said for her to do a short promo on the coming of Mr. America, who was going to be showing up next week. She was glad to get her mind off of Jericho for a second. She didn't know who this Mr. America was, but well, she knew enough to do this promo. Now how to get the crowd's attention?

She decided to play up to the crowd a little. They loved seeing some skin from the divas, and she was a diva so why not? She only had to do it for a few seconds anyways. She laughed as she thought of what Jericho would think. Finally, after much deliberation on her part, it was time to cut her promo. She giggled to herself as she readied herself for her promo.

She bent over on her desk, practically having her ass hanging out for all of America to see. She turned around smirking. As soon as the camera was off, Stephanie's cell phone rang. She went over to pick it up, "Hello?"

"Next time you have your ass hanging out, warn someone."

"Hey Shane."

"That's the last thing I need to see when I watch wrestling."

"Ha ha, shut up, I had to get their attention somehow."

"You know, you're lucky Chris loves you."

"Why?"

"Because he would SO make fun of you if he had seen that and been on your show, if he hated you."

She laughed, "Oh, I know, trust me. But I have to go, I have to call Trish, then get out of here."

"Ok, bye baby girl, just please don't have your ass hanging out like that again."

"Fine, fine," she said, hanging up, then dialing Trish's number, "Trish?"

"Steph, what did he say?"

"Well, he said as far as he knows Jeff's ok, but that he didn't mention you at all."

"That bastard," Trish cursed, "Well, thanks anyways Steph, I'll talk to you later."

"Hopefully I'll be at Raw on Monday."

"That'll be a sight."

"I know, I just want to see Bischoff and Hunter's faces."

"Oh my God!" Trish said, cracking up, "That'll be priceless, promise that you come get me before you do."

"Promise, talk to you later."

"Bye Steph."

"Bye Trish."

After Stephanie was done with the phone call, she decided to call it a night. The show was practically over and she didn't have any work to complete for once, might as well head back to the hotel. She left the office only to run into Charlie Haas again.

"Stephanie, I was wondering if you wanted me to walk you to your car?"

"Sure," Stephanie said shrugging. Walking couldn't hurt.

He took her things again as they walked to the limo that Stephanie had used for the night. She was meeting Jericho at a local jazz club that he frequented while in the city. She had never been there, but Jericho said it was a fun, cool place. They reached the limo and Stephanie took back her things.

"Night Charlie," Stephanie said.

"Night, actually I was wondering if you wanted to go catch a bite?"

"No thanks, I was actually just heading back to my hotel to get an early night's sleep."

"Oh, ok. See you Sunday then?"

"Sure, bye," she said, getting in the limo quickly, lest he try to kiss her again.

She leaned back against the comfortable seating in the limo and told the driver where it was she wanted to go. She sat quietly, watching the southern scenery pass by. It was an ok night, a bit cloudy, but nice. They arrived at the club and she got out. She walked inside and looked around the dim lit club. She saw Jericho sitting in a far off table and walked over to him, sitting down across from him.

"Hey sweetie," she said.

"You know, I turn on the television, just wanting to catch my girlfriend and what do I see, her ass right in front of the television," Jericho smirked.

"Come on, you know you liked it."

"Oh, of course I do, I just don't know if I like millions of guys liking it too," he winked.

"Get over it."

"Gotta admit I love the skirt."

"Why is that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmm, maybe cause I've seen that skirt before."

"Oh, you have?"

"Yeah, I do recall there being a matching top though."

"Yes, because I happened to buy this outfit to match a certain pair of sparkly pajamas that you own."

"Ah, you got it," he laughed, "Wanna dance?"

"I'd love to."

He got up and extended his hand to Stephanie. She took it, smiling at him, and stood up as well. He led her slowly to the dance floor and twirled her around before pulling her tight against his body. They danced slowly to the song being played by the jazz quartet on the small stage.

"Now I know why you like it here," she whispered.

"Yeah. So how was your night?"

Stephanie thought back to Charlie kissing her. It was due or die time, should she fess up, or keep this to herself? Which would be easier to do? Lie, kept running through her mind, but she hated lying to Jericho. Maybe she could bend the truth.

"It was fine."

"Just fine?"

"Yeah," she paused, "Chris, what would you do if another guy kissed me?"

"Hmm.........why do you ask?"

"In case it ever happens."

"Well, it would depend on if you kissed him back or not."

"Well, what if I didn't put up a fight, but only because I was shocked by the kiss."

"Well, that was kind of like our kisses. I guess I'd be pretty upset. I don't want you kissing other guys."

"Oh."

"You aren't kissing other guys right?" he asked, pulling away from her a little to look in her eyes.

"No, of course not, I just wanted to know your opinion on the subject."

"I'd probably go ballistic and take this guy out."

"Oh," she cringed.

"Yeah, but I don't have to worry about that right?"

Stephanie really didn't want to lie, but the alternative seemed so bad. Well, she'd keep it a secret for now, then ease him into the news. It would be better for all sides that way. And besides, she and Jericho were so close to real happiness, she didn't want to spoil it with this news.

"No, never."


	88. Just When It Looked Safe, Backlash, Apri...

"We get to tell, we get to tell."  
  
"Sweetie, don't get your hopes up too much ok."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because we don't know if Daddy will be there."  
  
"Well, why don't we hope for the best then?" he said.  
  
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, "I'm hoping."  
  
He leaned down to kiss her, "Me too."  
  
"And you, you are going to blow away your competition, and I'll be rooting you on the whole way," she said, grinning.  
  
"But baby, you do know who I'm partnering with don't you?"  
  
"Yes, but if it means I have to cheer my stupid ex-husband for you to win, then so be it."  
  
Jericho laughed as he looked down at her. Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him before pulling out of his arms. He didn't think that he had ever been happier, he and Stephanie were going to tell, if not tonight, then very, very soon, and it was going to be so good, he already could feel it.  
  
"So, shouldn't we be going?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, we should."  
  
He grabbed her hand, "Let's get out of here then."  
  
"I can't believe we're actually going to drive there together."  
  
"Well, it's the first step right?"  
  
"Yeah, but what if someone sees us?"  
  
"Then we say we're friends, it's not that hard to do."  
  
"Ok, I'm just a little bit nervous."  
  
Jericho rubbed his thumb over her cheek tenderly, "Now why would you be nervous?"  
  
"I don't know, I just am."  
  
"Don't be, nothing is going to go wrong. You yourself said that your dad liked me."  
  
"Yeah, but when he finds out that we've been seeing each other for the past nine months I don't know what he'll think," Stephanie said, her brow knitted in apprehension.  
  
"He'll be happy for you."  
  
"You don't know that."  
  
"Well, at worst what can he do?"  
  
"He can kill you."  
  
Jericho laughed, "Stephy, baby, I don't think he'll kill me."  
  
"He could."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"For being with me."  
  
"He didn't kill Trips."  
  
"Yeah, but he wanted to."  
  
"Ok, but it'll be ok, I promise, no matter how it goes down, I'm sticking around for the long haul. I didn't hide this relationship for nine months to have it go down the shitter in one night."  
  
"We did break up though."  
  
"Yeah, we did. And how long could we stay away from each other.........not even a week as I recall."  
  
"Touché," she said, giving him a playful smirk.  
  
"Come on, enough of this nervous talk, we have a show to get to."  
  
"Ok Mr. Bossy, let's go."  
  
They walked hand in hand down to the lobby, not knowing, nor caring if anyone they knew saw them. This was their new start, and they were going to take it to its full advantage. Plus they knew that everyone was probably already at the arena.  
  
As they were driving to the arena, Jericho took his free hand and grabbed Stephanie's left hand. She turned her head and smiled at him. He grinned and took her hand up to his lips and gave her palm a soft kiss. Stephanie's smile grew wider and she turned to look at the passing scenery.  
  
Soon they were at the arena, and Jericho drove into the parking lot, parking the car in the very back. He and Stephanie got out and got their things. Jericho handed Stephanie her bag and she kissed his cheek.  
  
"I'll see you in a while?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'll come see you before my match."  
  
"Ok, til then," she answered, leaning up to kiss him deeply.  
  
"What the hell is going on here?" a voice said.  
  
Jericho and Stephanie broke apart quickly. Had they been caught already? They both turned guiltily into the face of Christian. They gave a sigh of relief, realizing it was their friend and not someone else.  
  
"Don't do that man!" Jericho said, shaking his head.  
  
"Sorry, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up, but don't you think it's a little risky kissing in public where you can easily get caught?"  
  
"Yeah, but we're telling Daddy tonight," Stephanie said.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Christian winked, "Then by all means, carry on."  
  
"What are you doing here though, you don't have a match," Jericho said.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm here for moral support."  
  
"For me?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Yeah man, for you," Christian said sardonically, "I'm here for Trish."  
  
"Oooooh, for Trish," Stephanie teased.  
  
"Shut up," Christian said, blushing slightly.  
  
"I could've sworn the two of you were broken up?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I could've sworn the two of you were broken up," Christian countered.  
  
"Well, you got us there," Jericho said, "So really, what's going on with you two."  
  
"Nothing, we're just friends."  
  
"Yes, but I talked to Trish on Thursday and she told me that she hadn't talked to Jeff in days, but you were the one there for her when she had gotten beat up."  
  
"Well yeah, that good-for-nothing didn't even have the decency to call her or anything," Christian said, obviously angry.  
  
"Well, I hate to break this up, but I have to go," Stephanie said.  
  
"Ok, bye baby," Jericho said, kissing her, "See you later."  
  
"Yeah, later, bye Christian."  
  
"Bye Steph."  
  
Stephanie walked away from the two of them and walked into the arena. She looked around, scanning the immediate area. She spotted a production assistant and walked up to them, asking where her office was. Once getting directed there, she walked briskly to her office.  
  
Once inside, she threw her purse on the table and went over to sit on her desk. Checking her expensive watch she saw that the show was just about to start. Grabbing the remote for the television and propping her legs on the table, she turned on the television to watch the show.  
  
The Team Angle and Guerreros match was the first one up and she watched it carefully, seeing as how these two teams were on her roster. She crossed her arms and watched, thinking about Kurt, she missed him, it wasn't the same on the her roster without him, it was so lonely to not have your best friend on the road with you.  
  
The match ended and she was glad with the outcome, she felt like Team Angle was well on its way to becoming major players. She watched as the O'Haire and Rikishi match started. It seemed like all her roster's matches were first. Well, that was for the best she supposed, that way she could have all her focus on Jericho's match, and it took her mind off of the nervousness about telling her father.  
  
"Knock, knock," Jericho's voice came from the door.  
  
"Hey sweetie."  
  
"Came to visit my beautiful girlfriend."  
  
She smiled, "That's nice."  
  
"That's me, Mr. Nice Guy."  
  
"I think that the audience might disagree with you."  
  
"Fuck the audience," he joked.  
  
"Eww, no thanks."  
  
"Oh come on Stephy, you've already done half the locker room, you should be able to do half the audience before the night is over."  
  
Stephanie's jaw dropped and she looked at him in disbelief, "I can't believe you just said that!"  
  
"What?" Jericho said, looking positively angelic.  
  
"You just said I was a slut!"  
  
"Oops, memory lapse I suppose."  
  
"You stupid little.........."  
  
Stephanie got up and lunged for Jericho who fell onto the couch laughing. She straddled his lap and pinned his hands above his head. He looked up at her, that innocent look still plastered on his face.  
  
"How does it feel to be pinned by a girl?" Stephanie said.  
  
"Like any other night in our bedroom," he said.  
  
"Oh," she said, frustrated, "I hate you so much!"  
  
She started slapping him lightly on the chest and he was trying to dodge her blows. They were both laughing as Stephanie hit him then fell off of him and onto the floor. She started cracking up as Jericho looked at her from the couch.  
  
"Always knew you liked being on floor on your back."  
  
"Why are you being so mean to me tonight?" she said, mock pouting.  
  
"I'm practicing in case I have to hate you again," he said, leaning his head on the palm of his hand.  
  
"You're just a big bully, you know that?"  
  
"Got your mind off your dad didn't I?"  
  
"You're too much Chris Jericho."  
  
"I might just be, but you manage to keep me in check."  
  
"It's not an easy job, but somebody has to do it."  
  
"Yeah, but now I've got to go talk to my partners in crime for the evening."  
  
Stephanie bit her lip, "I really wish you weren't partnering with him."  
  
"I really wish I wasn't either, but that's the way the cookie crumbles."  
  
Stephanie crawled over to the couch and sat against it, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. Chris sighed and knew this was hard for her. Hunter was such a sore subject for her. She had told him about their personal lives, when the cameras weren't on them, and needless to say, it had broken his heart.  
  
He scooted over on the couch and wrapped his arm around her from behind. He kissed her temple and leaned his head on the couch next to her. She took comfort from his embrace and closed her eyes.  
  
"It'll be ok baby, I'll just do the match and hopefully after that I won't have to work with him again."  
  
"I know it'll be ok, you better go though."  
  
"Yeah, gotta come up with a plan of attack."  
  
"Good luck," she said, leaning her head back to look at him.  
  
"Thanks," he said, kissing her cheek.  
  
He got up and fixed his t-shirt. Giving her a small wave goodbye he left the room, not bothering to check to see if anyone was coming. He went down the hallway and to Hunter and Flair's locker room. He knocked on the door and waited for one of them to answer.  
  
"It's about time you showed up," Hunter said, letting him inside.  
  
"Sorry," Jericho said, not really being sorry, "I had things I had to do."  
  
"Or is that someone you had to do?" Hunter joked.  
  
"Ha ha, you're so funny Trips, are we going to discuss this match or what?" Jericho said, sitting himself down on the sofa.  
  
"Ric, get out here, we're going to discuss the match," Hunter called out.  
  
Ric emerged from the bathroom, "Are you ready for our match boys?"  
  
"Sure," Jericho said.  
  
"Here's how it's going to go down," Hunter told the other two.  
  
"Who said you get to decide what's going to happen?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Well, I am the captain."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who named you captain?"  
  
"I did."  
  
"And why exactly?"  
  
"Ok, I think we're going at this the wrong way," Hunter said.  
  
"Yeah," Jericho said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Just give me Nash," Hunter told them.  
  
"Fine with me," Jericho said.  
  
"Me too," Flair nodded.  
  
"I want to get my hands on Michaels though," Jericho said to them.  
  
"Then I guess I get Booker," Flair said, laughing.  
  
"I guess so," Jericho said, "Now was that so hard?"  
  
Hunter shook his head, "Come on, I got us an interview with Lilian before the match."  
  
"Why?" Jericho asked.  
  
"To assert our greatness, why else," Hunter told him.  
  
"Ok, fine, you don't have to get snippy with me."  
  
"Whatever, let's go."  
  
Meanwhile, Stephanie was sitting watching the show. She saw the screen show her boyfriend and ex-husband talking about how they were going to dominate against their opponents. She smiled as she heard Jericho talk, she was so proud of him, going out there and kicking ass. The interview ended and the WWE title match came on.  
  
She watched the Brock and Cena match with keen interest. This was her roster's championship after all. The crowd seemed to be behind both men which surprised Stephanie somewhat. She thought they'd be all for Brock, but it seemed they weren't. Interesting, she might have to keep that in mind in the future.  
  
After that match was over, Jericho's match came on. She cheered him on as best she could, trying not to cheer for her scummy ex-husband. The last thing she wanted was to cheer for him. But it was hard not to, seeing as how him and Jericho were on the same team.  
  
She winced when Nash was beating on him. Nash was such a huge guy and he was using that size to his advantage, but it was to her dismay. Luckily Jericho was able to get the upper-hand a couple times during this match. He was working the hardest, that was for sure. She smiled as he was getting the advantage on Michaels, a little WrestleMania revenge perhaps.  
  
The match ended quickly as Hunter brought out his trusty sledgehammer. She had seen that things too many times to count. A long time ago, she had delighted in seeing people beaten with it. Had delighted in seeing Jericho bleed from blows by it. She had changed so much in the past year or so, it was astonishing. Hunter hit Nash with it, and soon the match was over. She smiled gratefully that Jericho's team had won, but didn't like just who won it. It should've been Jericho, in her opinion.  
  
Stephanie decided to go in search of Jericho and see if he was ok. She also wanted to see if her father was indeed there. She hadn't heard from anyone if he was there or not, of course, she hadn't really talked to anyone yet. She got up and left her office. She was walking down the hallway when she passed the Team Angle locker room and Charlie just happened to be walking out.  
  
"Stephanie, just the lady I wanted to see," he said, smiling at her.  
  
"Charlie, how are you?"  
  
"I'm great, we won our match, everything's good."  
  
"Yeah, I saw, congratulations."  
  
"So, I wanted to ask you if you had made up your mind."  
  
"Made up my mind for what?" Stephanie asked, confused by his question.  
  
He laughed, "Don't tell me you forgot already, I wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me after the show, catch a bite, maybe hit a club again."  
  
"Oh yeah," Stephanie said.  
  
Truth be told, she had completely forgotten about what Charlie had asked her. She'd been so preoccupied with telling her dad about her and Jericho that she hadn't even thought to call Charlie and let him down easy. Oh well, like they said, there was no time like the present.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Charlie, I'd really like to, but I can't," she said.  
  
"Oh come on Steph, we had fun. I really, really like you and I think we could have something here," he said, sincerely.  
  
"Charlie, I appreciate it, but I have to say no."  
  
What Stephanie didn't realize was that during this conversation, Charlie had been moving closer and closer to her and she had unconsciously moved away from him. She suddenly felt her back hit the wall behind her, and she looked at him wide-eyed.  
  
"Charlie, can you please give me some space?"  
  
"Sorry Steph," he said, backing away a fraction of an inch, "I just really like you and wanted to go out with you again."  
  
"Charlie--"  
  
Stephanie was cut off by Charlie's lips as he kissed her deeply, too deeply for Stephanie's liking. She stood in shock, until his tongue swirled along her lips. Stephanie tried to push him off of her, but as was the case in this business, Charlie was a strong guy and very unyielding. Stephanie tried with all her might, but could only stand there and wait for him to stop kissing her so she could slap the taste out of his mouth, and the blond out of his hair.  
  
Jericho congratulated his partners on a job well done before going off to find Stephanie. He had asked someone earlier and found out that Vince wasn't at the arena tonight, and he figured he and Stephanie could just go back to the hotel and plan their strategy for telling him a little bit more. He didn't want Stephanie to know, but he was more nervous than he let on, but kept his composure for Stephanie's sake. They didn't need two nervous fools. But he was just kind of scared that Vince wouldn't accept him. Oh well, he had Stephanie, Shane, AND Linda on his side, so they'd be sure to persuade him.  
  
Jericho turned the corner and saw two people making out at the other end. He laughed to himself. Some people just couldn't keep their hands off of each other. He and Stephanie could be like that sometimes. He kept walking, intending to walk past and to Stephanie's office. It hit him like a ton of bricks when he realized the woman in that lip-lock was his girlfriend. He dropped the towel that he had been holding on the ground and stared at them, not moving. Finally, he had had too much of this and turned right around and went to his locker room.  
  
Charlie finally ended his assault of Stephanie's mouth and pulled away. Stephanie gasped for air and stared at him in disgust. He smiled at her, and Stephanie was appalled that he would have the audacity to do that to her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at him.  
  
"So about tonight?"  
  
"How fucking dare you do that to me?" she hissed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You have no right to kiss me without my consent."  
  
"Come on Steph, you didn't seem to mind before."  
  
"You just don't get it do you?" she said angrily, "I don't want to go out with you EVER!"  
  
She stomped away unhappily and went back to her locker room. She was shaking she was so angry. She sat down on the couch to try and calm herself down. That was a nightmare. Luckily she had Jericho to go to. He'd make her feel better. Someone knocked on her door and she looked at it, contemplating whether or not to answer.  
  
"Come in," she called out timidly.  
  
Jericho opened the door and stared down at her. Stephanie was so relieved to see him and let out a breath she didn't know that she had been holding. She was the only person she wanted to see right now.  
  
"Chris!"  
  
"You might want to find your own ride home."  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked perplexed, "Do you have to go somewhere?"  
  
"I'm going to a different hotel."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's over between us Stephanie, and this time I mean for good."  
  
Stephanie stood up, "Chris, what are you talking about? I told you we'd tell my dad. Is he not here? We'll just tell him next time he comes to a show. Or maybe even go to a family dinner, I don't think that's the best idea though, you know not being neutral ground and everything."  
  
"Just shut up Stephanie," Jericho snapped, "This has nothing to do with your father."  
  
Stephanie was scared by the tone of his voice, "What's wrong Chris?"  
  
"I saw you kissing your little boy toy Haas a little while ago," he shook his head, "Seems you've been playing me this whole time."  
  
Stephanie's eyes widened. He had seen the kiss, this was not good, this was not good at all. But by his reaction, he obviously hadn't seen her push him off and yell at him. She started to walk over to him.  
  
"Chris you've got it--"  
  
"Shut it Stephanie. I can't believe I let you manipulate me like this. You took my love and you used me. You knew that I had it bad for you and you played me like a fiddle. And I went along because damn it, I love you. And then I see you kissing some other guy. God, how stupid could I have been? You moved on just fine Princess," he said, spitting out the last word, "And you know what, I hope you and your little Olympic lackey are happy together, cause I'm so gone. And I want your shit out of my house as soon as possible. Good riddance Stephanie, don't ever fucking talk to me again."  
  
Jericho stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Stephanie stood looking at it for the longest time. She had to get him to understand, she had to get him to come back. She ran out of the office and down the hall, catching up with him just as he was about to walk outside.  
  
"Chris, no!"  
  
"Get off me Stephanie," he said dangerously.  
  
"No, it's not like that."  
  
He turned to her, "If you don't let me go right now, I will make your life a living hell."  
  
She let go of his arm, "At least let me explain."  
  
"Explain all you want Princess, but I'm not going to be here to listen to it."  
  
He walked out the door and this time Stephanie didn't go after him. He needed time to cool down, he was being unreasonable right now. She'd give him overnight to calm down and tomorrow she'd explain and he'd listen because he loved her. And everything would be ok by tomorrow.  
  
Or so she hoped. 


	89. Chris, the Talk Show Host, April 28, 200...

Jericho scowled as he walked into the arena for the night. Needless to say he was pissed off. No, that wasn't right, he was beyond pissed off, he was practically fuming. He walked with his head held high, he wasn't going to let his women troubles get to him. This time he wasn't going to waver, he wasn't going to take her back, this was it, he had had enough.

Before he got to his locker room, Bischoff came sauntering down the hallway. He signaled for Jericho and he stopped. He wondered what Bischoff could possibly want with him. He wasn't in the mood to talk to the man who had caused him to hide his relationship and started this whole mess.

"Jericho, just the man I want to see," Bischoff said, smiling in a creepy way.

"Yeah, I'm here, what do you want?" Jericho said impatiently.

"How would you like your very own segment?"

"What do you mean?" Jericho asked, not quite getting where Bischoff was going with this.

"I mean, your own talk show, like the Piper's Pit of Raw."

"I'm not an old man."

"Yes, but you're one of the most charismatic guys we have, and we want to tap into that," Bischoff said with false sincerity.

"Sure, that sounds fine."

"Good, good, I think you'll be great having your own little talk show."

"Whatever. What are you going to call it?"

"Jericho's Hi-Lite Reel," Bischoff said, pronouncing every word with gusto.

"Interesting, do I get my own set-up in the ring."

"Of course, we treat our guys right."

"And who am I going to interview?"

"Tonight, none other than the WWE's newest signing.........Goldberg."

"Great, just great," Jericho mumbled, "And when is this happening?"

"You're up first so go get ready," Bischoff said, patting him on the back, "And don't worry, you'll be great."

Bischoff walked away and Jericho proceeded to his locker room to get ready for this interviewing gig thing he was doing. Who the hell had come up with this idea? Oh well, it's not like her really cared, and it would probably get his mind off that woman that he didn't want to think about.

And that was just what he needed after last night. He hadn't gone out, had gotten drunk, hadn't indulged in the ladies, he had just laid on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what he had done wrong? Where his relationship with Stephanie had gone wrong? Or maybe their entire relationship had been doomed to disaster from the start.

And when he finally did fall asleep, he was plagued with dreams of the two of them, Stephanie and Charlie, engaged in a passionate kiss. And the dreams didn't stop there, he dreamed he saw them being happy together, getting married, having kids, and he kept trying to stop her, kept trying to tell her that he was the one for her, but she never even heard him. He had woken up, sweat pouring down his forehead, dreading closing his eyes and seeing them again.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts of the two of them. He needed to take his mind off them and there was no better way to do that then to go out to the ring and perform, whether it be in a match, or in his case, an interview program. Even if the people booed him, he was still getting a response from them and that sent his adrenaline, and his only focus would be on his performance, not brunette women.

He changed into an appropriate outfit and pulled his hair back. He walked out of his locker room, down the hallway and out onto the ramp. Everything was set up, just like they said it would be. Actually, this was pretty cool, when he really thought about it. He walked down the ramp and into the ring, preparing to speak.

Jericho told a bogus back story about coming up with his own show, despite the fact that he hadn't thought this up. But the fans didn't know that. He thought he weaved a pretty good tale, and introduced the introductory version of the Highlight Reel.

Jericho watched as they did a little production thing. He thought he had done a pretty good job of lying about the show's origin. Bischoff had mentioned Piper's Pit to him and he figured he could use that and say it was his idea, what the audience didn't know, didn't matter.

Jericho sighed as he watched Goldberg come out and walk down the ramp. Friends, that was the biggest lie. Jericho had never even gotten to face Goldberg, he was apparently not good enough to face him. Oh how times had changed. Jericho pretty much called Goldberg out, and let out all the feelings that he had kept bottled up for this man, this man who said he wasn't good enough.

Jericho stood back and watched as Christian and Goldberg verbally duked it out verbally. He didn't really feel the need to intervene, either that or he just wasn't in the mood. He did interject his views in there a little, but other than that, stayed out of this little tiff. When he saw all the people come out with Christian, he knew they were in for trouble, so he high-tailed it out of there, no need for him to be involved in this, he just wanted to do his interview segment. He knew he was done for the night, but dreaded going back to an empty hotel room, so he decided to just hang around and watch the show.

Christian backed his way up the ramp, he didn't want to get three spears in three weeks, he was still recovering from the last two. He walked into the back and into the locker room he was sharing with Trish. She wasn't there and he wondered vaguely where she had wandered off to. Deciding he'd find her later, he went into his bag and grabbed his ring attire for a match he was to have later on. Changing quickly he sat down and started lacing up his boots, every once in a while. He saw Rodney Mack and his White Boy Challenge, then after beating whoever the guy was, he saw Jazz come out.

Then they showed Trish and Christian smiled as he saw her. She was looking really beautiful tonight, except for the scowl she was wearing on her face as she looked at Jazz. She had her thinking face on and Christian wondered what she was up to.

He didn't have to wait long as he saw Trish go into Bischoff's office demanding a rematch. Bischoff agreed to the rematch if she won against him tonight. Something seemed off about this, Christian thought to himself. He found out moments later when the other stipulation was brought in. Christian's eyes widened at what Bischoff wanted to do. They widened even more when he heard Trish agree? Was she crazy or something?

Christian sat there thinking about later on and what could happen to Trish. The woman in question came in and sat down next to the still shocked Christian. She leaned her head on his shoulder, catching his attention.

"Hey Christian," she said.

"Trish, what do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean!?! Agreeing to that match!"

"Oh Chrissy, it'll be fine, I'll beat him," she said confidently.

"Trish, I know you're tough, but I don't know if you can beat him in the mind games he'll play and the cunning he possesses."

She kissed his cheek, "Don't worry, I will be fine."

Later on, Christian walked backstage after his match and into his locker room. Trish was already gone for her match and he decided to take a very quick shower and get dressed in case she needed any help later on. He got in the shower and went as quickly as possible. He got out and walked into the locker room to see where the match was at.

Unfortunately, his shower had proven to be too long and Trish was already laying on the ground, being pinned by Bischoff. He couldn't believe it, he went over and grabbed the first clean clothes he came across, putting them on hastily, his eyes still pinned to the television screen. Suddenly, much to his relief, they showed Linda McMahon herself getting out of a limo. His first thought was that she was here to see Jericho, but that didn't seem right. He was actually perplexed as to the reason she would be here.

Luckily though, Trish wasn't getting harassed and was getting taken backstage. He ran out of the room and over to where Trish was getting checked over. He stood next to her, letting him support her.

"Don't say it," she mumbled.

"Don't say what?"

"I told you so."

"Come on Trish, let's get your things and I'll take you back to the hotel, you need to rest."

"Will you stay with me?" she asked, looking up at him.

"If you want me to, sure."

"Good."

They walked slowly to get their things before heading off to the hotel.

Meanwhile, Jericho was on the edge of his seat, why would Linda be here? He hoped this had nothing to do with him. He had a feeling it didn't, but it didn't bode well that she was here, not for him at least. Maybe this was a sign or something. He watched as she came down the ramp and started talking about the board and management and he pretty much knew he was in the clear.

A timid knock came from his door, "Come in."

The door opened slowly and Jericho turned to see who it was, expecting Christian, or even Trish, but it wasn't either of them. It was in fact, the woman he had been trying to forget in the past twenty-four hours. Jericho scowled and looked at her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

She came in and closed the door behind her softly, "I was hoping we could talk."

"I thought I made it very clear last night that we had nothing to talk about."

"But Chris, we do have things to talk about," she told him, starting to walk over.

"Don't come near me Stephanie, I don't want you near me ever again."

"Chris, you're being irrational here--"

"Irrational!?! You call me being angry after I see you kissing another guy irrational?!? Oh, that's rich Stephanie, that's really rich," he said, shaking his head.

"But you didn't even let me tell you what happened."

"I don't care what happened Stephanie. I saw what I saw, I saw you kissing another guy."

"I was, but it wasn't--"

"So you admit you were kissing him?"

"It wasn't mutual."

"Sure as hell looked it to me."

"But--"

"Stephanie, I don't want to hear your excuses. They're all irrelevant anyways. Because we're broken up, for good," he said definitively.

"Chris, we can't break up!"

"We did Stephanie, get over it ok."

"Are you over it?"

"Well, when you find your girlfriend in a lip-lock with another guy you get over things really quickly let me tell you."

"Chris, please don't be like this," she pleaded.

"Be like what? Justifiably angry, pissed off that I ever loved you? Stephanie, we're through, this time it'll last, and we're over. I want your stuff out of my house."

Stephanie's eyes watered and her lip quivered, "Chris, I'm begging you, please just hear me out!"

"No, Stephanie," he said gently, "Not gonna happen. I hope you and Charlie are happy together. Maybe he can be that one special guy for you. Lord knows you've spent years trying to find him."

Jericho got up and got his things quickly, not wanting to hear Stephanie's response. He was surprised and also proud of how he had managed to keep his composure during that whole conversation. Not once looking at her, he walked out of the room and left to go back to his hotel room.

Stephanie sat there, willing herself not to cry. She had come here with her mother, hoping to get to Jericho so she could explain. But he wouldn't even let her get a word in edgewise. Couldn't he just listen? Why did he have to be so damn stubborn all the time?

She left the room and made her way back to the limo she and her mother had arrived in. Climbing in, she went and sat at the far end, waiting for her mother to be through with her announcement so she could go back to the hotel room and bawl her eyes out in the comfort of her own room.

Linda got into the limo and immediately saw Stephanie on the verge of tears, "Stephanie?"

"He wouldn't listen," she told her, "He wouldn't even let me talk to him."

Linda motioned for Stephanie to come over to her side of the limo and Stephanie silently came over. Telling the driver to go back to the hotel, Linda took Stephanie in her arms and let her daughter cry on her shoulder.

"Shh my baby, don't cry," Linda said.

"Why wouldn't he listen Mommy?" Stephanie said, feeling like a lost little girl.

"Men are stubborn, you keep having to prod them and prod them for them to listen."

"But he was so angry."

"He'll cool down darling, and then he'll realize how much he misses you and he'll come begging for your forgiveness."

"You think so?" Stephanie sniffled.

"Of course, your father came crawling back to me didn't he?"

"Yeah, I just..........I love him so much, and he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. Stephanie, I saw the way he looked at you, the man could never hate you."

"He did before."

"Yes, before he got to know you, but once he found out the Stephanie McMahon that I know and that your friends know, he was a goner."

"I miss him Mommy," Stephanie said, her eyes overflowing with tears.

"I know you do baby, I know. Do you want me to talk to him?"

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Of course you can. I'm your mother, and you love this boy and if he's breaking my little girl's heart I might just have to have a talk with him."

"I guess so."

"Good, I'll get this all straightened out."

"I hope so."

They got back to the hotel and Stephanie tried to compose herself before she got out of the limo. Managing to do so, she and her mother alighted from the vehicle. Walking into the hotel, Linda went straight up to the desk clerk and asked what room Chris Jericho was staying in. Knowing that she was the boss, the desk clerk gave her the information. Linda walked over to where Stephanie was sitting.

"I got his room number, now do you want me to still go?"

"If you want."

"Do you want to come?"

"No, he'll just yell at me again."

"Ok, you go up to the room and I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you Mommy," Stephanie said, hugging her mother.

"What are mothers for after all?"

Jericho was once again laid on the bed looking up at the ceiling. Maybe he should've listened to what Stephanie had to say? No, his mind screamed, don't let her under your skin again. He kept telling himself that it was better to get away from her now, then after they were married or had children or something, he didn't want to end up in Triple H's situation.

A knock came on his door, but he didn't want to answer it for fear that it was Stephanie. He might not be able to stand looking at her without taking her back. He couldn't take her back, not after what he had seen last night. There was no way.

"Chris, it's Linda!"

Jericho sat up, it was Linda? But what was she doing here? Hadn't she said her piece at Raw tonight? He got off the bed and went to the door and opened it, smiling at his ex-girlfriend's mother.

"Mrs. McMahon, what can I do for you?"

"You can tell me why you're being horrible to my daughter?" Linda said, raising an eyebrow and reminding Jericho of Stephanie.

"To be quite honest Linda, she deserved it."

"Deserved it? Please enlighten me Chris."

"She kissed someone else, she kissed another guy. I was with her, stuck by her side, did her bidding for nine months and she goes off and kisses another guy. How am I supposed to feel after that?"

"But Chris, you never even gave her a chance to explain."

"Linda, I don't want explanations anymore. I made the decision last night that we were over, and we are. There's no compromising on this one."

"Answer me this, do you love my daughter?"

"As sad as it is, I love her with all my heart," Jericho said, sitting down on the sofa, "I love her like you wouldn't believe, but it's over, it's too hard being with her Linda, I don't know, I'm just not happy."

"It seemed to me you were."

"Fine, I was happy, but I feel betrayed, I feel like a pawn in her twisted games."

"You're anything but a pawn Chris."

"But that's what I felt like."

"Stephanie loves you Chris, whether you choose to believe or not. She's been happier with you than I've ever seen before. You make her happy Chris, please don't take that away from her."

"Give me some time to think about all of this," Jericho said, giving in slightly.

"Think about it Chris, think about what you'd be giving up."

"I will."

"Don't give up on happiness Chris, and don't give up on Stephanie. She's had too many people do that to her in her short life. She doesn't need to add you to the list."


	90. Hmm, Where to take this Fic? May 1, 2003

Stephanie took a deep breath as she walked superiorly down the hallways. She wasn't going to let anyone know anything was wrong with her. She wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of knowing she was hurting. If anyone could pull this off it was her, she was the Queen of hiding her feelings.

All she had to do was make it through the night. If she could make it through the night she'd be fine. She'd be able to go back to her hotel room and cry. Seemed like all she did was cry, cry after she and Jericho broke up the first time, cry after she and Jericho had broken up the second time. She didn't want one of those on and off relationships, but it seems she had one. Or maybe she didn't have anything with Jericho anymore.

She walked into her office and tried to be upbeat. Her mother had told her that Jericho had said he'd think about seeing her and hearing her side of the story. She was really about two seconds away from killing Charlie Haas for what he had done to her. He had royally screwed up. Of course, it was partly her fault. Looking back, she knew she should've told Jericho about when Charlie had first kissed her. Then maybe he would've understood that she had neither instigated nor wanted the kiss at Backlash. Man, hindsight was a bitch.

She sat down and remembered that tonight was the night that Mr. America was debuting. She hadn't ever met the man, but getting a win over Bischoff was good enough. Yes, despite everything, she was still trying to one up that man. She just didn't have her number 1 spy by her side.

She checked over her work, and checked on how Rey Mysterio was. That shot he had take at Backlash had been brutal, and she was worried about him and his condition. It was never cool when one of her roster got injured.

She looked at her watch and saw that the show had started. Maybe she should go see this Mr. America before he debuted, she didn't even know what he looked like. The least she could do was introduce herself to him. She got up and smoothed out her skirt.

She left her office and walked down the hallway towards the locker room that was designated for her newest signing. She hoped this guy turned out to be worth it. She didn't want to be stuck with some really bad wrestler or anything.

She reached the locker room and just as she was about to walk in, Josh Matthews came up to interview her about what she knew about Mr. America. She told him the truth, that she didn't know anything about him really, but she was going to meet him. Just as she was about to go inside, Team Angle came rushing up to her. She kept her anger in check as she looked at the one man who had single-handedly ruined everything for her.

Stephanie crossed her arms and looked at Charlie, shooting him a dirty look. He was acting so nonchalant and she hated it. No, she hated him. And Kurt was already mad at him, after she had explained what happened. Kurt had even said if he were there, he would've given Charlie a little talking to in the manner of fists. Stephanie decided to punish Charlie in her own little way. If she couldn't kick his ass, then she sure as hell could make his in-ring life a little harder. And Judgment Day was just the place to do that.Stephanie opened the door to the locker room and stepped inside. Then she stuck her head back outside the door, "Charlie, can you stick around for a second?"

"Sure Stephanie," Charlie said, still a little frustrated by the match she had just announced.

Stephanie walked fully into the locker room and saw Mr. America sitting on one of the couches. For a moment she thought how funny it would be if Jericho had somehow made himself Mr. America so he could be on her show. Of course that was totally out there, but a part of her still wanted him on her show, even if he hated her. She walked over a little more and suddenly realized something. This guy wasn't going to fool anybody.

"Mr. America?" she asked apprehensively.

"That's me," he said.

"Wow, um, welcome," she said, worry creeping into her mind.

This was so obviously Hogan, it wasn't even funny. And if it was indeed him, and she was pretty damn sure it was, her father was going to be furious. More than furious, he was just going to explode. This was not a good way to have her night end. Damn it, she'd been so hasty to beat Bischoff she hadn't even thought.

"Thanks for the contract Stephanie."

"Yeah, um, I gotta go, "she said quickly.

She left in a rush and closed the door behind her. She had to get a hold of her dad and tell him not to come tonight. It would be bad enough when everyone saw Mr. America, but it would be ten thousand times worse if her father was her in person to witness it. She started to leave when she realized Charlie was still waiting for her. Damn, would her problems ever end?

"Stephanie, you wanted to talk?" Charlie said.

She turned around, "Yes, I did."

"Have you finally decided you want to go out with me?" he winked.

Stephanie closed her eyes. She couldn't blow up at him, that wouldn't do anything. She needed to remain calm, it was better that way. She just had to keep reminding herself that.

"Charlie, I really appreciate your interest in me, but I don't think that we should go out again."

"Why not?"

"I just.........I'm not attracted to you."

"Steph, we went out like one time, why don't you give me a chance?"

"Charlie, I'll be honest with you here. There's a guy I do love, and he's incredible and he's the man I want to be with forever, and I have to hold out hope that someday he'll be mine," she said softly.

"Are you with this guy."

She shook her head, "No."

"Then Stephanie, why don't you give us a chance, I mean, who knows, we can be great together."

"This other guy, he's just too special to me Charlie."

"Who is it?" he asked, and Stephanie could see the jealously in his eyes.

"I can't say. He doesn't know how I feel and I would feel awkward if I told you."

"Stephanie, seriously, just one more date and if you don't like me after that, I'll stop pursuing you."

The deal seemed too good to be true. Should she compromise her relationship with Jericho and go out with Charlie to get him off her back? But then if Jericho got wind of it, and somehow he would, he would never believe that the kiss wasn't mutual and that she didn't want Charlie. But if she declined, then Charlie would keep hounding her and she would never get Jericho back if Charlie was always hanging around. It was a damned if you do, and a damned if you don't situation. But she had to take the high road.

"Charlie, can we go sit down in my office, I need to explain something to you."

"Sure."

Stephanie started walking to her office, knowing Charlie was following close behind. She got to her office and opened the door, holding it open for him and allowing him entrance into her office. She went and sat down at her desk, and motioned for Charlie to sit down as well, which he did.

"So Stephanie, what did you want to explain?"

"I had just gotten a divorce and I was devastated, I felt like no one loved me. And this guy just stepped into my life, and he made me feel loved. It was something I had never really had before. And this guy was spectacular, and it took me so long to see it. I love him, I love him so much that it hurts when I'm not with him, and I'm not with him. I don't want to break your heart Charlie, but this guy, this guy is the one for me, the only one for me, forever, and going out with you would just be futile and you can't sway me. I'm sorry."

Charlie took a moment to digest the information, "I understand. Thank you for at least being honest with me."

"I didn't want to lead you on."

He got up and went to the door, hand on the doorknob, "Thanks for just telling me the truth. And this guy?"

"Yeah?"

"He's very lucky, I hope he wises up."

She looked down and smiled, "So do I."

Charlie walked out, a bit dejectedly, but Stephanie didn't feel bad. He needed to be told the truth, and sometimes the truth hurt. She sighed, glad that was over with. She fiddled around on her laptop, wondering what she was going to do about this Hogan thing, when one of her production assistants came in. She had been so preoccupied she hadn't even realized he had come in. He told her that her father was coming. She couldn't believe it. As if the night couldn't get worse, now she had this to deal with.

Now she had yet another matter of business to take care of, making sure her father did not show up tonight. She grabbed her cell phone, but found there was no reception on her phone. She was going to have to go outside.

She got up and grabbed her cell phone. She walked briskly down the hallway, not stopping along the way. She made it out back and called her dad. She waited as it rang and only got his answering machine. She left a message telling him not to come tonight as Brock arrived.

Stephanie had a little conversation with Brock on why he was here tonight and then he left. Stephanie suddenly felt really alone, and she frowned a little. She hated not having anything to do, it made her think of Jericho. She looked down at her phone and dialed a familiar number, waiting for the voice mail or his voice. She got the voicemail.

"Hey, you've reached Jericho, I'm not answering my phone, so leave me a message and if I like you, I'll get back to you."

Stephanie waited for the beep, "Hi Chris, it's me. I know I'm probably the last person you wanted to hear from tonight, but I had to call you. I'm having dinner with my dad tonight. We were supposed to tell remember? I guess you do, it wasn't even a week ago we were so happy to tell. Well, regardless, I know you're in the area, don't ask me how I know, because I won't tell you. Chris, if you still want to give us a chance, then please come here tonight, let me explain it all to you and then we can both go have dinner with my Dad, please Chris."

Stephanie hung up the phone, sighing. She hated this so much. Being apart from Jericho was just too hard. How did she go without him before she would never know, it seemed like the hardest thing to do nowadays.

Unbeknownst to Stephanie was the fact that Jericho had just arrived at the arena. He decided to have a little talk with Charlie Haas. Nothing too major, he just needed to see the man. Turning his cell phone on, he saw the little message icon on, but decided to listen to them later.

He got out of his car and went into the building, not really caring if anyone saw him. If they did, well, who cared, at this point he didn't. He finally reached Team Angle's dressing room and knocked on the door. Charlie himself answered the door and looked at him confused.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yeah, we've never formally met, but I'm Chris Jericho," he said, extending his hand.

"Charlie Haas, you're friends with Kurt?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Did he send you here because we couldn't get our titles?"

"No, nothing like that, I'm here for an entirely different purpose."

"And that would be?"

"Um, I just wanted to say congratulations."

"For what, retaining the Tag Titles?"

"No, for Stephanie, I mean, I saw you two kissing at Backlash, and Stephanie and I, we used to be friends, and I just wanted to say you're getting a great girl."

"Um, actually--"

"Just treat her right ok?"

Jericho turned and walked away, not wanting the other man to see the tears in his eyes. He couldn't cry in front of a complete stranger, he wasn't a wuss. He left the arena, dashing his shirt sleeve across his eyes, wiping away tears of anger and sadness. He didn't even notice that someone was in front of him until he ran right into them.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, shifting to walk by them.

"Chris?" a voice said.

He removed his hands from his eyes and came face to face with Stephanie. She grinned at him and threw her arms around his neck. Jericho wasn't expecting this and was confused by her behavior. He didn't know about Stephanie's message asking him to come if he wanted to let her explain.

"Chris, you came!" she said happily.

Jericho pried Stephanie off of him, "What are you talking about?"

"My message, you got it and you came," she smiled

"What message?"

He smile faded, "You didn't get my message?"

"No, I haven't checked my messages."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Charlie," Jericho said, pursing his lips.

"Chris, you didn't hit him or anything did you?" Stephanie asked, not wanting Jericho to get in trouble.

"No Stephanie, I didn't hurt your boyfriend, I just came to wish him well. I hope you two are very happy together."

"Chris we're not together."

"Well, then you will be soon, goodbye Stephanie," Jericho said, practically running away.

Stephanie started to go after him, but he was too fast for her, instead she yelled, "I love you Chris! And I don't care who hears!"

Jericho stopped and turned around, she was screaming out to him. No, he couldn't let her manipulate him, not again. Never again. He turned away again and dashed to his car, getting inside and not looking back. This wasn't the time to look back, no, he decided, he wasn't going to look back.

Stephanie closed her eyes painfully. What would it take for her to get him back? At this point she didn't know. He was so damn stubborn and he never listened to reason. She just had to let him get this whole thing out of his system, then the rational Jericho would shine through and everything would be fine again.

Noticing her father hadn't arrived she had hoped he got her message. Good, she didn't need him here when this whole Hogan debacle went down. The less hostility on her show, the better.

"It was Chris Jericho wasn't it?" a voice said from behind her.

She turned and saw Charlie, "Huh?"

"The guy you were talking about, it was Chris Jericho huh?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"Stephanie, he came to my locker room with the explicit purpose of telling me to treat you right. No guy is going to do that for a girl he claims is his friend."

"It doesn't matter."

"I fucked things up for you guys didn't I?" he asked guiltily.

"Royally."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "If I had known.........."

"It's ok Charlie, apology accepted."

"Ok, just wanted to see how you were, cause he seemed pretty torn up."

Stephanie looked amazed, "He did?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks Charlie, I needed to hear that."

"No problem, no I have to go and try to figure out a way to get Kurt's medals back before he kills us."

She laughed, "You better figure it out fast, you know Kurt and his medals. Good luck."

"Yeah, good luck to you too, with your little problem."

"Thanks, bye Charlie."

"Bye Steph."

Stephanie watched him go before picking up her cell phone again. She dialed her father's number again. Again she got his answering machine and she left another message for him, hoping he'd get it. She checked her time on her watch. She saw her father was actually there and Stephanie stammered and hugged her dad. She needed to keep him as far away from the arena as possible. She was never good in these situations with her father.

Stephanie tried in vain to stop him, but he didn't stop. She sighed and trudged herself inside. She walked to her office and sat down, turning on the television. She might as well see what was going to go down. She just hoped her dad wasn't going to be too pissed.

She watched the whole segment play out and it wasn't looking good. She knew that her dad would be upset, she just hoped it wouldn't be at her. It wasn't her fault really, she had just been trying to get another small victory over Bischoff.

Her dad stormed into her office, his face red in anger. Stephanie cringed, expecting him to blow up and start yelling. He paced around for a while before turning to Stephanie. She tried to give him an innocent look.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry, I didn't know when I signed him."

"I know Princess, I'm just mad at him for manipulating everyone like that to get signed."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"No, how could you have known?"

"Yeah, so can we still go to dinner Dad, there's some things I need to tell you about."

"Ok Princess, let's go."

Stephanie got her things and her dad escorted her out to his limo. He held the door open for her and she got inside. They made small talk while on the way back to the hotel. When they got there, Stephanie got out and followed her dad into the more expensive of the hotel restaurants. They sat down and looked at their menus.

"Daddy, before we order, I have something to tell you," Stephanie said, putting her menu down.

"Yes Princess?"

The waiter interrupted them and took their orders. As soon as he was gone Vince turned his attention back to Stephanie. She bit her lip nervously, this would've been so much easier with Jericho by her side, holding her hand.

"Daddy, you know how you've been trying to set me up and I haven't been all that receptive?"

"Yes."

"Well Daddy, I wasn't as alone as I made myself out to be."

"What do you mean?"

Stephanie thought about it. This wasn't her moment to share. It was hers and Jericho's. And she was confident that she and Jericho would be together in the future. They had to be, they were too good together not to be together for the rest of their lives. And she couldn't tell her dad about them if Jericho wasn't here to share in the news. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair.

"Just that I've been hanging out a lot with my friends."

"Oh, is that what you wanted to tell me."

"Yeah, that and I'm sorry about the Hogan thing."

"It's ok Princess, we'll get this sorted out."

Stephanie smiled hesitantly. She just had to hold out for Jericho to come to his senses. Then they could tell her dad together, and everything would be ok. And if she kept telling herself that, it was bound to come true.

It just had to come true.


	91. NO! Chris on Heat! May 5, 2003

A/N: Hey you guys, I need to ask you guys a huge favor. There are two ways I can take this fic right now, and I like both of them, so I'm going to ask you to help me out.

I can either have Stephanie and Jericho stay broken up, not forever, or I can get them back together very soon. Either way would work for me as I have ideas for both directions, but I'm unsure about which one to do. So if you can leave me a review, or an e-mail at , or even IM me at DCFanatic4ever telling me which one you want, I would LOVE you all SO much, because I'm absolutely torn as of right now, and since you guys are the one reading the story, you should at least have a little say in it. If you choose stay broken up, this does NOT mean forever, but for the time being. So if you could do me this HUGE favor, I'd really, really appreciate it. So please, please tell me which one to choose. Thank you so much. :)

Oh, and one more thing, I know they advertised Jericho's match on Heat ::curses at the stupidity of him being on Heat:: but in this little world, Heat doesn't exist, so there is no match. :)

Jericho sat sullenly in his dressing room, sitting on the couch. He was feeling lonely, no matter how many times he tried to get over Stephanie, he was having a hard time doing it. Yes, he knew that at this point he was being kind of stupid, not hearing Stephanie out, he had heard it enough from Kurt, and Christian, and Edge, and Shane, and even Trish, but he couldn't work himself up to seeing her.

He supposed it was fear. Sure, Chris Jericho was supposed to be this tough guy, never letting anything touch him, the King of the World, but that's not who he really was. He was a person, just like everyone else, and he was very capable of being hurt. And Stephanie had hurt him, but he had forgiven her. He was scared to get hurt again, he didn't want to talk to Stephanie when she might say that it was over between them.

He knew the chances of that weren't that good, but there was always that possibility, and that scared him to no end. No matter what he said to the contrary, no matter what actions he did, he loved her more than anything in his entire life, and thinking that she might not love him the same way wasn't a pleasant thought.

Seeing her kiss Charlie Haas had opened up a world of hurt, and it was hard to close, he didn't want to lose her to another guy, but if he did, then he didn't want to be two-timed, or the second fiddle. And last Sunday, at Backlash, when he had walked in on the two of them kissing, that's exactly what he had felt like.

"Hey there Chris," a feminine voice said from the doorway.

Chris looked up, "Hey Trish."

"What are you doing sitting in the dark by yourself?" she asked, turning on the light switch.

"Just thinking."

"You know, you once gave Christian some great advice."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did," she said, sitting next to him, "You told him to talk to me."

"Yeah, but that didn't turn out well did it?"

"Whether it did or not isn't the case, it was what you said that does, and sometimes, you need to take your own advice."

"Did she send you here?" he asked.

"No, she didn't send me here. I have eyes Chris, I can see what's right in front of my face."

"And what exactly is that?"

"You're miserable. Look at you, you haven't shaved, your hair's a mess, your eyes are bloodshot. Have you even slept in the last week?"

"Not much," he admitted.

"And why is that Chris?" she asked knowingly.

"I think you already know the answer."

"Because you have a hard time sleeping without her huh?"

"I'm taking the 5th."

"Chris, why in God's name are you so stubborn?"

"I'm not putting myself out there."

"Why?"

"Trish, you didn't walk down that hallway and see the person you love kissing someone else."

"You know, maybe I've been in Stephanie's situation. You get kissed and you're in such a state of shock you just don't know how to react."

"Yeah, but look what happened with you. You went out with Jeff, you wanted to date him."

"And look how that turned out," she said, laughing shortly, "I haven't even heard from Jeff."

"What if she wants to go out with Charlie? What am I supposed to do then? Pretend like I'm not hurt. I can't be like Christian was with you, I can't sit back and watch while the woman I love is with another man."

"Then get to her before that happens."

"For all I know.........it already has."

"Talk to her," Trish said, getting up, "It's the only way to know for sure."

"Thanks Trish," Jericho said gratefully.

"No problem Chris, someone had to knock some sense into you."

"Good luck in your match tonight."

"Thanks."

"Hey, you and Christian, are you two back together?" Jericho asked curiously, knowing the two had been spending a lot of time together.

"We're working on it," she winked before heading out.

Jericho sighed to himself and continued to think. He supposed that Trish was right. He hadn't exactly listened to Stephanie at all. But it was so hard to be the one to instigate anything. He hated being the one in the wrong, even when he knew he was. A knock came to his door and he answered it, finding someone from production telling him who tonight's guest for his show would be.

After they had told him, he sat down and started to think of what he would say to Kevin Nash. Well, he guessed he could bring up the match at Backlash, that seemed the most appropriate thing to do. He figured he'd go in that direction. Another knock came to the door, and he got up to answer it, finding his old nemesis Triple H on the other side.

"What is it Trips?" Jericho asked.

"Well Jericho, I heard you're having Kev on your show tonight."

"Yeah, why?"

"I want to be your special surprise guest," Triple H smirked.

"Why?"

"Teach Kev a little lesson."

Jericho was in no mood to argue with the man. He wasn't in the mood to do much today, or hadn't any other day in the last week. Better to just agree with what Triple H had to do or say than be to antagonize him like he usually did.

"Sure, I'll just announce you and you can come out."

"Thanks Jericho, you turned out to be a good guy," Triple H said patting his shoulder.

Jericho gave a disinterested scoff, "Sure, I have to get ready."

"Yeah, you look like shit man."

"Thanks, I appreciate your evaluation," Jericho said, closing the door on him.

Jericho walked inside the bathroom and decided to survey the damage. He hoped he didn't look as bad as everyone was saying he did. He hadn't gone out in the last four days, staying holed up in his house. He looked up at the mirror and cringed at what he saw.

He did look awful. God, how could he let himself go like this over a woman? But then he thought about who that woman was and it all seemed justified. He ran a hand over his unshaven chin and decided to shave, Stephanie always preferred him shaved, which was kind of odd, considering the entire time together he had had a goatee. He got his shaving kit from his bag and shaved, smiling when he was done.

He looked at his disheveled hair, pulled back messily in a ponytail. He decided to just leave it the way he was. Next thing he had to look at were his eyes. They were red and bloodshot from lack of sleep. He threw some cold water on his face to try and make them less puffy. He fixed himself up as best he could and deemed himself presentable.

Looking at the clock, it was almost time for his show, and he headed out to the gorilla to prepare. Hearing his countdown, he went out, and put on his working face, hiding any emotion but the one he had adopted for the fans. As long as he kept this face up, no one would really know what was going through his mind. He readied himself for the show.

Jericho watched as Hunter went to pedigree Nash. Well, it looked like his work was done. He wasn't feeling up to sticking around and watch the two men pulverize each other. He'd much rather go backstage and sulk some more. It was the thing that he was getting the best at. Of course, he'd have to check up on them later. He walked backstage, and decided at the last moment to watch this little fight. He stood in front of the monitor watching.

"Nice going."

"Thanks," Jericho said, turning to Christian.

"You wanted this to happen huh?"

"Can't say I'm not enjoying seeing the two of them go at it like little kids."

"They are like little kids, I can't believe they're fighting like that."

"It's really kind of dumb when you think about it," Jericho said.

"Definitely. So how are you?" Christian asked, knowing exactly what Jericho was going through.

"I'm doing better, you're girlfriend came and talked to me."

"She's not my girlfriend," Christian told him.

"Yeah, but I'm sure she'll be your girlfriend again soon."

"Who's to say? But I think there's a girl who'd like to be your girlfriend again."

"What is with you people?" Jericho said, shaking his head, "You know, if you break up with someone, doesn't that usually mean you break up, that's it. No one should be hounding me to get back with her, when I made the decision to break up with her. You should let us move on."

"See, I n normal circumstances, yeah, we'd probably let it slide, let her just be another notch on the old bedpost, so to speak. But we all know that's not how you feel about her, that's not how you see her."

"Oh really, then enlighten me, how do I see her?"

"You told me you wanted to marry her, that you loved her more than life itself. That doesn't seem like some meaningless relationship," Christian said.

"Maybe it was, maybe I deluded myself into thinking that me and her could have more. Maybe we were never meant to be."

"See, now I think you're lying to yourself. Because you and I both know that's not how you viewed your relationship."

"Whatever," Jericho muttered.

"You know, you're so quick to throw your two cents into any situation, but when it comes to your own, you never want to hear anyone out."

"Shut up Christian," Jericho said, starting to walk away, not wanting to hear anymore.

"You know a wise man once said, 'get your head out of your ass,' I think you should take that advice," Christian called out.

Jericho walked out back to where he knew Triple H and Nash had been fighting. Taking a sip from the water bottle he had grabbed on his way outside, he surveyed the damage he had been indirectly responsible for. Actually felt pretty good to see what he had wrought. He turned and was surprised to see Austin standing right next to him.

Jericho didn't know where this was going, but he hoped it wasn't him getting traded or anything. The last thing he needed was to be on Stephanie's show. Talk about your awkward situation. Instead he got a match against Nash.

As if things couldn't get any worse, now he had face that lummox. Damn, this was a horrible past few weeks for Jericho, and it seemed there was no end in sight. He stalked back inside and grabbed his bag. He was getting out of there before anything else happened.

Getting back to his hotel room, he turned on the light to the empty room. There would be no one waiting for him anymore, no hello's, or welcome back hugs and kisses, just a lonely empty room. He dumped his bag on the couch before going into the bedroom. He changed into some pajama pants and got into bed.

He turned on the television and flipped idly between the channels, settling it on SportsCenter. He played unconsciously with the cross around the neck. He realized what he was doing and looked down at it. Stephanie had given it to him, as a just because gift. He wore it all the time, not only was it a symbol of his faith, but it was something that he treasured because it had come from the woman that he loved.

"I've got to forget about her. No one pines over anyone this much. Just move on," Jericho said to himself, "Just move on."

He took the cross necklace off and went to put it in a deep dark corner of his bag. He'd have to give it back to Stephanie. He didn't want anything that reminded him of her. Well, not everything, he didn't want to have to move or anything like that. Just the little things, he decided.

He picked up the phone and dialed her house in Greenwich, waiting for her to pick up. He figured she'd be at home, it was almost midnight by this time. The phone kept ringing and ringing until her machine picked up.

"You've reached Stephanie, I'm not here at the moment, but leave me a message, and I'll return it as soon as possible, thank you."

Her message had always been so formal, Jericho had to chuckle a bit. It was nice to hear her voice though, even it was just her machine.

"Steph, it's Chris, I wanted to talk, I don't know where you could--"

"Hello?" a sleepy voice answered.

"Steph?"

"Yeah."

"It's Chris," he said.

"I figured that from the message," she said.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's ok," she said, yawning.

"Maybe I should just let you sleep."

"No, no, I'm awake, what did you want to talk about?" she asked anxiously.

"Um, I wanted to know when you were going to get your stuff from my house."

"Oh," Stephanie said softly, almost painfully.

"So?"

"I guess um, maybe next week," she said.

"Ok, that's fine, I'll just leave the house and you can pick up your things, does that sound ok to you."

"No, but I guess so."

"Ok, good," he said, trying to keep his resolve up.

"Chris, can we at least try to figure this whole thing out?" Stephanie pleaded.

"Steph, I hate to say this, I really do, but we broke up, and that's that. We just have to face the truth."

"Truth?"

"We're not getting back together."

"You're wrong," she said firmly.

"Excuse me?" he asked surprised by her tone.

"Listen to me Christopher Jericho, you can say it all you want, you can believe it all you want. We're not over, we'll never be over, not by a long shot."

"Steph, don't make this any harder on us."

"No Chris, you think what you want, but I'll see you when you want me back."

"Steph, that won't happen."

"We'll see Chris, we'll see."


	92. Trade Mr America for Chris, May 8, 2003

A/N: I'm letting you guys vote until next Monday for which direction you want to go. The votes are pretty close right now, so if you don't want a tie and for me to decide, then tell me what you want more. ;) Thank you to all of you who have told me, it's making my job a hell of a lot easier. :)

Stephanie sat looking at her phone, hoping it would ring and be Jericho. She knew that he had to come back to her, he loved her too much to stay away. And yet he hadn't called since Monday, and she was starting to get a bad feeling about the whole thing.

He couldn't have really been serious about them being over? I mean, they loved each other, and usually Jericho was such an understanding person. But she also knew he had a temper, especially when it came to her and anything involving the two of them. But he couldn't have really broken up with her. She refused to accept it. It just didn't seem right, her and Jericho not a couple.

She knew not that many people knew about them, but they had been so happy, so right for each other. It was always her and him, Stephanie and Chris, it just seemed to work. She thought it would've worked forever. So why wasn't he calling, asking for her forgiveness?

As if she already wasn't having a bad week. Her father was furious at her for signing Hogan last week. But she honestly had no idea that it would turn out to be him. Honestly, she only signed him because she wanted to up Bischoff, well, that and the fact she had been so wrapped up in Jericho that she had signed him without even meeting him.

She knew her father blamed her, but she had to play it cool, pretend like she really didn't know it was Hogan. If she did that, then maybe her dad would take his focus off of her and concentrate it on Hogan and unmasking him as the true Mr. America. It seemed like the right plan for her.

She went back to looking at her phone, maybe she should call him, "No, you're not calling him."

She had to resolve herself. She couldn't force him to do anything. Nobody could force Jericho to do anything he didn't want to do, he of such a strong will. If he was angry, then she just had to wait it out. She just hoped it didn't take too long for him to come around. She missed him terribly.

Stephanie turned on the television realizing that the show was starting. She had heard from Shane that her dad was probably going to show up and she was surprised to see him at the top of the show. She was almost expecting it.

She listened to what he had to say and then she heard him call her out. Oh no, she kept thinking, her dad was going to be so very pissed at her, and she wasn't looking forward to this confrontation. She got up slowly and left her office.

She was already so very depressed and this was not helping her in the least. Of course, her dad knew nothing of that, and if he did, he'd probably be a little less harsh to her, but still she couldn't tell him. She contended that it was her and Jericho's secret, not just hers, and if he wasn't there to tell, then she wasn't going to do it alone.

She made her way out there and started down the ramp when her dad yelled for them to stop her music. She stopped for a moment, wondering if he even wanted her to go to the ring. He motioned for her to come down so she hesitantly walked to the ring and up the steps before fully entering the squared circle.

Her father told them to get her a microphone and she took it when it was handed to her. She didn't really want to fight tonight, she was absolutely not in the mood too, but what could she do? She couldn't tell him to leave her alone because her boyfriend may or may not have broken up with her. He didn't even know she had had a boyfriend since Hunter had dumped her.

Her father basically berated her for signing Mr. America, some of which was deserved, a lot of which wasn't. But it wasn't like she had anyone to care about her right now. She was on her own, and she had to stand there and defend herself, no matter how awful the decision had been.

Her father sent her off and she walked down the walkway. She hate being called little lady. It made her feel like she was seven again, and that was not a good feeling. She stalked backstage and into her office. She slammed the door shut, not wanting anyone to come see her. She was in enough of a bad mood. But her cell phone started ringing and she grabbed it.

"Stephanie McMahon," she said testily.

"Hey baby girl."

"Hey Shane," she sighed.

"I'm sorry Dad's so mad at you."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not ok, he shouldn't have talked to you like that."

"You know how Dad is," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, but taking it out on you like that, you didn't deserve it, and you shouldn't have been caught in his anger like that."

"Yeah, but what are you gonna do Shaney?"

"I should go talk to him."

"He wouldn't listen and you know it."

"I'd make him listen," Shane said angrily.

"Shane, it doesn't matter ok, I'm not even worried about it. Frankly, I don't really care right now."

Shane mentally kicked himself in the head. How could he have been so stupid as to not remember what was really going on in his little sister's head. She had had her heart broken and here he was not even asking how she really was about all of it.

"Stephanie, how are you?" he asked seriously.

"I'm about as good as I can be."

"You sure baby girl?"

"I'm just waiting for him to come back."

Shane didn't want her to get her hopes up about this. He had talked to Jericho and he had sounded pretty serious about this break up. He was really hurt by what he thought he saw on that night of Backlash. Shane felt sorry for the both of them, the two of them just didn't know how right they were for each other.

"Steph, baby girl, I'm not sure that he's going to come back," Shane said delicately.

"Don't be stupid Shane, he'll be back."

"Steph, I talked to him, he seemed pretty adamant about staying broken up."

"Yeah, I heard him, he's wrong," Stephanie said firmly.

"Steph........."

"Shane, I don't want to think of the alternative," Stephanie said softly.

"Oh baby girl," he whispered.

Stephanie felt tears coming to her eyes, "Shane, what if he doesn't come back?"

Shane had never felt pity for Stephanie, ever. She was too strong for that, he'd never had to give her any pity. Besides, she would've kicked his ass had he even mentioned the words pity and Stephanie in the same sentence. But at this very moment, hearing her so vulnerable and sad, he pitied her.

"He'll come back Steph," Shane told her, though he didn't know that for sure.

"I miss him."

"I know you do baby girl, but he'll come to his senses."

"I hope so."

"Me too, for your sake," Shane said.

A knock came to Stephanie's door and her father walked in. He nodded to her and then went and sat on the couch arm next to her, not even noticing the tears in her eyes. Some father he was. She wiped her eyes quickly before he could notice and didn't look at him.

"Shane, I have to go."

"Ok baby girl, feel better alright?"

"I will, bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone and set it down gently beside her, careful not to look over at her dad. She didn't want to argue with him again, it just made her feel worse than she was already feeling.

"So your brother called?" Vince broke the silence.

"Yeah, he just called to say hi," Stephanie lied, not wanting their father mad at Shane as well.

"Oh, I see, well Hogan isn't here, he's in Tampa tonight."

"Oh, ok."

As they watched the show silently, Mr. America came out, but Vince just shook his head, claiming it was an imposter. Stephanie didn't know, nor care if it was an imposter or not. But her father cared and went there angrier than before if that was even possible.

She once again was called to come out, which she did reluctantly. She went down there and heard her father's plan to get the mask off of Mr. America. He was planning to low blow him and rip it off. Easier said than done as Stephanie watched with disinterest as her father tried to rip the mask off of Hogan.

Somehow she had ended up on the ground, knocked over by her father. It had all happened so quickly, but now she was lying on the mat and she felt so very dizzy. She closed her eyes, willing the pain shooting through her temple to go away. She could hear her father asking her if she was alright but felt too weird to respond.

Suddenly she felt someone pick her up. She hoped for a second that it was Jericho, but she knew that it wasn't. She wasn't hurt enough to not know where she was. She felt Hogan carry her off to the back and to her office. He put her down on the couch and got the trainer.

"Thanks," she told him before he left.

"No problem."

The trainer checked her over and told her all she had were some abrasions over her cheek and that she was going to have one hell of a headache the next day. Her father walked in, presumably to check up on her, but instead went off in search of Hogan. Nice to know he cared about her.

The trainer left and she was alone again. She knew if she and Jericho were still together he would've called immediately after the segment, wondering how she was doing. But there was no call from him, he was probably happy to see her fall over like that. She heard the door open and her father walked back in.

"Are you really ok Stephanie?"

"I'm fine," she said crossly.

"Don't take that tone with me."

"I don't care," she muttered.

"Stephanie, I will not have you talk to me like that, I'm your father."

"Shut up!" she yelled, "I'm sitting here hurt and you go after some wrestler, thanks for caring Dad."

Stephanie had had enough. She couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't take her father, or Jericho, or any situation that she was currently in. She was too stressed out, and it was all coming back to haunt her.

"You don't care about me, don't pretend to! I don't need you, I don't need anyone."

Stephanie broke down in tears, not exactly knowing why she was crying, but she needed to get it out someway. She heard her father sigh and sit next to her. He pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry Princess."

"Daddy, my life is just so screwed up," she whimpered.

"Oh Princess, of course it isn't, I'm sorry that I yelled at you."

"It's not even that Daddy," she said.

"Then tell me what it is and I'll fix it."

"It's not something you can fix Daddy."

"Stephanie, you're not pregnant are you?" Vince asked in alarm.

Stephanie pulled away. Oh dear God, if anything could complicate her life further it would be a baby. Thank God she knew it wasn't that. Although if she was pregnant Jericho would come back, no, that was underhanded.

She shook her head, "No Daddy, I'm not pregnant. Not even close."

"A boy then, did someone hurt you? I'll kill him if he has!"

"Daddy, it's nothing, I've just been under a lot of stress."

"Why don't you take a break then, go back to your hotel, enjoy the rest of the evening off."

"You sure?"

"Go, we don't need you here."

"Thank you Daddy."

Stephanie hugged her father before getting up. She knew her father was always quick to protect her, even if he was mad at her. She sent him a weak smile before getting her things and leaving. The drive back to the hotel was short, much to her dismay. She dreaded going back to her empty hotel room.

She got into her room and went to get some ice from the ice machine. Returning she heard her cell phone ringing. Wrapping the ice in a towel and putting it to her now aching head, she picked up her phone.

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Hey Steph."

Stephanie's heart beat faster as she heard his voice. He did care about her and her well-being. She felt herself smile for the first time in forever, her mouth hurt. She wanted to jump around, but her head hurt.

"Chris," she said happily.

"I just called to see how you were."

"I'm horrible Chris, I don't think that I can stay here alone," she said trying to sound as pathetic as possible.

She heard him laugh on the other end, "Come on Steph, that's all you got?"

"No, not really, but I didn't want to bring out the big guns early."

"So you're really ok?"

"I'm ok, I just have a huge bruise on my cheek and you know I'm feeling a little dizzy."

"Steph, did you see a doctor?" Jericho asked with obvious concern.

"The trainer said I was fine."

"Yeah, but you really should go to the doctor, you could have a concussion."

"I'm fine Chris, why are you so worried?"

She already knew the reason, but she wanted to hear it out of his mouth. She wanted to hear him say he cared about her, and then maybe she could segue into getting him to listen to her so they could get back together and they could be happy again.

"Because you're my friend Stephanie."

"You're friend, is that what we're calling it these days?"

"Stephanie, I don't want to argue with you."

"Chris, just admit you love me."

"What good would that do Steph?"

"Then we can work out what we need to work out."

"Stephanie, we broke up ok, I just called to ask how you were because I was worried when I saw your face and I didn't want you hurt. We may not be together, but I don't want you to be hurt, no matter what happens between us."

"Fine, if that's how you feel," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Stephanie, I think it may be best if after you pick up your things from my house next Tuesday that we go our separate ways."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, not liking the sound of it.

"I think that we shouldn't see each other or talk to each other anymore," he said quietly, trying to gauge her reaction.

"What?"

"I think it's best we make a clean break. It should be easy enough right, I mean, we're on different shows, we just don't talk anymore."

"Oh, you want to do that huh?"

"I think it would help us move on faster."

"Ok Chris, we won't talk, but trust me, you'll crack. You'll crack so bad because you know what?"

"What?"

"You can't not talk to me. You can't stay away from me. You may think you can Chris, but there's one strike that you have against you, one huge strike."

"Stephanie--"

"Let's face it Chris, you can't resist me, you never have and you sure as hell never will."


	93. Chris, the Kliq's Whipping Boy, May 12, ...

A/N: Thank you SO much to those who voted. The voting was really close and I hope you're all ok with where this is taken. :)

Today was the first day of the rest of his life. He was getting over Stephanie and he was moving on. He didn't need her, he could go on without her, and he was going to prove that starting tonight. He had wasted too much time on her, when the real love of his life was still out there. He just had to keep thinking that over and over again.

At least his match against Nash would keep him preoccupied. He knew that he'd have to be on top of his game tonight. Nash was a really big guy and Jericho was going to have to be quick and stealthy to get by him. He could win this match, he knew he could.

"Hey man," someone said to him.

Jericho turned around and saw Christian in the doorway of his locker room, "Hey, what's up?"

"Just looking for Trish," he answered.

"Oh, any reason?"

"Just wanted to see her," Christian said, smiling giddily.

"What's with the smile?"

"Nothing, can't a guy be happy?"

"Yeah, I guess it's cool, it's just not cool when you're the one not happy."

"Dude, then do something about it."

"And just what should I do?" Jericho asked, dreading what Christian was going to say.

"You could talk to Stephanie," Christian said bluntly.

Jericho jeered at him, "Any other ideas, cause that one isn't going to happen?"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, she's moving all her stuff out of my house tomorrow. It's really over this time Christian."

"Fine, if that's the way you want to be, then go find someone else. If you're so miserable alone, start dating again."

"You really think I should find another girl?" Jericho asked, surprised because Stephanie was Christian's friend.

"Hey, if you want to get over her, what better way?"

"Yeah," Jericho said, thinking, "You're right."

"Well, I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Jericho said, still thinking.

Christian walked out of the locker room and went down to the room where he knew Trish was stationed for the evening. He walked in without knocking and found her sitting in her street clothes, eating a salad from catering.

"Hey," Trish said as she saw him.

"I just went and talked to Chris."

"Good," she said, putting her food down, "And what did he think?"

"I think he was shocked to hear me say that he should see another girl."

"Fabulous, that's just the kind of reaction we wanted. Now, he'll go out with someone and realize that he really loves Stephanie."

"Trishy, do you think we're going to far with this thing?"

"What do you mean, I'm not getting you."

"Well, I mean, we're trying to set them up so they get back together, but what if it backfires?" Christian asked.

"Chrissy, how would it backfire?" Trish said, not getting how this plan would fail.

"Well, what if Chris falls for whoever he dates?"

"Not gonna happen," Trish laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh really, and how do you know that?" Christian asked, crossing his arms and looking at her.

"Chrissy, look at the two of them, I mean, they're made for each other. And they'll realize it sooner or later."

"I know a couple other people who need to realize something," Christian said, looking at her with more intensity.

Trish looked at him and opened her mouth to say something, but never got the chance to finish her sentence. Christian instead had leaned over and kissed her. Trish was only surprised momentarily before practically pouncing on Christian, knocking him back against the couch. They made out for a few moments before Trish pulled away.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me," she whispered.

"Um, I was the one that kissed you first," he chuckled.

"Yeah, but I'm the one who practically jumped you."

"Hey, no complaints here," Christian said, grinning at her.

"So what does this mean?" Trish asked, looking him deeply in the eyes.

"Um, we'll see."

Jericho sat in his locker room, contemplating what Christian had said. His friend was right, he should start dating again. If he didn't, then he'd just mope around and think about Stephanie. He needed to get out there again, he was sure there'd be lots of women just waiting for him to ask them out. And he was going to find himself one. But first he had this match to worry about.

He stood up and went to his bag, retrieving his wrist tape. He started to put it on slowly, wondering who he'd ask out, and whether or not it should be a co-worker. Then he made sure that he looked presentable. As he was thinking, Triple H walked in, the second to last person he wanted to see. Well, he'd just play it up, there was nothing else he could really do.

Of course, Jericho knew when Triple H said that he had only gotten where he had been by tearing Triple H's quad, that it wasn't only the fact that he had torn Triple H's quad. He also had talent and had beaten many a good opponent, like The Rock and Austin. But he let Triple H blow out all his stupid steam. Let him believe that he was this great God, and everyone else was below him.

Another unwanted thought entered his brain. He had been Undisputed World Champion and he had joined with someone. Become business partners. He knew she was just using him to get back at her husband, and he had agreed. Looking back, it was probably the stupidest move he had ever made. Why had he agreed to be her business partner? Why had he set himself on this incredible path of destruction that had led him here, miserable, bitter, and worst of all, friends with Triple H.

Jericho knew Triple H was trying to suck up to him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Triple H just wanted to use him to screw up Nash before their match on Sunday. God, what did Triple H think he was? An idiot. But at this point, he didn't really care either way if he helped Triple H or not.

The smile dropped from Jericho's face. He couldn't stand that weasel. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Now back to thinking of a girl he'd want to go out with. Well, he knew Stacy and Victoria were out, they were with people already. Jazz was with Rodney Mack he thought, not that he'd want her anyways. Ivory was, well, Ivory was loud. Who did that leave?

His mind settled on Molly Holly. He thought for a moment. She had always seemed to like him, or at least tolerate him. And she had had bad luck with guys, mostly going out with dorks, she needed someone cool like him. She was pretty too, and she was a great wrestler. And the most important factor of all, she was NOTHING like Stephanie. The only similarity he could think of was that they both had brown hair. Molly Holly it was.

He walked out of the dressing room and down the hallway to the women's dressing room. He thought a minute, did he really want to do this? Did he really want to go out with another woman? This was a pretty big step. Yes, he resolved himself, he had to do this. He knocked deftly.

Molly answered the door moments later, "Hi Chris."

"Molly, just the person I was looking for."

"Really?" she asked confused.

"Yeah."

"Oh, can I help you with anything," she smiled.

Jericho smiled back, "I was wondering if you were doing anything after Judgment Day this weekend?"

"No, I'm not, why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me," he said charmingly.

"You're asking me on a date?" she asked, blushing a little.

"Yeah, is that a problem?"

"No," she said, smiling brightly, "I'd love to. This is just unexpected."

"Well, I've noticed you around, and well, I think I'd like to get to know you a little better."

"Sounds good, so after the show then?"

"Well, after my match I guess, you'll be here right?"

"Yes, I'll be here, you can just come pick me up."

"Great, see you then," Jericho said.

She closed the door and he sighed to himself. That had been a lot harder than he thought it would be. He hadn't asked anyone out in the past, how long had it been, ten months. It felt good though, he was moving on, doing the right thing. He'd have to thank Christian. He started walking to Christian's locker room when Terri stopped him, asking for an interview. He gave her one and then went back in search of Christian. He found him watching Trish's match by the monitors.

"Hey Christian," Jericho called out.

Christian turned his head, "Hey."

"Watching Trish?"

"Yeah," he said turning back to the monitor.

"Sorry bout your match," Jericho said.

"Eh, don't worry about it, I'm over it."

"I took your advice," Jericho said nonchalantly.

Christian turned around, a little bit surprised that he had actually taken his advice. He really thought that Jericho wouldn't even consider asking out anyone and then would realize he wanted Stephanie.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I got myself a date," Jericho smiled.

"With?" Let it be Stephanie, let it be Stephanie, Christian kept thinking.

"Molly Holly."

Christian was bowled over by this revelation. Of all the people that Jericho could've gone out with, of all the women at his disposal, Molly was the last one he would ever have suspected he'd ask out. Talk about going for someone different from your ex. Stephanie and Molly were two different sides of the spectrum.

"Wow, that's.........great," Christian said, trying to be supportive.

"Yeah, just did what you told me to do man, it feels great," Jericho said.

"That's...........good," Christian said, trying to crack a smile.

"Dude, you can be a little bit more supportive."

Christian shook his head, clearing his thoughts, "No, dude, it's cool, you're moving on. Let's celebrate!"

"Thanks," Jericho said, "I hope we can hit it off."

"When are you going out?"

"Sunday."

"Oh," Christian said, relieved. That gave Jericho several days to come to his senses.

"Well, I'm gonna go warm up for my match," Jericho said.

"Ok, good luck."

Jericho went to warm up and then went out for his match. He tried his best to take Nash down, but the man was just a big oaf. Eventually Triple H came out and interfered, but it didn't help Jericho much. He ended up getting jackknifed and writhing around on the ground.

He eventually managed to get up and walk up the ramp. He went backstage and got his stuff. He got ready quickly and headed to the airport. He was catching the red eye back to Tampa. He had to be home when Stephanie picked up her things. He already knew tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Jericho sat on the couch, then looked at the clock above the television. It was already two in the afternoon and Stephanie hadn't shown up yet. They had agreed that she would get her stuff today, where the hell was she?

Against his will he started to worry about her. He figured that she would be there early in the morning, get her stuff, then leave, walk out of his life for good. But she wasn't showing up. He hoped she did show up, he couldn't stand having her things lying around anymore. It was driving him crazy. If this kept up, he was going to become one of those creepy guys who smelled her things and that was not what he wanted.

Finally, around three, a knock came on the door. He got up and opened the door. Stephanie was on the other side, biting her lip softly. Jericho just stared at her a second, she really looked beautiful.

"Hi, come in," he said.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"Um, you can just start getting your stuff," he said, "Do you need help?"

"No Chris, I'll be fine," she said, going upstairs.

Jericho went and sat on the couch again. He sat there, not watching television but just sitting there. He could hear Stephanie walking around upstairs. She was probably putting her clothes in her suitcase. She had so many clothes, it was lucky she had a few suitcases with her.

Jericho remembered the cross that he wanted to give back to her. He went to his bag where he had kept it stashed since he had taken it off last week. He walked upstairs slowly where Stephanie was packing the last of her clothes.

"I'm almost done, you don't need to check on me, I'll be out of your hair soon," she said blandly.

"I wasn't checking up on you," he told her.

"Then what are you doing up here?"

"I just came to see if you needed help and to give you some stuff."

"I don't need any help," she said shortly.

Jericho could tell she was pissed off at him. He looked down, not knowing if he should stay or go, or what. He had never had anyone move in with him before, he always figured that when he did, they'd be there forever. Obviously this wasn't the case.

"I wanted to give you your cross back," Jericho said.

Stephanie turned around and looked at him. She looked down at his hand where the cross was dangling from his hand. That was it for her, she lost it and started crying and sank down against the bed. Jericho rushed to her side and took her in his arms.

"Steph don't cry," he said.

"I don't want to break up," she sobbed.

"Stephanie, it's for the best," he whispered.

"I need you," she pleaded.

"We need to see what's out there for us Stephanie, because it may not be in this room."

"I only know one thing, I love you Chris, I love us, please don't do this to us," Stephanie begged, looking up at him.

"Stephanie, I can't take it back, not right now, maybe in the future........." he trailed off.

It was as if a sudden strength came over Stephanie. Her tears suddenly stopped and her chin raised. Jericho could see her armor coming up. Jericho would never figure out where her inner strength came from.

"I'm sorry I broke down like that," she said resolutely, "It won't happen again."

She stood up and closed her suitcase, "I've got everything, unless you want me to take the pictures of us."

"No, that's ok, I can put them in storage or something."

"That's fine," she said in a professional tone of voice, "You probably want your necklace and bracelet back."

She started to take her bracelet off. Jericho put his hand and stopped her. He had given her that, and he didn't want her to give it back. They were something he had given her out of love and they were hers forever.

"Steph, those are yours, keep em."

"Only if you keep your necklace," she bargained.

He laughed a little, "Ok, ok."

"Would you mind helping me with these things?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, grabbing a suitcase.

She grabbed one of the smaller bags. Together they walked out to her rental car and loaded up the trunk. They seemed to be going slowly, Jericho realized. He guessed they didn't really want to leave because that would be it between them. Finally her bags were in her car and she turned to him.

"I guess this is goodbye," she said.

"Yeah," he answered dumbly, not knowing what else he could possibly say in this awkward situation.

"Good luck."

"With what?"

"Your match on Sunday, your match next week on Raw, every match from here on out, good luck in life, I figure I should just cover all the bases now."

"Thanks, you too, well good luck being the general manager."

"Thank you, not just for that, but for everything in general. You've kept the past three years of my life interesting."

He smiled, "So have you."

"It's all been memorable, and we've had our ups and downs, but I wouldn't give it back for anything."

"Neither would I," he told her.

"It's going to be hard not talking to you ever again," she said, looking down.

"Yeah, but once time passes, you'll probably forget about me, you'll be too busy and everything."

"Maybe," she told him.

"And you'll find someone," he said, "And he'll make you ten times happier than I ever did."

"I highly doubt that."

"Eh, it's true, and then you'll get married again, have kids, the whole thing, and you'll be happy."

"It won't be as much fun as I would've had with you."

"You'll see," he said, punching her shoulder lightly.

"It was amazing though wasn't it? WE were amazing."

Jericho thought back to the last ten months. He thought back to when he first told her he loved her, Stephanie's birthday, his surprise birthday party, Christmas, and every moment in between. They did have fun together.

"Yeah, we were amazing," he said, smiling wistfully.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, neither one of them wanting to say goodbye. Jericho was remembering a oldie song that he had heard on the radio once. The lyrics went something like "Neither one of us, neither one of us, want to be the first to say goodbye." This was exactly like it. Neither one of them wanted to be the first to let go.

Jericho leaned in and kissed her softly. Stephanie kissed him back, though at first a bit reluctantly. He ran his hand down her cheek as he pulled away and looked into her eyes. He gave her one last kiss, letting his lips linger on hers for a moment.

"Goodbye Chris," she whispered as she pulled away.

"Goodbye Steph."

Jericho took a few steps away from her as she got into her car. He crossed his arms and watched as she started the car. She gave him one last sorrow filled look before pulling out of the driveway. Jericho watched her drive away, staying in the same spot until her car disappeared around the corner.

It was really over.


	94. No More Mr America, May 15, 2003

Stephanie held her chin high. Just like Jericho had been telling her that he was going to start a new life, then she was going to start one too. Just because she and Jericho had broken up didn't mean that life had to end for her. She could have a new life, one that didn't include Jericho.  
  
She walked into her office and sat down behind her desk. Who was she kidding? She was taking this break up horribly. She didn't want to be away from Jericho, she just wanted to go home. What's sad is that she considered home Jericho's house. It was weird to say that, Jericho's house, it had been their house and she had gotten used to calling it as such. Now she wasn't welcomed there.  
  
"Princess?"  
  
Stephanie looked up at her father and gave him a weak smile, "Hi Dad."  
  
"You look upset," he said, studying her for a moment.  
  
"I've just been under a lot of stress lately."  
  
"Then you should go out more, I never see you out."  
  
"Daddy, please don't start with this whole 'you should start dating' thing again."  
  
"Why not?" he asked, sitting down in the chair across from her.  
  
"Because it wouldn't do any good. And besides I have been out on dates since Hunter and I broke up."  
  
"You have? And I didn't know about it?" Vince said, his brow furrowing, not liking the sound of his daughter having been out and him not meeting these men.  
  
"Daddy, it was nothing big. It was just a couple dates, it didn't go anywhere," Stephanie lied.  
  
It was better to have her father think that she had been out on a few dates, then let him know she had had a long-term relationship. With one of his employees no less. He probably wouldn't be too receptive to that. And as much as she hated to say it, she loved Jericho and didn't want his ass kicked or fired if her dad found out that he had, more or less, broken her heart.  
  
"Ok, because you know I want to meet any boys that you date," he said sternly.  
  
"Daddy, I know," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, "So did you come in here to talk about anything?"  
  
"As a matter of fact I did, you know how I feel about Mr. America."  
  
"Yes, I do," Stephanie said, switching to her professional voice.  
  
"Well, I'm sending out an open contract for him at Judgment Day, and whoever I feel will fit in the match best, I'll let them have the match."  
  
"That sounds fine, did you have anyone particular in mind?"  
  
"Not as of this moment."  
  
"Well, since you are the owner you know you can go out and announce this to the wrestlers and see who is up to the challenge."  
  
"Yes, but there's also another matter I wanted to discuss."  
  
"Go ahead," she said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the chair.  
  
"Mr. America, Hogan, whoever, is under the impression that I'm angry with you, right?"  
  
"Yes, that's right."  
  
Vince gave her a look and she knew exactly what he was thinking. Her family was so conniving they didn't even have to voice their intentions, each one knowing what the next was thinking. He wanted to lure Hogan into a state of false trust, and then somewhere down the line they would strike out against him.  
  
"If that's how you want it to go down, I can live with that," Stephanie told him.  
  
"Good, good. I'm glad you're on board with this."  
  
"You know I love a good plan Daddy."  
  
"That I do Princess."  
  
Stephanie smiled, "Is that all you wanted?"  
  
"Yes," Vince said, getting up from his seat.  
  
"I'll see you later Daddy," Stephanie said, smiling.  
  
"You will, and Stephanie leave early tonight and go have fun somewhere."  
  
"Why Daddy?" she asked.  
  
"Because you look like you need a little excitement in your life," Vince said, winking at her before exiting the room.  
  
Stephanie sighed and laughed hollowly. Excitement, her life had too much of that lately. That and drama, it was too much for her. She didn't want to go out, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She'd much rather go home and curl up in bed and read a nice, soothing book.  
  
She watched as the show began and her father went out to make his little announcement. To be quite honest, she didn't want Hogan on her roster. She just had to play up like she did. Maybe someday she could trade him for Jericho, then there'd be no way he could resist her if he saw her every week.  
  
She smiled as she watched Brock decimate the FBI. That was what she liked to see, someone taking leadership, and showing people who was boss. She was glad she had someone on her roster who was an obvious leader. She decided that she would go commend Brock for his good work.  
  
Ok, so that wasn't the only reason that she wanted to talk to him. If Jericho was watching, and she knew he would be, then he'd get jealous if he saw her talking to Brock. Even more jealous when she endlessly complimented him. Maybe that was the best way to get him back, make him jealous. She smirked mischievously at the idea and left her office.  
  
She walked to where she knew Brock would be and went to stop him as he continued to walk down the large arena space. Time to go into nice mode, maybe with a little flirt mixed in there. Jericho, be prepared to see me moving on, she thought.  
  
"Brock, hey Brock," she called out, walking over to him, "What you just did out there was so impressive Brock. FBI deserved everything they got out there. You know what, you're going to have to bring that same intensity, that same fire, that same aggression this Sunday at Judgment Day. We haven't had a stretcher match in over seventeen years. Do you know why? Because a stretcher match is the most barbaric, brutal match that there is in this business. Nobody wins that match unless someone leaves on a stretcher, Brock. That's brutality, that's being a barbarian, and that's what you are. You are the best pure athlete in this business Brock and I just hope you bring that same aggression this Sunday."  
  
Stephanie walked away, satisfied with her performance. She knew she had to go after the big guns to get Jericho's attention. He wouldn't care if it was one of the lower guys, he'd think that she was just doing her job. But one of the top guys, someone who didn't need her encouragement, it was sure to drive him through the roof.  
  
Meanwhile, someone had seen this little segment. Someone had seen it and could feel the bile rising up in his throat. He didn't want to feel this way, but it just made him feel angry. He scowled as he watched his ex- girlfriend give that overgrown monster a pep talk.  
  
"So Chris, why haven't you said anything?" Kurt asked over the phone.  
  
"What is there to say?" Jericho said through clenched teeth.  
  
"A little hard to see her like that?"  
  
"No, not at all."  
  
"Liar," Kurt said straightforwardly.  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"Jericho, admit it, you don't like seeing her give him a pep talk, because you're the one that wants her to be giving you pep talks."  
  
"Shut up Angle."  
  
"It's true and you know it. I bet you you're going to lose on Sunday because you won't have her there as your lucky charm."  
  
"I lose when I was with her dumbass," Jericho said, not wanting to continue talking about his ex-girlfriend.  
  
"Yeah, but having her around made those losses seem a little bit easier didn't it?"  
  
"No," Jericho said, though it sounded fake.  
  
"Stop lying."  
  
"It doesn't matter anyways, we're not talking."  
  
"You're not even talking to her?"  
  
"No, I severed all ties between us. We're just two people who work in the same company."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm the fucking Dalai Lama," Kurt scoffed, "You two are two of the most stubborn, out there people I know. You're fucking clueless you know that."  
  
"Doesn't matter," Jericho said, "Besides, I have a date on Sunday."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, YOU have a date?" Kurt asked incredulously.  
  
"Yup, that's right, a date."  
  
"With who?"  
  
"Molly Holly," Jericho told him.  
  
Kurt burst out laughing. Jericho and..........Molly? That was such an absurd combination if you asked him. Jericho was loud, obnoxious, and most of all, crude. Molly was wholesome, pure, and much too nice for her own good. What the hell was Jericho thinking? Being with Stephanie had obviously made him crazy.  
  
"And what is so funny?" Jericho asked.  
  
Kurt managed to stop laughing, "You and Molly? You, Chris Jericho, and Molly Holly? Oh my God!"  
  
"What?" Jericho asked, not knowing what Kurt found so funny.  
  
"Could you two be any more wrong for each other?"  
  
"Hey! Maybe we're very right for each other," Jericho contended.  
  
"Yeah right, you guys don't even have anything in common besides wrestling."  
  
"Sure we do."  
  
"Like?"  
  
"Well I haven't been out with her yet, but I'm sure there's something else we have in common. Besides she's really nice, and I think I need a nice girl right now."  
  
"Why? Because you think Stephanie was such a bitch?"  
  
"She's not a bitch!" Jericho cried out, then caught himself, "What I mean is, maybe I need someone who's not like me to keep things interesting."  
  
"Oh because things were so not interesting with Stephanie."  
  
"Give it up Kurt, Steph and I are over, through, finito."  
  
"Sure, but don't come crying to me when you realize you've made a huge mistake and want to go crawling back to Stephanie, because Jericho? That's exactly what's going to happen."  
  
Kurt hung up the phone and Jericho listened to the dial tone for a few moments before hanging up the phone. His friends were idiots, being so unsupportive of him. Didn't they understand that moving on and away from Stephanie was better for him, and most likely for her.  
  
But as he sat there, watching as Stephanie walked into her office to see two vases of roses, a part of him wished that he had been the one to send her roses. Another part of him wondered who the hell sent them to her and if he was going to have to kick some guy's ass. No, he thought, she's not mine anymore.  
  
Stephanie was also wishing that these roses were from Jericho. Maybe an apology was written on the cards. He had sent her flowers a long, long time ago. After he had kissed her for the first time. During Fully Loaded, that was when, 2000, almost three years ago. Had it really been that long since her and Jericho had first kissed.  
  
She remembered thinking the flowers were from her husband, but they weren't. They were from Jericho all along. Dozens and dozens of beautiful flowers, enough to fill her entire locker room. He said it was to psych out her husband before their Last Man Standing Match, but maybe just maybe he had sent them because he unconsciously loved her. Who knew?  
  
Unfortunately the roses weren't from him. They were from Hogan and Mr. America. Or if she wanted to be correct, Hogan and Hogan. It was a nice gesture, but one she didn't really want. Her father came in and she knew it was time to put on her act for the evening.  
  
As soon as her father had smashed the vases, Stephanie walked back in. Her and her father had put on quite the little show. It was always fun to pretend like she hated family. She loved tricking everyone into thinking a certain way.  
  
"You ruined my flowers Daddy," Stephanie laughed as she looked down at the broken vases.  
  
"If you want flowers so badly, I'll have some sent to you."  
  
"No thanks, I'm just going to head out, you said I could right?"  
  
"Yes, of course, you have a nice evening."  
  
"Thanks Daddy, I will sincerely try."  
  
Stephanie got her things and started to leave the arena. She was grateful for the night off. Work was becoming harder and harder, or so it seemed. It might just be because she didn't really have anyone to rant to anymore. God, had it only been a couple weeks since they had broken up, it seemed like much, much longer.  
  
As she was walking out she saw Hogan in his Mr. America get-up and decided to play it up a little. She pretended not to know him and even kissed him on the cheek. Man, she had to have a lot of guts to do that, considering Hogan was really old.  
  
She went back to her hotel and got into her comfy pajamas and go into bed. She stared up at the ceiling, not knowing if she wanted to think or just go to sleep. If she lay there and thought about things, she knew she'd become depressed. So maybe sleep was the answer.  
  
She closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would come quickly. And when sleep came she wouldn't be plagued by thoughts of Jericho and her together. As she started to drift off, her cell phone rang and she reached for it blindly in the dark. She fumbled with it for a second before answering.  
  
"Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"Hey Steph, it's Kurt."  
  
"Hey Kurt, what's up?"  
  
"I just wanted to talk to you."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie said, a little confused, "Anything in particular?"  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"I'm ok, how are you?"  
  
"I'm good, um, I talked to Chris tonight," Kurt said nonchalantly.  
  
"Oh, you did?"  
  
"Yeah, and well, I have news."  
  
"If it's bad, I might not want to hear it Kurt," Stephanie said, trying to preserve herself from further hurt.  
  
"Ok then."  
  
"So it is bad," she said.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry Steph, I just thought you'd like to know."  
  
"Well then, go ahead and tell me," she said, preparing herself for the worst.  
  
"Chris has a date on Sunday," Kurt said gently.  
  
Stephanie didn't want the tears to come, but damn it they did, "Oh."  
  
"Steph, I'm sorry, but I felt like you should at least know. I mean, I know it's hard, but well, maybe this will help you to move on or something."  
  
"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said, trying to maintain the slightest bit of composure, "Who's it with?"  
  
"Stephanie, are you sure you want to know?"  
  
"I want to know," she said firmly.  
  
"Molly Holly."  
  
Stephanie's jaw dropped. Molly?!? Of all the women he chose Molly. That was downright absurd for him. What were Jericho's motives in asking Molly of all people. She wasn't Jericho's type. Stephanie was Jericho's type.  
  
Suddenly she felt heaps better. Jericho was obviously trying to forget her. And if he was trying to forget her, that meant part of him still cared about her, despite his attempts to break away from her.  
  
"That's great," Stephanie said.  
  
"It is."  
  
"Yes, no way could he stand more than one date with Molly Holly."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Yes, I know so. I mean, Jericho is, well, he likes, you know," Stephanie said, embarrassed, "And Molly is just not his type of girl if you catch my drift."  
  
"So you think this could work to your advantage?"  
  
"I think it has a strong chance."  
  
"And if it does."  
  
"Chris will be back with me in no time." 


	95. Oh No! Not H and Steph! Judgment Day, Ma...

A/N: I didn't see Judgment Day, so if some of the stuff I said doesn't really, quite exactly go with the show, I'm sorry, I tried my best.  
  
The first plan was to win the Intercontinental title. He just had to go through a few other guys to do that. And Christian would be in the match so maybe they could team together a little to eliminate the other guys. That could work to his favor, not that he'd ask Christian to take it easy on him or anything, he didn't want to deny his friend a chance to win the match.  
  
The second plan was to have a good time with Molly tonight. He knew that she was a good person and wanted to make a good impression for her. He had brought a nice change of clothes for later that evening. He wanted everything to go perfect tonight for the two of them.  
  
The third plan, and probably the most difficult was to avoid Stephanie. This was the last time he'd have to see her until SummerSlam, since the brand only shows were starting next month. If he could get through the next few hours, then he wouldn't have to see or talk to her in person for the next few months.  
  
Sure, it sounded simple and he hadn't talked to Stephanie since she moved out of his house almost a week ago, but he knew that saying he wouldn't talk to her was easier said than done. Maybe they'd be on separate parts of the arena and they wouldn't even see each other. That would be best.  
  
He walked to his dressing room and set his things down. This would be the first Pay Per View they were on since she had come back that they weren't together for. It seemed a little weird to be honest. Looking back it had been kind of fun sneaking around to see her. They had lots of fun pretending to be like secret agents on some sort of covert mission. Man, they were kind of losers weren't they?  
  
"Hey man," Christian's voice came from the door. Trish was at his side.  
  
"Hey you guys, you look quite cozy together," Jericho commented.  
  
Trish smiled up at Christian, "I guess you can say that."  
  
"So what's the deal with you two? Are you back together?"  
  
"Well, we talked," Trish started.  
  
"And kissed," Christian finished.  
  
"So I guess yeah, we're back together," Trish said, a little bashfully as she looked up at Christian.  
  
"Well, it's about time you two, it only took you forever to get back together," Jericho said, getting up to hug Trish.  
  
"Yeah, but she's worth the wait," Christian said, kissing Trish's temple.  
  
"You should take a cue from us Chris," Trish told him.  
  
"And what do you mean by that?"  
  
"Well, I had to break up with Christian to realize that he was actually the one for me, and look at us now, happy..........doesn't that remind you of another couple Chrissy?"  
  
"Hmm, now that you mention it Trish, it does sound like another couple that we know," Christian answered her.  
  
"You guys, will you give it up?" Jericho said, "I'm happy you two are together I really am, but please don't try to tell me that it means that Stephanie and I will get together."  
  
"Fine, fine, we were just trying to help," Christian said, dragging Trish over to the couch and sitting down, pulling her into his lap.  
  
Jericho rolled his eyes at the two of them and closed the door. He could feel a little bit of jealousy rising up in him that they were together and happy, and he hated feeling like this. Oh well, hopefully tonight he wouldn't have to be alone again. He sat on the couch opposite them.  
  
"So tell us all about this date you have planned tonight," Trish said, sending a knowing glance to Christian.  
  
They were hoping to talk Jericho out of going tonight. Maybe they could knock some sense into him before the night was over and he'd go back to Stephanie. They knew tonight could very well be the last time that Stephanie and Jericho saw each other for months and they had to use it to it's full potential. If that meant pestering him all night, then that's what they had to do.  
  
At worst, Jericho could go out with Molly tonight and hopefully he would have a miserable time. Trish, Christian, Shane, Edge, and Kurt had had a long conference call yesterday about the absurdity of Jericho and Molly going out, and just in general plotting on how to get Stephanie and Jericho back together. Stephanie and Jericho weren't the only ones who could come up with plans around these parts. The other five could see that Jericho and Stephanie belonged together, even if the two parties involved refused to acknowledge it.  
  
"Well, we're going out to dinner, that's about it," Jericho said.  
  
"Oh, that's it, no dinner and dancing, dinner and a movie, dinner and bowling?" Trish said, trying to sound innocent when she said bowling knowing that's what Jericho had taken Stephanie to on their first date. Of course Jericho didn't know that Trish knew that's what they had done on their first date.  
  
The last suggestion had hit its intended target and Jericho gulped, "No, just dinner. I'm not too sure what Molly likes to do."  
  
"Oh, if you wanted I could find that out for you," Trish told him.  
  
"That's ok, I'd rather find out for myself."  
  
"Yeah, that's cool, I think I heard she liked bowling, do you like bowling?" Trish said, tilting her head to the side trying to act curious.  
  
"Um, I've been bowling a few times, you know, nothing big," he said uncomfortably.  
  
"Chrissy and I went bowling, I beat him, didn't I Chrissy?"  
  
"Yeah, I hated it, nothing worse than losing to a girl," Christian said, knowing that Stephanie had beat Jericho at bowling.  
  
Jericho felt like he was being tortured, they weren't bringing up Stephanie, but this was just as bad. He kept thinking about their first date and that was not a good thing considering he had a first date with another woman that very evening.  
  
"So Christian, about our match, I was thinking we could work together," Jericho said quickly, trying to change the subject.  
  
Christian gave Trish a calculating gaze, plan was working, "What did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well, I was just thinking that if the opportunity ever came up that we could do a little double teaming on our opponents."  
  
"That sounds ok, but I won't hesitate to eliminate you if I see the opportunity," Christian said to him.  
  
"Oh, of course, we are opponents after all."  
  
"Ok, then it's cool with me," Christian said.  
  
"Great," Jericho said, "So Trish, anxious for your match?"  
  
"Yeah, I just want my title back is all," she said.  
  
"I know how that goes," Jericho laughed, "Hell I even competed in a match with Stephanie to try to get it back."  
  
"Heh, that's right, I remember that," Christian said, "You two were hilarious."  
  
"It was pretty funny," Jericho said reminiscing.  
  
"Well, we're going to head out, we need to get ready for our matches," Trish said, getting up and dragging Christian out of the dressing room so Jericho could think about Stephanie.  
  
"So do you think he misses her?" Christian asked as he and Trish walked towards their dressing room.  
  
"Are you kidding me? Did you see him in there, all he was doing was thinking about her!"  
  
"That's good then right?"  
  
"Oh Chrissy, you poor thing," Trish said, pulling his arm around her waist, "It's very good, it means that he wants her, and hopefully he'll want her back soon."  
  
"So the plan is working then?"  
  
"Yes, I dare say it is," she grinned, pulling him into their dressing room.  
  
Stephanie passed silently by Jericho's dressing room. Oh, how much she wanted to go in there, but she couldn't. She was afraid to find out what was behind that door, maybe he was with Molly or something. She wanted to gag at the thought. Her man and Molly, it was so.........wrong.  
  
Molly was all wrong for him. It was like when she was with Hunter, he was all wrong for her, but she didn't realize that until it was too late. Maybe the same thing would happen with Jericho. But wait, Stephanie smirked as an idea flitted into her mind. The one thing Jericho had always hated about Stephanie was the fact that she was married to Hunter. He had told her when they had been together that he had never really hated her, but hated the fact she had married an asshole like Hunter, and if that was the truth then. Stephanie smiled and made her way back to her office to sort this thing out.  
  
She picked up her cell phone and called Kurt, "Hey Kurt."  
  
"Steph, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm at the show."  
  
"Great, how's it going?"  
  
"You're not watching it?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"I was just about to turn it on, I went out for a jog."  
  
"Oh, I see, well, it's just the Steiner and Test match against those French guys," Stephanie said, glancing at her monitor.  
  
"Oh, have I missed anything good?"  
  
"No, not really," she told him, "Your team's match is on next."  
  
"Cool, I'd like to see them retain," he said, "So why'd you call?"  
  
"I had a great idea," she said devilishly.  
  
"Oh great, and just what would this idea be?"  
  
"It involves Chris."  
  
"Well, aren't you going to tell me already?"  
  
"I'm going to hit him where it hurts," she said deviously.  
  
"You're going to kick him in the crotch?" Kurt asked confused.  
  
"No, Kurt," Stephanie said rolling her eyes, "Hunter."  
  
"Shit, Stephanie what are you going to do?" Kurt asked, not liking the direction that this was going in. Bringing Triple H into the picture was never a good thing, never.  
  
"I'm going to be nice to my dear ex-husband, maybe I can convince him that we should go out."  
  
"Stephanie," Kurt said warningly, "Don't do this to yourself."  
  
"Don't do what Kurt?"  
  
"Stephanie, don't put yourself in a situation where you and Jericho try to one up each other just because you guys are feeling hurt."  
  
"Kurt, it's nothing like that, I just want to make him a little bit jealous."  
  
"This will snowball Stephanie and you might get caught in the crossfire, and I don't want that to happen to you, you're my friend," Kurt said seriously.  
  
"I appreciate that very much Kurt, but I'm not going to do anything that will hurt me in the long run."  
  
"I just don't want you to do anything you'll regret."  
  
"I promise I won't Kurt, ok?"  
  
"Ok, fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."  
  
"Ok, Kurt, I have to go now, but I will see you later."  
  
"Bye Steph.........and good luck."  
  
Stephanie hung up and thought about what Kurt had said. She wasn't going to do anything risky with Triple H. She knew that he had treated her badly in the past, but one night couldn't hurt could it? I mean, she was just doing it to get back at her ex-boyfriend. She sat back and watched the show, waiting for the perfect opportunity to see her ex-husband.  
  
Meanwhile, Jericho was getting ready for his match. He put his tights on and decided that he'd go see Molly to confirm them going out later tonight. Also, he needed reassurance that he was doing the right thing. He left his locker room and walked down the hallway searching for where she was hanging out. He eventually located it and knocked on the door, waiting for her to answer.  
  
"Chris, hi," she said cheerfully.  
  
He smiled, liking her enthusiasm, "Hey Molly, just coming to make sure we were going out later."  
  
"Of course we are," she smiled, "You're still coming to get me after your match right?"  
  
"Definitely, just wanted to make sure you weren't backing out," he winked.  
  
"No, I'd never do that without giving you prior notice," she said seriously.  
  
He laughed, "Good, I guess I'll see you later then."  
  
"Bye Chris," she said brightly.  
  
"Bye."  
  
He walked down the hallway where he gave an interview and then got in a scuffle with Piper. After that he headed down for his match, hoping he would once again know the taste of gold, even if it wasn't the gold he really wanted. That gold was around Triple H's waist.  
  
He looked strong in the match and thought he was doing a great job. He and Christian were soon facing off against Booker T and Goldust. Now was the chance for a little tag team action. Christian and Jericho were working well together, when all of a sudden, Christian eliminated him. Jericho stood shocked for a moment, not believing one of his best friends had eliminated. He eventually made his way to the backstage, still a little dazed about what happened. He looked up at the monitor in time to see Christian win the title. So it was by cheating, Jericho still felt a smile come to his face. If he couldn't win it, then he was glad his friend could.  
  
"Oh my God! Chris, Chris, did you see!?!" Trish said, bounding down the hallway, and coming over to give him a huge hug.  
  
"I did see, he did good."  
  
"I know! Oh my God! I'm so happy," she said, jumping up and down.  
  
"Trish, you might not want to jump up and down around here," Jericho said discreetly.  
  
Trish laughed, "Oh, be quiet you. I have every right to be happy, my boyfriend won the title."  
  
"Yeah, and he eliminated me," Jericho joked.  
  
"Yeah, but come on, you know that you're happy for him," she said, punching his shoulder lightly.  
  
"Yeah, I am, it's cool."  
  
"It is cool," Christian said, coming backstage, the title on his shoulder.  
  
"Chrissy!" Trish shouted, launching herself into his arms, "I'm so proud of you!"  
  
"Thanks Trishy," Christian said, hugging her back.  
  
"You are SO going to get lucky tonight," she told him.  
  
"Whoa, you two, that's too much information," Jericho said, "I just want to say congrats man."  
  
"Thanks, sorry bout eliminating you," Christian said.  
  
"Hey, you did what you had to do, but I gotta go get ready for my date so I'll see you later guys," Jericho said, giving them a short wave before leaving.  
  
Jericho looked back at them and saw Trish kissing Christian over and over, a big grin plastered on her face. He was happy fro his friends. Stephanie used to be that way too whenever he'd win, she'd be so happy. He shook his head and walked back to his dressing room to take a shower.  
  
Stephanie smiled as she saw Christian win. Sure, she had wanted Jericho to win because she loved him, but Christian was the next best thing. She was sure Trish and Christian would have tons of fun celebrating tonight, and they deserved it after all they had been through. She sat there a little while longer, contemplating her best course of action at getting to Triple H. It had to be somewhere where there would be cameras to capture it. She thought about it and decided that she'd hang around the gorilla and wait until it was time for Triple H's match and she would wish him luck or something to that affect. Satisfied with her plan she got up and went to the gorilla.  
  
A while later, Jericho stepped out of the shower and back into his locker room, a towel slung haphazardly around his waist. He grabbed some boxers and slipped them on, glancing at the television that he had tuned into the show. They were just showing the end of the Piper and Mr. America match. He grabbed the casual khakis from his bag and slipped them on when he saw Stephanie on the screen. He stopped putting his pants when he saw Stephanie stop Triple H on his way to the match and tell him to be careful during his match.  
  
Jericho stood there, mouth agape after watching the scene. What the fuck had that been about? Stephanie talking to Triple H, let alone being decent around him. This was not right, this was not right at all. He quickly pulled up his pants and grabbed his navy blue collared shirt, slipping it on. Something wasn't right, and he had to figure out what.  
  
He left his dressing room quickly, scanning the hallway but not seeing her in the immediate area. He wandered down the hallway when he saw Stephanie walking down. He ran over to her, but she just kept on walking right by him. He grabbed her gently by the arm and turned her around.  
  
Stephanie smirked before turning around. Seems Jericho had seen that little display that she had put on. Shocked her ex-husband too, that was a pretty funny sight to behold. Hunter seemed like he wanted to talk to her after she had said that, but she had left before he could. She turned to Jericho.  
  
"Excuse me," she said, "I was ordered not to talk to you or see you, so if you'll excuse me."  
  
"Stephanie, what was that?" he asked confused.  
  
"What was what?" she said innocently.  
  
"Don't play dumb with me Steph? Why were you talking to him?"  
  
"Oh, is there a law that says I can't."  
  
"Steph, you hate him."  
  
"Well, maybe I'm trying to mend fences, you know. I mean, I don't want any more guys being bitter with me."  
  
"Steph, don't lie, why would you even talk to him at all. After he hurt you and humiliated you.........."  
  
"Jericho," she said, "I can talk to whoever I want to."  
  
Jericho saw someone round the corner and pulled her into the nearest empty locker room, "Stephanie, what is wrong with you? Since when do you call me Jericho?"  
  
"I'm sorry, what would you have me call a stranger?" she said naively.  
  
"Stephanie, why the fuck were you being nice to him?"  
  
"Jericho, let me tell you this one time ok," she said testily, "I'm not yours anymore, and I don't have to answer to you."  
  
"Stephanie, I'm worried about you," Jericho pleaded.  
  
"You sure didn't seem that worried when you dumped me, or made me move out of your house, or made a date with Molly Holly," Stephanie said, driving the nail into his coffin.  
  
"So you go and talk to that asshole of a ex-husband or yours?"  
  
"You never had a problem talking to him, maybe I've been looking at this all differently. Maybe I did find the one guy I was supposed to be with. And maybe I made a mistake by divorcing him," she said, pretending to think about it.  
  
"I don't know you," Jericho said, looking at her in disgust.  
  
"Sure you do Chris, you just never got to feel my wrath because stupid me fell in love with you," Stephanie said, putting on her best act. She knew that she had Jericho fuming.  
  
"It wasn't stupid, we weren't stupid," Jericho said, not realizing he was falling right into the palm of her hand.  
  
"Looking back, I can't help but feel that we were," she said, brushing past him, "So I guess this is really our swan song. See you later Chris, you won't even have to know I exist."  
  
She walked out and left Jericho standing there, wondering what the hell had just happened. That wasn't the Stephanie that he loved. That was the bitch Stephanie that had been with Triple H. Oh dear God, what if they were like going to get back together or something. He wanted to rush to her and tell her to stop.  
  
No, his mind screamed. Don't make that mistake, let her be her own person. He resolved himself and went back to his locker room, getting his things. He was determined to have a good night tonight if it killed him. He got his things and went to where Molly was. She was anticipating his arrival and picked up her purse.  
  
"Hey there," she said.  
  
"Hey, you ready?" he asked.  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
"Great, come on," Jericho said, starting to walk down the hallway, Molly standing by his side.  
  
"So where are we going?"  
  
"Out to dinner, I hope you haven't eaten."  
  
"No, I'm starving, dinner sounds wonderful."  
  
"Great."  
  
They reached Jericho's car, and like the gentlemen that he was, he took her things and put them in the backseat before opening the car door for her. She got inside and he closed the door behind her before running over to his side of the door. He got in and started driving towards the restaurant.  
  
They drove to the restaurant in moderate silence, every once and while someone asking something and the other one answering. Jericho didn't want to admit it, but he had that Triple H and Stephanie scene playing through his mind on a continuous loop. What had possessed Stephanie to talk to him?  
  
They reached the restaurant and Jericho helped Molly out of the car. They walked inside and got a table immediately. After sitting down, looking at the menus for several minutes, and ordering, they finally had the chance to really talk face to face.  
  
"You're match was great tonight," she told him.  
  
"Yeah, I'm just sorry I didn't win."  
  
"Yeah, but at least you made it to the final three, you should be proud of yourself. You would've made a great IC champion."  
  
"Thanks," he smiled, "You were a great Women's Champion."  
  
"Oh, thank you," she blushed.  
  
"I love that Molly-Go-Round move you do, it's really unique," he said.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I was a gymnast so I thought I'd fit that in with my wrestling as well," she told him.  
  
"That's cool, I used to play hockey," he said, trying to make small talk.  
  
"Yeah, that's awesome," she said.  
  
The rest of the evening was filled with good food and good conversation. The time seemed to fly and the found themselves walking to Molly's hotel room. They stopped in front of it and Molly turned to Jericho.  
  
"You were a great date," she said, giving him a grin.  
  
"Thanks, you too," he said.  
  
He had genuinely had a good time tonight. Sure, his mind was on Stephanie half the time, but during the other half, Molly had been a lot of fun. She was like the antithesis of Stephanie and right now, that was a good thing.  
  
"So, I'll talk to you tomorrow at Raw?" she asked.  
  
"Definitely, I'd love to go out with you again," he replied truthfully.  
  
"So would I," she said a bit bashfully.  
  
"Cool."  
  
Jericho was leaning in ever so slowly to kiss her. Stephanie had been more than willing to kiss on their first date. In fact, they had actually gone into her hotel room and made out for a while on their first date. Jericho leaned in a little more and then felt Molly's hand in his own. He pulled away a little embarrassed and shook her hand.  
  
"See ya Chris," she said, opening her hotel room door and then shutting it in his face.  
  
Jericho stood their for a moment, a little under whelmed by what had just happened. He wasn't expecting the whole making out thing he had had with Stephanie, but well, a little kiss wouldn't have hurt. He knew that Molly was a bit.........on the pure side, but come on one kiss. Oh well, some girls just didn't feel comfortable kissing on the first date. Stephanie wasn't one of those girls, but damn it, he needed to stop thinking about that.  
  
Instead he thought about how much he'd like to go out with Molly again. 


	96. Chris Should've Hit Someone, May 19, 200...

Jericho examined his nose in the mirror of his locker room. It looked a lot better than last night. He thought the band-aid looked a little stupid, but if he didn't wear it then he knew that his nose would start bleeding again. Molly had asked if he was ok last night and that made him feel good to have someone at least a little bit worried about him.  
  
Of course, Stephanie would've been worried out of her mind had he been hurt in any of his matches. Hell, maybe she felt concern for him last night, but after that little chat they had had after he had seen Stephanie and Triple H talking, he wasn't so sure if she would ever feel concern for him again.  
  
He hadn't seen that side of Stephanie in the longest time, not since they had been business partners, and that hadn't even been directed at him. The last time he had actually been at the receiving end of her anger was around Survivor Series in 2001. It had been a long time since Stephanie had let her inner bitch come out.  
  
He wasn't sure he liked being back at odds with her. They'd been together, lived together, slept together, loved each other, and now they were back to square one. Honestly, he had never really, truly hated her, but well, he hadn't liked her very much. He couldn't see himself ever hating her again, but after the way she acted last night, he could go back to disliking her.  
  
"How's the nose?" Christian asked, walking into Jericho's dressing room.  
  
"It's ok, it's not injured or anything, just got a cut."  
  
"That's good."  
  
"Yeah," Jericho said, turning around, "Holy shit!"  
  
"I know."  
  
Jericho stood wide-eyed as he looked at Christian, "Oh my fucking God, when the hell did you cut your hair?"  
  
"This morning, you like?" Christian said, running a hand through his newly shorn hair.  
  
"Surprisingly, it looks good. I didn't expect that," Jericho said, smiling at him.  
  
"Yeah, that's what Trish said, I just decided it was time for a new look."  
  
"Well, it suits you, I'm just still shocked that you cut it all off. I guess that it goes with your win huh?"  
  
"You can say that yes," Christian told him.  
  
"Did Trish talk you into it?"  
  
"Nah, she just went along with it."  
  
"That's cool, so do you have a match tonight?"  
  
"Nah, just came to hang out."  
  
"Oh, that's cool, but how would you like to be on the hottest show around?" Jericho said, an idea formulating in his mind.  
  
"And what show would that be?"  
  
"Mine of course," Jericho said, smirking.  
  
"Well, I guess so."  
  
"Well, don't get too excited or anything," Jericho said, crossing his arms in front of him and sulking.  
  
"I'm excited, don't worry about it," Christian told him, laughing, "But right now, I've got to get back to my woman."  
  
"Ok, I guess you don't want to know how my date went last night," Jericho said, turning around.  
  
"Holy shit, I completely forgot," Christian said, grabbing his friend's shoulder and turning him around, "I think some part of me still thinks that you're with Stephanie."  
  
"So you DO want to know how it went?"  
  
"Absolutely, spill, did you get a kiss at the end of the night?"  
  
"No, I couldn't believe it, I got denied. I mean, we had fun and all, I just don't think she's the type that kisses on a first date."  
  
"Oh, that's cool I guess," Christian told him, "So how was the dinner?"  
  
"It was fun actually, we had a good time. She's a really nice girl you know. Like wholesome, down-to-earth, you really don't meet those type of girls a lot anymore. She's very comfortable with herself. When I was able to concentrate that is."  
  
"Why weren't you able to concentrate?"  
  
"What happened between Trips and Stephanie last night," Jericho said dully.  
  
Christian had talked to Kurt that morning and had found out Stephanie's motives behind talking to her ex-husband. He had to admit she was a wily girl. He decided to play along and think that Stephanie was really purposely trying to be nice to Triple H.  
  
"Oh yeah, I saw that, bummer man."  
  
"I know, I mean, I just don't get why she would talk to him out of the blue like that. It just doesn't make sense."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, it makes you wonder if they're getting back together or something," Christian said mischievously, wondering what Jericho's reaction would be.  
  
"What? What makes you think that?"  
  
"I don't know, I'm just saying," he shrugged.  
  
"Wait a second, do you know something that I don't," Jericho said, grabbing Christian's shoulders, "If you know something you have to tell me."  
  
"Dude, I don't know anything."  
  
"Ok, it's just she was being a real bitch when I talked to her last night. Just like she had been with him. So it made me think, sorry," Jericho said, loosening his grasp on Christian.  
  
"It's ok, I just don't know anything."  
  
"Ok, well, I guess I better get ready for my show," Jericho said, turning to his bag.  
  
"Yeah, good idea," Christian said, leaving.  
  
Christian took a short walk to his and Trish's dressing room and walked in. Trish was combing out her hair and looked up at him as he walked in. She smiled sweetly at him and he returned it before coming to sit next to her on the couch. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.  
  
"You should've seen Jericho just now," Christian said idly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He was like insanely jealous of the Stephanie and Triple H thing last night."  
  
Trish put her comb down and looked at him, "Tell."  
  
"Well, he practically grabbed me and demanded to know if I knew any of the motives behind Stephanie going up to him, and if they were back together."  
  
"Oh my God, that's great," she said excitedly.  
  
"Yeah, but man was he upset.........but on the bad side, he had fun with Molly last night."  
  
"Oh, who cares, the good thing is that he was jealous. This is going great, they'll never be able to stay apart for long."  
  
"I wonder sometimes, they're both so stubborn and you know that neither one will admit when they're wrong," Christian responded uncertainly.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right.........a little, just a little."  
  
Jericho walked down the corridor, mentally preparing himself for the highlight reel. He decided to see if Molly was around and headed towards the women's locker room. Stopping in front of the door he ran a hand down his face making sure he looked presentable. Reminded him of the time that he had done the same thing for Stephanie and then she had refused to hug him, and that had been the catalyst for..........nothing, Jericho reminded himself. It was over. He knocked firmly on the door.  
  
"Who is it?" a voice came from behind the heavy door.  
  
"It's Jericho, can I talk to Molly."  
  
"Just a sec."  
  
There were some hushed voices and some muffling that Jericho could hear. He waited for a few seconds wondering what was taking so long. He looked down just as the door opened and he quickly looked back up, into Molly's smiling face. She always had a smile on her face, it was very pleasant.  
  
"Chris!"  
  
"Hey Molly, I just wanted to see how you were," he said, smiling back.  
  
"That's so sweet, I'm great, how are you?"  
  
"Pretty good."  
  
"How's your nose, I see you have it covered up."  
  
He rubbed her nose a little, "It's ok, just a trick of the trade I suppose."  
  
"Yeah, that seems about right," she giggled, "So what brings you here?"  
  
"Like I said, just wanted to see how you were.........and maybe wanted to see if you wanted to go out with me again."  
  
"Again? Wow, I'd love to," she said, "How about we go out this weekend, you live in Florida right?"  
  
"Yeah and you live in Pittsburgh right?" he said. (A/N: I don't know where she actually lives so don't fault me. ;) )  
  
"Yeah, is that a problem I mean, we can make it after Raw next week or something."  
  
"No, that's ok, I can stay with Kurt Angle, we're friends."  
  
"Ok, how about Saturday then?" she said.  
  
"Great, I'll see you then," he said, smiling at her, not knowing if she would accept a hug or not.  
  
He didn't have to wait to find out as she hugged him, "I'll see you then, but before we part, let me give you my address and phone number."  
  
She left the door for a few minutes and then came back with a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote something down on the paper and tore it off. She handed it to him, her smile never waning once.  
  
"Here's mine, and now," she said, giving him the pen and paper, "You can give me yours."  
  
"Ok," he laughed, scribbling down his number and address, "There you go."  
  
"Great, I'll call you and iron out the details for this weekend."  
  
"Ok, I've gotta go do my show, but I'll talk to you later," he said, walking backwards away from her.  
  
"Bye Chris."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jericho turned around and smiled. Things with him and Molly were running pretty smoothly. He tucked the paper into the top of his boots and walked to the gorilla and out onto the stage for his show. Judging from his other shows, he knew it'd be interesting, especially since he had his buddy Christian on it.  
  
Jericho and Christian looked at each other in disbelief. They had to have a match right now. Neither one of them was prepared, hell, Christian was still in street clothes, but they still were making them wrestle. They walked down tentatively towards the ring, not wanting to go through with this, but not having much choice.  
  
"So much for my night off," Christian muttered.  
  
"Well, if it weren't for RVD coming out, none of this would've happened," Jericho said to him.  
  
"I know, this sucks royally."  
  
They got down to the ring and started the match. Both guys tried to put their all into it, like they did every other match they were in, but being so short a notice, they didn't really have it all to give. They were more concerned with just getting through the match rather than having the actual match. And because of this, they didn't even see Booker coming and they were forced to leave the ring. They walked backstage together.  
  
"Damn it, that sucked," Jericho said.  
  
"I know, well, I'm going back to Trish, and we're going back to the hotel."  
  
"Ok, see you man," Jericho said, seeing Triple H walking down the hallway, "I've got to go talk to someone."  
  
Christian looked down the hallway, "Whoa, whoa, whoa man, what are you going to do?"  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kick his ass or anything," Jericho reassured him.  
  
"So, that doesn't mean you aren't going to cuss him out or something."  
  
"I won't, I'm just going to talk," Jericho said, leaving his friend.  
  
Jericho sighed and walked on, contemplating what he would say. He and Triple H had gotten kind of buddy buddy recently, so it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to talk to him. Now breaching the subject of Stephanie was going to be the hard part.  
  
"Hey Trips," Jericho called out.  
  
Triple H turned around, "What's up Jericho?"  
  
"Just wanted to wish you good luck in your match tonight," Jericho lied.  
  
"Thanks man," he said, pulling on his knee pads.  
  
"So, you're match last night, pretty...........brutal," Jericho said, trying to think up an appropriate word to call it other than the one that was running through his mind. Crap didn't seem right for the moment.  
  
"Yeah, I'm cool though."  
  
"So I saw your ex telling you to be careful," Jericho said delicately.  
  
"Yeah, wasn't that weird?"  
  
"Yeah, it was."  
  
"I mean, we don't talk for months and all of a sudden she's being all nice to me. I think she wants back with me," Hunter smirked.  
  
Jericho wanted nothing more than to bash his face in and make him suffer, but he had to hold back, "Maybe she was just being nice."  
  
"Maybe, but I can tell she wanted me," he said, nudging Jericho's shoulder, "If you get what I'm saying."  
  
Jericho wanted to gag, "Yeah, so have you talked to her since."  
  
"Nah, I'll let her come to me though."  
  
"Oh, um, great. I gotta go," Jericho said quickly, leaving.  
  
He walked briskly back to his locker room and grabbed a towel. He headed straight for the shower. He needed to get his head on straight. This Stephanie and Triple H thing was just messing with his mind. He kept trying to wrap his mind around it, but it just wasn't computing. Why just kept running through his head. Why? Why? Why?  
  
He got out of the shower after staying in there for a while and wrapped the towel around his waist. He walked out of the dressing room just in time to see Lance confess that it was him that had ordered Lance to drive over Goldberg. Uh-oh, Jericho thought, he'd been busted.  
  
He had sort of forgotten that he had asked Lance to run over Goldberg for him in light of recent events with Stephanie and now it was coming back to haunt him. He had just wanted to get a little revenge on Goldberg, but this was not what he wanted. Well, he'd just have to get out of here and quick. He got dressed quickly and hurried towards his rental car. He wasn't quick enough as Coach caught up with him for an interview. He gave one quickly and then high tailed it the way out of there.  
  
He relaxed once he got away from the highway. He made the short trip to his hotel and got out. Grabbing his things he went upstairs and into his empty room. He threw his bag down and went into the bedroom where the message light was flashing on his phone. He jumped on the bed and grabbed the phone and pressed the button to listen to his messages.  
  
"Chris, it's me, I know you didn't want to hear from me, ever again, but I just wanted to say how cool it was that it was you who planned the Goldberg stunt. It's good to know my good planning and scheming rubbed off on you. Bye."  
  
Jericho couldn't help but smile. Even when they were broken up, she made him smile in ways no one else could. She had rubbed off on him, in the best way, he thought. He guessed a part of him would always be with her, love her, need her.  
  
He listened to her voice on the message until he fell asleep. 


	97. Too Much Vince and Hogan, May 22, 2003

She wondered how the date was. Sure, she could say that she was naturally curious, but then she'd be lying. She wanted to hear that it had been terrible and that Jericho had had a horrible time. She just needed a little reassurance that Jericho needed her, at least a little bit.

It had taken all of her courage to call him on Monday. She knew that he didn't want to hear from her, but she needed him to know how proud she was of him being the one to orchestrate the attempted assault on Goldberg. She knew that Jericho had had his problems with Goldberg in WCW, and she was happy that Jericho was finally sticking it to Goldberg.

He hadn't called or anything after she had called, and part of her didn't expect him to. If nothing, Jericho was a man of his word. He didn't back down from things that he said. Well, sometimes he did, he said he'd be with her forever, and that hadn't turned out exactly how she planned.

She really felt like she needed to ask someone about this date. She couldn't ask Jericho himself, that would be way too awkward, but she could ask one of their friends. One of them had to know how it had gone. She contemplated whom to call. She figured that Christian or Trish would be the best seeing as how they were on Raw with Jericho. She decided to call Trish and picked up her cell phone, dialing the diva's phone number. She answered and Stephanie spoke up.

"Trish, it's Steph."

"Oh, hey Stephanie," Trish said, eyeing her boyfriend who was sitting on the couch across from her.

"Hey, I was just calling to say hi."

"Oh, that's nice, it's been a while since we talked."

"Yeah, I know, I was shocked to see Christian's new look, tell him I think it looks good."

"Oh, I will. Everyone seems to be liking it. It's a welcome change, I think."

"Yeah, I always kind of wondered what Chris would look like without the long hair, but I love it so much I'd never want him to change it."

"Yeah, Chris without his hair would be really weird," Trish agreed, thinking about that image and laughing softly.

"Yeah, speaking of Chris, um, how is he?" Stephanie said, easing into the subject.

Trish smiled, realizing just why Stephanie had decided to call her. She should've suspected it when Stephanie first called. She knew that Stephanie was taking the break up a little harder than Jericho was, and anything to get her friend's back together and happy was good with her.

"He's ok, you know, coping," Trish told her.

"That's good," Stephanie said, trying to be nonchalant.

"Yeah, his new segment is doing really well, I know he's pleased with how that's going. And the whole Goldberg thing, well, if you ask me, it's cool for him."

"Yeah, I actually called and left him a message about that."

"Oh, did he answer back?" Trish asked, hoping that Jericho had and they had talked at least.

"No, didn't really expect him to, you know what with him trying to move on and everything," Stephanie said, a bit sadly.

"Steph, you know that's just a bunch of bullshit, he still loves you."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that Trish, I mean, he did go out with Molly didn't he?"

"Yeah, but it didn't mean anything, he's just trying to forget you and doing it in the worst way possible."

"So how did the date go?" she asked, broaching the subject she had really called about.

"The truth or what you want to hear?" Trish asked.

"The truth, what else?" Stephanie said, knowing that either way, this was going to hurt. Hell, even just thinking about the possibilities hurt.

"Well, he said he had a nice time," she told her.

"That's it, a nice time?"

"Well, he said it got his mind off of you for a little while and that was the best he could hope for at this point and time."

"He needed to get his mind off of me?" Stephanie asked, smiling a little bit.

It was nice to know that she hadn't completely left his mind and that he still at least thought about her. She was afraid that he would try to forget their past and everything that had gone along with that. She didn't want him to forget, she wanted him to remember each and every second that they had shared.

"Well yeah, especially after that thing you had with Triple H," Trish said, "Speaking of that, what was going on with the two of you?"

Trish already knew what had happened there. Kurt had let it spill to the rest of them, but made them promise not to tell Jericho about it. Trish was glad that Stephanie wasn't sitting around hoping that Jericho would come back but was actively trying to do something about it.

"Oh, that was nothing, I just wanted to get back at Jericho, you know make him jealous."

"Well, Christian told me it worked cause he was practically fuming after it. He actually confronted Hunter about it on Monday," Trish divulged.

"What?" Stephanie asked, taken aback. She would never have suspected that.

"Well, he didn't call him out or anything, he just asked what was up."

"And what did Hunter say?"

"Well Chris told Christian that he said that he thought you wanted to get back with him and that really had upset Chris."

"Good," Stephanie nodded, "Very good."

"But um.........." Trish's voice trailed off.

"What?" Stephanie said, her heart suddenly sinking to her stomach at the tone of Trish's voice.

"He's going out with Molly again."

Stephanie took a moment to answer, "But-but, I thought you said that he was thinking of me and confronting Hunter over me."

"Yeah, but he made another date because he had fun the last time and well, I think he's just trying to get over you any way he can. And Molly is the way he's trying."

"Oh, well then," Stephanie looked up at the television screen in her office, "I've got to go Trish, the show."

Stephanie hung up quickly and turned all of her attention to watching the show. If she didn't think about anything else but work right now that meant that she wouldn't have to think about Jericho. And he was the last thing she wanted to think about. Instead she watched as her father went postal over this whole Hogan thing. She was starting to worry about him.

He was going almost maniacal about this Hogan/Mr. America thing. She knew that it was Hogan, and she was pretty sure that everyone else knew as well. But her father was taking it above and beyond the realms of normal suspicion. He had become obsessed with proving that Hogan and Mr. America were one in the same. As she watched him, she felt the urge to see if he was ok and prevent him from not going over the deep end, well, anymore than he already was.

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Kurt was expecting Jericho any minute. Kurt had been a little bit surprised when Jericho had called him on Tuesday and asked if he could stay over at his house. He'd been even more surprised to find out the reason behind it. Despite being hesitant at first, considering Stephanie was one of his best friends, he figured that he had to be unbiased in this situation and taking sides would lead to the deterioration of friendships. The doorbell rang and Kurt got up to answer the door. He opened it and let Jericho come inside and put his things down.

"Hey man," Jericho said, "How're you feeling?"

"I'm ready to get back in the ring and kick some ass," Kurt said restlessly, looking at the television where a wrestling match was going on between Cena and Spanky.

"Don't worry, you'll be back soon enough."

"Yeah, two weeks," Kurt said, "Then it's time to kick ass again."

Jericho plopped down on the couch, "So thanks for letting me stay here."

"It's cool."

"Yeah, but I mean, I know that you're friends with Steph, and I wasn't sure that you'd advocate me going out with another woman."

"Who am I to tell you who you can and can't go out with," Kurt told him, "I like to think I'm a good friend, and if that means letting my best friend go out with a woman so obviously not suited for him, then so be it."

"Funny Kurt, I love how you just manage to slip in that we're not right for each other."

"I'm just saying you two are completely different."

"Maybe that makes it more fun."

"I've said it once, I'll say it again, you KNOW you had fun with Stephanie."

"I did, but that time has passed. I closed the book on that one."

"Yeah, but you know what?"

"What?"

"You never finished the ending."

"Hello?"

"Shane?"

"Stephanie, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Is everything ok baby girl?" Shane asked worried for his sister, especially since she no longer had Jericho by her side.

"I'm worried about Dad Shane."

"Oh, because of this Hogan thing," Shane said, knowing exactly what Stephanie was talking about.

"Yeah, he's like crazy Shane, like more so than usual."

"Baby girl, we've been through this before, just let Dad be and this will all blow over. It always does."

"I guess I've just never really paid attention to it until now, since you know, I have nothing better to do than work."

"You make it sound like you're pathetic Steph, and you know you're not," Shane said, "Let Dad be, and don't worry so much about it."

"I can try."

"Good, so how's everything on the Jericho front?"

"No progress. I'm beginning to think it's a lost cause."

"Steph," Shane said, slightly reprimanding her, "You don't have to think like that."

"Shane, I think I'm going to be ok. I mean, this isn't the first time I've been dumped. At least this one didn't happen on national television," she joked.

Shane chuckled, "Yeah, that's one plus, but I know that you love Jericho more than you ever loved Hunter."

"I did, and it hurts, I'm hurting right now, but I can't dwell on it for long periods of time. If Jericho and I are meant to be, then we'll find our way back to each other. It might take a little effort on our parts, but it'll happen if it's supposed to."

"Well, that's a good way of looking at it."

"Aren't you proud of me big brother, I've matured."

"I'm always proud of you," Shane said sincerely.

"Good to know someone is, I've got to go Shane, work and all that."

"Ok, bye baby girl. If you need me, you know where to reach me."

"I know," she smiled, hanging up.

She looked down at her notes, trying to prepare what to say for her interview with Zack. She wanted to come across well as an interviewer, but truth be told, she hadn't ever really had practice at doing it. She went over questions that she thought were tasteful and not too personal. Maybe she'd call Kurt or something and ask if they sound ok.

She contemplated doing that for a second and decided that was just what she was going to do. Kurt was an intelligent man and she knew that he'd be objective about the questions that she was planning on asking. She picked up her cell and called him up at home.

"Hey Jericho," Kurt said from the kitchen, "Can you get that?"

"Sure," Jericho called out, picking up the phone, "Hello?"

"Chris?" Stephanie asked shocked to hear his voice.

"Stephanie?" Jericho asked, equally surprised.

"I'm sorry, did I call the wrong number?" Stephanie asked, "I was trying to call Kurt."

"You have the right number," Jericho said, "I'm staying with Kurt."

"Oh. May I ask why?"

Jericho wanted to spare her feelings, he really did. Damn his heart, because he still loved her. How else could he explain listening to her voice all night on Monday? He didn't want to tell her the truth, afraid it would break her heart, but he didn't want to lie, lest it get back to her and hurt her even more.

"I'm going out with Molly on Saturday and she lives here," Jericho said quickly.

Stephanie took in the information. A part of her was distraught over the news that he was going out with Molly this soon, but another part was glad he had told her the truth. She and Jericho had never been able to lie to each other.

"Oh, that's good," she said, trying to sound upbeat.

"Yeah, I mean, you know, moving on," Jericho said, not able to form a complete sentence for some reason.

"Good, that's great, I mean, we both should be doing that. I might have to call up Hunter and see what he's doing this weekend."

"Don't," Jericho blurted out.

"Why not?"

"Stephanie, just don't. That's just setting yourself up for a world of hurt."

"Isn't that what love is all about, putting yourself out there and being completely vulnerable to the other person?

"I don't want you hurt," he told her softly.

"Too late Chris, too late," Stephanie said, just as softly before hanging up.

She got up and went to where she was supposed to be giving the interview. She got her microphone on and sat down opposite her interviewee. They sat chit-chatting a little about what she was going to ask and then it was time for the interview.

She knew as soon as it was over that she had been crappy. She hadn't put a lot of feeling into it and she had been distracted. She was upset about what had happened with Jericho and that had been on her mind rather than her task at hand. And that never did any good.

"Thanks for the interview Zack," she smiled at him after they were through.

"No, thank you," he smiled.

"You really are a remarkable human being," she said, shaking his hand, "I hope to see you on the roster one day."

"So do I," he said before leaving.

Stephanie watched him go. Now there was a brave guy. She wished she could be brave and just call out Jericho and tell him that she loved him and she wasn't going to stand for this bullshit anymore that they were going to be together because she said so. If only life could work that way.

She left soon after that, not staying until the end of the show, knowing her father was in charge tonight. She walked into her hotel room solemnly, noting the emptiness. Dropping her things on the table she headed towards the bedroom. She noticed the light blinking on her hotel phone. She went over curiously and picked up the phone, pressing the button to listen to her messages.

"Since you left a message on Monday.........

I have loved you; even now I may confess,

Some embers of my love their fire retain

but do not let it cause you more distress,

I do not want to sadden you again.

Hopeless and tonguetied, yet, I loved you dearly

With pangs the jealous and the timid know;

So tenderly I loved you- so sincerely;

I pray God grant another love you so.

Bye Steph."

Stephanie listened there, not knowing what to think about the message. Was he trying to say he still loved her? Or was he trying to say that he had let go and that he hoped she would find someone else? She listened to the poem a few times. She smiled as she thought about how he had to have looked that up or something, and how he had looked up something especially for her, whether it wasn't too favorable to her or not, it meant he was still thinking about her, that she was a prominent figure in his life. Maybe this meant he'd come to his senses soon and come back to her.

She could feel him cracking.........she just had to have faith.

The poem above does not belong to me, it's called "Untitled" by Alexander Pushkin.


	98. Chris Couldn't Start the Car, May 26, 20...

Jericho got out of his car and closed the door. He went to the trunk where he had left his things for the show tonight. He opened it and took out his gym bag, ready for another night of work. He wasn't looking that forward to doing his Highlight Reel, but that was only because he knew that something was going to happen between him and Goldberg.  
  
He closed his trunk and turned to walk towards the arena. He saw another person getting out of their car and realized it was Molly. He smiled to himself and walked a little faster to catch up to her before she started for the arena herself.  
  
"Hey Mol!" he called out.  
  
She turned around and saw him, "Chris, hey!"  
  
He smiled and came over to her, kissing her cheek. Last Saturday had been a lot of fun. He and Molly had gone out to dinner and then caught a movie. She was really fun to be around, and she was different from the kind of girl that he usually went out with. And well, he still hadn't kissed her, but he had gotten a kiss on the cheek and that was the best he could've hoped for.  
  
"Long time no see," he joked.  
  
"Oh yeah, a whole two days," she said laughing, about to pick up her bag.  
  
Jericho got it before she could, "Here, let me help you with that."  
  
He took her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She smiled at him and took his hand in hers. Jericho smiled a little as they walked into the arena together. It felt nice to be able to hold hands with her, not having to act like they weren't going out. That's what he had had to do with Stephanie and looking back, it wasn't that fun. She was fun, they had had fun, but hiding hadn't been too fun.  
  
"So how was the rest of your weekend?" she asked him.  
  
"Boring, I just hung out with Kurt."  
  
"I didn't realize you and Kurt were such good friends," she said as he walked her to the women's locker room.  
  
"Yeah, we've been friends for a while. He's a good guy, very level- headed," Jericho said, chuckling a little as he thought about his bald- headed friend.  
  
"That's great that you have friends in the company," she told him.  
  
"Yeah, makes it a little less boring I guess," he told her as they stopped in front of her locker room.  
  
"I bet. But it must be kind of bad that you guys are on different shows now."  
  
"I guess, we still hang out though, so you know, it's all good."  
  
She nodded, "Why did you leave SmackDown? I mean, if it's too personal or something you don't have to tell me."  
  
"Nah, I came over because I thought it would be a better opportunity for me over here."  
  
"That's fair enough. I was just wondering since Kurt is like your best friend."  
  
"Yeah, but just because we're on different shows doesn't mean we can't be friends."  
  
"You're right. Well, I'm glad you came over here," she said a little bit shyly.  
  
Jericho smiled at her and kissed her cheek softly, "So am I. So when can I go out with you again?"  
  
"You want to go out again," Molly said, looking up at him like she was surprised.  
  
"Of course I do. I really like being with you Molly," he told her honestly.  
  
"Well, I have your number so you can call me and we'll set it up, if that's ok with you," she said quickly.  
  
"I'd love it," he answered genuinely, "Now I've got to go find my locker room, but I'll see you later ok."  
  
"Ok, bye Chris," she said, leaning up to graze her lips across her cheek.  
  
He smiled and waved to her before heading to his own locker room. He wasn't lying when he had said that he liked being around her. He didn't know if it was just the fact that she took his mind off another person that he didn't want to think about, but he really like talking with her and wanted to see where this relationship could go.  
  
He set his bags down and turned on the television set up in his room. They were showing the poll that was going on at about whether people thought that Goldberg would spear him. He noticed the picture that was of him on the website and laughed shortly when he saw the familiar cross that Stephanie had given him. Oops, there she was again in his mind.  
  
He remembered the call he had made to her last Thursday. He knew that he had told her that they should stop all contact between the two of them, but damn it, it was such a hard promise to persevere with. He never realized that it would be this hard to stay away from Stephanie. When they had disliked each other and had stayed away from each other, it hadn't been this difficult, but once he got to know the real Stephanie, it was like a kamikaze mission staying away from her.  
  
He hadn't wanted to call her, he had try to abstain from it until his finger punched in the final number to her hotel. He had almost hung up the phone, but he found himself unable to put it down. The poem he had recited he had written down after he was feeling totally depressed after he had broken up with Stephanie. It pretty much summed up his feelings about the whole situation. He still loved Stephanie, but well, maybe they just weren't meant to be.  
  
She hadn't called him back. He was glad about that. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea that he wanted to get back together with her. He didn't, he was kind of dating Molly now, and he was happy. Not as happy as he could be, he knew that, but overall he was happy. He also had a feeling that Stephanie hadn't called because she had gotten wind of his date with Molly. His friends were a bunch of big mouths.  
  
He got up and decided to go see what Christian and Trish were doing. He hoped they weren't making out or anything, he would hate to walk in on that. He closed his door and walked down the hallway looking for their room. He passed by Goldberg's locker room and he wondered if he had arrived yet. He had a trick up his sleeve for later in case things got out of hand. He walked a little further down until he found their room. He knocked on the door and heard giggling emanating from inside. A few moments later Trish showed up.  
  
"Chris, you're just in time to keep Christian company before I go out to do commentary," Trish said, giggling as she looked back at Christian.  
  
"What were you guys doing in here?" Jericho said, mock suspiciously, "Wait, don't answer that, I don't think I want to know."  
  
"No, you probably don't," Christian said.  
  
"So why are you doing commentary?" Jericho asked.  
  
"Felt like it," she said, sticking her tongue out at him playfully, "But I've gotta jet."  
  
She quickly went over to Christian and gave him a kiss on the lips. Christian smiled as she pulled away and jogged out of the room, giving Jericho a quick pat on the back as she went towards the gorilla. Jericho watched her go for a second before entering the room. He went and sat down on one of the benches.  
  
"So you two seem really happy," Jericho commented.  
  
"Yeah," Christian said, seeing Trish come out on the television in his room, "Jealous?"  
  
"Me? Yeah freaking right," Jericho scoffed.  
  
"Not thinking of a certain SmackDown General Manager that you used to be pretty tight with?" Christian said impishly.  
  
Jericho looked at him as if he had grown two heads, "No, of course not, why would I be thinking about her?"  
  
"Because you always do."  
  
"I do not!" Jericho said, acting like a kid with a tantrum.  
  
"Jericho, how many years have you known Stephanie?"  
  
Jericho shrugged, "About four years."  
  
"And out of those four years, how long have you teased or been close to Stephanie?"  
  
"I don't know about three and half, why?"  
  
"Jericho, you just can't get her out of your system like you talked to her once and that was it. You were with the girl for like ten months, you had something with her for like three years before that. You kissed her twice for God's sakes. If you think you can get over her in the course of two weeks, you're sadly mistaken."  
  
"Well, I have Molly now."  
  
Christian coughed, "Rebound."  
  
"What?" Jericho said, not catching what Christian had muttered.  
  
"She's your rebound, duh," Christian said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"It's not like that, I really like her. I can see this going somewhere."  
  
Christian pretended to yawn, "Uh huh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."  
  
"Would you shut it?" Jericho said.  
  
"Face it, she's your rebound and you're only with her because she's not like Stephanie."  
  
"Maybe the latter is right, but that's what I like about her. She's wholesome you know, down to earth."  
  
"Fancy terminology for she doesn't put out," Christian said.  
  
Jericho went over and shoved Christian, "Are you saying Stephanie's a slut and puts out for every guy she's with?"  
  
"Do you find it as funny as I do that when I practically insult Molly, you construed it as an insult against Stephanie?"  
  
Jericho took a step back, "That's not what I meant by that."  
  
"Oh, you just shoved me because you felt like it."  
  
"I just don't like anyone talking badly about Stephanie," Jericho said quietly.  
  
"Now is there an explanation for that or am I to draw my own conclusion?"  
  
"She's still a friend," Jericho said, detachedly.  
  
"Oh, a friend."  
  
"I called her on Thursday," Jericho said quietly, "Left a message on her hotel phone."  
  
"Oh, and what about?" Christian asked curiously.  
  
"None of your damn business," Jericho said, shaking his head.  
  
"What's none of our business?" Trish asked, coming back into the room after doing commentary.  
  
"Chris called Stephanie on Thursday."  
  
"Oh, phone sex?" Trish said, laughing.  
  
"Funny Trish," Jericho said blandly, "No, I did not call her for that, I just called her to leave a message since she left me one."  
  
"Oh, so do you think she'll call you tonight?" Trish asked, "Since she called you last week."  
  
"How do you know she called?"  
  
"We have our sources," Trish said roguishly.  
  
"Oh, that's just great, I love having my love life discussed in our little group of friends."  
  
"Well, we have to have something to talk about. Like you and Molly, what's going on with that huh Chris?" Trish asked.  
  
"We're kind of seeing each other," Jericho said, smirking, "And that's all I'm revealing. I'm outta here guys."  
  
"Aww, right when we were getting to the good stuff," Trish whined, "Wait though, if you really want, why don't we go on a double date with you guys. Just to show that we are trying to support you and not take sides."  
  
"You guys would do that for me?"  
  
"Of course," Trish said, smiling.  
  
"Yeah, cool, next Monday?"  
  
"Sounds good," she said.  
  
"Well, I've got to get ready for the Highlight Reel."  
  
"Have fun tonight."  
  
"I'll try."  
  
Jericho left and Christian looked at Trish, "Why did you suggest that? We're trying to get him and Stephanie back together, not advocate him and Molly."  
  
"Because Chrissy, we're going to show Chris how he can't have a good time without Stephanie."  
  
"How are we going to do that?" Christian asked wondering what Trish had up her sleeve.  
  
"We're going to recreate Chris and Stephanie's first date. Without Stephanie."  
  
"Oh woman, you are cruel," Christian said, shaking his head in disbelief of his girlfriend's plan.  
  
"Just leave it to me, since Chris doesn't know that I know what he and Stephanie did on their first date. That way I can play innocent."  
  
"I'm really liking this."  
  
"I thought you would."  
  
Jericho headed straight for the hair and makeup person after leaving Christian and Trish and when he got there, he sat down in the chair waiting to get made up. He got his makeup touched up. He wanted to make sure he looked his best when he got out there tonight. He liked looking good for his little show.  
  
He waited for the matches to end before going out there. He said his little diatribe about why he wanted to run over Goldberg. It was all pretty much true. He didn't think a lot of people wanted Goldberg there to begin with. He was just doing what everyone else was afraid to.  
  
He put a lot into what he said. Everything was true, they said he wasn't good enough to face Goldberg. Said that he was too small, wasn't a big enough name. Nobody knew how that felt, it sucked and that's why he had left. And that had been the best decision of his life, to leave WCW. Coming to the then WWF was the best thing for him. He found bigger opportunities, became a bigger star, found Stephanie.  
  
He challenged Goldberg to a match, and this time Goldberg wasn't going to back down. He wasn't a small start like he had been in WCW, when Goldberg had refused to face him. No, now he was a huge star and Goldberg would not deny him again. He wouldn't stand for it.  
  
Goldberg came out and rushed the ring, and Jericho ran out. He didn't want a physical confrontation just yet. Goldberg proceeded to insult him and call him an ass. Jericho scowled, not liking being called names, but he persisted in getting the match at Bad Blood. Finally he accepted the match, and then insulted him some more. Jericho slowly got in the ring ready to fight him, but he had that trick up his sleeve.  
  
Just as Goldberg was about to beat on him, Jericho pulled the ace out of his sleeve so to speak. He took the mace and sprayed Goldberg right in the eyes, causing him to fall to the ground in agony. Jericho kept spraying it, getting it everywhere. He was a man possessed and then he speared Goldberg to the ground.  
  
Jericho knew this could get his ass kicked so he ran out up the ramp and to the backstage area. He didn't bother to grab his stuff, he could get Christian to get that later, he just needed to get to his car and get out of here. He could hear Terri yelling after him as he ran, but he didn't listen. He got to his car and tried to start it, but he was so flustered that he couldn't get it started. He got out of the car and left on foot.  
  
He went just around the corner until he thought the coast was clear. He came back and decided that he'd just rush inside and get his stuff. He dashed to his locker room and grabbed all his stuff, putting it his bag hastily. He decided a quick stop at Molly's wouldn't hurt and went by there, knocking deftly.  
  
"Chris, you came back," Molly said as she opened the door.  
  
"Yeah, just wanted to ask if you wanted to double with Christian and Trish next week after the show," he said in a hurry.  
  
"Sure," she said, feeling hurried by him.  
  
"Good, I've got to get out of here, see ya," he said, sprinting to his car.  
  
He got there safely and this time the car started. He wasn't as rushed as he had been before. He drove to the hotel, hoping that Goldberg hadn't beaten him there or anything and was waiting in the lobby for him. Lucky for him, he wasn't and Jericho was able to make it safely to his hotel room. Just as he put his stuff down, the hotel phone rang. He swiftly over to grab it.  
  
"Hello?" he said, exasperated.  
  
"Oh, I wasn't expecting to get you."  
  
"I had to make a quick exit."  
  
"I saw, I just wanted to say I saw it and how proud of you I was that you told the truth."  
  
"I guess I just needed to get it out."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Steph, I was talking to Christian tonight and he made me realize that I can't not talk to you."  
  
"You can't?" she asked, suddenly becoming flustered.  
  
"No, you've been too big a part of my life for the past four years. Can we try to be friends?"  
  
"Oh, friends," said Stephanie, a little disappointed. She'd been hoping that Jericho would say he wanted to get back together. She really needed to stop thinking that as it became ever more positive that he didn't want to get back together with her.  
  
"Yeah, I'd really like to try to be friends again, like when we were business partners."  
  
"Well, I guess if I can't have you to myself, then friends is the next best thing right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I guess we could try," she told him.  
  
"I'd really like that." 


	99. Stephanie on the Lie Detector, Heh, May ...

Friends. She hated that word. It was that horrible, horrible word that tried to salvage a relationship that neither party wanted to give up. It was so silly of her to try to be Jericho's friend. They both knew that they would never be friends. They had never really been friends. Even why they had been hating each other, they both knew deep down that they were something more.  
  
There would always be something more and they were stupid to think that there wouldn't be. Well, Stephanie knew that there was, she would always know. She also knew Jericho was trying to run away from them. He didn't believe her, he was probably scared or something, he wouldn't talk about his feelings.  
  
And now they were "friends." Now that she thought about it, she would've much rather never spoken to him again, then be considered his friend. What did that even mean? Would they share stories of the people they were involved with? She sure as hell hoped not because the last thing she needed was to hear about Molly Holly.  
  
A scowl crossed her features as she thought about that.........woman. Anger boiled inside her as she thought about how Molly was out there charming her man, HER man. The poor little twit didn't realize that Jericho would never love anyone as much as her loved her. Sure, she was being a little pretentious, but come on, she knew she had been with Jericho longer than he had ever been with any of his girlfriends, and he was the only person he'd ever lived with. That had to mean something.  
  
Why Molly Holly of all people? She and Stephanie were so entirely different from each other that it didn't even make sense for Jericho to go from her to Molly. The only explanation she could come up with was that Jericho was trying to get over her by going out with someone very unlike her. She wasn't going to ask him his opinion, she'd rather sleep with her ex-husband, and that was the last thing on Earth she wanted to do.  
  
Her cell phone rang and she picked it up, "Stephanie McMahon."  
  
"Hey Steph."  
  
"Edge! Oh my God, how are you?" Stephanie said enthusiastically, welcoming anyone that would get her mind off her ex-boyfriend.  
  
"Wow, what a cheery hello. What's got you so happy?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm not happy, but I can sure fake it can't I?"  
  
Edge laughed, "You can," his tone changed, "But really how are you?"  
  
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Stephanie said, feeling a touch of annoyance. Everyone and their mother kept asking her if she was ok, and she wished they would cut it out.  
  
"Because we love you and we worry about you," Edge said seriously.  
  
"Edge, this is me you're talking about. Stephanie McMahon, nothing touches me, nothing takes me down. I'm strong," she said assertively, very sure of herself.  
  
"Steph, I know, but even you can be vulnerable."  
  
"But I'm not, I'm really ok Edge. You and your brother and Trish, and my brother, and my mother and Kurt, you all can stop worrying. I'm not going to crawl in a hole and die because Chris dumped me."  
  
"Well, that's good to hear, but I hope you're not planning revenge or anything like you did with Hunter."  
  
"Hunter was an entirely different thing altogether. He dumped me on national television, he made me look like a bitch. At least Chris had the decency to dump me in private."  
  
"Well, how else would it have been since you guys were pretty much a secret?"  
  
"Yeah, but he's certainly not a secret with Molly is he?" Stephanie said, a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice.  
  
"Oh, someone's jealous," Edge said teasingly.  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"Ok Stephanie, you just keep believing that. Everyone knows that she's the rebound," Edge told her nonchalantly.  
  
"I wouldn't be too sure."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know, it seems Chris is trying to prove a point or something. Like he can move on without me. I know I can move on without him, without any guy, and not have to try to one up Chris."  
  
"Oh, and that little display with Hunter was nothing."  
  
Stephanie laughed and rolled her eyes, "Temporary insanity."  
  
"Temporary?" Edge answered, jokingly.  
  
"Shut up you. I knew it was a stupid thing to do, but damn it, I needed to do something. But guess what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Chris and I were friends now," Stephanie commented dryly.  
  
"Oh, and let me guess, he came up with the idea."  
  
"Yes, because get this, he can't stay away from me."  
  
"Ok, so you know what, I'm going to go walk down the street to his house, and knock him upside the head," Edge told her, "Because that guy is about as dense as they come. My God, he actually told you he couldn't stay away from you?"  
  
"His exact words were 'I can't not talk to you.'"  
  
"I can't believe him," he said.  
  
A knock sounded on the door, "Come in."  
  
Two men came in with what was obviously a lie detector machine, "Ms. McMahon, we're here about the lie detector test you had ordered."  
  
"Yes, thank you, you can put it down here to test it," she said, smiling, then going back to the phone, "Edge, I have to go, Daddy is going absolutely nuts over this Mr. America thing."  
  
"I know, well, good luck."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Stephanie hung up the phone and watched on as the men set up the machine. They asked her to test it and she agreed to. She let them put the machine on her as she stood there. They told her that they would ask her a few questions to see if the machine was working properly.  
  
They asked her what her name was and she told them. They also asked her whether or not she had cheated on her taxes. She quickly removed the machine from her arm. She hadn't ever, but once she answered, it could lead to more personal questions and that could get her in trouble. She reviewed who each guy was and asked if they were ready.  
  
They left soon after to go get a cup of coffee before they had to go out and administer the test to Mr. America. She sat down at her desk and looked at the machine. Part of her wished that she had Jericho sitting here and she'd have him take the test. There were a few questions she'd like answered. Like if he thought their break up was a mistake, and if he really liked Molly over her.  
  
She took the thing and put it around her arm. She wondered if she could work this herself. There was a little ding when things were right and wrong. She sat there idly, before innocently turning the machine on. She looked around, making sure there were no cameras around to capture her. Despite knowing the answers she was asking herself, it was still fun.  
  
"Have I ever cheated on my husband?" she asked herself, "Only when forced kisses upon."  
  
The machine dinged correct. She smiled a little. Despite everyone's belief, she had never, not once cheated on Hunter. The closest she had ever come was with Jericho and Kurt, as silly as that sounded. The thought of her and Kurt made her shudder a little. She contemplated what to ask herself next.  
  
"Do I still love Chris Jericho?" she sighed, "With all my heart."  
  
The machine dinged correct.  
  
"Do I want Molly Holly out of the picture by any means necessary? You're damn right I do."  
  
She decided she'd had enough of the machine, and took the equipment off. She sat there looking at it. Damn it, she wished Jericho were still traveling with her, she'd definitely have him take this test.  
  
The men came back in to take it and she watched them, wondering how this whole thing would work with Hogan and her father. Could Hogan actually pull it off, she didn't know. And if he did, she knew her dad would go absolutely ballistic. He was already at the end of his rope with this. It was causing a bit of a riff between the two of them.  
  
She sat back and watched as they set up the ring with the testing machine and the table and all that. She watched as her father and Mr. America or Hogan or whatever came out to take it. She was actually surprised when it didn't detect a lie when he said he wasn't Hogan. Something fishy was going on, either that or Hogan was a really good liar.  
  
Then she had to witness the horror of her father taking the test. The questions asked made her blush so much she had to mute the television. She knew her father wasn't the most virtuous man, but hearing this was terrible. She wanted to crawl under her desk and cover her ears. Finally, the segment was over after her father and Hogan went at it again. She shook her head and went back to her computer. She looked at some pictures of her and Jericho that she had saved. She smiled as she saw how happy they had been.  
  
Suddenly her father barged in the room, screaming and yelling. Startled, Stephanie immediately closed the windows housing her and Jericho's pictures lest her father see them. She stood up, a reflex whenever she saw her father. He proceeded to berate her and yell at her for what had happened in the ring. She tried to explain herself, but as always her father disregarded everything she said and opted for yelling at her. She even said she'd take the damn test if it would appease him, but he didn't find that funny. She was willing to take the test, as long as none of the questions got too personal. He told her something about next week and then left, calling her a smartass on the way out. She scowled and shook her head.  
  
She was actually worried about her dad. This Hogan thing had really lit a fire under him and he was truly a man possessed. She didn't know why he was taking this so personally, and couldn't leave well enough alone. She walked quickly out of the office, hoping to catch her father.  
  
"Dad, wait up!" she called out, seeing him walking briskly down the hallway.  
  
"What now Stephanie?" he asked impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground.  
  
"Dad, I'm worried about you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because ever since Mr. America showed up you've been going crazy. You're possessed by this."  
  
"I'm just seeking the truth."  
  
"But look at you. You yell at me, call me names, simply because you're mad at Hogan."  
  
"I can do as I damn well please."  
  
"Dad, this isn't about that, ok. Am I not allowed to be concerned for my father!" she argued.  
  
"I want Hogan to go down," Vince said, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"Fine Dad, go ahead and hold your little Inquisition until you find out that Mr. America and Hogan are the same person. I don't really care, it's not like I don't have problems of my freaking own!" Stephanie yelled, walking away before her father could see the tears in her eyes.  
  
She hated being emotional in front of her father, letting him get the satisfaction of her tears after he yelled at her. No, she was a strong person and she didn't show weakness. Not now, not ever.  
  
She went back inside, not wanting to stick around for the rest of the show. She'd rather go back to her hotel and enjoy a nice, long bubble bath. She took her things and headed out into the warm night. Getting back to her hotel suite, she put her things down and headed straight for the bathroom. She pinned her hair up and stripped down before getting into the tub.  
  
She sighed and tried to relax. But she had too many things going through her mind, which wasn't unusual. She had been bred to be active, to have power, to take responsibility, since the company would eventually be hers, but this made her life difficult. She was always thinking about ratings, signings, demographics. When she was with Jericho, he eased her tension, he put her problems into perspective, but he wasn't here to listen to her gripe. She bit her lip a little, but that didn't mean that he couldn't right?  
  
She got out of the tub and grabbed her cell phone before going back to sit in the bubble filled water. She could call him from her bath. She got his number off her speed dial and dialed it up. She hoped he was home and like not out with Molly, or in with Molly for that matter. Wait, who was she kidding? There was no way that Molly was with him in that sense.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Chris, it's me."  
  
"Hey you, what's up?" he said happily, glad to hear her voice.  
  
"Well, right now I'm taking a bath."  
  
Jericho's jaw just about dropped and he had to hold in his tongue before he said something he knew he was going to regret. But damn, picturing Stephanie in the tub, well, it wasn't that hard since he had seen her in a tub before, but right now, the fantasies were abound.  
  
"That's nice, had a hard day I assume?" he said coolly, acting like he wasn't fazed by hearing she was in the bathtub.  
  
"Didn't you catch the show?"  
  
"Yeah, I did. Sorry about that thing with your dad."  
  
"I don't' know what's going on with him," she sighed.  
  
"Want to talk about it?"  
  
"Chris, he's like crazed with finding out that Mr. America is Hogan. He completely disregards anything I say to him. I'm just worried."  
  
"I know Steph, but I mean, what is there to do? I think you have to let this ride out."  
  
"That's what Shane tells me, but I can't help it, he's my father."  
  
"I know, and you want to help him any way you can. But maybe the best thing in this situation is to take a step back," Jericho told her calmly.  
  
"Yeah, you're right, you're always right."  
  
"Yeah, I guess. I saw you with the lie detector."  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"Cheated on your taxes did ya?" he joked.  
  
"No," she laughed softly, "I just didn't want them to get any more personal if you know what I mean."  
  
Jericho knew exactly what she meant, "Yeah, I got ya. That wouldn't have been too good if our past indiscretions were advertised all over national television."  
  
"Yeah, I mean, that's between you, me, and our closest friends."  
  
"Yeah, and it's better that it stays that way," he told her.  
  
"I suppose.........plan on telling Molly about what happened between us?" Stephanie asked, really broaching the topic of Molly for the first time.  
  
"If she asks," Jericho said uncomfortably, "I don't think it's any of her business."  
  
"But if she asks about ex-girlfriends, will I be mentioned among that bunch."  
  
"I guess you would. I guess you could consider yourself the most important ex-girlfriend I've ever had."  
  
"I'm flattered," she said sarcastically.  
  
"As you should be. You know, I never really told you this Steph, but you were really important to me. I mean, I know you knew that, but you were quite possibly the most influential person in my life for a long time."  
  
"I'm glad I could be that person for you."  
  
"You still are, in a way. You're like my best friend."  
  
There was that damn word again. She swore if she heard him say that one more time she was going to fly to Florida and kick his ass. She knew they were friends, he didn't have to rub her damn nose in it. He had gotten what he wanted, and she had gotten the short end of the stick.  
  
"Well, you know what, you're like my ex-boyfriend, except you never seem to leave me alone," she said, her tone changing, sick of being called a friend.  
  
"Steph? Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, of course not Chris. God forbid there's something wrong with me. Then you can swoop in and be my best friend, just like you want."  
  
"Stephanie, what is the matter with you?"  
  
"Nothing Chris. Just go back to thinking about your virginal Molly and how you wish you could get some of her while picturing me naked in the tub, because I know that's what you're doing, and while you're doing that your bestest friend in the whole wide world will get some much needed sleep," she said derisively, "Because that's what best friends do. They just talk and be nice, and not talk about that big topic of they used to go out. No, I'm just the friend, just that girl who used to live in your house, who loves you, who cares about you, who would give her right arm to be with you right now..........but no, you just go back and you be with your new girlfriend, and leave me in the dust. It's what you want to do anyways. So go on Chris, just go and live your life, because your BEST friend doesn't want to be a part of it."  
  
With that, she hung up the phone. Jericho thought he could have his cake and eat it too. He could have Molly as the girlfriend and her as the best friend. Thought they would just magically forget they went out for nine months, and that everything would be perfect.........  
  
He had another thing coming to him. 


	100. 100 Chapters, That's a Lot, June 2, 2003

A/N: Wow, 100 chapters. That's a very, very long Jericho and Stephanie story. And I hope that for you guys it's been worth every chapter. It's even better that I get to post my 100th chapter on my birthday. I hope the first 100 chapters have been a blast for you, and hope the next 100 are just as good. :)  
  
He knew as soon as he had hung up that he had screwed up with her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had said the absolute wrong thing. He was an idiot, he realized that, a little too late. Who was he kidding though? Asking her to be her best friend, he knew that's not what she wanted.  
  
He had told her when they first had broken up that they shouldn't speak to each other anymore, but he couldn't take that. Then he had opened his big mouth and the wish he had erroneously made was coming true. He could see himself never talking to Stephanie again. That sounded so strange now that he thought about it. Not talking to Stephanie, yeah, he hadn't talked to her when she had gotten kicked out of the company by her ex-husband, but it was different because now he, he paused, no, he didn't love her anymore. It was different because it had been a long time since they hadn't spoken.  
  
"I'm really excited about tonight," Molly said from his side. He had almost forgotten she was there.  
  
He turned to her, "Yeah, it should be fun."  
  
"I love to go bowling don't you?"  
  
He thought back to his first date with Stephanie. They had had such so much fun, even if she had beaten him senseless. She was still the only girl that he would let beat him, and he had fun letting her. She would always get this giddy look on her face and he knew that she was ready to tease him. Damn, why in God's name would Trish choose to go bowling? They could've done anything else.  
  
"Yeah, bowling can be fun."  
  
"I'm really good you know," she said, bumping her shoulder against his, "You better be ready to get beat."  
  
He laughed and shook his head, "Yeah right, I'm not going to get beat by a girl."  
  
"Oh Chris," she said, "I guess we'll see right?"  
  
"Yeah, we'll see," he said, smiling at her and kissing her cheek.  
  
"It'll be weird fighting against Trish and then going out with her later," Molly commented.  
  
"Yeah, sometimes you just do what you gotta do. Sometimes you pretend to hate people when you really don't," Jericho said, scoffing to himself.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side innocently.  
  
"Nothing, just you know, sometimes we have to pretend to be something we're not. I mean, you, you're nice and sweet and yet the fans don't really see that."  
  
"You think I'm nice and sweet?" she said, grinning at him.  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"Well, I've got a match that I need to go to, I'll see you later," she said.  
  
"Yeah, later," he said, smiling at her.  
  
She kissed his cheek chastely and left the room. More than two weeks and he hadn't gotten a proper kiss from Molly. He knew that she was a nice girl, but I mean, one kiss wouldn't hurt would it. He hated to make another comparison, but Stephanie well, Stephanie was a lot more open so to speak. Jericho laughed as he thought about her. He really needed to stop talking about her, but damn it, it was so hard.  
  
"Knock knock," Christian's voice came from the door.  
  
"What's up man?"  
  
"I thought I'd come over and we could watch our women fight against each other."  
  
"Have a seat," Jericho said, grabbing the remote and turning on the television.  
  
"This is kinda cool don't you think?"  
  
"What's kind of cool?"  
  
"The fact that both of our girlfriends are in a match duking it out."  
  
Jericho laughed, "They're just wrestling. They're not in some sort of match to the death. I think you're overreacting a little."  
  
"My girl's team is going to win."  
  
"How are you so sure about that?"  
  
"Cause my woman's got an edge," Christian said.  
  
Jericho shook his head, "Whatever you say."  
  
"So you and Molly gonna have fun with Trish and I tonight?"  
  
Jericho turned to him, ignoring the match for the moment, "Dude, what the fuck is the matter with you?"  
  
Christian looked at him bewildered, "What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"Bowling!?! I mean, couldn't you have said something to Trish about me and Stephanie going bowling on our first date?"  
  
Christian smirked to himself. This was getting the desired effect. Jericho was pissed that they were bringing up Stephanie memories and he was feeling the heat. Now if only he would realize after tonight how much more fun it was with Stephanie than with Molly. Not that Christian or Trish, or any of their friends thought that Molly was a bad person, but they knew she wasn't what Jericho needed.  
  
"It completely slipped my mind," Christian said, shrugging almost comically, "I can't be expected to remember every little thing you and Stephanie have ever done."  
  
"Fine, whatever, I've gotta get out of here and raise some hell," Jericho said, getting up.  
  
He left the dressing room and headed out into the nice San Diego evening. He needed to clear his mind of Stephanie and any situation that reminded him of Stephanie. He knew that it would take time to get over Stephanie, he was willing to accept that, he just kept wondering when the hell that time would come.  
  
As he was walking around outside he saw Goldberg's Barracuda just sitting at the entrance to the arena. He looked around and didn't see Goldberg anywhere. In fact, there wasn't anyone anywhere. He smirked in mischief and looked around. Seeing a can of paint he had a flash of brilliance. He quickly grabbed a can of paint and saw an idle camera crew and told them to come and watch something cool.  
  
Little did Jericho know that inside, Goldberg was giving an interview. Talk about your perfect timing. Jericho commented on how nice the car was and how it was really cool. Then he went over grabbed the can of paint and dumped it onto Goldberg's car. He grinned in self-satisfaction before getting the hell out of there. The key to doing this was to not get caught.  
  
He ran back inside through a different door and ran to Molly's dressing room. Goldberg would never look for him there. Molly was just getting dressed in her street clothes when Jericho rushed in. She looked at him surprised.  
  
"Hey Mol," Jericho said, out of breath.  
  
"Chris, are we leaving, I thought you had to do the Highlight Reel."  
  
"Oh I do, but I'm kind of hiding right now," he said, his back against to the door.  
  
"From what?"  
  
"Goldberg," he said cheekily.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I just dumped paint on his car," he said laughing.  
  
"Chris, that's horrible," she said, her jaw dropping a little.  
  
"Oh, it's ok, it'll come off in the wash."  
  
"But still, you didn't have to do something to his car. Knowing cars myself it's never fun to get your car messed up."  
  
"Molly it's really ok. It was just to psych him out," Jericho explained.  
  
"Well, ok, I guess."  
  
"So can I hang out here for a while?"  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Great," he said, going over to sit on a bench.  
  
Jericho watched the monitor and saw that his highlight reel was coming up. But how could it go on if Jericho himself wasn't there. His question was answered when he saw Christian going down the ramp. Oh well, if he couldn't be there right this second, then he guessed Christian was the next best thing.  
  
Christian proceeded to talk about how he was replacing the show and then went on to introduce tonight's guest, The Rock. Rocky came out and down the ramp where he did his little spiel. Jericho rolled his eyes, seemed like the people were behind Rocky again. Good for him. Though Jericho did have to laugh at Rock affirming that he was the People's Champ and not Christian. Even going out into the crowd, the man was crazy. Jericho decided that it was probably safe for him to go down to the ring.  
  
"Hey Mol, I'll see you later, I'm going to go ok," he said to her.  
  
"Ok, Trish and I are meeting you at the place right?"  
  
"Yep," he said, kissing her cheek quickly, "Until later."  
  
He left the room and cautiously looked around expecting Goldberg to pop up from behind a crate or something. He walked to the gorilla checking over his shoulder every other second to make sure he wasn't being followed. He came out onto the ramp still looking over his shoulder.  
  
He yelled out for the Rock to stop as he made his way down to the ring. He couldn't pass this opportunity up. He was the one to get the Rock on his show and he was going to be the one to talk to him. He climbed inside the ring and dismissed Christian from his post. Then he addressed Rocky again, telling him to get back in the ring because he had a question and it was a doozy.  
  
He asked Rocky what it felt like to get one of Goldberg's spears, since he himself had never experienced one. He was just good like that. He hadn't gotten caught in that trap and he didn't plan on getting caught in that trap. Rock went on to tell him that it did hurt, well duh, Jericho kept thinking. It was a rhetorical question after all. After the question was answered, Rocky went on to insult Jericho so he and Christian did the only thing they could, they beat on him and they had him good too, until Booker decided to interfere, evening the odds. Jericho found himself on the ground getting the People's Elbow. Damn, he had come out for this? He rolled out of the ring, and saw Christian get the Rock Bottom. Jericho pulled Christian out of the ring and they left in defeat.  
  
"You ok man?" Christian asked as they got backstage.  
  
"Yeah, I'm good, you good?"  
  
"Yeah, but let's get out of here."  
  
"The girls are probably on their way there anyways," Jericho said.  
  
"Good, we'll just leave now, that way we won't run into anyone and get beat on again."  
  
"Yeah," Jericho responded.  
  
They decided to just hightail it out of there but were intercepted by Austin. They tried to tell him they were leaving but he insisted they stay. Jericho and Christian looked at each other, confused about why they had to stay. It became clear as Austin announced that they would have a match against Goldust and Booker T.  
  
"Damn it, why is it every time I try to leave early I always get stuck staying behind."  
  
"We just have the worst luck," Christian shrugged, "Come on, let's get ready for our match."  
  
They went to their respective dressing rooms and got ready for their match, meeting up afterwards. They walked down the corridor and Jericho told Christian that they had to make this match quick. He didn't want Goldberg to find him, though he didn't even know where Goldberg was at the moment. But wherever that was, he didn't want to be there.  
  
The match was indeed over quickly, but not in favor of Jericho and Christian. After the match, wanting to make sure nobody held him up as he tried to get out of the arena a second time. He hit both Booker T and Goldust and the referee tried to take the belt away from him and he heard the crowd start yelling and he knew that Goldberg was probably right behind him. Doing the only thing he could he threw the referee in front of him and hauled ass out of there, following Christian up the ramp.  
  
"Come on Chris!" Christian yelled.  
  
"I'm going to get my stuff, I'll meet you in the parking lot."  
  
"Ok," Christian said, not stopping.  
  
Jericho ran to his dressing room and grabbed his stuff, not slowing down. He changed his clothes quickly. He'd just have to take a shower later. It didn't matter, he was just going bowling. He left the room and ran to the parking lot, seeing Christian already there at his car. Jericho ran over to him.  
  
"You ready?" Christian called out.  
  
"Yeah, let's go," Jericho said, hopping into the car.  
  
They were off in no time at all. They rode in silence to the nearby bowling place that they had scoped out earlier. Spotting Molly's rental car that she and Trish had driven there, they parked and got out. They walked inside and saw the two women at the snack bar eating nachos. They walked over to them.  
  
"Hey, you're here," Trish said, getting up to kiss Christian.  
  
"Yeah, sorry we're late, we had a match."  
  
"How'd that happen?" Molly asked.  
  
"After the Highlight Reel," Jericho answered, sitting down next to her.  
  
"Oh, did you win Chrissy?" Trish asked.  
  
"No, but we were in a rush."  
  
"Goldberg," Jericho interjected.  
  
"Ok," Trish said, looking a wee bit confused.  
  
"So you two ready to bowl?" Molly said excitedly.  
  
"I guess so," Jericho said, laughing, "Let's go get some shoes."  
  
They went over to the rental place and each got a pair of bowling shoes. After changing into them, they chose a couple of lanes and started playing each other. Jericho watched as Trish got a spare and laughed as Christian got another gutter ball.  
  
As Jericho got up to go, Christian sat next to Trish, "How was that?"  
  
"Great, I'll be sure to have you beat," she told him.  
  
"Good, and don't forget to gloat ok?"  
  
"I won't," she paused, "Do you think this is working?"  
  
"Well, judging on the fact that he practically blew up at me tonight about going bowling, I'd say yeah," Christian whispered.  
  
"Good. It's not like I don't like Molly," she said quietly, "But they're so wrong together."  
  
"I agree Trishy, but I can't help but feel like I'm overstepping my boundaries on this one."  
  
"Don't worry, they'll be thanking us when they get back together," she said, patting his hand.  
  
"Yes!" Jericho cried, "Picked up the spare."  
  
"Great job Chris," Molly said.  
  
"Thanks," he grinned, "You're turn."  
  
"Ok," she said, picking up her ball as Jericho's cell phone rang.  
  
He picked it up quickly so as not to distract Molly, "Jericho here."  
  
"Hey," a small, timid voice came on the other end.  
  
"Steph, is that you?" he whispered.  
  
"Yeah, it's me," she said.  
  
"Chris, I got a strike!" Molly yelled happily.  
  
Stephanie heard the voice, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were on a date."  
  
"It's ok."  
  
"No, I'll let you go, I've got a lot of work to do for the show tomorrow anyways," she said hanging up.  
  
Jericho closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Congratulations Molly."  
  
Christian and Trish looked over at him and knew exactly who had been on the phone and they saw the affect it had had on Jericho. This was very good indeed, and they hadn't even planned her calling him. Jericho tried to smile and turned to Molly.  
  
"Don't want you beating me, so I guess this means I need a strike too."  
  
"We'll see big shot."  
  
After bowling a couple rounds, Jericho indeed beating Molly, and Trish beating Christian senseless, they decided to call it a night. Jericho watched as Trish bragged about her win over Christian. Reminded him of something so long ago. He grabbed Molly's hand and forgot about that other brunette.  
  
Jericho and Molly parted ways with Trish and Christian and Molly drove them back to the hotel, making small talk the whole way, and Molly talking about how much fun she had. Jericho had had a fun time too, despite being preoccupied. Molly made him forget about Stephanie, or at least she tried really hard and came very close.  
  
He walked her up to her hotel room and they said their goodnights. Much to Jericho's surprise, Molly leaned up and kissed him square on the lips. He kissed her back then pulled away smiling. She smiled back at him, biting her lip a little.  
  
"Night Chris," she whispered.  
  
"Night."  
  
He watched as she disappeared inside her hotel room and went up to his own room. He lay on his bed about a half an hour later, thinking about tonight. He had had fun with Molly, but bowling really wasn't the best thing to do for them. Reminded him too much of Stephanie and then his thoughts migrated to how he had treated her and screwed things up with her.  
  
He sat up in bed suddenly. Stephanie said she had work to do, she was probably already in Anaheim where the show was being held. Last time they had been to Anaheim, Stephanie and he had stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, maybe she was there right now. He got the phone and dialed 411 to get the hotel number. He inquired as to whether she was staying there or not and she was. He got out of his bed and threw on a pair of pants and a t-shirt.  
  
He went downstairs and climbed in his rental car. Anaheim was only about an hour away from San Diego and he took the freeway there. He got to Anaheim and navigated until he found Disneyland, which was closed for the evening, but there was the Disneyland Hotel. He parked the car and got out. It was around 2 in the morning but he didn't care. He went inside and up to her room, which he had gotten from the lobby. He knocked on her door hoping he wasn't disturbing her too much.  
  
He could hear a mumbling inside and then someone shuffling towards the door. He felt bad for coming this later, but he wanted to talk to her. She opened the door seconds later, her hair disheveled in that cute way he loved and her pajamas wrinkled from sleep. She squinted at him and she seemed to double take.  
  
"Wow, this is a good dream for once," she mumbled.  
  
"Steph, you're not dreaming."  
  
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "Chris, but-what-huh, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I owe you an apology," he said to her.  
  
She opened the door, "Come in here."  
  
He obliged and took a few steps into the room. She closed the door behind him and went to sit on the couch, curling up in the corner. He pulled up one of the chairs and sat across from her.  
  
"I'm so sorry Stephanie."  
  
"For what Chris?"  
  
"For last week and for tonight."  
  
"You have nothing to apologize for," she said, "How did you even find me here?"  
  
"Well, this is where we stayed back in September," he smiled wistfully, "Your birthday."  
  
She looked down and smiled, "Oh yeah."  
  
"But that's beside the point. I do owe you an apology for last week."  
  
"Chris, it's not your fault, it's no one's fault, we just can't be friends."  
  
"But Stephanie," he said, coming to kneel in front of her, "I want to be your friend."  
  
"Chris, we're beyond friends, I'm sorry."  
  
"Stephanie I want you in my life. I understand if it takes time for you to accept me as a friend, but please think about it."  
  
"Chris, I love you. I can't be your friend because I'm going to always want more. And seeing and hearing you with Molly, I can't be your friend."  
  
"We don't have to talk about her."  
  
"Then what'll we talk about. How much fun we USED to have?"  
  
"So this is really, truly it then. We can't be together, we can't be friends, so we'll be.........nothing," he said.  
  
Stephanie looked down, "It seems our only option doesn't it?"  
  
"Stephanie, I don't.........want that."  
  
"Chris, it's all or nothing. I'm a McMahon, we like definitive answers."  
  
He laughed shortly, "Than nothing it is."  
  
"Or maybe you're just too afraid to go for all."  
  
Chris stood up, "I have Molly, she's a great girl. I really like her Steph."  
  
Stephanie stood up as well, "Then be happy Chris, be happy with her. I'll live you know, I'll live without you. Like I told you once, my life has been full of disappointments, what's one more to add to the list?"  
  
"I don't want to add to your pain."  
  
"You don't, and you never did. You never gave me any pain when we were together. You made sure to keep pain away from me."  
  
"But you're still disappointed?"  
  
"Well, I'll always wonder what if. What if I hadn't kept us a secret? What if I had told my father? But I try not to dwell on it."  
  
"So........I guess goodbye is all that's left huh?"  
  
"I guess so," she said, her eyes glazed over with tears, "Molly is a very lucky girl."  
  
"And any guy you ever decide to be with is lucky."  
  
"Goodbye Chris."  
  
Jericho turned to walk away. He was really walking away from her now, it was nothing from here on out. It had to be, a McMahon would never settle for being second best. He reached the doorknob and turned it gently opening the door. He looked back at Stephanie as she stared at him, blinking back tears. He couldn't do it.  
  
He rushed over to her and kissed her hungrily. She responded immediately and wrapped her arms around him pulling him closer. He didn't know what he was doing, he wasn't letting his mind speak. He led her into the bedroom and lay her down on the bed.  
  
Hours later, she lay in his arms, tracing his jaw with her finger. He looked down at her as she kissed his clean-shaven chin. She always loved when he was clean shaved. He didn't know what to do now. He didn't know if he wanted Stephanie back or if he wanted Molly. He was utterly confused. But he knew he'd have to make a choice.  
  
"Stephanie, we probably shouldn't have done this," Jericho whispered.  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"Because I'm dating someone else."  
  
"Forget her, stay with me," she said, not hiding her hatred for Molly.  
  
"I can't do that Stephanie, I can't just not call her or anything."  
  
"So call her, and tell her you got back together with your ex, simple as that."  
  
"Stephanie, would you listen for like one second please?" Jericho said shaking his head, "Maybe we just had to sleep with each other to get each other out of our systems."  
  
"Yeah, or maybe you wanted my body," she said, smirking up at him.  
  
"Yeah, or maybe now I can get over you."  
  
"Oh is that so? You think you can get over me?"  
  
"Now.........yes."  
  
"Ok," she said, sitting up, "I bet you can't go two weeks without talking to me or asking someone about me."  
  
"I'll take you up on that bet."  
  
She stuck out her hand and he shook it, "Deal."  
  
"Watch you lose Stephanie."  
  
"What do I get if I win?" Stephanie said.  
  
"If I can't get over you in the next two weeks, I will be your personal slave for two weeks."  
  
"Oooh, personal slave huh? Does that include other things?" she said, licking her lips.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Ok, I like that. And if I lose, then you get none of me. I won't call you, I won't talk to you, I won't see you. You won't even know I exist."  
  
"You're on McMahon."  
  
"Right back at ya Jericho."  
  
A/N: I had to have something big with Jericho and Stephanie, it's the 100th chapter after all. ;) 


	101. I'm So Glad Kurt's Back, June 5, 2003

A/N: Firstly, thanks for the birthday wishes and thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you've enjoyed this fic.  
  
Second, I'm SO happy Kurt's back, I've missed him. And I know in his return video, they showed his little girl, Kyra, and what a cutie she is, but in this fic, Kurt isn't married. I'm sure you've probably figured that out by now, but I just wanted to say it in case you were wondering and since they showed her on television. :)

* * *

Stephanie filed her nails in her office, bored out of her mind. The show had just started, but she didn't have anything really to do except watch. She had done all her work over the past three days, and much to her surprise, found herself all caught up. She watched in disgust as her father treated Zack horribly, and couldn't believe that he was stooping this low. She and her father had gone into this Mr. America as a team, pulling Hogan into false security, but targeting a handicapped guy and targeting his handicap was just wrong. She decided to save her sanity and think of something else.  
  
She thought back to what had happened on Monday and smiled secretly to herself. She hadn't expected him to show up at her hotel room door, and she sure as hell wouldn't have known that they would sleep together. She figured his little virgin girlfriend wasn't about to give up the lovin to him. She had been scared that he would really walk out that door forever, but something brought him back, she guessed it was his heart. It was about time he started listening to it.  
  
And their little bet, well that was going to prove to be interesting. She was sure she was going to win. She was a McMahon, they always won. Of course, maybe she'd have to sway Jericho a little towards her point of view. She had to win this, she was looking forward to having him as a personal slave, oh the things she was planning to do with him.  
  
So far though, he had kept true to his word and hadn't called her or talked to her. And she had discreetly called Trish and asked if Jericho had mentioned her in the past couple of days. He hadn't, but she was sure that would change.  
  
She didn't want to think of the alternative because that would just devastate her, and she didn't want to be devastated. After what had happened between them on Monday, and the subsequent bet, she was on a natural high. But just imagining for one second she'd never ever talk to Jericho, she scrunched up her face at the thought.  
  
"See, I come back and the first thing I have to see is that beautiful face marred by a scowl," a voice sounded.  
  
Stephanie looked up and a grin crossed face. He looked at her, that glowing smile on his face, and his blue eyes shining. She got up and ran to him throwing her arms around him as he picked her up. She laughed as he spun her around, then set her down. He hugged her again, and she just kept laughing.  
  
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" Stephanie exclaimed, stepping back so she could look at him at arm's length.  
  
"Well, if they're your beautiful eyes," he winked.  
  
"Kurt, are you trying to flirt with me?" she said, the grin not faltering.  
  
"Me? Never!"  
  
She shook her head and laughed, "You have no idea how glad I am to see you here."  
  
"Not as glad as I am to be here."  
  
"I've been so bored without you," she said, leading him over to the couch where they sat down, "All I've been doing is working, working, working."  
  
"I know, you poor thing," Kurt said sympathetically.  
  
"But now I have you back and things won't be so boring."  
  
"Well, you sure know how to make a guy feel wanted," Kurt smiled impishly.  
  
"Oh Kurt, you know you're always wanted around me."  
  
"So how've you been?" Kurt asked.  
  
"I don't wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about you and how exciting it is that you're coming back tonight," she said giddily, grabbing his hands in hers.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty excited."  
  
"They are going to blow the roof off the place when you come out," she told him.  
  
"You think so? You think they'd actually cheer me?"  
  
"Absolutely, the fans are going to adore you once you get out there," she reassured him.  
  
"Well, that'll be a nice change of pace from the usual," he said, chuckling a little, "But now it's Steph time, so how've you been?"  
  
"Surprisingly well," she said, running a hand through her hair.  
  
"See, that running of your hand in your hair is a tip-off that it's not," he observed.  
  
Stephanie and Jericho had agreed to keep this bet a secret between the two of them. If their friends found out then they would obviously try to get Jericho to ask or talk about her, making him lose. She loved her friends to pieces for believing that she and Jericho belonged together, but this had to be Jericho's choice, and his choice alone.  
  
"Well, things have been, um, strained between Chris and I," she said, divulging nothing.  
  
"Stephanie, maybe it's because you two are broken up," Kurt said delicately, not wanting Stephanie to blow up at him.  
  
"Well duh, don't you think I know that?" she said, rolling her eyes, "I'm just saying, this whole friends kick he wants us to be on, it's not working out."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I bitched him out."  
  
"Oh man," Kurt said, knowing bitchy Stephanie was scary.  
  
"He deserved it, thought he could have both me and Molly, uh uh, not gonna happen," Stephanie said, shaking her head.  
  
"Well, you know what, that's my cue to go," Kurt said, getting up quickly before Stephanie's temper could start to show through.  
  
"You're just scared of me Kurt," Stephanie laughed.  
  
"Only a little, but let me say this, I'd rather have a handicap match against Kane and Big Show than be around you when you're mad."  
  
"Ha ha," she answered, sticking her tongue out at him.  
  
"I'm going to go get ready," he said, walking towards the door.  
  
She got up from the couch and walked over to him. Before he could reach the doorknob she reached out and hugged him wrapping her arms tightly around him. Kurt returned her hug, knowing that she was glad to have someone to confide in at the shows again.  
  
"I'm really glad you're back Kurt," she mumbled against his shoulder.  
  
"I know Steph. How bout we go out after the show and you can catch me up on what's been going on backstage?"  
  
"I'd love to."  
  
"Great," he replied, pulling away from her, "And now I'm off."  
  
Kurt left the room and walked down the hallway just reveling in being back at the shows. He had missed this feeling so much, the buzz of the backstage, everyone bustling around having to be somewhere, having to wrestle, it was great. He ran into Benoit on his way back to his locker room.  
  
"Hey Kurt, just wanted to say it's good to see you back," Benoit said, in his normal tone of voice, monotone.  
  
"Thanks Benoit, I'm happy I could come back this soon."  
  
"Yeah, I look forward to kicking your ass in the future," Benoit said, grinning his lopsided grin.  
  
Kurt just shook his head and laughed, this was what he had missed, "I'm sure you will, see you later."  
  
"Bye," Benoit said, walking away.  
  
Kurt continued down the hallway, finally reaching his dressing room where he decided to just wait until he had to go out there. He smiled to himself as he thought about coming back. It was going to be a great thing, just being able to walk down the ramp and climb into the ring again. It had been a long two and a half months.  
  
He sat there watching the show, seeing himself in clips from some of his funniest moments. He found himself chuckling when he saw himself spraying Stephanie with the milk. He was sure that she had hated that with a passion. Speaking of Stephanie, he decided to give Jericho a little call and see what was up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Chris, it's Kurt."  
  
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be making a return tonight?"  
  
"I am, but first I wanted to talk to you about something," Kurt said.  
  
"Depends."  
  
"It's about Stephanie."  
  
Jericho froze, an alarm going off in his head, subject he couldn't talk about, "Kurt, I've gotta go."  
  
"No, I wanna know why you would even think about putting her in a situation where you had her feel like she had to bitch you out."  
  
"Kurt, gotta go, talk to you later," Jericho said, hanging up quickly.  
  
Kurt looked down at the phone confused. That was really unlike Jericho, just hanging up on him like that. Usually Jericho was responsive when the topic was Stephanie. He couldn't possibly have had Molly over.........nah, that was unlikely. He scoffed and got up, knowing his cue was up next.  
  
He walked down to the gorilla and waited for his cue to go out. He heard his music go off and it was the best feeling as he walked out there amid cheers for him. He did his usual pose and heard the usual "You Suck" chants. Man was it good to be back.  
  
He went down to the ring and could feel the electricity flowing through the building. Everyone was on their feet, cheering him, holding signs for him, Kurt thought it was surreal. He wasn't used to it and he just basked in it. Just letting it flow through him. There was nothing better than an adrenaline rush coming from thousands of people awaiting your every move. He fell on his back in the ring, just enjoying the hell out of himself. Nothing, and he meant nothing could top this, ever.  
  
He walked backstage after his segment, only to find some of the other wrestlers clapping for him and his return. He did a little bow and saw Stephanie standing by the monitor, clapping as well. It always felt good to have your best friend right there. She walked over and wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.  
  
"My best friend everyone," she said proudly, gesturing towards Kurt.  
  
He laughed, "Ok, there's nothing to see here, you can all continue about your business."  
  
Everyone started to leave and Kurt felt Stephanie wrap his arm around her waist. He knew that she had really missed having someone and that right now she was probably wanting someone who understood her problems and would help her through them. He was glad he could be that friend.  
  
"So what do you say gorgeous, you wanna skip out on the rest of the show and get piss drunk?"  
  
"Kurt, you don't drink a lot," she said, her head still on his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, but something tells me you need some loosening up."  
  
"You're not trying to get me in the sack are you?" she joked.  
  
"Of course not, you know I love ya Stephanie, but I don't want my ass kicked by Chris."  
  
"Something tells me he wouldn't kick your ass," Stephanie told him, careful not to reveal anything about their bet.  
  
"Sure," he said as they started to walk down the hallway, "He loves you Steph, he'd be devastated if you slept with someone else."  
  
"He's dating someone else," she countered.  
  
"Yes, a self-proclaimed virgin."  
  
"What has that got to do with anything?" she said, looking up at him.  
  
"Oh Steph, my young friend," he said, kissing the top of her head.  
  
"Explain," she said pouting.  
  
"There's no chance of him scoring with her, therefore, he can remain true to you. I bet if he did sleep with someone, he'd feel like he was cheating on you."  
  
He did have a point, Stephanie thought to herself. She didn't know Jericho's reasons for dating Molly, nor did she want to ask, but that made sense. He only wanted Molly because he knew that there wouldn't be anything between them, interesting thought that was.  
  
"You may be right Kurt, but who knows," she said to him.  
  
"Well, why don't you go get your stuff and I'll go get my stuff and we'll take my rental out and go somewhere fun."  
  
"Ok, or maybe we can just stay in my suite and order up tons of junk food and watch movies?"  
  
"Hmm, sounds even better," he said, smiling down at her.  
  
"Great, I'll meet you in your dressing room."  
  
Stephanie gave him one last smile before heading on her way. She walked down the hallway and saw her father coming out of his office. Oh great, just what she needed, another confrontation with her father.  
  
She got in a scuffle with her father, in which she berated him for making fun of a handicapped person, and told him she would offer Zack a contract. To that her father threatened her termination, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of backing down.  
  
She looked at him bewildered when he told her she needed a new assistant. She was disgusted to Sable lying on top of her desk. She looked at her father in disgust as she outlined the reasons why Sable was a horrible person. Could her father really want this wench to work for her? And then he insulted her looks, oh that was rich. She gave Sable a look of disgust once her father left and shook her head.  
  
"I look forward to working with you Stephanie," Sable said smoothly.  
  
"Whatever," Stephanie said, annoyed.  
  
"I am very qualified you know," she said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"Qualified for what Sable? For lying, for being on your back?" Stephanie answered, cocking her head to the side snidely.  
  
"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Sable answered.  
  
"I don't know why my father took you back," she said, getting her belongings and getting out of there as fast as she could.  
  
She walked to Kurt's locker room and knocked on the door. He opened it and came out with his stuff slung over his shoulder. Sensing her anger, he furrowed his eyebrows and studied her a moment.  
  
"You ok Steph?" he asked.  
  
"No, my father just hired Sable as my assistant."  
  
"What? Sable?"  
  
"Yeah, can you believe that? What a bunch of shit," she said angrily.  
  
Kurt took her bag, "Let me get that. Let's get out of here and we'll go relax and you can take your mind off of it."  
  
"Ok."  
  
He wrapped his arm around her again and she leaned against him comfortably. She thanked the powers that be that he was here and she could rant to someone about this whole situation. She didn't have Jericho, but she could have the next best thing.  
  
"What's going on here?" she heard her father's voice call out. Kurt and Stephanie turned around.  
  
"What are you talking about Dad?"  
  
"Are you two an item?" Vince asked them.  
  
"No Dad, but you know, sometimes it's nice to have a friend who can listen to you when you're father makes a stupid move like hiring a complete bitch to be your assistant."  
  
"I did what I thought was best for you."  
  
"How is that best for me, huh Dad?" Stephanie said, starting to get upset.  
  
Kurt wrapped his arm around her tighter and whispered in her ear, "Calm down Steph, he's not worth it."  
  
"You're right Kurt," she said, giving her father a dirty look, "He's not worth it."  
  
"You work yourself too hard Stephanie," Vince told her.  
  
"That doesn't mean that you can just hire people for me."  
  
"I just want what's best for you," he told her.  
  
"If you really wanted that you would've told me you were planning on hiring her, you would've told me what you were doing."  
  
"Well, this is the last time I try to be nice," Vince scoffed.  
  
"It's the principle of the thing Dad. You don't know what I have to do, you don't have to hire people for me thinking I need them. You say you know that I'm lonely, that I don't date, that I have nobody..........you know absolutely nothing about Dad, nothing," she said, before turning away with Kurt.  
  
They walked silently out to Kurt's car, not looking back and he opened the door for her, letting her climb inside. The drive to the hotel was filled with an uneasy silence, the tension from the earlier encounter, lingering over their heads. It followed them all the way to the hotel and up to Stephanie's suite until Kurt got sick of the silence.  
  
"Are you ok Steph?" he asked after she had changed into her pajamas. He himself was perfectly comfortable in his warm velvet jumpsuit.  
  
"Yeah," she said quietly, coming to sit next to him.  
  
"You sure, I mean, you've been under a lot of stress lately--"  
  
"You have no idea," she blurted out, thinking about her father, Jericho, her job.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Life is rough Kurt."  
  
"I know, I just came back from major surgery," he reminded her.  
  
"Yeah, we're quite the pair huh?"  
  
"Yes, so let's order some junky food and get to watching every movie they have," he said, trying to brighten her mood.  
  
"I like that idea," she said, grabbing the phone.  
  
It wasn't long before they were eating nachos and buffalo wings and watching some lame comedy on television. Kurt was happy that Stephanie's mood seem to have lifted and she was having a good time. They watched and ate for hours until Kurt saw Stephanie yawn loudly.  
  
"You're tired," he said.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose I am," she said.  
  
"Ok, well I'm going to head down to my room now," he said.  
  
"Ok Kurt," she said, walking him to the door, "Nighty night."  
  
"Night," he told her, "I hope you feel better."  
  
"Oh I do, don't worry."  
  
"Good, I'm glad I could help a little. Maybe get your mind off of Chris for a couple hours."  
  
"Hmm, no not really," she joked, "But you gave it one hell of a try. I can't tell you why Kurt, but things with Chris and I, they're weird right now."  
  
"Ok," he said, slightly befuddled.  
  
"Trust me on this one," she said, noticing his bewilderment.  
  
"I will, bye Steph," he said, walking out.  
  
"Bye Kurt, and Kurt?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It's good to have you back." 


	102. Chris is SO Gonna Lose, June 9, 2003

A/N: A special shoutout to Steph (not McMahon) for making me an awesome banner for HaK. I wanted to once again thank her for making me something so kick ass, and if I could show you all, I totally would because it's so cute. Thanks again Steph! :)  
  
And sorry for the delay of chapter, but problems with the site means I have to update later. :(  
  
Jericho sat in his dressing room, lacing up his shoes. He had no plans to wrestle tonight, so he was free to where what he wanted. So he had gone with one of his sparkly combos. Not the sparkly pajamas as Stephanie had dubbed them, but close enough.  
  
"Hey there handsome," Molly said, walking in.  
  
Jericho laughed at the term of endearment, "Hey Mol, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Came to see my boyfriend," she grinned, sitting next to him.  
  
Jericho smiled to himself. It was kind of different being called someone's boyfriend when they weren't referring to him and Stephanie, "So I'm your boyfriend huh?"  
  
"Well, if you want to be," Molly said sweetly.  
  
"Yeah, I think I kind of like being that."  
  
"Good."  
  
She leaned over and kissed him. Jericho kissed her back, but then his mind started to wander. That was never good. They always wandered to one thing and one thing alone. He tried to stop them. He really did, but damn it, there she was. As he closed his eyes, still kissing Molly, he saw her smiling face.  
  
He hadn't talked to her in a week, per their agreement. It had been harder than he thought it would be. He had expected to miss her, but sometimes he had his hand on the phone, ready to call her, but he would just stop. He had to win this, he had to get over her, by any means necessary.  
  
God, he couldn't even think about her name, it would just make it worse for him. He would think about last week when he well, gave in to his desires, so to speak. Not that he regretted it for a moment, because well, she and him, they had this passion that was just too monumental to deny. And well, she was good.  
  
"Chris, are you listening to me?"  
  
Her voice broke Jericho's thoughts and he opened his eyes to look at her. A sudden wave of guilt passed over him. He realized in that moment, that he had cheated on Molly. Now, he hadn't meant it to happen, but he had, and he was feeling bad right now. But he just couldn't tell her. He knew that Molly would never understand if he explained it to her, and it was far too complicated.  
  
"Sorry Mol, what did you say?"  
  
"I was just saying that Bill has the first match."  
  
"Yeah, so, what's that got to do with me?" Jericho asked dumbly, not making the connection.  
  
"Chris, don't you think you should go scope out the match or something. I mean, you are facing him. It's nice to get a feel for your opponent's before you face them."  
  
"You've got a good point," he pondered, wondering if going out was such a good idea after what had happened last week.  
  
"I think you should," she said encouragingly, rubbing his arm.  
  
He looked up at her, "You're right, that's a great idea. When is the show starting?"  
  
"Five minutes," she said, looking at her watch.  
  
"Ok, just enough time to do this."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her, feeling her kiss him back. He pulled away and kissed her cheek before getting up. Grabbing a folding chair in his room, he gave her a small wave and left. He couldn't stop the grin on his face as he walked to the gorilla. Things were good between him and Molly.  
  
This was just going great, he was seriously proving that he was over.........her. He'd win this bet and she'd be out of his life.........forever. At that thought, a sudden flash of his life without her came before his eyes. He dropped the chair with a loud bang, and just stood there.  
  
"Chris, you ok?" Hunter asked, coming up to him.  
  
"Huh?" Jericho said, turning to the World Champ, the World Champ who had held the title for too damn long.  
  
"You dropped your chair," Hunter said, smirking for some odd reason or another.  
  
"Sorry," he said, picking it up, "Gotta lot on my mind."  
  
"I know how that goes. I got this referee to worry about. I have a feeling it's gonna be Foley damn it," Hunter muttered.  
  
"Oh, well, you know, that seems like peaches and cream compared to mine," Jericho said, shaking his head.  
  
"Well, get it figured out," Hunter told him, clapping him on the back before walking away.  
  
"Heh," Jericho scoffed, "If only it were that easy."  
  
He managed to push those thoughts out of his mind and make his way out to the entrance. He heard his music go off and he went out with his folding chair in hand. He was sure that Goldberg would think he was going to come down and use it on him, but no, he sat down on the chair to watch the match.  
  
Wait a second, he had a steel chair, and Goldberg was having a match. This seemed the opportune moment to do a little interfering, when the time was right of course. The element of surprise was key here, so he just sat there looking pretty until he would pounce.  
  
He knew Molly was probably going to chew him out about this. He really liked her and all, but sometimes, she was just a smidge too.........nice. Not that it was a bad trait, it wasn't, it was very good, but sometimes it could be too over the top. He knew that she had cheated in the past, but well, she really wasn't the cheating type.  
  
After the pranks he had pulled last week, Molly had told him how that wasn't a nice thing to do, ruining someone's car like that. He had sat there and listened, not wanting to explain his side of the story. Just leave her be, she was right in a sense, he had been a little bit childish, but well, what's done is done. But now he was going to have to hear how he shouldn't interfere.  
  
He thought back to Stephanie, there was her name, rolled off the tongue it did. She would be congratulating him on interfering. He'd always loved her little saying, "It's not cheating if the ref doesn't see it." Ah, she was a wise one that one was. If anything, Stephanie was a woman who did whatever it took to get ahead. He'd learned that when they were business partners.  
  
He saw an opportunity finally and ran down to the ring, his chair firmly in his hand. He dove into the ring, raised his chair, and was promptly kicked. He fell to the mat, a little bit in pain, but not too bad. Unfortunately, he knew that as soon as he got up, he'd be right back down with the spear. He groggily got up, seeing Rosey or Jamal, he could never tell which, going after Goldberg. He did the smartest thing he could think of at the moment. He ran.  
  
He ran backstage, and he ran to his locker room. Once safely inside, he saw Molly sitting on the couch, looking up at him with a bemused expression on her face. She looked like she was about to laugh. Jericho looked down at her.  
  
"What's that look for?"  
  
"No reason, you just looked funny, running in here."  
  
"Thanks," he said dryly, sitting down.  
  
"You got what you deserved you know," she said decisively.  
  
"Oh really, and why is that?" he asked good-naturedly, knowing what was coming before she said it.  
  
"Well, you know it was going to come back to you, especially after what you did last week."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he said, humoring her.  
  
"Chris, listen, you can't go around doing stuff like that, it's not fair."  
  
"Molly, it's really ok. That's how we work around here, that's how I work around here. I do whatever it takes to win. Whether it be hitting someone with a chair, slapping them, or like hitting them with a sledgehammer, that's what I do."  
  
"I know you're competitive Chris, but don't you think you should base that competition on your in-ring skills rather than if you can hit him while he's not looking?"  
  
"But that's just the coup de grace, backing up everything you do by kicking their ass in the ring."  
  
"I suppose, but if you really think that you can do it, why do you have people help? I mean, you have Christian come out, and not too long ago you were having Stephanie McMahon interfere in every match you had."  
  
"Well, sometimes you need help and who better than your friends."  
  
"I can understand Christian, but really, what was the motivation behind Stephanie McMahon?" Molly said, almost rolling her eyes.  
  
Keep yourself contained, he kept thinking. Don't let it get to you, don't go off the deep end. There's no way Molly could've known that Stephanie was his ex-girlfriend, and the woman that he lov-formerly loved. Just don't get in a fight over this.  
  
"She was a friend."  
  
"Oh," Molly said, "Or maybe she was just using you to get to her husband?"  
  
"No," Jericho snapped, unable to catch himself, "Sorry, but that's not it at all."  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were friends with her," Molly said sincerely.  
  
"It's ok. You know what, I may just get out of here, you know, I don't want Goldberg to get me."  
  
"Ok, did you want to go out or something this weekend?" she asked hopefully.  
  
He kissed her quickly, "Yeah, sure, I'll give you a call."  
  
"Great," she said, getting up, "Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
She walked out and Jericho put his head in his hands. Would people just shut up about Stephanie? It was bad enough he couldn't talk to her at all because of the bet, or spout off to any of his friends because of it, but now he had Molly asking about it. What next? Hunter saying something about her? God forbid, that would send Jericho into a fit of crazy jealousy.  
  
"You don't love her," he said, talking to himself, "You don't need her. You don't miss her. You don't miss her smile, or her laugh, or the way that she rolls her eyes when she's annoyed with you. Or the cute way she yawns, or when she wakes up and has the worst case of bed-head you've ever seen. You don't miss the way she hugs and plays with your hair. You don't miss how she sits on the counter when you cook. You don't miss how she gets mad at you in the car when you play your music too loud. You don't miss the way she leaves all her clothes everywhere. You don't miss the way she sticks her tongue out right before she runs away from you. You don't miss the way her eyes tear up when you do something nice. Nope, Chris Jericho, you do not miss Stephanie McMahon. You don't miss her."  
  
Jericho got up, thankful that he had gotten that out. He just needed to ramble, he needed to relieve his mind of the stress it was put under. Maybe he'd make a list or something to just clear his mind. God, when did he go so soft?  
  
He realized he had left one of his bags in the other locker room and decided to go retrieve it. When he got there, he saw Christian and tried to go past him with as little conversation as possible. Of course, that didn't work out and Jericho had to convince Christian to let him go. They discussed Jericho's match on Sunday and how it was important that he make Goldberg crazy, which was true. If he got Goldberg off his game, then he could swoop in a claim victory.  
  
Finally Christian let him go and he went to get his bag. As he was coming back, he thought he'd just go to his hotel room and take it easy for the rest of the night. Then he thought about what he might do at the hotel, and calling Stephanie was NOT what he wanted. Better stay on the safe side and stay here. He'd just lay low.  
  
He went back to his locker room, not stopping along the way. He'd just sit around, watch the show, not think about a certain brunette. Everything would be just fine. Yeah, he was delusional, but at least he knew he was delusional.  
  
Eventually he saw Goldberg giving an interview, and once again, perfect opportunity arose. He grabbed another folding chair, darn those things came in handy, and went in search of him. He found him with Terri snuck up behind him, giving him a good chair shot before running away. Yes, NOW was a good time to leave. He grabbed his things and headed straight for the exit.  
  
"You know, I could grow to like these plans," a voice said from behind him.  
  
He turned around, "Really, I thought you were diametrically opposed to it."  
  
"A girl can change her mind can't she?" Molly asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"So where are you going?" she asked.  
  
"Back to my hotel room," he said, "You know, got no reason to stay."  
  
"Wanna give me a ride?"  
  
"Don't you have a rental?"  
  
"Took a taxi, easier," she told him.  
  
"Than sure, get your stuff and we'll go."  
  
"Ok, stay right there," she said, jogging back to get her things.  
  
This was actually going his way. If he hung out with Molly all night, then he wouldn't have to think about Stephanie. And if he didn't have to think about Stephanie, then he wouldn't get the urge to call her. And if he didn't call her, then he would have to be her personal slave, no matter how intriguing that sounded. Damn, he just realize he thought about Stephanie way too much, he needed to learn how to control that. No one person should control someone else's life like that.  
  
"Ready," Molly said cheerfully, bounding up to him.  
  
"Great, let's go," he said, taking her hand in his.  
  
Together, they walked out to the car and he proceeded to hold the door for her. She blushed a little at his gentlemanly ways as she got inside. He got in the driver's seat and they were off. Molly chatted the entire way, never letting up once, but Jericho was content to listen. It kept him occupied. When they got back to the hotel, Jericho asked her if she wanted to hang out in his room for a while. A bit apprehensive at first, Molly agreed after Jericho reassured her that they were just going to hang out.  
  
God, he thought, what did she think he'd do? Jump her while they were sitting on the couch. He had better manners than that. Then there was the whole you-know-who thing, and he knew he wasn't over her enough to be sleeping with someone else right now.  
  
They walked together up to his room and he opened the door, holding it for her. She smiled as she walked inside. He put their things down and told her to make herself comfortable. She walked over to the couch and sat down.  
  
"I'll be right back," Jericho said, walking into the bedroom.  
  
Upon entering he noticed a huge bouquet of flowers sitting on the table next to the window. He didn't remember those being there today. He walked over, and saw a card sticking out of them. He pulled it out and opened it, wondering whom they were from.  
  
"How are you holding up my darling?"  
  
Jericho couldn't hold in his laughter. This was so typical Stephanie. She was trying to cheat, manipulate the game. He once again thought back to the basic philosophy she adopted, "If you don't get caught, it's not cheating." She was a sneaky one, he loved that about her. But he'd be damned if he was going to give in.  
  
He walked back out, "Mol, I'm actually really tired, so I think I'm just going to go to bed."  
  
"Oh, ok," she said understandingly, "Don't want to keep you from sleeping."  
  
"Thanks," he said, coming over to kiss her.  
  
"Nighty," she whispered.  
  
"Night."  
  
She took her things and left and Jericho was left somewhat confused. He really did have feelings for Molly, but he felt terribly guilty for still loving Stephanie. There he admitted it, he still loved her. But he was really enjoying spending time with Molly. Maybe all the answers would come to him in the next week of non-Stephanie.  
  
A knock came to the door and he figured that it was Molly and she had left something. He opened the door to see one of the bell clerks holding another vase of flowers. Jericho tipped the guy and took the flowers. He put them on the table and found another note in them. He read it silently, and shook his head, reading it again. Stephanie was a force to be reckoned with.  
  
"Fully Loaded 2000, you filled my room with flowers, but I didn't give in to your games. In the next week, will you give in to mine?" 


	103. Vince Scares Me, June 12, 2003

A/N: I'm BA-ACK. Ok, you guys, I'm SO sorry this wasn't up earlier, the chapters were written, as usual, but damn it, I couldn't upload them. That's the ONLY reason they weren't up when they were supposed to be, I didn't forget, I didn't lose inspiration, there were no personal problems, I didn't suddenly hate Jericho and Stephanie and decide to stop writing, I couldn't upload a damn thing. But here I am, with, get this, TWO new chapters for you, AND you get a Bad Blood chapter tomorrow, AND the usual Raw chapter on Monday, that's 4 chapters in 3 days. See, there is a bright side to me being unable to upload. ;)  
  
Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

Ten days. It had been ten days since she had seen or talked to Jericho. She had to admit it was very odd to be not talking to him. She didn't expect him to call either, which again was odd. She knew they were both stubborn and if they could they both wouldn't give in. Of course that didn't bode well for her, since her part of the bargain was disappearing from Jericho's life, and she didn't know if she could do that.  
  
She remembered the night that they made the bet. She had never expected him to show up at her door, and she certainly hadn't expected to sleep with him. Not that she minded it. He had stayed the entire night too, it wasn't one of those, I'm done with you, let's go kind of things that she feared it would be. He had left the next morning with a kiss and a good luck.  
  
She wondered if he was indeed over her by now. Well, not completely, but well, enough to move on. He was with Molly after all. She didn't know how serious that relationship was, and quite frankly she didn't want to know. Nobody wanted to know how the guy you loved was faring with his new girlfriend. Yet, he had cheated on said girlfriend with her, that had to mean something.  
  
"Steph?" Kurt kept saying, walking in on a zoned out Stephanie.  
  
She snapped out of her trance, and looked up, "Oh hey Kurt."  
  
"Got a lot on your mind?"  
  
"Yeah," she sighed.  
  
"Want to talk about it?"  
  
"I kinda can't talk about it," she told him, smiling crookedly.  
  
"What do you mean you kinda can't talk about it?" he asked curiously.  
  
"Like I said, it's something that I have to keep with me."  
  
"Stephanie, I don't think I like the sound of that," Kurt told her, looking at her sternly.  
  
"Kurt, it's nothing bad or anything, it's just a personal matter that has to stay between me and the other person involved."  
  
Kurt looked stricken, "Please don't tell me you and Hunter are involved with each other again!"  
  
"Eww, no!" Stephanie said, disgusted at the prospect, "No fucking way!"  
  
Kurt took a sigh of relief, "Thank God for that.........So it's between you and Chris."  
  
"No," she lied, "What makes you say that?"  
  
"Because everything in your life has to do with that man," he told her honestly.  
  
Stephanie sighed as she realized, essentially, he was right. But it wasn't necessarily her fault. She had invested a lot into her and Jericho, much more than with anybody, because unlike Hunter, she gave Jericho her heart, something she had never done with Hunter. You don't give someone as ruthless as him something so precious.  
  
"When did I become so predictable?" she asked, leaning her chin in her open palm.  
  
"When you became General Manager," Kurt said, not even having to think about it, "I don't know, it was like you gave up your individuality and just become part of the higher-ups."  
  
"It was time for a change Kurt," she said, "And deep down, I'm still that girl."  
  
"Yeah, but I miss her."  
  
"I'm sure she'll show up sometime," Stephanie told him, "Probably sooner rather than later."  
  
"So what happened between you and Chris?" Kurt asked, returning to the subject at hand.  
  
"It's a long story Kurt."  
  
"I've got a long time."  
  
"I don't think I should discuss it here, you never know when my new assistant," she grimaced at the term, "Will pop up.........or pop out if the case may be."  
  
Kurt laughed, "Let's go to my dressing room then."  
  
She contemplated this for a moment, "Sure."  
  
She got up and walked over, linking her arm with Kurt's. They walked together down the hallway, making idle chit-chat. When they got to the dressing room, Kurt opened the door graciously for her and she smiled as she walked inside. He sat down on the couch and she sat stretched out on the other part.  
  
"So Chris and I slept together," Stephanie said nonchalantly, as if that were the most mundane in the world. Once upon a time, it had been.  
  
"WHAT!?!" Kurt exclaimed, almost falling off the couch altogether.  
  
"A week and a half ago."  
  
"But wait, how did you guys even see each other?"  
  
"He came to Anaheim to see me in the middle of the night. It was unexpected. He came to say goodbye to me."  
  
"Then how does that culminate into sleeping together?"  
  
"He went to leave and he couldn't and we just gravitated towards each other."  
  
"So what does this mean? He told me he was still with Molly?" Kurt asked, perplexed by the situation.  
  
"He is. We made a bet."  
  
Kurt shook his head. Would these two ever learn? He, and probably all their friends, would just love for them to take their heads out of their asses and realize that they did these stupid things because they wanted each other. Kurt was about two seconds away from shaking the truth into Stephanie.  
  
"Stephanie, a bet? What are you? Ten?"  
  
"No, it's a very fair bet and it's going well.........for him at least."  
  
"What do you mean for him? What is this bet?"  
  
"If he can stay away from me for two weeks then I never speak to him again," she said in a professional tone, as if she were talking about what match was next.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure that'll go over well," Kurt said, unconvinced by the whole thing, "What do you get if you win?"  
  
"He becomes my personal slave for two weeks," she said, grinning devilishly.  
  
"Ahh, and there's the fun part of the bet," Kurt said, "So how's it going so far?"  
  
"He hasn't called, seen me, nothing," she said, trying not to sound sullen, but failing like a pro.  
  
"And it's bugging you," Kurt said, knowing that was indeed the case.  
  
"A little. I mean, he wanted to try to get over me, he told me as much, but I never thought he'd be able to."  
  
"You know he's stubborn. I bet you he wants to call, but doesn't want to lose."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose, I'm just scared he's falling in love with Molly and he'll forget about me."  
  
Kurt scoot over to her and hugged her, "So not the case Stephanie, so not the case."  
  
"I guess, but it's not worth thinking about right now," she answered, steeling herself once again.  
  
"Ok, well, then I'll ask you the question I wanted to when I went to see you."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
"Are Shelton and Charlie here tonight?"  
  
"Yeah, they are. Why?"  
  
"Because we need to have a little talk," Kurt said seriously.  
  
"Ok," Stephanie answered, a little taken aback by the sudden change in Kurt's voice, "Well, I've got work to do, and you never know when Sable is going to try to interfere with my hard work."  
  
Kurt scoffed, "I can't believe your Dad did that?"  
  
"I can, and that's the sad thing," she said, getting up, "See ya Kurt."  
  
"Bye Steph."  
  
Stephanie left and went walking down the hallway. She reached her dressing room only to find Sable looking on her laptop. Stephanie was about to blow up, but she kept her cool, asking why Sable was looking at her things, and Sable answered that she was looking for Gowen's contract. If that wasn't the biggest pile of bullshit Stephanie had ever heard.  
  
Stephanie told her just what she was thinking, that she was a no-good lying rat. She thanked God silently that Sable would never find the pictures and e-mails from Jericho that were saved on her computer, since she had those password protected, but that bitch was still rooting around, even finding out that she was bringing back the U.S. title.  
  
"Sable, if I ever catch you touching my laptop again, or any of my files for that matter, I will see to it that you are fired," Stephanie said seriously.  
  
"But Stephanie, your Dad hired me."  
  
"I don't care Sable. I will go to my mother, who will go to the board of directors and they will overrule my dad and you will be out on your ass.........again."  
  
"No need to get so touchy Stephanie," Sable said, leaving soon afterwards.  
  
Stephanie sighed and sat down. Having to deal with that woman infuriated her to no end. She was so fake, not just personality wise either. Stephanie did some work before realizing it was time to go down for her father's little arm wrestling match.  
  
She rose from her desk and made her way to the gorilla. She didn't know what her father could possibly gain from coming out here and trying to humiliate the young kid that was Gowen. Just to get back at Mr. America, or Hogan? It was pretty pathetic and yet her dad was so determined. She didn't know how her mother had put up with it as long as she had.  
  
She got down to the ring and made the announcement about the stipulations of the confrontation. As she was about to introduce Gowen, Sable came out. Stephanie scowled as she looked at her. God, would this woman just disappear for two seconds, just two freaking seconds. Stephanie pretended to let Sable speak but took the microphone at the last second, going ahead with the introductions.  
  
Her father came out and Stephanie clapped half-heartedly. He was her father after all, even when he was acting like a big jerk. She also had to remain indifferent, she was the one in charge after all. But what she really wanted to do was yawn and get this over with.  
  
Stephanie rolled her eyes as she heard Hogan's little speech. God, wouldn't he just shut up? Then her father wouldn't be so crazy and they wouldn't have to go through this silliness. She just pretended to act amused because what else could she do, say she was bored and would rather pine over her ex-boyfriend.  
  
She sighed and listened to her father change the stipulations. Fine, fine already, could they get this over with? She had much more important things than to pretend to care who won a freaking arm wrestling contest. The two men started and it was pretty even. Stephanie pretended to remain interested.  
  
Sable interfered on her father's behalf, unsurprisingly, so she was forced to cut in and state the rules. Hogan and Vince once again started arm wrestling. They were both acting like huge idiots, and she was getting disgusted. Then Sable flashed them, causing Hogan to get distracted. Stephanie looked on in horror. This was beyond disgusting, it was just plain tasteless. Oh yeah, she was definitely leaving after this train wreck ended.  
  
Her father told her to leave and she shook her head in disgust. This was out of control and she wouldn't have stayed if her father paid her. She got out of the ring and walked quickly up the ramp. She was just horribly disgusted by the whole thing.  
  
"Quite the sight huh?"  
  
She looked up and saw Brock Lesnar, "Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it."  
  
"I don't blame you."  
  
"Are you ready for your title match?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Good, let me wish you good luck ahead of time," she said, smiling at him.  
  
"Thanks," he said, walking off.  
  
She went back to her office, where she decided to stick around for the rest of the show. That way she could keep an eye on things. She watched, only half-watching the program. Instead she was thinking of ways in order to get Jericho to give up and lose the bet. He had to lose it.  
  
She looked up as she saw Kurt enter the ring and wondered what he had to say, considering he had been asking about Team Angle earlier. She smiled as he made his speech. It was good to have him back. His team came out and talked about how Kurt had been keeping them from reaching their full potential. What a load of crock.  
  
She was livid after they decided that they didn't want Kurt part of their team. He was the founder, just like he said, and he could do what he wanted. She was proud of Kurt for standing up, not that she hadn't expected him to, it was Kurt after all. He was fearless. He had won the Olympics and wrestled WrestleMania with a broken freaking neck.  
  
She got up to go see him as he came backstage only to see him getting beat up from behind by his former teammates. She got up and rushed to the gorilla, seeing him still down on the ground. Stephanie ran up to him.  
  
"Kurt! Are you ok?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, sitting up.  
  
"Are you sure? Is your neck alright?"  
  
"I'm fine, really," he said, getting up and dusting himself off.  
  
"Ok good. I was just about to come down and congratulate you on what you did, but then I saw you being attacked."  
  
"Yeah, those are the sucks," he said nonchalantly.  
  
"Here sit down," she said, leading him over to a folding chair.  
  
He obediently sat down and she kneeled in front of him, seeing if he was hurt in any way. He wasn't and she gave a breath of relief. Standing up again she walked over to the monitor to watch the Brock and Big Show match. It seemed to be going ok.  
  
Kurt got back up and walked over to stand next to her to watch the match. Being a top contender and having dealt with both men in the recent past, he had a keen interest in the match. They both watched in absolute shock and terror and the ring collapsed. It more that collapsed, it was demolished. Immediately, personnel and EMTs were racing down the ramp.  
  
Stephanie waited to see both men come back and they both seemed to be responsive, but they were being taken to facilities to see if they were really alright. Stephanie watched dumbfounded, not knowing how this could've happened. It was madness.  
  
Finally, after making sure that everyone was ok, and that the ring could be fixed properly she was able to make it back to her hotel room. In her exhausted state, she fell on her back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.  
  
An absolutely wicked idea came to her and she smirked. She knew exactly how to get to Jericho. She knew what she had to do, when she had to do it, and just how he would react. Of course the answer was so inherently simple and yet it was the one she had overlooked the most. Mainly because it would require one thing that she was going to dread. She picked up her cell phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"It's me," she said.  
  
"Holy shit, what are you doing calling me?"  
  
"I need to ask you a favor."  
  
"Favor? I'm not doing you any favors!" he said incredulously.  
  
"I want to go out with you," she told him.  
  
"I bet," he scoffed, "You've never been able to resist me."  
  
"Shut up. I just want to go out one time, nothing serious."  
  
"What are your motives here Steph?"  
  
"Personal."  
  
"That's nice, I wanna know."  
  
No way was she going to tell him. This was far too complicated to explain to him, not that she would even if it weren't complex. There was no trust between the two of them, and it could stay that way for all she cared. But she needed him right now.  
  
"I just want to make an impression on Bischoff," she lied.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Just showing that he might have his own pay per view, but that doesn't mean he wins anything," she told him.  
  
"Fine, you can come, but is this like a date?"  
  
"No! It's just a let's pretend type deal."  
  
"You do know that I shouldn't do this for you. I mean, after all the shit I went through with you."  
  
"You owe me," she said bluntly.  
  
He scoffed, "Yeah right? I dare you to tell me one way you owe me?"  
  
"Staying away from you," she answered brightly.  
  
"That's not gonna cut it Princess."  
  
"Please," she said.  
  
"I don't like you," he told her.  
  
"I like you even less. In fact, I despise you."  
  
"So we're on even footing then."  
  
"Yes, I hate you, you hate me, it's all squared away."  
  
"Fine, fine, come on then."  
  
"Where are you staying?"  
  
"Hilton. Room 356."  
  
"Ok, I'll meet you on Sunday morning."  
  
"Don't be late bitch."  
  
"Oh I won't you piece of shit," she spat.  
  
"Heh, bye Stephanie."  
  
"Bye Hunter." 


	104. Crap, Bad Blood, June 15, 2003

Stephanie checked herself over in the mirror. She was looking stunning if she did say so herself. She smoothed out the short leather skirt she was wearing, making sure it looked good. The low cut halter top stood out in a bright blue with a sequined trim. She was going to knock someone's socks off, she just hoped it was Jericho.  
  
She went into the bathroom and curled her hair, before putting it just the way Jericho always loved it. He told her often how much he loved it like this. If she was going to win him back, she'd have to do it by any means necessary.  
  
She was going above and beyond that and she knew it. She was going low with this one, but if Jericho wanted to play dirty, she'd have to get dirtier. She was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this scheme. But sometimes the extreme was the only way to go.  
  
She deemed herself gorgeous and grabbed her purse. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves and was off. She left her hotel room for the evening, closing the door behind her. She just hoped she didn't run into Jericho before she wanted to make her grand entrance. She walked to the elevators to go down to Hunter's floor. She was in the suite tonight, and part of her hoped she wouldn't be alone later.  
  
She went up to his door and she thought momentarily about turning back. Was this too cruel even for her? No, she resolved herself, all's fair in love and war. And if Jericho wanted war, he'd get one. She felt some of her old self seeping through and she loved the taste of it. She knocked loudly on the door.  
  
"Hold up, will you?" Hunter said as he opened the door quickly, "Oh, it's just you."  
  
"Oh, it's just you? Thanks for the warm welcome," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes before stepping inside the room, brushing right past Hunter.  
  
"Yes Stephanie, come right in," Hunter muttered to himself as she eased into the room.  
  
She turned around, her hair falling loosely on her shoulder as she turned it, "I'll come in whenever I want to."  
  
"Yeah, to any hotel room you want to as well," Hunter said, closing the door.  
  
"Ooh, that was a burn if I ever heard one," she deadpanned, "So where are your little cronies?"  
  
"Not here," Hunter said seriously.  
  
"Oh, well, I can see that, unless you're hiding them under the bed."  
  
"We're meeting up later," he explained.  
  
"I see," she said, sitting down gingerly on his bed, careful not to show too much leg.  
  
"I know you want me Steph, but come on, just going straight for the bed," Hunter berated.  
  
"Shut up you ass. Let's get down to business," she said, turning professional.  
  
"Oh, business, listen to little Stephanie get all professional."  
  
"You know what Hunter? You don't have to like me--"  
  
"Good, cause I don't," he said.  
  
She rolled her eyes, "You just have to work with me. One night, that's it, just one stinking night. Can you do that for me?"  
  
He crossed his arms and pretended to think, "Fine."  
  
"Thank you," she said in relief.  
  
He looked at her cautiously for a moment. He worried about her sometimes. I mean, he was married to her for quite some time, and well, you tended to worry about people you used to care about. He wondered if there were any ulterior motives for this little stunt she wanted to pull. He went over and sat down next to her, studying her carefully.  
  
"So what are we supposed to do?"  
  
"Well, just kind of act like we used to," she shrugged.  
  
"You mean when we were married?"  
  
"Well, yeah, sorta, I mean, no really touchy-feely, but kind of in tune with each other you know?"  
  
"Yeah, and why are you doing this again?"  
  
"Well, I guess it'll make Bischoff think that I'm going to steal you away from him and think of SmackDown as a serious threat."  
  
"I see. Are you trying to get me to go over to your show?" he asked curiously.  
  
"No fucking way!" she exclaimed, "You can stay on your show. Besides, I have my eyes on other wrestlers before I'd eye you."  
  
"What other wrestlers?"  
  
"Oh wouldn't you like to know?" she scoffed, "So you going to help me?"  
  
"Sure, what are ex-husbands for right?"  
  
Stephanie suddenly felt bad about everything she had put him through. She wasn't sad that they had broken up, but she never really knew the damage that she had done to him. I mean, obviously he was over her, but maybe she did owe him an apology.  
  
"Hunter?" she said nervously.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I do hate you, you know?"  
  
He laughed shortly, "Yeah, I hate you too."  
  
"But I am sorry for what I did."  
  
"Don't grow a conscience on me now Steph."  
  
She tried to stop herself, but she laughed, "I'm not, but I've changed a lot since we broke up."  
  
"I don't doubt that. I mean, you are one of the higher-ups now aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah, but I think I needed to break up with you. For my own sanity's sake. And you know that you didn't want me."  
  
"No, I didn't to be honest."  
  
They sat there for a few moments, thinking, before Stephanie said, "Are we having a nice moment?"  
  
"I think we are.........I don't like it."  
  
"Me neither," he told her, "So are you coming to the arena with me?"  
  
"No, I'll come a little bit after you so that they know I'm coming. Just make sure you meet my limo."  
  
"Ok."  
  
She got up once again, "I'll see you later."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you will."  
  
She gave him a smirk and went back up to her hotel room to call the limo service. That had gone a lot better than she thought it would. She expected more screaming, things being thrown, but it hadn't been all that bad really. She guessed that she and Hunter were past that bitter stage. That was a relief at least.  
  
Meanwhile, Jericho and Molly were heading to the arena. He was driving their joint rental car as he held her hand in his right one. She was looking out on the scenery and he would shoot glances over at her from time to time. She was looking absolutely beautiful tonight, he didn't know why, but she was just radiant.  
  
"You look beautiful," he told her, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing the back softly.  
  
"Thank you," she said, blushing.  
  
"It's my pleasure," he said smiling.  
  
"So are we gonna grab a bite to eat after the show?" she asked.  
  
"If you want."  
  
"Well, you'll probably be hungry and I don't want you to starve or anything."  
  
"You're so sweet."  
  
She smiled cutely at him and went back to looking out the window. Jericho pulled into the parking lot of the Compaq Center and parked the car. He and Molly got out with Jericho grabbing both their bags. They walked inside and Jericho dropped Molly off in her dressing room before going to his own. She would've come with him had she not had a match before the pay per view.  
  
He went to his dressing room, saying hi to some of the guys on the way. He was feeling pretty good tonight. His bet was still on with Stephanie, and he hadn't given in yet. That was something he was very proud of, considering initially, he doubted that he could stay away from her for fourteen minutes, let alone fourteen days.  
  
But she was beginning to fade from his mind, slowly and surely. He didn't think about her all the time, and he didn't wonder what she was doing all the time either. He had Molly now, and she was keeping him preoccupied. At least most of the time, late at night, he'd lie awake in his bed and stare at the ceiling wondering if Stephanie was still up and if she was, was she thinking about him. Sometimes in the middle of the night, he'd groggily reach over to grab her around the waist, and then find a cold empty bed. Those were the times he kind of wished that Molly wasn't so..........pure.  
  
He turned on the television, wanting to watch Molly on Heat. He knew that she could beat Ivory and he wanted to see it for himself. Molly was a really great wrestler and he was proud of her. He saw Hunter and his stupid faction arrive at the arena and shook his head. Idiots, the whole lot of them. He grinned when Molly finally made her way out.  
  
Stephanie scowled as she saw Molly walking down the ramp, a smile on her smug little face. Ok, so maybe it wasn't smug, but she didn't appreciate looking at it. What did Jericho even see in her? She was nothing but a wholesome little farm girl or something. She wanted to spit the bad taste out of her mouth.  
  
"Stupid bitch," she muttered, "Stealing my boyfriend."  
  
Stephanie got up after seeing Molly lose. She smirked, served the girl right to lose. And that wasn't the only thing she was going to lose. If she had her way tonight, and she would have her way, Molly was going to lose so much more than a little match.  
  
She felt her smirk grow into an evil grin. She was suddenly the Stephanie of old. She wasn't the General Manager of SmackDown, diplomatic and professional. No, she was the shrewd, conniving Stephanie McMahon. She was the woman who did whatever it took to get to the top, and tonight, she was getting what she wanted.  
  
"It's time to get what I want," she said ominously.  
  
She walked purposefully out of her hotel room, and she could almost hear some sort of dark music accompanying her walk. She was determined and able to get exactly what she wanted. And she wasn't afraid to step on any of the people who got in her way.  
  
Jericho shook his head as he saw Molly lose. It shouldn't have ended that way, but oh well, what's done is done. She had told him she was going to meet him in his locker room after his match and so he waited to see her. He heard a knock on the door and thinking it was her, went to answer it.  
  
"You!" Jericho exclaimed.  
  
"Is that any way to treat your favorite girl?"  
  
"Sorry, you're not my favorite girl," he joked.  
  
"Why Chris Jericho? I thought you loved me more than life itself."  
  
"Sure, and what would Christian say if I did?" Jericho asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Nothing, he'd just kill you."  
  
He hugged her, "What are you doing here and not with your boyfriend?"  
  
"I don't spend every single moment with him you know?"  
  
"Oh, well excuse me," he jested.  
  
"So can I come in, or am I stuck in the doorway the entire time?"  
  
"I think I should leave you in the doorway," he said, while stepping aside.  
  
"Where's your," Trish paused for dramatic affect, "Girlfriend?"  
  
"Trish, get over it, she's my girlfriend ok," he told her.  
  
"I know, I didn't say anything, don't get so defensive."  
  
"I mean, I'm over Stephanie," Jericho asserted.  
  
"Chris, calm down. I didn't say anything," Trish said, putting a calming hand on his arm.  
  
"Sorry," he said, laughing a little.  
  
"It's ok."  
  
Jericho sat down on the couch. He didn't exactly know where that outburst had come from. He guessed he was just tired of everyone assuming that he was still pining over Stephanie. He wasn't, he had been the one to break up with her and he had stuck valiantly by his decision.  
  
"So is Christian ready for his match?"  
  
"He said he was. He also said he's gonna win that match even if he has to get himself disqualified."  
  
"Hopefully it won't come to that though," Jericho told her.  
  
"I don't know. We're in Booker's hometown and it might just come down to the wire with this one. He does have the advantage, Booker does."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure Christian will pull through though."  
  
"Well, I hope so."  
  
"Am I interrupting anything?" Molly asked, walking in.  
  
"Oh, nothing Molly, just me attempting to steal your boyfriend," she said, sitting in Jericho's lap.  
  
Molly laughed, "You can have him, he's too much trouble anyways."  
  
"Since when did I become the butt of everyone's jokes," Jericho said, shaking his head as Trish climbed out of his lap.  
  
"You know you deserve them," Trish joked.  
  
Molly came over and sat next to Jericho. He wrapped an arm loosely around her waist and pulled her closer. He kissed her temple and she smiled, leaning into him. Trish hated to admit it, but they looked happy. As much as she wanted Jericho and Stephanie together, this seemed right for Jericho. He seemed to be happy with Molly, and she just had to deal with that, and so did all their friends.  
  
"Maybe so," he said, "Sorry about your match Mol."  
  
"It's ok, I think I'll get over it."  
  
"We all lose sometimes," Trish said.  
  
"Ain't that the truth?" Jericho said, shaking his head.  
  
"So Chris," Trish started, "Are you nervous for your match against Goldberg?"  
  
"Not really, actually, I think this is just a long time coming you know?"  
  
"Well, you have waited, what? Four years to get here?" Trish asked.  
  
"Pretty much yeah," Jericho said, "Isn't it so ridiculous that I had to wait so long just to get a match out of that asshole?"  
  
"Chris," Molly warned, not liking his language.  
  
"Sorry," he said, kissing her lightly.  
  
Trish turned away and roller her eyes. She liked Molly, she was a genuinely kind person. But damn, she was too wholesome. If this had been Stephanie, she would've encouraged Jericho to call Goldberg something nastier. Sometimes the difference between them was so glaring.  
  
"Well, I've got to get back to Christian," Trish said, "He probably wants a pep talk before he goes out there."  
  
"Tell him I said good luck ok?" Jericho called out as he left.  
  
"I will."  
  
Trish walked down the hallway back to her and Christian's locker room. She walked in to see Christian lacing up his wrestling boots and looking kind of nervous. He tended to look like that as before a match. She went to sit next to him and rubbed his neck soothingly.  
  
"You're gonna be great," she whispered in his ear.  
  
"Thanks," he said.  
  
"You have no reason to be nervous," she told him.  
  
"Yeah, I just know everyone is going to be solidly behind Booker since it's his hometown and everything."  
  
"So? That doesn't mean he's automatically going to win you know?"  
  
"I know, but I'm still nervous."  
  
She pushed him back on the couch and moved over so she was straddling him. She leaned in and kissed him deeply, letting her fingers run through his short hair. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. Trish finally had to come up for air and pulled away.  
  
"Not so nervous now are we?" she asked.  
  
"No, definitely not nervous," he said suggestively.  
  
She gave a giggle, "So I was just hanging out with Molly and Chris."  
  
"Oh, how are they?"  
  
"They're good. They seem happy."  
  
"That's good."  
  
They both looked at each other started laughing. They both knew the situation was totally absurd. There was really no other way to describe it. They stopped laughing and Trish got off of Christian's lap, allowing him to stand up.  
  
"Now, you go out there and make me proud you hear?" Trish said solemnly.  
  
"Yeah!" he exclaimed, psyching himself up.  
  
"Good," she said, slapping his chest.  
  
"I'm gonna win baby," he said, kissing her lightly before leaving.  
  
"That you are," she whispered to herself.  
  
In another locker room, Jericho and Molly were watching the television, anxious to see Christian's match for the Intercontinental title. Molly was still leaned against Jericho, and he looked down at her and smiled. This really felt right to him. He felt a nice calm when he was with Molly.  
  
"I hope Christian wins," Molly said, interrupting his thoughts.  
  
"So do I," Jericho told her, "He deserves to keep the title."  
  
They remained silent for the duration of the match. Sometimes it was nice to stay silent. It was a comfortable silence, and Jericho felt really at peace. He wasn't sure, and he didn't want to speculate, but he kept thinking that he was falling in love with Molly. Yes, as shocking as that was, he was falling in love with her.  
  
It wasn't the same kind of love that he had with Stephanie. This one was much calmer, slower if you will. With Stephanie, it had always been hard passion, raw chemistry. He and Stephanie were like each other and were just the perfect compliments to each other, but he and Molly, it felt like it fit. He and Stephanie, maybe they never fit, maybe that was the problem.  
  
Christian won the match, getting himself disqualified, but Jericho was just happy to see his friend retain his title belt. He turned the television on mute and turned to Molly. She, in turn, looked up at him curiously. He captured her lips with his own, and kissed her gently. She returned it eagerly.  
  
"What was that for?" she asked as they pulled away.  
  
"You make me really happy Mol."  
  
She grinned so brightly, Jericho thought he might need sunscreen, "You're the kindest man I've ever been with."  
  
He laughed, "Good to know you've only been with jerks up until now."  
  
She laughed, "No, you're just the best of a good lot."  
  
Suddenly, from nowhere, Jericho thought of how he had betrayed Molly. He had slept with Stephanie. It was an err in judgment, the last piece of their relationship that needed to be resolved, but he had still cheated. He didn't want to tell her and potentially lose her, but he still felt bad. He didn't know what made that suddenly come to mind. It was as if Stephanie's presence just assaulted him.  
  
Stephanie pulled up to the arena, having driven around for a while, waiting to make the perfect entrance. She didn't care if she was caught on camera, what was important was that Jericho saw he with Hunter. She'd just wait in her car for a while and then call Hunter to come get her.  
  
She picked up her cell phone and dialed Hunter's cell phone, "Hello?"  
  
"Hunter, it's Stephanie. I'm outside the arena."  
  
"Ok, should I go get you?" he asked, actually cooperating for once.  
  
"No, not yet, what's the lineup for the rest of the show?"  
  
"Hold on, let me get the schedule," he said and she heard a shuffling before Hunter came back on the phone, "Right now, Bischoff and Austin are going at it, then we have the tag title match, and then we have the Goldberg and Jericho match........."  
  
Stephanie tuned out Hunter's voice after that. So it was coming up soon. She'd tell Hunter to come get her as the tag title match began. That way she knew Jericho would be out by the gorilla waiting for his match. Perfect timing was key here.  
  
"Ok, that's fine, get me at the beginning of the tag match."  
  
"Fine, see you then," he told her.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
Stephanie sat back in her limo, waiting for when Hunter would come and get her. She looked over her makeup, making sure that she looked decent. No, more than decent, spectacular. Yes, she had to look spectacular.  
  
"I better start getting ready," Jericho said, getting off the couch, and unwrapping his arm from around Molly.  
  
"Darn, I would've liked to have just sat here with you."  
  
"So would I," he told her, "But I've got work to do."  
  
He grabbed his tights and went into the bathroom to change. HE didn't think that Molly would appreciate him getting dressed in front of her. He quickly changed into his wrestling tights and got his boots. He laced them up quickly and pulled his shirt on. He looked up and saw the tag match just starting out.  
  
"Hey Mol, you want me to walk you back to your dressing room so you can change into your street clothes?"  
  
"Sure," she said to him.  
  
"Ok, come on," he said, getting up and grabbing her hand.  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
Hunter knocked on Stephanie's limo window and opened the door. She stepped out looking more glamorous than she had in ages. Hunter offered her his hand and she graciously accepted, letting him help her out of the limo. She stood up and smoothed her clothes down.  
  
"Are you ready to do this?" Hunter asked.  
  
"Of course I am, I'm always ready," she said haughtily.  
  
He offered her his arm and she linked arms with him. This was just like old times, them being completely in charge. She walked into the arena, hanging of his arm, her head held high, and a smirk planted firmly on her lips. She notice people looking at them in shock, but she ignored them. This show was for one man only.  
  
Jericho and Molly laughed down the hallway, after he had told her about one of the drunken adventures of Edge and Christian. They were so into each other, they didn't notice the terrible twosome turn the corner. Jericho had no idea what was right ahead of him.  
  
Stephanie saw the two of them and scowled slightly, before the smirk returned to her face. This was going to be perfect. They hadn't been spotted yet, and Stephanie clung a little bit tighter to Hunter. She turned to smirk up at him, and Hunter had the most arrogant smile on his face.  
  
"Hey Chris," Hunter called out.  
  
Stephanie couldn't believe her luck. Not only was she on the arm of Jericho's worst foe, she wasn't even the one to initiate conversation. She threw her head back, letting her soft curls cascade down her shoulders in a show of bravado.  
  
Jericho looked up at the sound of Hunter's voice. He had to talk to this stooge again. His eyes almost popped out of his skull when he saw who was on Hunter's arm. He dropped Molly's hand and stood there, his mouth agape. She was here, she was stunning, and she was on the arm of her ex-husband.  
  
"Chris, don't be mean, let's go say hi," Molly said.  
  
"N-n-no," Jericho croaked.  
  
"Chris, are you ok?" Molly asked, concerned.  
  
Hunter and Stephanie walked over. Stephanie could tell that Jericho has almost keeled over as he saw the scene in front of him. She stood there, smirk still on her face as she watched Molly ask Jericho if he was alright.  
  
"Um, yeah," Jericho answered, eyes on Stephanie.  
  
"Hey guys, just wanted to say hi," Hunter said, "Hey Chris, remember when I told you that she'd come calling, she did."  
  
Stephanie looked up at him a bit confused. Hunter had told Jericho she wanted him, huh? That must've been after the whole thing with her trying to make Jericho jealous. Oh well, seems like it was affecting Jericho after all.  
  
Jericho, on the other hand, he was about to die. He was seriously about two seconds away from ripping Stephanie from Hunter's arms and dragging her away. How could she do this? Of all the stupid things that could've come from their breakup this was by and large, the worst.  
  
"Yeah," he said shortly, his contempt for the other man coming to him in large waves.  
  
"Hi Stephanie," Molly said politely.  
  
"Molly, nice to see you again," Stephanie responded in a fake sweet voice.  
  
"I didn't know you were back with Hunter," Molly told her.  
  
"Well, you know how life is. You never know what you've lost until it's gone. I guess I just missed Hunter more than I realized, isn't that right baby?" she said, looking up at him adoringly.  
  
"Of course," Hunter said, leaning down to kiss her.  
  
Stephanie grimaced slightly, "I guess I just realized, I was wasting my time with other people, when the man I truly wanted to be with was here all along."  
  
Jericho wanted to cry. He literally wanted to just start bawling here in the hallway. Hadn't he and Stephanie meant anything? How could she go back to that man? He didn't treat her right, he didn't care about her, and he didn't love her.........not like he did.  
  
"Chris, aren't you going to say hello?" Molly prodded.  
  
"Yes Chris, aren't you going to say hello?" Stephanie said, staring him straight in the eye, "We haven't seen each other is so very long."  
  
Jericho couldn't talk to her. Not anymore, that's it, it was over. The bet would be off if he talked to her. Now, this bet seemed like the best idea ever. He wouldn't talk to Stephanie, no, he couldn't. He wasn't going to be her personal slave, not while she was with Hunter.  
  
"Let's go Molly," Jericho said, grabbing her hand and brushing past the two of them. As he passed, he felt Stephanie's hand graze his stomach, sending butterflies through his body.  
  
"Well, isn't that the rudest thing ever?" Stephanie said snottily to Hunter, "I don't even get a hello."  
  
"What's up with him?" Hunter said as he watched them walk away.  
  
Stephanie shrugged, "Who knows."  
  
Jericho walked straight to Molly's locker room. He dropped her off, not kissing her or anything, he was too distraught. And damn it, his match was up next. He jogged to the gorilla in time to go out for his entrance. He went out trying to look as normal as possible, but inside, he was hurting.  
  
There was so much anger boiling up inside of him as he waited for Goldberg to come out. When he finally did, he watched as he came down to the ring. Jericho tried to get his mind into the match, but the visual of Stephanie and Hunter kept coming back to him, causing Goldberg to get the upper hand. It got so bad that he just barely ducked out of the way when Goldberg tried to spear him against the security wall.  
  
Actually, that made him get more into the match, and actually put a smile on his face. He just had to concentrate on winning and everything else could come later. He got the upper hand on Goldberg, not thinking about Stephanie, and he managed to do fairly well. Until that is, he got speared, but he didn't let himself lose.  
  
He went for the Lionsault, but unfortunately couldn't get the pin. Then he got on the Walls of Jericho, sure that Goldberg would tap. Instead he got out of the hold and Jericho couldn't believe it. He was then speared and jackhammered and the match was suddenly over, and he had lost.  
  
To be quite honest, he didn't care, he had bigger things to worry about. He practically scrambled out of the ring and up the ramp to the back. He didn't even bother going to his dressing room, heading straight for Christian's walking inside unannounced. Trish and Christian, who had been watching, looked up at him.  
  
"She's here," Jericho said simply, before pacing the length of the room.  
  
"Who's here?" Trish asked.  
  
"Stephanie," he said, scoffing, "And she's here with Hunter."  
  
"No way," Christian said, "Not possible."  
  
"It is possible, she's here, I saw her. I--I don't know what to do," he said, still pacing.  
  
"She's back with Hunter!?!" Trish asked.  
  
"Yes, he kissed her! He fucking kissed her! And she didn't throw him off!"  
  
"Chris, calm down," Christian told him.  
  
Jericho took Christian by the shoulders and shook him, "How can I? She's with HIM! Of all people, HIM!"  
  
"Chris, your with Molly now, think about Molly," Trish said calmly.  
  
Jericho took a deep breath, "Ok, yeah. We'll just get out of here.........And then I won't have to see Stephanie and Hunter. And then it'll all be ok right?"  
  
"Yes," Trish urged, "Just go."  
  
"Yeah, I'll just go."  
  
Jericho gathered himself and left the locker room. He walked briskly down the corridor, reaching his locker room, half expecting Stephanie to be in there. She wasn't, and he didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. He quickly took a shower and changed into some street clothes, then went off in search of Molly.  
  
Stephanie filed her nails in Hunter's locker room. He was getting ready for his big match and she couldn't have been more bored. She had gotten her desired affect from Jericho and she wanted to go back to her hotel room and see if he came.  
  
"Hunter, it's been fun, but I'm outta here," she said standing up.  
  
"Ok, bye," he said, not paying attention to her. Yep, this was just like the old days.  
  
She walked out of the room and down the hallway. She saw Jericho walked her way and he saw her and stopped in his tracks. She put a little extra swing in her hips as she walked and gave a little wink to Jericho before bringing her finger up to her mouth and sucking on it seductively.  
  
She walked past him, "Nice to see you Christopher, looking.........needy."  
  
Jericho stood there resolutely, he wasn't giving in to her. Not now, not ever.  
  
"You need a good woman to take care of you, not some little girl who doesn't have the piece of mind to go after what she wants."  
  
Again he gave no response.  
  
"But I know what you want Chris. You want every part of me," she said, walking around him slowly, "You want my mind, and my body, and my heart."  
  
She turned dead serious as tears welled up in her eyes, the first sign of emotion she had given tonight. She looked him dead in the eye and he looked back at her, but it seemed more like through her.  
  
"Wait, you already got my heart, and you haven't given it back," she whispered, walking past him, "Choose wisely Chris."  
  
She walked away and Jericho stood there, not watching her leave. He couldn't do it. He couldn't let her toy with him. She was with Hunter, and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing, even though he knew that part of the reason she was with Hunter was to get back at him.  
  
He got Molly and they walked quietly to their rental car. Jericho was tense the entire time and he showed it too, gripping the steering wheel for dear life. Molly didn't comment, though she wondered what was up.  
  
"I'm not hungry Mol, I just want to go back to my room."  
  
"Ok," she said, not wanting to press the issue of why he was so upset.  
  
They got to the hotel and he walked her up to his room, before retiring to his own. He walked inside and collapsed against the door. He let breath out and willed himself not to lose it completely. He pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and rooted through it, looking for a certain picture.  
  
He pulled it out and stared at it. In the picture, he and Stephanie were in the backyard and she had her legs wrapped around him as he held her close. They were cheek to cheek, grinning like dopes. He closed his eyes painfully. He got up and reached for the door.  
  
He pulled back at the last second. He needed to think about this. He needed to think about if he wanted to go back to Stephanie. If he wanted to give in to her stupid bet. He realized if he lost and told her he wanted her back, she wouldn't even go through with the bet. This was all just a big ploy to get him back. And it was working. He was seriously contemplating going back to Stephanie.  
  
It was funny. Earlier this evening, he had been thinking about how he was falling for Molly and forgetting Stephanie. And now he was back to square one, loving Stephanie and forgetting about Molly. But they both weighed on his brain. Could he really give up what he and Stephanie had? Could he really turn his back on it? He didn't know if he could. But he didn't want to give in to Stephanie either, he would be playing right into her hand. But he loved her. The bet was off in twenty-four hours. He had twenty-four hours to decide what to do.  
  
It was going to be a long day. 


	105. I Love Jericho's Pants, June 16, 2003

Jericho sat in his car, his hands still gripping the steering wheel, even if he had long since parked. He didn't want to go to the show tonight. In fact, he didn't want to go to the show ever again, if the sight that greeted him last night were to greet him again. He hadn't even been able to sleep last night, thoughts of them plaguing his mind, preventing sleep from overtaking him.

He just kept picturing that kiss. Hunter had kissed Stephanie, his Stephanie. Yes, she was still his Stephanie, damn it, and he didn't think it would ever change. Hunter could kiss her a million times, and she would still be his Stephanie. Hunter could never love her like he could, and he treated her so badly, he hated thinking that Stephanie had subjected herself to that situation.........again.

But that kiss, she had kissed him back, and he had felt like a knife had been stabbed straight through his heart. He didn't know for sure, but you could probably hear his heart breaking. Was this how she had felt when she found out he had been dating Molly?

There was another tense subject, Molly. He really did like her, and he really was falling for her, but did he feel for her in remotely the same way that he felt for Stephanie. He wasn't so sure. Stephanie had been the first woman he had ever truly loved and Molly, well, Molly was nice to be around and all, but could he see the relationship lasting, could he see himself marrying her. Well, whenever he thought about a wedding between him and Molly, somehow Stephanie would always appear and interrupt.

So caught up in his thoughts was he, he didn't notice Molly slip into the car with him. She had just arrived in a taxi, and had been walking towards the entrance when she had seen Jericho sitting alone in his car. She looked over at him, and he seemed like he was in some trance-like state. She reached for his hand and he jumped at the contact.

Jericho was startled to feel someone's hand in his own. For a moment he thought it was Stephanie, come to play one of her mind games again, but he looked over and saw Molly sitting there. She had a worried expression on her face as she gazed into his blue eyes.

"Chris is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," he said, lying through his teeth.

"Are you sure? You haven't been the same since last night."

"Really, I'm fine, I'm just a little stressed right now," he shrugged.

"Oh, is it because you lost to Goldberg?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity, "Because there's no shame in losing when you try your best."

"Not exactly."

"Did you wanna talk about it, I'm here to listen," she told him, rubbing his hand with her thumb.

"I'd really love to, but it's something I have to deal with on my own," he said, leaning over to kiss her softly.

"Ok, are you sure though?"

"I'm sure. There's just something that I need to sort out before tonight."

"Is it something big?" she asked.

"Yeah," he told her, "It's really big."

"I'd really like to help," she said, "I'm your girlfriend, you can tell me anything."

Something told Jericho that Molly wouldn't exactly appreciate what he had to think about. It did directly involve her after all. And then telling her that he still harbored feelings for his ex-girlfriend, whom he had a bet going on with, one that included a stipulation of being someone's personal slave, in every sense of the word, he didn't think Molly would like to hear about that.

"I know," he smiled, "But this is something I really need to think about on my own."

"If you think that's best," she shrugged, "But how about you go into the arena so you can go to work?"

He laughed, "Yeah, it beats sitting in the car."

He got out of the car, a little reluctantly and he closed the door behind him. Molly waited for him and held her hand out to him. He came over to her and grabbed it, giving it an affectionate squeeze. She bumped her hip against his playfully and he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close to him as they made their way to his dressing room.

"So do you know what you're doing tonight?" Molly asked as she sat on the couch in Jericho's locker room.

"Nope, not yet," he said, setting his things down.

"You get to partner with me!" Christian exclaimed, walking into the room, hands outstretched.

"Lucky me," Jericho said blandly.

"Hey! Is that any way to talk to your former tag team partner?"

"When it's you yes, when it's Benoit, no, not so much."

"What has Benoit got to do with anything?" Christian asked.

"Well, he was my tag team partner too, way back when."

"Oh ok," Christian said, getting what he was saying.

"So we're tagging eh?"

"Yep, against Booker and Goldberg."

"Great," Jericho muttered, "I get to go against him again."

"You'll do great Chris," Molly piped in.

"Thanks," he turned to her smiling, "Knowing you're rooting for me gives me all the confidence in the world."

Christian cleared his throat, "Chris, can I talk to you for a second, privately."

"Um.........sure," Jericho said, "If you'll excuse us Molly."

"Of course," she said.

"Come on," Christian said, grabbing his arm.

Christian dragged Jericho out of the locker room. Jericho tried to get out of Christian's grasp, but he wouldn't budge. They went to Christian's dressing room and Christian led him inside. Trish was standing looking through Christian's bag and she looked up a bit in surprise to see Jericho there.

"What is it man?" Jericho asked, rubbing his arm after Christian had let go.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?"

"What I'm going to do with what?"

"With Stephanie."

"What about her?"

"Aren't you going to try to win her back?" Christian said.

"Win her back?"

"From Hunter!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Jericho said, shaking his head.

"And why not?" Trish spoke up, coming over to the two men.

"You guys, you didn't see her last night. You didn't see that smug little smirk she was sporting on her face. She's gone."

"Oh my God, Christian, get a camera or something because history was just made," Trish said.

"Huh?" Jericho said.

"Because we just saw Jericho give up," she said, "Chris Jericho, self proclaimed King of the World, just fucking gave up."

"Trish, you don't know anything about it ok?" Jericho snapped.

"Hey!" Christian said, "Don't talk to her like that!"

"No, it's ok," Trish said, "The only reason he's acting like this is because he knows we're right."

"So you're saying I'm giving up on Stephanie."

"You heard me the first time," Trish said with attitude.

"I'm not giving up on her. We're just moving on," Jericho said.

"Moving on, this "moving on" is bullshit, you know that? Christian, Edge, Kurt, Shane, and I, we've all sat back and we've taken this little game that you two are playing. We ignored it when you two broke up and you suddenly decided to go out with little Molly fucking Sunshine. We even accepted her, but this whole thing now, it's just a pile of bullshit! Stephanie's with fucking Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and you are going to sit back and let this happen. You are a fucking coward Chris Jericho!"

Trish stormed out of the room, fed up with the whole thing. She was willing to let the two of them move on, but she knew what a manipulative bastard Hunter was, and she didn't want her friend getting sucked into that again. Stephanie deserved so much better. She deserved a guy who would treat her right. And Jericho was too stupid to realize that guy was him. She needed to get some air.

Jericho just stood there, staring at the door Trish had just walked out of into the hall. He had never seen her so angry, and he had seen her pretty damn angry before, but this took the cake. He looked down and then looked up at Christian, who just shook his head.

"You agree with her don't you?" Jericho asked quietly.

"You know man," Christian said, "I couldn't have put it better myself if I tried."

"That's fine," Jericho nodded, "But do you know how many times I've contemplated going back to her? Do you know how many nights I woke up wanting to see her next to me, only to see that she wasn't? Do you know how much it hurts to find something of hers lying around my house? I finally get one semblance of happiness in Molly, and you guys tear me to shreds because I am trying so very desperately to forget Stephanie and move on. Some friends you are."

Jericho turned to leave, tiring of the conversation. They didn't know the thoughts that ran through his head, and to presume to know, that was just wrong. He felt Christian's hand grab his arm again, and he reluctantly turned around.

"We're not tearing you to shreds Chris, we're just trying to figure out why you can't see what's right in front of you."

"Molly's in front of my Christian. Stephanie's behind me, and who she does or doesn't do is not my concern anymore."

"That's fine," Christian conceded, "Except for the fact that you came storming into my dressing room last night distraught over seeing Stephanie with Hunter."

"It was shock," Jericho told him, "I'm over it now. I had time to think about it, and I'm over it."

Christian smirked, "Bullshit."

Jericho shook his head, "I know, but you know what, I have a big decision I need to make, and you guys aren't making it any easier."

"Sorry bout that," Christian said, "I just hope Trish forgives you."

"We'll see," Jericho said, "I'll see you before our match."

"Ok."

Jericho made his exit, and stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets. This whole thing was turning into one chaotic mess. When had his life become this huge soap opera? If it wasn't happening to him, he would've laughed. He looked up and saw Hunter walking down the hallway, water in hand.

"Yo Trips," Jericho said.

"Yeah?" Hunter said, stopping to talk to him.

"So you and Steph huh?"

"What about me and Steph?"

"You two are back together," Jericho said as nonchalantly as he could.

"Oh that," Hunter chuckled, "That was nothing."

Jericho felt fury rise up inside him at Hunter's words. Stephanie was nothing, Stephanie was NOTHING? She was so much more than nothing, she was a person with feelings, very delicate feelings and she didn't deserve to be treated as nothing. He was going to shove this man up against the wall and teach him how to treat Stephanie.

"What the fuck do you mean she's nothing?" Jericho asked through gritted teeth.

"Whoa, calm down, what do you got a thing for Stephanie?" Hunter said laughing.

Jericho let his temper calm for a moment, "I was just wondering why you would show her off to everyone and kiss her if you two weren't together?"

"Oh, she had some asinine plan she wanted to do or something," Hunter said dismissively, "She wanted my help, I gave it to her."

Jericho couldn't believe it. Stephanie had played him like a fiddle. She was one sneaky bitch, he had to give her that. Damn, that was some Stephanie of old tactics right there. He started laughing and shaking his head in amusement.

"Who was the plan for, did she say?"

"Bischoff, something about making him think I was going over to her show," Hunter told him, "Just a bunch of nonsense."

"Oh, well, she did a good job of fooling everyone, I thought you two were really together."

"So did everyone else, but there's no way Stephanie and I are ever getting back together, unless something monumental happens."

"I hear ya. Man, it's good to hear Stephanie hasn't lost her touch," Jericho said, still chuckling a bit.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but we would know her best wouldn't we?"

Jericho's head snapped up to look at the other man. How much had Stephanie told him last night? She wouldn't say anything about them to her ex-husband, not unless he was there to gloat along with her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was her husband and you were her business partner."

"Oh yeah, well, I was gonna wish you two good luck, but since you're not really together........."

"I get you, see you Jericho."

"Yeah."

Jericho laughed, wish them good luck, that was the last thing on his mind. So Stephanie was willing to go to Hunter to get him back. Damn that woman loved him. He had to admit that was the most ingenious thing she could've done. There was no way she wouldn't get noticed by him if she brought Hunter into the picture. It made him smile to know that she loved him that much. Yes, it made him smiled indeed.

He went back to his locker room, the smile still on his face. He couldn't help it really, he was still in awe. The things that she was willing to go through, just for him, it was astonishing really. She really did love him, the whole kiss with Charlie, the thing that started this mess, she was probably telling the truth when she said it was forced on her. She was actually willing to go to great lengths to prove her love. He couldn't get it out of his head.

"You look much better."

Jericho's face dropped as he saw Molly still sitting on his couch, but quickly his that with a smile. She got up and came over to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He kissed back gingerly, still thinking. Yes, just when he thought he was figuring everything out, the proverbial wrench in his plans came to head.

"Yeah, I'm improved."

"Good, does this have anything to do with that thing you wouldn't tell me about?"

"It does, and well, my outlook on that was changed drastically," he told her, thinking about the information he had received.

"Good, I'm glad you're happy, it makes me happy."

"Great," he said, trying to be chipper.

"Are you going to get ready for your match?" she asked, "It's coming up soon."

"Oh yeah, almost forgot, excuse me," he said, loosening himself from Molly's grasp.

He went over to get his clothes from his bag and went into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and saw this weird glow about him. It was a happy glow, one he hadn't felt in the longest time, not since, not since that night he and Stephanie were supposed to tell Vince about the two of them. He laughed to himself before changing.

So he was going to have to break it off with Molly, that was a given. He liked her sure, but well, he couldn't lead her on like this. He was desperately in love with another woman, and he had to go back to Stephanie. Yes, he had to go back to her or suffer for the rest of his life without her.

It was a comforting thought knowing that he could live without Stephanie though. He really could go on without her. He could not talk to her and see her and he was fine. Hell, that meant he could marry Molly if he wanted and be remotely happy for the rest of his life. The big thing though, despite knowing that he could live without her, was the fact he didn't want to.

Now, how was he going to break it to Molly? He had until midnight to do it, and he figured after his match, he'd take her back to her hotel room and explain himself there. That would probably be the easy way. Then he could find out what room Stephanie was staying at and get back with his girl. He smiled, thinking about being with Stephanie in a mere few hours.

He walked out of the bathroom, a smile still on his face. He was certainly feeling good. Even seeing Molly sitting there, looking pretty, and knowing he would probably hurt her later couldn't deter him. Tonight was the night. He wanted his Stephanie back.

"Well, I'm gonna go meet up with Christian," Jericho said, "Discuss strategy and all that."

"Ok," she smiled, "Want me to come?"

"No thanks, you stay here," he told her, "And later, there's something I need to tell you."

"Sure," she smiled.

Jericho felt a little bit of guilt twinge up as she smiled, "Ok, later."

"I don't get a kiss or anything?" Molly pouted.

"Um, of course," he said, kissing her cheek, "See ya."

He made his escape quickly before she could kiss him properly. He walked whistling down the hallway, wondering what Stephanie was doing now. Should he call her before hand to let her know he was coming? Nah, he thought, he'd surprise her, maybe buy her some flowers.

"What's got you so chipper?" Christian said as he answered his door.

"Nothing," Jericho said, smiling self-indulgently. No one was going to know he was going back to Stephanie before Stephanie herself knew.

"Sure," Christian said skeptically, "I wanna know!"

"You can't."

"Don't tell me Molly gave it up," Christian joked.

"Shut up," Jericho said, "Let's go have our match."

"You better spill on what's got you so happy."

"In due time my friend, in due time."

Jericho and Christian walked to the gorilla. Jericho walked out arrogantly, felling on top of the world at that moment. And for all intents and purposes, he was. He waited for Christian to come out and then for his opponents. Even facing Goldberg again didn't phase him.

Booker T immediately targeted Christian and Jericho helped out Christian on beating Booker, and then Goldberg was beating on him, though Jericho for some reason didn't seem to mind. Even getting thrown out of the ring didn't bother him. Seeing blood dripping down his face, not a problem. He was still feeling great.

The match officially started and he put his all into it. Well, his all that wasn't thinking solely about Stephanie. And admittedly, that wasn't too much. This match, honestly, it was inconsequential to him. He wanted it to be over, he didn't care who won. He cheered Christian on when he was in the match, and tried his best when he was in. He let Christian do most of the work in the beginning but felt bad and went back in. He even managed to lock on the Walls, which that idiot Goldberg kicked him while he was doing.

Eventually his team lost, but once again, he was just glad this thing was over. He made his way out of the ring quickly and Christian had to jog up to him to keep up. He made his way backstage, Christian still on his heels.

"Chris, where's the fire?"

"I wanna get out of here," Jericho said.

"What's the rush though?"

"I have something to do," he said, turning to his friend and smiling, "It's important."

"Ok," Christian said, confused by his friend's behavior.

"Trust me, it's good, see ya," he waved, heading into his locker room.

"Sorry you lost Chris," Molly said.

"It's alright, I don't care," he said happily.

She giggled, "Ok, well, go get showered and dressed so we can go."

"Will do."

He grabbed his things and headed for the bathroom again. He took a quick shower, where he hummed the whole time and got dressed, pulling his hair back into a loose ponytail, just how Stephanie liked it. He came back out and saw Molly waiting for him.

"Ready to go?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah," he said, throwing his stuff in his bag and picking it up.

"Ok," she said, reaching for his hand.

Jericho pretended to look for something in his pockets to avoid holding hands with her. They walked down the hallway into the more open area of the backstage of the arena. Suddenly, without warning, Molly slipped on a stray piece of ice from someone's drink and fell down, hitting her head on a nearby trunk. She slumped to the ground in a heap.

"Oh shit," Jericho said, kneeling down next to her, "Mol, are you ok?"

"Hmm?" she said groggily.

"Mol, I think you have a concussion, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," she said dreamily, still in a state of semi-consciousness.

"Ok, I'm going to take you to the hospital, that way a real doctor can check you over and not one of our trainers ok?"

"So tired," she said.

"Ok, don't go to sleep ok?" he told her, picking her up.

He took her back to his car and laid her out in the backseat. Just great, he wanted to go tell Stephanie he wanted her back and Molly gets in a freaking accident. He quickly got into the car and drove to the nearest hospital. He picked up the groggy Molly and brought her inside.

"Excuse me, my girlfriend slipped and hit her head," he told the nurse on duty.

They immediately took Molly on a gurney and into the emergency to check for a concussion. Jericho went to sit down and wait, he really hoped Molly was ok. He didn't want her really hurt, that would really be terrible. Finally, the doctor came out and came over to him. He told him that she had a mild concussion and would stay overnight for observation. Jericho asked to see her and the doctor obliged, but told him not to stay long.

"Hey Mol," Jericho said, trying to smile.

"Hey," she said, some of the color back in her cheeks.

"You look better."

"Yeah, I don't feel so hazy," she said, "What happened?"

"You slipped and fell and hit your head."

"Oh," she said, still a little out of it.

"The doctor said you had to stay overnight, but I guess I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up," Jericho said.

"Ok.........didn't you want to tell me something?" she said, her eyes half-open.

"Yeah, but you know what? That can wait," he told her. There was no way that he was going to dump her while she was in the hospital.

"Ok, night," she said.

"Night," he told her, kissing her forehead as she fell asleep, "Sorry Mol."

He walked out of the room and decided that he'd go down to the florist in the lobby and get Stephanie some roses. He wondered if the place was still open and checked his watch. His stomach dropped as he saw the time was 12:34. Shit! This was past the deadline.

He raced for his car, he had to get to the hotel. He climbed in and started it up. He got his cell phone, ready to call Stephanie when he saw the voice mail message icon on. He pressed the code for his voice mail and listened, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Chris, it's now 12:01, and you're not here and you haven't called. So.........you win. Congratulations, you got over me. Um..........last night was nothing, it was just to try to get you to lose. I'm not with Hunter, and well, yeah. So, um, starting after this phone call, I guess that's it for me. You don't have to hear my voice or anything. I fully intend to keep up my part of the deal, we did shake on it right? Oh well. Good luck with Molly, I'm glad you're happy. Wow, that sounded really fake didn't it? Well, despite that, I want you to be happy. I wish you and Molly all the happiness in the world. Goodbye Chris Jericho, and this time, I promise it's for good. And Chris?" she paused for a good, long moment, "I love you.........always."

"Fuck!" Jericho screamed, throwing his phone down.

He sped up his car, trying to get to the hotel. He had to get to her. Damn it, Molly had to fall tonight. Yeah, he was being a heartless bastard, but right now his heart rested entirely in the palms of one woman. He got to the hotel and barely stopped the car before hopping out. He ran up to the registration desk, checking his watch, it was 1:02.

"McMahon," he panted, "Is she staying here?"

"I'm sorry sir, we can't give out that information."

"I'll give you five hundred dollars," Jericho told him.

"Ok," the man said enthusiastically, checking his computer, "I'm sorry sir, she checked out about a half hour ago."

"Shit!" Jericho muttered, "Did you see her or anything?"

"I'm sorry sir, she checked out on our in-room check out."

Jericho pulled out a picture from his wallet, "This is her? Did she come through here?"

The man studied the picture, "No, she might have left the back way sir."

"Fuck," Jericho grumbled, "Thanks anyways."

He gave the man his money and went upstairs to his room. He grabbed the phone in his room and dialed her phone number. Her phone was off and not accepting messages. He tried her house phone, but it just kept ringing so she must've turned off the answering machine. He scowled and sat on his bed, this was just fucking great. She thought he didn't want her. If Molly hadn't fallen, he would've been with Stephanie right now. Oh well, he'd just have to take charge of the situation. He wanted her back.

By any means necessary.


	106. Vince Seriously Scares Me, June 19, 2003

"So if you see any Raw superstars, make sure that you keep them out of the arena."

"Of course Ms. McMahon."

"If I so much as see any of the Raw superstars, I'll have your jobs," she said sternly.

"We'll keep a close eye."

"Thank you."

She turned abruptly and started walking back to where the dressing rooms and offices were located. She held her head high as she nodded hello to some of the wrestlers milling about. She stopped and talked to one of the production guys about the show. After that she went to her office to try to get a little work done.

She turned on her computer and the first thing that came to mind was she had a lot of stuff she needed to get rid of. She went to her e-mail and deleted every single e-mail Jericho had given her. When she got home tomorrow, she'd have to throw away the e-mails since she had printed them out as well. After she was through with that, she went to her pictures and deleted every single picture that included her and Jericho. She didn't want them anymore.

She had expected Jericho to show up on Monday, she really had. Of course she had been a fool when he didn't show up. She had even waited another half hour just too see if he was running late, but still he didn't show. So that could only mean one thing. That he had won the bet and she was now nothing to him. She fully intended to go through with the bet and that meant she was now officially nothing to Chris Jericho.

So she was on her own. This was really the first time she had been on her own. She'd gone from Daddy's Little Girl, to Test's girlfriend, to Hunter's wife, to Jericho's business partner, to Jericho's girlfriend, and now, now she was nothing to no one. It was an odd feeling, she wasn't too sure that she liked it all that much.

When her computer was finally Jericho-free she actually did try to do some work. It was kind of hard to focus, but she tried her best and was able to get some of her work done, though not all of it. She was starting the U.S. title tournament tonight and she was very excited about that. She was also announcing that she was hosting her own pay per view of SmackDown superstars. She was sure it would blow Bad Blood out of the water. And by having this brand only show, she wouldn't have to see you know who.

"Can I come in?"

Stephanie looked up and saw Kurt in her doorway, "Of course Kurt, how are you?"

"I think the question should be how are you?"

"I'm fine," she told him, smiling.

"You sure?"

"I'll be ok Kurt."

"I really thought he would show up for you," Kurt said, sitting in the chair opposite her desk.

"So did I, but I guess it just wasn't supposed to happen."

"I want you to be ok."

"I swear I will be. I'll get over this, just like I got over Hunter. It'll take some time, but I'm a McMahon. When we fall down, we get up, dust ourselves off, and keep going. It's what we do."

"But unlike the rest of the McMahon's, you're much more fragile," Kurt said, studying her.

"I may seem that way Kurt, but I'm very able to take care of myself."

"I never doubted that, I just know that you've been through a lot more than the rest of your family has."

"That might be, but that just means I'm more accustomed when things don't go my way," she told him.

"So how is it being nothing?"

"Interesting. I took all of our pictures and put them away. I took all of his clothes that were in my house and sent them to him. I changed my phone number and cell phone number so that he can't talk to me."

"Has he been trying to call you?"

"He might, I really don't know if he has or not."

"You know, maybe you should've talked to him before all of this happened."

"No Kurt, I made myself a promise, and I had to keep it. If he wants to be happy with Molly, who am I to stand in there way?"

"But Steph, I'm sure he loves you too."

"He doesn't Kurt," she said, her eyes welling up with tears a little, "He used to love me, there's a big difference."

"Stephanie, I'm really sorry," Kurt told her, getting up and crossing the side of the desk to take her in his strong arms.

"Don't be. People break up all the time. It happens, and this is just another one of those times. Chris and I, we were a great couple, but we just weren't meant to last."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"I'm sorry it worked out that way."

"Thank you, that means a lot."

Stephanie's cell phone rang and she looked at Kurt, almost scared that it would be Jericho. But Jericho didn't know her new number and she had told everyone who knew her new number to not tell him the new number, that she and Jericho had broken ties with one another.

"Stephanie McMahon," she said, finally picking up her phone.

"Steph!"

"Oh my God, Edge!" she said, happy to hear his voice.

"Yeah, hey, I know the show's going on and everything, but I miss the action and everything so I thought I'd call and see what was going on."

"Everything's fine."

"I just saw the APA," Edge said.

"Yeah, they're back. I was pretty surprised myself," she told him.

"Yeah, so how's the show?"

"Not the same without you," she replied honestly, "I only have one friend on the show, it sucks."

"Oh, I know you love me Steph, but the time I'm away will be over before you know it."

"Another nine months," she said miserably, "I miss you."

"Nice to know I'm important around here," Kurt said, sitting on the desk facing her.

"Hey, is that Kurt?" Edge asked.

"Who else would it be?" Stephanie said laughing.

"Tell him I said hi."

"Edge says hi," Stephanie said, looking up at Kurt then turning on the television really quickly, "Oh, you know what Edge, I have to go out there and make an announcement on the U.S. title, but I'll talk to you later ok?"

"Ok," he said, "It's been great talking to you. Hey, put Angle on the phone."

Stephanie stood up, "Kurt, he wants to talk to you."

"Ok, see ya Steph."

"Bye," she said walking out.

"So what's up Edge?" Kurt said, sitting in Stephanie's chair.

"I heard that Stephanie was upset or something from Shane."

Kurt sighed. He didn't know who Stephanie had told about this whole little bet thing that she and Jericho had had, but he suspected it was maybe him and that was it. She wouldn't want people to know about it, lest they try to influence Jericho, but now that it was over maybe he could say something about it.

"How much do you know?"

"Just that she spent the last couple of days with Shane and didn't want to go back to her house."

"She and Chris are officially over in every sense of the word."

"What do you mean every sense of the word?"

"Like they're officially strangers."

"God, those two. You know Christian told me that Trish totally blew up at Chris for not going after Stephanie, I mean totally just cussed him out. Christian said it was pretty cool."

"Well it's nice to see someone telling him the truth," Kurt scoffed.

"You don't sound too happy with our friend," Edge said astutely.

"I'm not, he's breaking Stephanie's heart. Of course she's too bull-headed to show it. I'm just afraid she's going to snap any moment."

"Nah, not Stephanie," Edge said, "I just wish the two of them would work this all out."

"We all do. But I really think it's over this time."

"Sure, we'll see though I'm sure," Edge said, "I'll get going now, Christian and Trish are coming over with some takeout."

"Oh, tell them I said hello."

"Of course."

Stephanie walked backstage, proud that she had been able to keep her composure the entire time. It was hard going out there and pretending everything was ok, but it was a necessary evil. The show must go on, the old adage said. And so it did. She ran into Spanky on the way back and he stopped her.

"Hey Steph," he said, still a bit shy around her.

"Brian, how nice to see you again," she said cheerfully.

"Did you find Gowen?" he asked.

"Zack?"

"Yeah, he was looking for you, said that you were looking for him or something?"

"Really, that's odd. I haven't been looking for him."

"Oh, well, he was looking for you, so you might want to keep an eye out for him."

"Thanks Brian, I appreciate the tip-off."

"No problem."

She smiled at him, and went off in search of Gowen. She had no idea that her father and Sable, the wench, had set up a phony office in order to trick the young man. She wandered the hallways, wondering if she could possibly find the young man. She didn't so she just decided to go back to her office and pretend to do work.

She sat back in her chair and stared off into space. She really had no idea what she was going to do with herself. She wasn't really up to watching the show. She wasn't really in the mood to work. She wasn't much up to doing anything. She hoped this didn't become a regular occurrence.

She finally decided to just turn on the television. She saw Kurt talking to his former teammates and she smiled as he took charge of the situation. She could always count on Kurt, she always had been. He made her laugh, and he made her feel better when she was down. It was nice to have such a good friend, someone she knew she could always talk to.

She became a little bit concerned as he started to wrestle. She knew he wasn't at a full 100% yet and she didn't want him getting hurt again. She didn't know if she'd be able to do the show if she had no one that she could gripe too. She winced as he took some suplexes, and got angry when Benjamin would do something to Kurt behind the referee's back, playing dirty, how typical.

Eventually Kurt won and she turned off the television, not bothering to watch anymore. Incidentally she missed him getting double teamed, and then Brock saving him but she didn't think to leave it on. She also missed them showing her father barging in on Zack and Sable and humiliating the poor young man. She got up to take a quick walk around.

As she was walking, someone was pulling up to the arena. Jericho parked the car and got out. He had been trying to call Stephanie for the past few days, but it kept saying her numbers had been disconnected. He feared that she had changed her numbers on him. If only she would let him talk to her, explain. He had taken Molly back to her house on Tuesday, and while he didn't think dumping her while she was injured would be very gracious of him, he had told her they needed to talk.

Now he was here, hoping to catch Stephanie so that he could explain why he hadn't shown up on Monday. He had gone to her house, only to find that she wasn't there, and he didn't know where else she could be. She could've been any number of places. But he knew she was here tonight. It was her show after all.

He got out of his car and started walking up to the door where the wrestlers entered. He made his way through, but then was stopped by a couple of security guards. He tried to show them it was him, but they still wouldn't let him pass.

"I'm Chris Jericho, I'm here to see Stephanie McMahon."

"I'm sorry sir," one of the guards said, "But we had strict orders not to let any Raw superstar into the arena."

"But this is an emergency," he said impatiently.

"I'm sorry, we're not to let you in under any circumstances."

"But I NEED to get in there!"

"We can't let you in."

Stephanie walked into the garage part of the arena. A breath of fresh air would do her good. It would get her mind off a lot of things. She walked, her hands wrapped around her midsection, it was a bit chilly out tonight. She didn't know where she was going, but right now, that seemed alright with her.

Jericho looked up and saw Stephanie wandering around the area. She looked absolutely striking in her blue skirt and black top. He smiled just looking at her. He had to get her attention, he knew she would let him in.

"Stephanie!" he yelled.

Stephanie looked up, hearing a familiar voice. She was stunned to see Jericho standing at the gate, being detained by the security guards. What in the hell was he doing here? How was she supposed to keep her part of the deal if he came here? She turned away.

"Stephanie! I need to talk to you!" Jericho yelled again.

She kept her back to him and shook her head.

"Stephanie please!"

Kurt came outside, thinking he heard yelling. He saw Jericho yelling at Stephanie who had her back to him and he noticed her shoulders shaking. He went straight to Stephanie and pulled her into a hug.

"Are you ok?"

"No, I wanna get outta here," she said softly between sobs.

"Ok, we can go ok?" he said to her.

"Thank you," she said, as they started to walk away.

"STEPHANIE!" Jericho yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Hold on Steph, I'll be right back," Kurt told her, before going over to Jericho, "Chris, you should leave."

"I need to talk to Stephanie."

"Now's probably not the best time for that, she's under a lot of stress and she just doesn't need anymore."

"Kurt, I know, ok, but what I have to say, she needs to hear. Please tell her that I need to speak to her."

"Fine, I'll give it a try, but I make no promises," Kurt said, exasperated. Luckily since they were outside the arena, there were no other wrestlers around to see this little display. He walked back over to Stephanie, "Steph, he really wants to talk to you."

"I can't, it's not in the deal."

"Steph, come on."

"I don't want to talk to him. Tell him to go back to Molly."

"Fine," Kurt said, walking back over to Jericho, "I think she needs some time Chris ok."

"No! You don't unders--"

"Guards," Stephanie said, coming over, "Please escort him out of the building."

"Stephanie, please........." Jericho pleaded as the officers started to lead him away forcibly.

"Thank you," she told the guards.

"Stephanie! I need to talk to you! It's important!" he yelled as he was practically dragged away.

Stephanie took Kurt's hand and together they walked back to the arena. Stephanie didn't look back once, not wanting to look at Jericho anymore, it just hurt her more. She didn't want to know what he wanted to talk about. It was better to just end it here and not talk anymore. She had to be the one to severe the ties, or else they'd never be rid of each other.

Kurt noticed the steely gaze Stephanie had just adopted. He knew how brave she had to be just to be able to do that. He gave her hand a supportive squeeze and she looked at him gratefully. She needed a friend more than anything right now.

As they were walking she spotted Gowen walking down the hall, "Zack, I've been looking for you."

"Oh," he said, "I was just in your office with Sable."

"Sable hasn't been in my office the whole evening, I've been in my office."

"I was just there," he told her, "She came on to me, then yelled at me, and um.........made fun of my handicap.........and then you're dad came in and he was pissed off."

"What?!?" she asked incredulously, "I can't believe they would do that. I'm so sorry Zack."

"It's ok I guess," he said.

"Well, I'm going to go have a talk with my father."

"Steph, I don't think that's such a hot idea," Kurt said, "After what just happened? I mean, you're a wreck."

"Zack, where is the office?" she asked, completely ignoring what Kurt had just said to her.

"Down the hall and it's the first door on your right," Gowen told her.

"Thanks. I'll see you later Kurt ok?" she said.

"Ok Steph," he said warily watching her go.

Stephanie walked to her father's office, silently fuming about what Gowen had told her. She stood outside the office and heard her father gloat about what they had done to  
Gowen and since there was a window in the door she could also see what was happening inside.

She felt the anger reach a boiling point inside her. She was fed up with everything. She was fed up with Jericho, she was fed up with work, she was fed up about not having control, but most of all she was fed up with her father. So many times she had defended him. She had idolized him, wanting to be perfect for him. She had even kept the biggest thing in her life a secret from him, and hadn't told because she wanted her father's approval so badly she was afraid he wouldn't give it, and this, this was just too much, she couldn't take it anymore.

She stormed into the dressing room and practically threw Sable out of the office. She could, and would take care of that bitch later. Right now, it was time for Daddy to get some of his own medicine. She was so sick and tired of trying to be perfect for his sake.

She started yelling at him, about how he'd manipulated her, how he'd used her. She started letting all her pent-up feelings go, and she had never felt so much hurt in her life. She had always tried to be what her father had wanted her to be and it had gotten her nowhere. She wasn't happy with what she was. She was her father, she couldn't deny it anymore. She had wanted so much to be like him when she was younger, and now he was the last thing she wanted to be.

She just started rambling, not knowing what she was saying exactly, and not caring.   
She just wanted him to know how fed up with him she was. How this was just the last straw. Her father had done many terrible things in his life and this was just the last one she was going to take. She yelled that he could fire her if he wanted, and that she wouldn't care. When she thought about it, what was there to care about anymore? She had lost most everything.

She stormed out of the office and ran down the hallway, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't care if the other wrestlers saw her, she didn't care if they were talking behind her back, let them, she was beyond caring. Somehow she managed to make it to her office and much to her relief, Kurt was there to envelope her in a hug.

"Shh, shh, Steph, let's go back to the hotel."

She didn't respond just nodded. He grabbed her things and his things, which she was surprised to see in her locker room and not his. He must've been prepared. He wrapped a protective, big brother like arm around her and they walked back outside to Kurt's rental car.

He drove her quickly back to the hotel where they went up to her room. She hadn't said a word since she had come into her office, and Kurt didn't want to pressure her to talk. She went into the bathroom to change and Kurt sat on the couch. She went back to the bed and lay down, and started sobbing hysterically. Kurt went into the bedroom and climbed on the bed, gathering her up in his arms.

"It'll be ok Steph, I swear," he said, "You'll be ok."

"Everything is screwed up in my life Kurt," she sobbed.

"No, it's not, you just think it is."

"It is, I'm just so lost," she said, I feel like I've lost everything."

She went back to crying and he let her. She needed to get this out. She pulled away from him and cried into her pillow, obviously on her way to a crying jag. He got off the bed and went into the kitchen area to get her some water when he heard a knocking on the door. It might be Vince and Kurt didn't want Stephanie to see him right now. He went to the door and looked through the peephole. It wasn't Vince, it was Jericho. He opened the door a little.

"Hey Chris."

"Hey Kurt, I, uh, saw what happened," he said quietly, able to hear Stephanie's crying all the way out in the hall.

"Yeah, she's just really stressed.........wait, how did you see it if you had just left the arena?"

"I bought a ticket," he said, "Saw it on the screen."

"Great, they showed it?"

"Yeah," Jericho said, shuffling his feet nervously, "Is she ok?"

"No," Kurt said bluntly, "She's a wreck."

"Can I maybe come in and see if I can comfort her."

"Be my guest," Kurt said, opening the door, "Just, be gentle ok. She's having a rough time with.........everything."

"I promise," Jericho said seriously.

"Ok, well, I'm going to leave you two alone for a while. I'll come back tomorrow morning, and tell Stephanie, I'm there for her."

"I will."

Kurt left and Jericho stood there for a moment, just absorbing the fact he was once again in Stephanie's room. He could hear her still crying loudly, and it didn't look like she was going to let up anytime soon. He took off his shoes and padded his way into the bedroom, where she was still face down, crying into her pillow. He sighed and cursed Vince to high heaven.

He slowly made his way over to the bed, half expecting her to look up and order him out of her room. She didn't, but just kept crying. He climbed tentatively onto the bed and over to her. She hadn't seen her yet and he just lay next to her, stroking her hair softly.

Stephanie didn't think she would ever stop crying. She just felt so empty inside, like she didn't have anything left. She had tried courageously to get on with her life earlier in the evening, but now she just felt like she was on an expressway to nowhere. Oh, how she wished Jericho were here right now, he would make things seem better.

She felt Kurt's hand stroking her hair, trying to stop her tears and she was grateful for his presence. If she couldn't have Jericho, she guessed she could have Kurt. She tried to stop crying and managed to take it down a few sobs here and there. She looked up, wanting to thank Kurt for being there for her, but was shocked to see it wasn't Kurt. She must be dreaming or something, because it was Jericho who was lovingly caressing her brown tresses.

"Chris?" she choked out.

"I saw what happened earlier, and I knew that you'd need someone right now," he whispered.

"Where's Kurt?" she sniffled.

"Went back to his room," he told her, still stroking her hair softly.

"You should leave," she told him.

"And leave you alone after what happened with your father, not a chance."

"It's not your concern Chris, it's my own. I'm the one who has a problem with my father, and I should be the one who deals with it."

"By yelling and crying your eyes out?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was just angry," she said, "I'll feel better in the morning. You really don't have to stay, I'll be fine."

"Yeah, not getting rid of me," he told her, laughing a little.

"Chris, this goes against the deal. I'm not supposed to see you."

"Well, this is my choice, so technically, you are keeping up your side of the bet."

She hesitantly laid down next to him, laying her head on his chest. She was glad he was here, despite knowing that he wasn't really hers. She needed him, and he was there. It was like he knew that above all else, she just wanted him.

"So tell me what happened?" he said to her.

"I don't know, I just snapped," she said quietly, "I couldn't take it anymore."

"Those things you said, about doing the things you're father said you did for his colleagues, were they true?"

"Well, he told them I'd do stuff, but I kind of lied about the actual doing them. I was angry, and rambling."

"Ok, I was going to say, if they were true, I'd have to kick your father's ass," Jericho said seriously.

"No, not completely true," she told him.

"Good."

They lay together in silence for a while, each thinking about that subject that neither one wanted to bring up. Jericho didn't want to burden her with his confessions of love, and Stephanie didn't want to know what he was really doing here.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she said, "I just didn't want to see you."

"It's ok, I wouldn't want to see me either."

"I was just hurt after Monday."

"Stephanie," he started, "About Monday--"

"Shh," she said, shushing him, "You won fair and square, you don't have to explain your motives. Just lie here with me now."

They kept laying there, both of them dozing off. Jericho pulled her tight against him and she cuddled into his embrace, where she felt completely safe. She was still hurt by her father, but she was definitely feeling better than she was before. Her incessant crying had even subsided. She started to drift off to sleep.

"I love you Stephanie," Jericho said as he himself drifted off to dreamland.

She smiled hazily in her state of half-sleep, "Good."

"I want you," he whispered, on the verge of sleep.

"We'll see."


	107. Loved the Foley Tribute, June 23, 2003

Jericho pulled out his wallet, intending to put it in his bag for safe-keeping. He saw the small slip of paper sticking out of it and took it out to look at it once again. The paper had been opened and folded so many times in the past four days he was surprised it was still intact. He read it again, though he could repeat it word for word by heart.

_Chris,_

_Thanks again for staying with me on Thursday night. You were probably the one thing that I really wanted, and I was fortunate enough to have you show up. I didn't want to stay because who knew what would happen, and I promised I'd keep my end of the deal. But thank you again, it means the world to me that you were there._

_Stephanie McMahon_

That was the noted that greeted him on Friday morning. He woke up and she was gone, having left while he was still asleep. Despite that though, he had to admit it was the best night's sleep he had had since Stephanie had left. He guessed he just slept better with her next to him.

He smiled as he thought back to Thursday night. He had been woken up in the middle of the night to find her crying again. He had held her close and she just cried until she had no tears left. Jericho had just whispered soothing words to her, kissing her hair, hoping that she would be ok without him.

Since she hadn't called, he hoped she was alright. He wouldn't be shocked to hear that she had gone over to Shane's to crash, since she didn't really enjoy being alone. At least he hoped she had gone there, he didn't want her to be alone while that upset.

He read the note once again. For some reason, he couldn't stop reading it. It was like the something that made that night real. If it hadn't been for Stephanie's broken heart and his tie with Molly, Thursday would've been perfect. Her lying in his arms again, letting him hold her, smelling the strawberries of her shampoo.........

"Chris, what're you reading?"

Jericho looked up startled as Molly came into the room, "Um..........nothing."

"You're holding something, that's not nothing."

"It's nothing you need to be worried about," he said, shaking his head as he folded up the piece of paper.

"Aww, come on, I'm your girlfriend. You're not supposed to keep secrets from me," Molly said, hopping on the couch.

"It's nothing, really."

She tried to make a grab for it, "Come on."

She kept trying to grab it and Jericho kept evading her anxious hands. He could not, under any circumstances let her read this note. Sure, he could probably come up with some bogus explanation, but this was something he treasured and he didn't want Molly to read it.

"Molly, it's something that's very important to me," Chris said somberly, "And I don't want to share it with anyone."

"Ok," Molly said, looking at him inquisitively, "If you don't want to share it, that's fine."

He nodded, "Thanks. So how's your head?"

"It's better, the doctor said that I'd get a few dizzy spells here and there for maybe the next week, but that I should be just fine."

"That's good to hear," Jericho said relieved.

Once she was well again, completely well, Jericho was going to drop the bombshell on her. He couldn't continue living this life, loving one woman while he was with another one. It wasn't fair to him, or Molly, and especially not Stephanie. She didn't even know how he felt.

"So what are you doing for the show tonight?" Molly asked.

"I'm doing the Highlight Reel. I don't know who my guest is yet though. I have to find someone."

"You should have me," Molly said sweetly.

Jericho chuckled, "And just what would we talk about?"

"How much I like you," she said, leaning over to kiss him.

Jericho let her kiss him briefly, before he pulled away, pretending to have a coughing fit. It was the only way he was able to detach his lips from hers without arising suspicions. He really wanted to dump her now, but while she was injured, no way. He didn't want to seem like a huge jerk.

"You ok?" she asked, as she rubbed his back, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, ceasing his coughing.

"Good, so you really should have me on your show," she said giddily.

"Um, maybe sometime in the future."

If he could have anyone on his show it'd be Stephanie, not Molly. Stephanie was inherently more interesting and a better interview in his opinion. They should work that out, it could work. She could come on his show and talk about things over at SmackDown. That would be fun interview, he laughed to himself.

"Why is that so funny?" Molly asked, not getting why he was laughing.

"Oh..........well, um," a knock came on the door, "Well, I've got to get that."

He got up quickly and practically ran for the door. He opened it up to see Lance Storm on the other side, "What's up Lance?"

"Chris, I was wondering if I could talk to you about a pressing issue," Lance said seriously, of course it was seriously, how else would it be.

"Of course," Jericho said, glad to get away from an awkward conversation with Molly.

"Chris, did you want me to go?" Molly asked from the couch.

"If you want."

"Ok, I'll stay," she smiled, getting comfortable.

"So Lance," he said turning to the other man, "What did you want?"

"I want to be your guest on your show."

"Oh," Jericho said, nodding, "Any reason why?"

"I want to prove to the world, I'm not boring," Lance said monotonously.

Jericho almost laughed out loud. If one thing Lance was, it was boring. The guy oozed boring. Not that he was a bad guy, but he sure as hell wasn't the kind of guy you wanted to go out and have fun with. Not like any of his friends at all.

"Well, I don't have a guest, so I guess you can be on."

"Thank you," Lance said, "I'll see you out there."

"Yeah, you will."

"Thank you again," Lance said as he left.

"You're welcome."

Jericho turned back to Molly who now had the folded note in her hand. She waved it in the air, toying Jericho with it. Jericho looked horrified at her, and lunged towards the couch. In the process of trying to get the note, he accidentally landed on top of Molly, knocking her on her back on the couch. Jericho grabbed the note from her, unaware that he was now lying on top of her. He sighed as he got the note, finally noticing he was lying on top of Molly.

"Oh, sorry," he said, starting to get up.

She pulled him down and kissed him, "No need to be sorry."

"Ok, I'm still getting up," he told her.

"You don't have to. I really, really like you Chris," she said, almost huskily.

Sirens went off in Jericho's head, or was that Steiner's music? Either way, he was getting the hell out of there. Things had just escalated to levels he did not want to approach.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Jericho turned his head and scrambled off of Molly, "Hey Christian, Trish."

"Hey guys," Molly said, sitting up as well.

"Hope we weren't interrupting anything," Christian said knowingly.

Jericho rolled his eyes, "You weren't. I was just about to leave and do the Reel."

"We'll walk you there," Christian said, gesturing to himself and Trish, who still had yet to say anything, instead sending an icy glare towards both Molly and Jericho.

"Ok, sure," he turned to Molly and kissed her cheek, "See you Molly."

"Bye Chris."

Jericho got up and left the room, Christian and Trish following him. He slowed down to wait up for them and Christian walked next to him, while Trish walked on the other side of Christian, still not talking.

"We want to talk to you after your show ok?" Christian said.

"Ok," Jericho said, "Wish me luck, I'm going to try to get a good interview out of Lance Storm."

Christian laughed, "Good luck."

Jericho noticed Trish wasn't even looking at him. She was still obviously pissed after that tongue-lashing she had given him last week. He sent a smile in her direction before going out there for his show. Walking down the ramp he thought about what he'd have to say to get the crowd interested in Lance. Oh well, seems like he'd have to bullshit his way out of this one.

He talked up to the people about the virtues of Lance, but they weren't biting. And when he came out, it just got worse. The "Boring" chant was deafening, and Jericho could barely get a word in edgewise. Maybe having Lance on wasn't such a good idea. Molly was seeming the better guest second by second.

As Lance was reading his prepared statement, something only Lance Storm was capable of, some of the set dressers started coming down to the ring and began to disassemble his set. Jericho was outraged and tried to demand that they stop what they were doing. While this happened, Austin came over the Titantron to announce his segment boring. Jericho felt his blood boil. His show was not boring, it was the highlight of the night.

Austin then said that he and Lance would have to team up against the Dudleys and suddenly Jericho found himself in the middle of a match. God, could he never catch a break around here? It seemed he was always getting stuck in matches he wanted to be no part of. He tried his best to win, since he hated losing, but in the end, Lance lost it for them. Jericho didn't really care, it was all the same to him. As long as he wasn't the one who was losing it was ok with him.

He walked back up the ramp, still a little upset with his show getting cut off. If he had someone other than Lance he wouldn't have had to have a match. But of course, he had to have Mr. No Charisma on his show and get it sacked. He remembered that Christian and Trish wanted to see him and he found their locker room and knocked. Christian answered it and ushered him inside.

"You guys wanted to talk to me?" Jericho said, standing near the door.

"Yeah, we did," Christian said, "Didn't we Trish?"

"No," Trish said, crossing her arms and sitting on the couch.

"Look, we had no right to tell you what to do last week. So we're going to just butt out of your business from now on. It's not our business to run your life."

"For the record Chris," Trish said, "I don't apologize."

"You guys, it's ok," Jericho said, "I talked with Trips and he and Stephanie are not together, and have no intentions of getting together."

"What?" Trish asked, suddenly interested.

"No, she was just doing it to try to make me jealous," he explained.

"Oh my God," Christian said, "That girl's got moxie."

"I know," Jericho said, "She was willing to pretend to be with Hunter to get to me. It says a lot."

"And you're willing to give her up," Trish said, shaking her head.

"Trish, don't worry about it ok," Jericho said, not wanting to tell he was getting back with Stephanie as soon as humanly possible.

"Well, I'm sorry for laying it in you under false pretense," she told him, "You still deserved it though."

"I know. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try to get out of here early tonight."

"Bye," Christian and Trish said in unison.

Jericho waved and then left the room. As he was talking about Stephanie he got an idea. He was in New York tonight, and Stephanie lived in Connecticut. He knew that it was only about an hour's drive from here to Greenwich. That was reasonable, and since he was getting out early, he could make it by a reasonably early time. He smiled to himself as he thought about seeing Stephanie.

He walked back into his locker room where Molly was still sitting and gave her a small smile before gathering up his things to take a shower. He wanted to look good for Stephanie. After taking a shower he got dressed in a blue button down and a nice pair of jeans. He pulled his hair back and went out.

"Hey Chris, Vince is here," Molly said, watching the television.

"What?"

"For Mick's tribute," Molly said, nodding towards the television.

Jericho looked at the television and saw Vince talking to Mick. He unwillingly felt his blood pressure rise. That man had hurt the woman he loved, had tried to make her do things that she didn't want to do. His eyes narrowed, oh the things he'd love to do to him. They weren't pretty by any means.

Then he saw Vince tell Mick thank you, and Jericho felt disgust rise up in his throat. The man could acknowledge a wrestler, who yes, had given so much to the company and to wrestling, but he couldn't he even be proud of his own daughter. It was sick and it was twisted and Stephanie didn't deserve any of that.

"Chris, is something matter?" Molly said, noting the angry look on his face.

"No, nothing, Vince just gets to me I suppose."

"Oh, I see," she said, though Jericho could tell she didn't, "Did you want to go grab a bite since you're done and everything."

"Actually, I was going to go visit an old friend," Jericho said, "They live here in New York and I thought I'd go see them and catch up."

"Ok, do you want to introduce them to your girlfriend?" she said, striking a pose.

He laughed, "I would, but guy's night out and everything."

"You're no fun Chris, promise we'll go out sometime this week."

Jericho didn't want to make the promise, but he still had hesitations dumping her while she was still recovering from her fall. She even still had stitches where her head had hit the trunk.

"I'll give you a call, we'll set something up."

"Ok," she said, getting up and kissing him, "Until later then."

"Yeah.........later."

Jericho watched her leave and then went to get his things. He really did feel bad about Molly. She was such a sweet girl and he didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't continue on like this. He didn't want to two-time anyone and he didn't want to hurt more people than he was already hurting. He did have a conscience, even if some people didn't believe it. He took his things and left. He was walking down the hallway and was almost to the exit when he heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw Vince.

"Jericho," Vince said, coming up to him, "I want to say how brilliant your Highlight Reel is. Great job with that."

"Thank you," Jericho said coldly.

"Keep up the good work," Vince said, patting him on the shoulder than turning to walk away.

"Vince, can I speak to you for a second," Jericho said, his bravery building up.

"Of course," Vince told him, coming back over.

"It's about SmackDown last week," Jericho said seriously.

"What about the show?" Vince asked, creasing his brow.

"About Stephanie," Jericho said.

"Oh," Vince said uncomfortably.

"There was a time that I was partnered with Stephanie, and I knew how much she idolized you. She wanted to please you so much," Jericho told him, "And you broke her heart. I can't believe you would do that to your own daughter. And then you go out tonight like nothing has happened and you thank Mick Foley. You should be thanking Stephanie for putting up with you for so long."

"Jericho, I don't think it's your place to butt in," Vince said, looking at him sternly.

"Stephanie was my friend, and you hurt her, it IS my business," Jericho said, stepping up to the man, "She loves you, don't you get that? You're her father and she just wanted you to love her and treat her with respect! If I had someone I loved like that I would do everything in my power to make sure that they didn't hurt. I know what it's like to lose someone you love, and it sucks Vince, and it hurts, and the pain never goes away. Stephanie is fragile Vince, she's had her heart broken too many times, and you just added to her hurt. And I don't want Stephanie to hurt."

Vince looked down, "I know."

"Don't screw things up with her. She may be the last thing you have left."

"You care about my daughter don't you?" Vince asked, looking up.

"We were partners."

"Yeah. I never told you, but thank you for being there for her," Vince said, "I'll definitely give thought to what you said."

Jericho watched him go, deep in thought. If Vince only knew the half of it. He didn't just care about her, he loved her. He loved her so very much it threatened to consume him and tear him apart. He picked up his things again and left.

The drive to Stephanie's was uneventful to say the least. He drove for what seemed like forever, it really was only an hour or so, but when he was apart from her, time seemed slower. He got to her house and was glad to see some of the lights on. He went up the familiar steps and rang the doorbell. He hoped she liked his little surprise.

Stephanie was sitting in the living room, watching some late night show when she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight. She didn't know who would come this late. It wouldn't be Shane or her mom. She got up and slowly made her way to the door. She was a little scared considering she was alone in the house and didn't have anything to protect her.

"Who is it?" she called out quietly.

"An ex-boyfriend," came the answer.

Stephanie recognized the voice immediately, smiling against her will and flung open the door. Jericho smiled on the other side, and pulled something out of his pocket. He had stopped at a store on the way there and had picked her up a rose and held it up to her. She took it and looked at him strangely and took the flower.

"Shouldn't you be bringing flowers to your girlfriend?"

"See that's the thing, I'm bringing it to the one I want to be my girlfriend."

Stephanie scoffed, "Sure, now what are you doing here? You're making it awful hard to keep up my side of the bet if you keep showing up to see me."

"Hey, you are keeping your side of the bet. Like I told you, I'm the one coming to see you, so it's all on me."

"Oh, I'm being so rude, come in," she said, opening the door wider for him, "Why are you here?"

"Well, the show was in New York and I knew that you weren't far away, and damn it, I needed to see you."

"You NEEDED to see me?"

"Yup," he said, hugging her.

"Chris, you're confusing me," she told him, embracing him lightly.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Fine, better."

"Good."

"Thanks again for being there for me," she told him, pulling away.

"It was my pleasure trust me."

"You must have been drunk or something that night," she said, going over to sit on the couch.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you told me you loved me," Stephanie said laughing, "I thought that kind of odd considering you're with Molly, you chose Molly."

"I wasn't drunk."

"So you're just crazy then," she laughed.

"Just about you," he told her.

"Chris, stop the teasing ok," she said seriously, "It was fun at first, but it's not fun anymore."

Jericho felt badly. She still didn't know about everything and he wanted so desperately to tell her. He watched her a moment, as she fingered the soft petals of the rose in her hands. He went over to her and knelt down in front of her, taking the rose and putting it on the coffee table before grasping both her hands in his.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's ok. I know you love to tease me."

"I'm not teasing you Stephanie. There's something I have to tell you."

"Did you see my father tonight?" Stephanie asked, ignoring him, afraid of the words he wanted to speak, "Not a care in the world."

"I told him off," Jericho said shortly.

"Chris! You what!?!" she asked incredulously.

"I told him that he hurt you and that if he keeps up this behavior than he's going to lose you forever."

"You didn't tell him we used to go out did you?" she asked suddenly alarmed.

"No, I didn't, it's not my story to tell alone."

"You didn't have to talk to him."

"I did. He made the woman I love upset and I wasn't going to stand for it."

"He insulted Molly too?"

Jericho could tell she was being serious, "No Stephanie, not Molly, you."

"But you don't love me, you didn't choose me."

"That's what I needed to tell you about."

"What?" she asked in dread.

"I didn't choose Molly, I was stuck with her."

"Stuck? How could you be stuck? You knew the deadline, you knew the stipulations. You made a choice and I respect that."

"Molly fell and got a concussion on Monday. I had to take her to the hospital after Raw. By the time I got out of the hospital it was 12:34 and I was too late."

"You mean, you were going to choose me?"

"I've been so stupid Stephanie. I want you, I've always wanted you."

"And Molly?"

"I think Christian said it best.........rebound. I like her enough, but I don't love her. I don't think I ever could."

"This is a lot to lay on me in a short amount of time," she said.

Jericho leaned up and kissed her, and she kissed him back. She let her hands fall to his shoulders and he snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She undid his hair and ran her fingers through the soft waves. He pulled away and looked up into her eyes.

"Take your time ok? You don't have to decide now whether or not you want me back or not. If you don't, then I'll understand ok? I just want you to be sure of your decision."

"Ok, I'll think about it."

"Just don't keep me waiting too long ok Stephy?"

"I won't."

"So can I crash here tonight?"

She gave him a playful smirk, "I'm sure we can find somewhere for you to crash."

"Hmm........can it be in your bed?" he asked innocently.

"Not tonight..........but maybe soon."


	108. Vince, Go Away, June 26, 2003

"You don't have to come tonight."

"I know I don't, I just kind of like the idea of being there."

"Chris, we're not together you know," Stephanie pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm trying to get on your good side so you'll take me back," Jericho said, grinning like a little kid.

"Well, yeah, I know, but well, you know what the first step to doing that would be?"

"What?"

"Dumping Molly," Stephanie said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yes, I know Stephanie, and I will, next Monday, I promise. I just felt wrong dumping her while she was injured."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. A big part of me wanted to get out of my marriage a lot earlier than I did, but then Hunter tore his quad and we all know what happened after that."

"Yeah, you were stuck with the ass. And for that I feel for you."

"Yes, it was harrowing," she said, putting the back of her hand against her forehead and pretending to faint.

"So can I come tonight?"

"Chris, I don't know," she said, turning serious and facing him as he sat across the couch.

He had spent the past few days with Stephanie at her house in Greenwich. There had been no hanky-panky, nothing romantic, but they had been talking a lot. There were a lot of things that needed to be straightened out before they could get back together again.

First of everything that needed to be explained was that ill-begotten kiss with Charlie Haas. Stephanie had finally gotten to explain what happened when Jericho saw them. And he had been so sorry after it happened, she almost took him back right then and there.

Second was the whole Molly situation. Jericho realized now that she was just someone to pass the time with while he wasn't with Stephanie. Sure, she was such a nice person and, but she definitely deserved someone who could love her and right now that wasn't Jericho.

"Come on Stephanie, I swear it'll be just as friends, nothing more, I won't try anything, I promise!" he told her, raising his hand as if to take an oath.

"But Chris, nobody even thinks we're friends," she explained.

"So, do we have to explain to everyone that we're friends?"

"No, but Chris, I just don't think it's a good idea," she told him, as she got up to go get her bag.

He followed her into the kitchen, "But Stephanie, no one even has to see me."

"Chris, I really think you should just stay here."

"But I'll be lonely," he pouted.

"Then get Shane to come over and watch it with you, or go visit my mom."

"And what'll I do at your mom's?" Jericho said, rolling his eyes.

She gave him a little smile, "Go ask her for permission to marry me?"

Jericho looked at her for a moment then bust out laughing, "Stephanie, you are priceless."

"You know that's what you want to do," she giggled, coming over to kiss his cheek, "Now let me go to work."

"Let me come," he pressed.

Stephanie pulled away from him and looked him dead in the eyes. That's when she saw it. She saw the concern that was hiding behind his blue pools. She smiled softly and gave him a soft smile and an encouraging pat on the cheek.

"I'll be fine," she told him.

"Stephanie.........."

"I'll be fine," she repeated, looking into his eyes.

"I worry about you."

"I know you do," she said, "I know you always have."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've seen you put other girls in the Walls of Jericho Chris, and I know you always took it easy when you put me in them."

"Oh, so you found out my dirty little secret," he grinned.

"Yes, but Chris, I think you failed to notice that I can take care of myself."

"No I didn't, I just don't want you to have to take care of yourself."

"You're a big sap," she said, punching his arm.

"Only a little, and only when you're around.........So you better get going," he told her.

"Bye Chris, I'll see you when I get home ok?"

"Ok."

She started walking towards the door and Jericho watched her. She looked incredible tonight and he knew she was going to be incredible, it was in her bones. And she was going to act like last Thursday hadn't affected her the way it did because she was strong and he loved that about her. Nobody else could pick themselves up the way she did.

Stephanie drove the hour to New York and to Madison Square Garden where her family had so much history. She could remember being a little girl and coming here to watch wrestling with her father. Those days were obviously long gone, and she was a little saddened by that. She wish she could look at her father the way she did when she was a little girl, but there was no way that she could go back.

She got out of her car and walked up to the arena. As she walked in, she could still feel some of the wrestlers and crew's eyes on her. They were probably still a little freaked out by her whole outburst last week. She wasn't very proud of it, but she had been bottling things in too long. She walked into her office and immediately set out to work.

The show began and Stephanie started watching, and winced as she saw for the first time exactly what she had looked like when she was cursing out her father. It wasn't pretty, and she realized that after Jericho had seen this, there was no way he wouldn't have come to see her. This was just plain bad.

She kept one eye on the show as she tried to get some work done. She hadn't gotten much work done in the past few days, not with Jericho spending all his time around her. She typed away quickly on her laptop, making up for lost time. As she was typing the door swung open and Sable flounced in.

Stephanie looked up, "Get out."

"But I'm your assistant," Sable said.

"I don't care, get out."

"That's no way to talk to me Stephanie."

Stephanie stood up, "You are scum Sable, you're worse than scum. After last week I would fire your ass if my dad didn't lust after you like some teenage boy!"

"Oh, touchy tonight are we? Seems like you haven't cooled down since your little temper tantrum last week."

Stephanie fumed, this bitch was trying to downgrade how she felt. She was trying to make her look like the bad guy in all of this. She wasn't the one who had tricked a defenseless person into thinking they could have her. Yet Sable was trying to lecture her.

"Sable, I don't want to hear your shit ok? You have no right to barge into my dressing room and tell me what I'm feeling."

"I'm just making an observation. No need to get snippy about it," she said in a condescending tone.

Stephanie gritted her teeth, "Just shut the hell up! I don't want to hear your shit!"

She got up and abruptly left the room. She knew if she had stayed in there any longer she would've bitch slapped Sable and pulled out that fake blonde hair of hers. She took a deep calming breath and walked down the hallway. Maybe she should've let Jericho come. At least he would've been an island of sanity in a pool of chaos.

"Hey Steph."

Stephanie looked up, "Oh hi Zack."

"How are you?" he asked looking at her concerned.

She smiled at his sweet disposition, "I'm doing ok."

"I didn't get to tell you last week since you left early, but I really appreciate you sticking up for me with your dad."

"It was nothing."

"No," he said, "It was. I mean, you know, just being here is a dream come true and knowing that I can maybe someday be a part of the roster is even cooler."

"You're a good kid Zack," Stephanie smiled, "If anyone deserves a contract, you do. And I fully intend to see that you get one."

"Thanks Stephanie."

"It's my pleasure," she told him smiling, "I'll see you around."

She kept walking around, checking in with various production crew members, making sure everything was going according to schedule. She found herself in front of Kurt's dressing room, unsurprisingly, and knocked on it, hoping he was there. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him after Thursday, and she wanted to thank him.

"Stephanie," he said brightly, as he opened the door for her.

She stepped inside, "Hey Kurt."

"How're you feeling?" he asked, a look of trepidation on his face.

"I'm ok," she said, smiling to get her point across.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"So..........Chris came to see you," he said, sitting down on the edge of the couch.

"He did," she said, giggling a little behind her hand.

"Oh, and what's with that reaction," he said, crossing his arms and trying to look intimidating. Truth was, he hadn't seen her this happy in a long time.

"Nothing, he just held me all night," she said, sticking her nose up in the air snottily.

"Is that it?"

"Yes, that's it, and I left before he woke up in the morning, I had a deal to uphold don't you know?"

"I know, and how's that going?" Kurt said, his face scowling a bit.

"It's off," she said nonchalantly.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, hold up a second," Kurt told her, leaning forward a little as if he hadn't heard her right, "What do you mean it's off? I thought Chris was very serious about this bet?"

"He was, but the whole thing was a comedy of errors," she shrugged.

"How so?"

"He was going to choose me."

Kurt scoffed in amazement, "He was?"

"Yeah, but Molly got a concussion and he couldn't get to me in time. He came to see me on Monday and we're working on things."

"That's good."

She blushed a little, "Yeah, it is."

"And you two actually thought you could stay away from each other," Kurt shook his head, "You're both crazy you know that?"

"Yeah, but we'd be no fun otherwise."

"I'm just glad you're happy," Kurt looked up as a tapping came from the door, "Come in."

Vince himself walked in and looked over at his daughter, "Stephanie, I'd like to speak with you."

"Dad, I don't think we have anything to say to each other that hasn't already been said," she said stoically.

"There is," he said, "Please come out to the ring so I can explain my actions and feelings after what you said to me last week."

Stephanie looked over at Kurt and questioned him with her eyes. She didn't know if she wanted to talk to her father, let alone hear him talk in front of millions of people on national television. Kurt gave her a supportive look and she looked at her father and nodded, getting out of her seat.

She followed him and waited as he went out there. She saw Zack come over and she figured her father wanted to say something to him as well. She sent him a smile and a shrug, showing that she had no real idea why they were waiting there either.

She heard her music cue and motioned for Zack to follow her out. They walked out together and Stephanie tried to appear upbeat and not at all scared by what she was about to hear. She smiled as Zack held the ropes for her, it was always nice when a guy held the ropes for her. Jericho never held the ropes for her she thought as she paced the ring.

She looked at her father, not showing any emotion. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of emotions. Then he had to go and say that she was the apple of his eye and Daddy's Little Girl. She closed her eyes momentarily, willing herself not to break. She did like her dad saying that he was special to him, but like Jericho had told her, she couldn't let Vince manipulate her into thinking something and then he'd turn around and do the complete opposite, knowing he had her support and love.

Her father brought up the whole thing about practically whoring her out. She hadn't been proud of the things her father had tried to make her do. But what he didn't know was that she never, not once, did any of those things. She had enough self-respect not to let someone use her body for business. Sometimes she swore her father thought she was stupid and naïve. But let him think what he wanted.

She gave her father a dirty look as he asked for her forgiveness, though he said he'd never forgive himself. She couldn't let herself get sucked in again. That just wasn't what she wanted. She watched as he tried to apologize to Zack. She didn't know whether her father was being sincere or not, it was always so hard to tell with him.

Then as her father got angry she saw signs of his old self. There was the dad that she knew, getting pissed and trying to make everyone else look like a fool when he was really the fool in the grand scheme of things. She had to hand it to Zack to stand up to him like that. It was always nice to see her father get a semblance of comeuppance.

Stephanie heard her father mention a club and she immediately knew which one he was talking about. It wasn't a prestigious club, it was a club that had been around for far too long and was far too disgusting for words. She shook her head as she looked at him. She ran her hands through her hair in disgust and walked away towards a different part of the ring. She hated her father sometimes. She walked around the ring, trying to comprehend how this man was her father. It was unbelievable.

Vince pulled down his pants a little and Stephanie shrugged, she just didn't want to have anything to do with this. Talk about your embarrassing parents, this really took the cake. She had never been more ashamed of the McMahon name then right now. Her father prodded her to tell Zack to kiss Vince's ass and suddenly she realized the perfect just desserts. She went over to Zack and whispered in his ear.

"Don't do it ok," she whispered to him, "My dad is just being a jackass. Here's what you do. Low blow him, he'll never expect it."

Zack nodded and Stephanie smiled as he went up to Vince and gave him a low blow. She laughed as she left and walked up the ramp, congratulating Zack. It suddenly dawned on her, why had she been so afraid of telling her dad about her and Jericho? She shouldn't have been so afraid. She should've just lived her life. Of course, back then her father hadn't been a complete asshole.

She walked backstage and clapped Zack on the back in congratulations for a job well done. She felt especially proud of herself because she hadn't given in. It was hard to turn her back on her family, but her father was just being a jerk now and it was too much, even for her.

Vince came backstage and Stephanie saw him immediately. She turned her back and started walking away. There was no way she was talking to him. He called after her, but she just kept walking, not looking back. There was no way that she was talking to him right now.

She went back to her dressing room and locked herself in. If she had to stay holed up in here for the rest of the show, then so be it. She didn't want to talk to anyone anyways. She could hear her father pounding on the door, angry now, but she ignored him. She turned up the television and committed herself to watching the rest of the show.

She watched Ultimo Dragon's debut, and thought about how Jericho had really advocated him coming into the company since he had worked with him in various promotions. He really was very unique in style, which was a nice change of pace.

She watched the main event, happy to see Kurt wrestling again. He really was the best in the business, she really couldn't deny that, even if she was with Jericho. She became dismayed as she watched her father coming out, laying a beating on Zack. Her father had once again, stooped to a new low, not that he wasn't already scraping the bottom of the barrel.

She rushed out there, intending to help the young man. Her father would beat on anybody in the business and not have a care about it. But there was one thing she knew he would not do. And that was hit her. Her father may be cruel and heartless, but he didn't hit his daughter.

She threw herself in front of her father and pleaded with him to leave him alone. Her father proceeded to tell her that she was going to be in a match next week. She shook her head, not believing what her father was telling her. She was going to have to wrestle Big Show next week. She looked at Big Show in terror, not knowing what to expect then up at her father in terror. Yes, he wouldn't hit her, but he'd hire someone else to.

"Zack, I'm so sorry," Stephanie said to him as she helped him up and to the back.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm the one who got you into this mess."

"But my Dad--"

"You shouldn't have come help me," he told her, "You got yourself into some unnecessary trouble."

"Don't worry about me," she said, "You just worry about next week ok?"

"I'll try to think of some way," he started.

She cut him off, "Don't worry ok? Trust me."

She walked off, not even sure of herself. She couldn't believe she'd have to wrestle. She wasn't even a fucking wrestler to begin with! The last match she had been in was over a year ago. She unwillingly laughed as she thought about that match. She had fought against Jericho, even going so far as to jump on his back. But that match had been so very different. Hunter didn't truly want to harm her and Jericho, well Jericho and her had had a laugh about it when they watched it over again. But Big Show, he wanted to hurt her and that was scary.

She walked into her house in a trance-like state. She was still unsure about what she was going to do about next week. There were so many things that could go wrong with this whole thing. She was scared, and she didn't like being scared. She was no sooner in the door then Jericho whizzed by her. She grabbed his arm.

"Chris where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going over to your parent's house. I figure your dad's gotta be home by now. I'm going to teach him a lesson."

"Chris, don't," she said to him, "It wouldn't solve anything."

"But it would make me feel oh so good," he sneered.

"Chris, what are you going to say to him?"

"That he's a fuckhead for putting you in that match, that he's an idiot for thinking that you aren't important."

"Chris please don't do this," she said, pulling him back inside the house, "We'll work this out together."

"But Stephanie," he whined, "You are being put in serious danger."

"I know, I know. But beating up my dad won't make the problem disappear."

"Stephanie, you don't wrestle! You aren't trained! You've never been in a match without having someone bigger and stronger on your side. I don't think that Zack can be a good partner and protect you."

"I know. But if you think for one second that Kurt doesn't have my back, then Chris, you need to think."

Jericho thought a second, "He would have your back."

"Yes, and Hogan and Brock too," she said, leading him to the couch and sitting him down.

"Yeah, them too."

"And sweetie, if you want, you can teach me a few moves," she told him.

"You called me sweetie," he smiled.

"Oops, my mistake," she winked, "But it calmed you down, so it worked."

"Yeah, I can teach you a few moves. Just some basics so you can at least defend yourself a little."

"Great," she smiled, "I'll learn from one of the best."

"Highlight of the night," he said cockily. She shook her head.

"And who knows, maybe I'll have a few tricks up my sleeve next Thursday."


	109. I Heart Jericho, June 30, 2003

Disclaimer: The lyric line used in this chapter does not belong to me, it belongs to Ben Folds Five.

"And this is how you properly do the sleeper hold."

"Ok, I think I got it," she said.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Chris, I'm absolutely positive," she laughed.

"I'm just making sure."

"You just don't want to let go of me."

He laughed and let her go. Jericho and Stephanie were practicing a few basic moves and holds for her match that was upcoming against the Big Show. He didn't want her going into it unprepared and was trying to cram as much teaching as he could in the next few days until SmackDown.

"Now what do you want to learn next?" he asked, pulling away to look at her.

"Hmm, teach me the Lionsault," she giggled.

"Yeah freaking right," he scoffed, "You are not attempting any move that requires you to get on the ropes."

"You're no fun," she said pushing him.

"Well, excuse me for caring," he said pouting comically.

She pushed him on the bed, "I could do it if we had a ring to work in."

"Even if we did, I still wouldn't teach it to you."

"Why not?"

"Stephanie, you are not a trained wrestler, and that move shouldn't be done by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. And you don't know what you're doing," he said seriously.

She sat on the bed and crossed her arms, "Is that why you were with Molly? Because she's a better wrestler so you have more in common."

Jericho looked at her and sighed. Stephanie had been having a hard time understanding why he had chosen to go out with Molly and why he had chosen to date anyone at all. It was simple really, he just thought he'd try to move on past Stephanie. Of course Stephanie, being the overly difficult person that she was, figured there was something wrong with her, and that had driven Jericho to go after Molly.

"I've told you a million times Stephanie," he said exasperated, "She was the opposite of you."

"And that's the only reason."

"Yes, and she's a nice girl."

"So you're saying I'm a bitch."

"Now where did you get that idea?"

"Well, you said she was the opposite and the opposite of nice is a bitch."

"Stephanie, you and I both know that I don't think of you like that."

"You did once upon a time," she said knowingly.

"Yeah, and looked what happened there, I completely and utterly fell for you," he said, also in a knowing voice.

She tried to hold in her smile, "Fine, show me how to do a good DDT."

"Ok, that's something that I can do."

He proceeded to show her how to do a DDT on the bed that was in her room. They laughed as she tried to give him one and they both fell on the bed together. She ended up landing on top of him and she looked down and kissed his nose.

"So you're dumping her tonight right?"

"Yes, I am. No more dawdling."

"Have you figured out how you're going to do it?" she asked.

"I've got something in mind," he winked.

"What are you thinking Chris Jericho?"

"You'll have to wait and see," he then looked over at the clock, "And I have to go."

"Ok," she said, getting off him.

He went over and got his bag that he had left in her room, knowing that he wouldn't have time to go back to his room. She sat on the bed and smiled as he gave her a small wave and left. She was crumbling when it came to him, and she knew that she was so very close to giving in and taking him back.

Jericho grinned to himself as he walked down the hallway and down to his rental car. He and Stephanie were back on the right track. And even though they were just friends right now, he knew that this would work out for the both of them. It had to, he couldn't live without her.

As he arrived to the arena, he thought of his show tonight and what he'd have to do to make sure that by the time he and Molly talked that she wouldn't even want to be with him. That was better than breaking her heart and making her think that she had meant nothing to him.

He set his things down and thought about what exactly he wanted to do with the Highlight Reel. He had to make sure that he was as chauvinistic as humanly possible. He wanted Molly to be completely turned off by the thought of him, and she always hated when he acted like a jerk, and tonight he was going above and beyond that. A smirk crept up to his lips as he came up with the perfect idea.

He got up and went down the hallway searching for a particular locker room. He found it and knocked on it, looking around as he waited. Moments later it opened and the person he wanted to interview was standing before him. He put on his most charming smile and she looked at him warily.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Well, I was hoping that you would be my guest on the Highlight Reel tonight," he said, grinning at her.

"Why me?"

"Well, you're beautiful for one," he winked, trying to get on her good side, "And I think it'd be good to have a female on the Reel."

"Really?"

"Of course, and we used to be friends remember."

"I remember. You turned me down," she said.

"Well, I knew you didn't really want me," he fibbed.

"I guess, so you really want me on your show."

"I'd love it if you'd be on Stacy."

"Ok, sure then," she smiled.

"Great, I'm on at the top of the show so be ready ok?"

"Ok," she said, before closing the door.

"So far so good," Jericho muttered to himself as he walked back to his locker room to change.

"Hey Jericho," a voice called out and he turned around to look at Test.

"Yeah?"

"What were you just doing?"

"Talking to Stacy about coming on my show," Jericho explained.

"Dude, you have to let me on your show," Test told him.

"Why?"

"Just let me come on. I want to teach Steiner a little lesson about messing with me and my affairs."

"Fine," Jericho said, "See ya."

Pretty soon the show was beginning and Jericho waited in the ring for the pyros to go off. He had a good feeling about tonight. Things were going to work out. He was going to be rid of Molly and then Stephanie would be willing to forgive him and they'd get back together and be happy again. Not to mention all their friends would be thrilled.

Jericho said his usual spiel about this being Raw is Jericho. Then he went on to introduce his guest. As he was saying that Stacy was the most stunningly beautiful woman in the WWE locker room he'd had to bite his tongue a bit not to say that it wasn't true. Stephanie was the most beautiful one in the locker room. But of course, he was just a smidge biased, she was the woman he loved after all.

He watched with distaste as Steiner came down to the ring with Stacy. He still hadn't forgiven the man for humiliating his girlfriend so long ago. He didn't want him out there, he knew that it would end badly. He have to curb his tongue around him too. Oh well, just go through with his plan and it'd all be ok.

He watched as Stacy did her usual routine with going into the ring. When he thought about it, it was a little obscene. He dint want to see her go in and out of the ring several hundred times, it was getting a bit much. Then he gave a weird look when Steiner removed Stacy's garter. Why the hell was she wearing a garter anyways?

Steiner got in his face, spitting out some nonsense about how Jericho was jealous or something like that. Yeah, like he cared. He had two women who liked him, one of whom loved him. And Steiner thought he'd be mad because he didn't get to take a garter off a woman that he didn't want, and who had offered herself to him way before Steiner had entered the picture? Yeah freaking right. Jericho ignored him and went on to talk. Now was the time to turn it up.

He commented on Stacy's little display, pretending that he had found it the least bit appealing, even when he didn't. And then he turned to Steiner practically ordering him out of the ring, even though he knew the man wouldn't go. Oh well, it was better this way anyways, maybe he could get a few shots in on Steiner, he'd been wanting to do that for ages.

Jericho wanted to laugh at the insults that Steiner was shooting his way. He was only clever enough to make fun of Jericho's outfit. If that was the best he could do, then he was a sad, sad man. Easy target for Jericho however. He went on a little diatribe of his own, commenting on his set, which was pretty cool in and of itself. As soon as he was done ripping on Steiner, he turned to the real reason he had invited Stacy down here, and that was to make Molly get pissed at him. He turned to the leggy blonde.

Jericho waited for the production guys to show the pictures. Ah, the wonders of the production guys being able to get the pictures so quickly. He stifled a yawn as he pointed out some of the pictures. They were your usual "oh look at me, I'm beautiful" type pictures and they did absolutely nothing for him.

He then went on to compliment Stacy about the photos. Then he asked her what the hell she was doing with Steiner. Jericho couldn't get over that one. Stacy was a pretty girl and she had her faults, hitting on him, calling his girlfriend fat among other things, but she could do a lot better that Scott Steiner.

Then he put the icing on the cake, he hit on her. And he laid it on thick. Now he knew Stephanie would take none of this seriously, she was probably laughing it up in the hotel room as he called himself the King of Bling-Bling, but Molly, he had a feeling that Molly was none too happy with this little display. And that was exactly what he wanted.

Then he went on to practically invite her into his bed. This would really get Molly upset with him. He didn't think that he'd ever actually discussed sex with Molly. I mean, sure, her non-sexual exploits were pretty well-known, but she had to have known that he was, well, had been with girls before. And Stephanie was always satisfied so he figured if he was good enough for her, he'd been good enough with all the rest before her.

He could see Stacy laughing, and he knew that she knew he was doing this half-jokingly. Steiner, on the other hand, was taking this way too seriously. Jericho cringed at his description of women. Was this guy on something, Jericho kept thinking, he was sputtering a bunch of nonsense. Then Stacy went on and insulted his manhood. How the hell would she know? He hadn't slept with anyone in the business except for Stephanie, and she as sure as hell wouldn't tell Stacy about anything related to their sex life.

Then he brought out Test, and while Steiner's back was turned his knocked him down and started to beat on him. Test came down and tried to help in the assault of Steiner. Steiner somehow got the upper-hand and threw one of Jericho's chairs. Jericho raced to try to save his chair, that was expensive.

Bischoff came out and made a match between him and Test versus Steiner and Stacy. He laughed. Molly would hate it if he faced Stacy. This would work even more towards getting Molly to hate him. He smiled, celebrating his good fortune with Test. This was going to be good.

He walked backstage and to his locker room. He was no sooner in the room then Christian and Trish walked in, hand in hand. They gave him a look and he started laughing. The laugh was contagious as they both started laughing.

"You were pretty funny out there," Christian said.

"Yes, well, when you've got two idiots out there like I did, it's pretty easy to be funny," Jericho said.

"You seem different tonight," Trish said, looking him over.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, out there, hitting on Stacy. Making her out to be some gorgeous girl who you'd go out with, when we know full well that you wouldn't touch her if she were the last woman on Earth."

"You're so nice Trishy," Christian said, kissing her cheek.

"Well, I've got a plan that I'm cooking up," Jericho said, "And it's good."

"So, did you see SmackDown last week?" Trish asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, yes," Jericho said.

"And what did you think?"

"I think that Vince is a bastard," Jericho said bluntly.

"Good to hear, you doing anything about that?" Trish asked, none to subtle with her questions.

"Trish," he said, going over to her, and hugging her, "Don't worry about it."

"I'll worry about it," she said, "But right now, my handsome boyfriend is escorting me to the gorilla."

"Oh yeah, women's battle royal, good luck with that," Jericho said.

"Thank you."

Christian and Trish left him alone and walked down the hallway. Christian looked over at her and smiled. She was so beautiful to him and the drive he saw in her eyes before a match just made her even more spectacular. Trish looked over at him, and gave him a weird look.

"Don't stare, it's not polite," she said.

He laughed, "I wasn't staring."

"Then what do you call it."

"Looking."

"What's the difference?"

"Lots," he said, leaning down to kiss her, "You nervous?"

"Me. Never."

"Kick some ass out there for me ok?"

"Don't I always kick ass?"

"Yeah, but I like knowing that you're thinking of me while you're doing it."

She shook her head, "So what do you think is going on with Chris?"

"Like I could ever get in that man's head."

"I know he's hard to figure out, but something tells me he's planning something big and I really want to know what it is."

"Well, be patient and will find out," he said, pulling her hat over her eyes.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, fixing her hat, "I don't wanna be patient."

"Well, you're gonna have to be, cause you're up missy," he said, giving her a small shove towards the entrance.

She walked up the steps and called back, "Wish me luck!"

"Good luck," he called out.

Christian stood by the monitors, watching the match. Trish was doing really well and was eliminating people. He cheered her on, hoping that she could pull this out. Soon enough it was just her, Gail Kim, and Victoria in the ring. He kept pulling for Trish, then cursed to himself as he saw her eliminated. Damn, and he would've loved to have seen her win too.

She came backstage and he went over to her and gave her a hug. He could tell that she was disappointed that she didn't win, and he didn't blame her. She had told him earlier how cool it would've been if she had been a title holder while he had been a title holder. A Golden Pair as she had described it.

"You did so great out there," he whispered into her hair, "I'm so proud of you."

"But I didn't win."

"Yeah, but you were in the final three and that is awesome," he told her.

"You think?" she asked, pulling away from him.

"Damn straight. What do you say I let you carry around my IC title tonight?"

"Yeah?" she grinned like a little girl.

"Yeah."

"Ooh, sounds like fun.........But what if you don't retain?"

"For shame!" he said over dramatically, "I will keep my title at all costs."

She laughed, "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"As well you should be," he said, then saw Booker make his way to the entrance and out into the arena, "And now's my cue to go."

"But your music hasn't even hit Chrissy," Trish said.

"Doesn't matter, I've got a score to settle," he said, rushing out there for his match.

Trish stood at the monitors, much like Christian had done a short while ago. She hoped he retained his title, it was bad enough that she lost her chance, she didn't want her boyfriend to lose his gold. She kept standing there watching, not noticing that Jericho had come to stand next to her, ready for his match which was coming up soon.

"Hey," he said, not looking over at her.

"Jericho," she said curtly.

"You still mad at me huh? I could tell even when Christian was around and you were trying to be nice that you were mad at me."

"I'm not mad," she said, "I just don't get you sometimes Chris."

"Trish, I know you're mad at me about the whole Stephanie thing, but I swear that things will become clear soon enough."

"You're so very cryptic," she said as she kept watching Christian's match, "You know when I first saw you and Stephanie together, I thought it was crazy. But then I thought about it and it seemed so natural that you two would end up together."

"So I've been told. But sometimes it's a little scary to have to live up to the reputation of a relationship everyone knew was going to happen eventually," he told her.

"I never thought of it that way. I don't know, I mean, everyone knew you'd gravitate towards her. I don't think you can stay away from her Chris."

Jericho knew that he couldn't, "We'll see."

"I guess so," Trish said, going back to watch the match.

They both watched in silence as Christian did indeed retain his belt. Trish smiled, glad that at least one of the them had won tonight. She sent Jericho a small smile before going over to wait for Christian at the gorilla. He came down the steps and was greeted with a hug and a kiss from Trish. He beamed at her and together they walked arm in arm to their locker room. Jericho smiled as he saw them both, content and happy.

He got ready for his match, going over to Test and talking a bit of strategy with the man. Before he knew it, his countdown was going off and he was walking down the ramp. He knew in order to make an impact he'd have to do something to Stacy, even though he knew that Test wanted to get his hands on Stacy more.

The match was fairly uneventful. Steiner did all of the work for his team, unsurprisingly. There was no way he was going to let Stacy get hurt. He grudgingly had to admire that about Steiner. He knew what it was like to do everything in order to protect someone you cared about. Most of the time, Jericho just watched Test and Steiner go at it, or Test tease Stacy. Bischoff declared the match no disqualification and he decided to have some fun. Before long he had taken a chair to Steiner in hopes of ending this match. As he was holding the chair he took a glance over at Stacy and thought about hitting her. But then he remembered what had happened last time he had nailed her with a chair and he didn't want to repeat that dismal time. Instead he watched as Test decimated her and won the match.

Jericho walked up the ramp, celebrating with Test. As soon as he was backstage he ended the pretense of being Test's friend and walked off to his dressing room to get a shower and to get dressed in his street clothes. Then he'd go talk to Molly, who he had surprisingly not talked to all night. He walked in his dressing room and saw Molly sitting on the couch.

"Molly," he said.

"Hi Chris," she said, looking up at him.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Came to see my boyfriend," she said.

"Oh, well, it's nice to see you."

"Who was that out there?" she asked confused.

"What do you mean?" he said, even though he knew.

"You were acting like..........like an...........asshole," she said quietly.

"It's just who I am I guess," he shrugged.

"But that isn't you, I know it isn't," she protested, "And you hit on her! How could you do that, knowing that you're with me?!?"

"Molly, I was just getting her riled up."

"But I didn't like it, don't do that!"

"Whoa, calm down," he said.

"No, you should treat women with the respect they deserve."

Jericho didn't like the direction this was headed. Yeah, he had brought this upon himself, but he didn't want Molly thinking he was a bad person when he wasn't. He decided to come clean and tell her the real truth. She deserved that much after all.

"Molly, we need to talk," Jericho said, sitting down next to her, "Tonight, I was deliberately trying to get you mad at me."

"But why?" she asked perplexed.

"Molly, I think that we should stop seeing each other," he said gently, taking one of her hands in his.

"What?" she asked, shock registering through her face, "This is so out of the blue."

"Actually, it's not. Mol, I really like you, but I just don't have strong feelings for you."

"But-but you could," she said, her eyes getting a bit teary.

"I don't think I could."

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"No, it was absolutely nothing that you did," he told her firmly, wanting her to believe that.

"Is it because I didn't sleep with you? I mean, you did hit on Stacy tonight, and if I had given you--"

He stopped her before she could continue, "It is most definitely not that ok. You have principles and morals that you follow and I am not one to question those or try to get you to go back on a promise you made to yourself."

"Then what did I do?" she pleaded.

"Mol, it wasn't you. I," he took a deep breath, "I'm in love with another woman. The girl I was with before you. I tried so hard to get over her, but I just can't. She's my world Mol, and it wouldn't be fair to her or to you if I kept these feelings to myself."

"Who is she?" Molly asked, wiping the tears that were streaking down her cheeks.

"Just a girl, you don't need to know. But I am so in love with her, and as long as she's in my life, there's really no room for anyone else."

She nodded, "I see."

"I didn't want to hurt you, and I don't want you to hate me Molly. I really do care about you, but I know that this relationship will go nowhere if I'm still in love with her."

"God, she's so lucky to have you, I hope she realizes that."

"She knows," he said, laughing quietly, "I'm sorry about this Molly."

"Who am I to be in the way of two people who want to be together?" she said, trying to regain her composure.

"Mol, you are a great girl, and you will find a great guy, I swear. And I'm glad we didn't take this to the next level because I don't want you to hurt."

"I'll be ok, but maybe you should go get this girl."

"I plan on it," he smiled, leaning over to kiss her cheek, "Thank you for understanding."

"Thank you for not lying to me."

Stephanie watched the rest of the show. She laughed as she saw Evolution's video, seeing Hunter surrounded by girls was a funny sight. She wondered how much he had to pay them to pretend they liked hanging around them. She heard a knock on the door and went to investigate. A bellman was on the other side, holding a bouquet of lilies.

"Stephanie McMahon?" he asked.

"That's me."

"These just arrived for you."

She took the flowers from him and tipped him, "Thank you."

"Thank you," he said, "Have a nice evening."

She took the flowers into the other room and laid them gently on the table. They could only be from one person. She spotted a card and took it out fingering the small envelope. She grinned and tore open the paper, getting to the card inside. She smiled, blushing as she read it.

"You're the magic that holds the sky up from the ground."

It was so like Jericho to find something so beautiful to write to her. She wondered where she was now. Hopefully he had already broken up with Molly. It wasn't that she hated Molly, but well, she kind of did, since she had kind of taken her boyfriend. She didn't want Molly in misery, but she sure as hell didn't want her to be happy with the man she loved.

"Like the flowers?"

She looked up and saw Jericho standing in the doorway. She looked down and blushed even more. He smiled, seeing how modest she was when being complimented, even if it was just a lyric he had found and thought appropriate for her.

"I love them," she said softly.

"Good, I'm glad."

"So........."

"I did it," he told her, "I'm officially a single man."

"That's good to hear. Who are you going after next? Stacy?"

"Oh yeah, of course. I mean, I did say that I wanted her to see me in action. But then she made that unfortunate joke about my size."

"I saw, and had no idea how she could even know what you're like," she said, looking up at him.

"Yeah, me neither," he shook his head and crossed his arms, "An odd one she is."

"So it's not Stacy you're after?"

"No, I had someone else in mind. I'm just giving her some time to think about it. Don't want to rush things with her."

"I can understand that," she nodded, pretending to be serious, "I mean, it's not everyday a girl gets to choose if she wants to go out with the King of Bling-Bling."

"Yeah, I know," he said, "Such a tough choice."

"Maybe some bling-bling might sway her decision," she joked.

"Now see, the guy would really do that, except that he already got the girl so much as it is. A necklace and a bracelet I believe."

"So the guy is cheap?"

"Definitely, though he is still waiting for the girl to stop punishing him and let him come back to her."

"Well, I'm sure the girl will decide soon."

"The guy can hardly wait."


	110. Kurt's So Funny, July 3, 2003

A/N: A little off-topic, but for those of you who read my other fics, look for some major updating come Monday. :)

* * *

"Stephanie, I'm really nervous about tonight."

"Don't be."

"Don't tell me to not be worried about you."

"You're not even with me, what do you think gives you the right to worry about me so much?" she joked.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're joking at all of this," he deadpanned.

"Chris, don't worry about it ok? I'll be ok, I promise you," she said, crossing her hand over her heart.

Jericho looked at her as she packed up her things for the show tonight. He had been trying to talk her out of this match for the last few days. He was very worried about what would happen tonight. She wasn't trained well and she was going against a giant of a man, and he was scared for her. If only he could be there tonight, he'd be able to protect her better.

"Can I come tonight?" he asked.

"Chris, we've discussed this," she berated, putting her wrestling outfit in her bag.

"I know, but Stephanie, I'm really apprehensive about letting you go tonight."

"I appreciate that," she told him, "But I need to do this. I'll be fine."

"I hate this!" he exclaimed, sitting down on the bed like a petulant child.

She shook her head and grabbed her vinyl wrestling boots, "Remember these?"

He didn't look up and didn't answer. Stephanie laughed, sometimes he could act like a little kid. He wondered if he ever acted like this around Molly, and how she handled him. She knew how to handle him, but it had taken a while to get him to listen to her when he got in one of his moods.

"Chris," she said teasingly, "Do you remember these?"

He didn't answer again.

"Don't act like a baby," she told him sternly, "I'm going tonight, there's no way you can stop me."

He smirked a little, holding back a smile. He always loved when she got mean and dominant, "I could tie you to the bed."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"I'd like to see you try."

He went over to her and picked her up throwing her over his shoulder. She struggled to get out of his grasp and kneed him in the stomach, not hard, but just hard enough to make him let her go. She dropped to the ground on her butt with and ungraceful grunt.

"That was so mean!" she said, getting up and rubbing her derriere.

"I'll tie you up so you won't leave," he told her.

"I'd get out," she said, picking up her wrestling boots which had dropped to the ground in the tussle.

"They're the ones you wore when we were in a match together," he told her, going over to lie on the bed.

"Correct," she smiled, "That was fun wasn't it?"

He gave a small laugh, "Yeah, it was fun.........except for when you fell face first into my crotch."

She zipped up her bag, "You know, you really set yourself up for one right there, but I'm taking the high road and not commenting."

He stood up, "I know exactly what you were going to say."

"Good, so I don't have to say it," she picked up her things, "And I'm off."

"Please be careful," he said seriously.

"I will, don't worry ok? Kurt has got my back," she reassured him, running her hand up and down his arm.

"Ok, I guess," he said uncertainly, "Steph?"

"Yeah?"

"Do something for me?"

"What?"

"Please, please, please try to get out of this match," he pleaded desperately.

She looked at him and sighed, "Ok, I will try, once only and if it doesn't work, then I will go through with it."

"Thank you," he said, taking her in his arms and wrapping her up in a hug.

"I've got to go," she said into his chest.

He pulled away and looked at her, "I love you ok, I don't want you to get hurt. I know we're not together right now, but I love you and I'm just worried and scared for you. Stephanie, you're going into a dangerous situation and I'm not going to be there."

"But Kurt will be, and he'll protect me," she said, holding his chin between her thumb and forefinger, "I WILL be ok."

"Fine! But if anything happens to you, I reserve the right to go down to the arena and kick whoever's ass I have to."

She gave a slight eye roll, "Do your worst Mr. Jericho."

"Bye, good luck, be safe," he told her.

She grabbed her things and headed out the door, "I will."

She closed the door and got a slightly nervous look on her face. Truth be told, she was holding it together for Jericho. She could see how nervous he was, and she didn't want to show him that she, herself, was nervous. She didn't want to be in this match anymore than Jericho wanted her in it. But pride was a big thing in her family, and she wasn't going to give it up for anything.

She got in her limo and was driven to the arena. She contemplated the entire time how she would approach her father and how she should ask him to get her out of this match. She just didn't think that she was capable of doing this. She had only been in a few matches, and none of them were the odds stacked so very high against her. Or at least it seemed that way.

As she arrived she went to her office to drop off some things and to sort her thoughts out. While she sat in her chair she realized that looking around at the position she held and everything was not the kind of thing that was helping her right now. Deciding she needed a breath of fresh air, and knowing she could watch the show from any of the number of monitors around the back, she left the room.

She wandered aimlessly around the hallways, trying to ignore the sympathetic looks she was getting from most of her employees. It was weird really, two years ago, they all would've been happy to see her get put in a match like this, they would've been laughing at her, taking digs at her. Now they were all saddened by it. Times sure had changed for her.

"Stephanie."

She looked up and saw Rhyno, "Hey."

"I wanted to tell you good luck in your match tonight."

"Thanks, I think I'll need it."

"Well, I'm sure that there are people back here who won't let you get hurt," he said.

"I sure hope so. Most of these people used to hate me," she laughed hollowly.

"I never hated you," he told her, laughing himself.

"Yeah, you did fight for me on some occasions. Of course, I was just using you to get to Jericho, but it was fun."

"Yeah, so if you ever need anything, don't be too frightened to ask," he smiled.

"When have I ever been too afraid to get what I want?" she winked.

"True, I stand corrected."

"Good luck in your match tonight though."

"Thanks, we'll win though. Just like you will."

"Thanks for having confidence in me, even if I don't," she said.

"I gotta go talk to Benoit, see you later," he called out as he began walking away.

"Bye," she said.

She went back to her wandering, thinking about what she was going to do. She could do a few moves here and there, but were they enough to take down the gigantic man? She had a sinking feeling it wouldn't help one bit. She had to talk to her dad about this, there was no way around it.

She went by one of the monitors and caught Kurt on it, talking with Brock. She stood and watched them a moment, hoping that seeing her friend would help her calm down. To her relief, Kurt actually made her laugh, despite her tension. He was always so funny and so goofy, she had to appreciate that.

When they went to the Basham and Benoit and Rhyno match, Stephanie resumed her walk back to her office. She'd have to think about what to say to her father before she saw him. She didn't want to be unprepared for this. She found herself walking slower than usual, mostly trying to bide her time. God forbid she ran into her father.

She walked into her office and cringed as she saw her father sitting on her desk. She took a deep breath and went over to him. She practically begged him not to put her in this match. She was giving up a lot of pride here and as much as she hated it, she had promised Jericho she'd try to get out of it. And a small part of her wanted out of it too. Ok, a big part of her wanted out of it.

She tried to appeal to her dad's soft spot for her, and the fact that she was a woman, not a trained wrestler who could handle themselves in the ring. He didn't take the bait though and declared that the match was on. She watched as he left, and sighed to herself, feeling tears come to her eyes. What had happened to the man that loved her unconditionally? Ever since that bitch Sable had stepped her foot back on WWE soil, her father had forgotten about her.

She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. She'd just have to be strong. She was capable of doing that. God knows it wouldn't be the first time. She started to take her things out of her bag. She looked at her boots, thinking about Jericho. She was about to call him when Sable walked in. She gave her a dirty look and Sable went on and on about how she was sorry her father put her in this match. Yeah, sorry her ass, Stephanie kept thinking.

Stephanie scowled when Sable said she could take over as the General Manager of SmackDown. Yeah right, she thought, over my dead, decaying body. She picked up her boot and held it, mentally toughening herself. She was going to need it. She felt her eyes tear up again and she clutched the boot.

"Don't cry."

"I'm trying not to."

"I will make sure nothing happens to you."

"Promise?"

"Stephanie, have I ever went back on a promise?"

"Yeah," she said.

"When?"

"When you were a mole in the Alliance, and then you made my company lose at Survivor Series."

"Oh yeah. Well, recently, when have I went back on a promise recently?" Kurt said impishly.

"Never."

"And I don't intend to start tonight," he said, coming over to her, "I will make sure that you are not harmed."

"Ok," she said a bit hesitantly as if she wasn't sure anything could protect her.

"Trust me Steph. If I didn't protect you, I'd have Chris kicking my ass before I even leave the arena."

She gave a small smile, "He did say he'd hurt anyone that harms me."

"See, I will make sure you are alright," he said determinedly.

"Thank you Kurt."

"No need for any thanking around here. Friends help friends out."

She hugged him tightly, "You are the best friend ever."

"I know," he grinned.

"Now get out of here so I can change."

"Ok, ok. I'm going to go find Brock anyways."

"Ok............Champ," she said, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Oh no, you saw that?"

"Yes, you milk drinking fool," she giggled.

"Damn, I was hoping no one saw."

"Poor Kurt, go get back at Brock," she said, pushing him out of her office.

She laughed as he gave her a wave. Kurt always put her in a good mood, he just had that kind of personality. She locked the door behind her, not wanting to be disturbed and went to her bag and grabbed her clothes. She changed into her wrestling outfit quickly, feeling a bit self-conscious at all the leg she was showing. Oh well, if she was going to wrestle, she had to wear this she supposed.

She sat down and decided to watch the show and calm her nerves. She was just going to have to try her best later on. What more could she do really? There was nothing that could possibly save her from it now, unless her father had some epiphany in the next half hour or so. She heard her phone ring and she picked it up.

"I don't like this at all."

"Hey Shane," she said morosely.

"If I were down there, I would SO stop this," he said angrily.

"What's done is done."

"No Stephanie, this isn't what's done is done. This is our father being a complete jackass. You can't go out there and fight!"

"But I'm going to."

Shane let out an angry sound, "I am going to kill him!"

"Shane, it'll be ok," she said, for like the millionth time today. It was kind of nice to know she had so many guys backing her up.

"I'm still going to kill him."

"And what good would that do Shane? Just let me go out there and see what happens."

"God, how can one man be so cruel to his own daughter."

"He's probably getting me back for all the times that I've turned on him or done something horrible to him."

"Yeah, but what did you do? You didn't hurt him."

"Well, sorta," she said uneasily.

"Fine, but who cares!?!"

"Shane, calm down ok, you're worse than Chris," she told him exasperated.

"Chris?" Shane said, suddenly interested in the new topic, "What about Chris? I thought you were broken up."

"We are."

"So why is he concerned?"

"Long story Shane."

"Ok," Shane said, still confused.

"Suffice to say, he's pretty upset about my match."

"Well, he's not the only one."

"Well then, just calm down and watch and we'll see what happens. Kurt has my back ok?"

"He does?" Shane said relieved to hear it.

"Of course."

"I'm going to go find Kurt and tell him to wait by the monitors, so I'll talk to you later, ok Shane?"

"Fine, be safe baby girl."

"Love ya Shane."

"Love ya too."

Stephanie hung up and grabbed her boots. She put them on and started to lace them up. She wanted to let Kurt know that he should wait close to the gorilla so that he could run out at a moment's notice. She laced the boots up the way Jericho had shown her so that they wouldn't come off during the match.

She got up to go to Kurt's locker room, but was intercepted by Big Show on the way there. He backed her up against the wall and she looked at him with frightened eyes. She tried to keep her resolve up, but the way he was leaning over her, she could feel his breath on her skin and it made her shiver in disgust. She tried to pull away when he touched her hair, but she was truly terrified of what he could do to her right then, and if provoked, what he might do to her in the ring later.

He was making her feel more and more uncomfortable with each passing second and she was getting scared. He leaned in to smell her hair and she cringed. If she retaliated, she feared the repercussions so she took his abuse. Then he made the comment about hurting her and she ran off. She ran back to her dressing room, forgetting about Kurt and closed the door behind her, her back against it as she tried to catch her breath. It wasn't until she got her composure back that she noticed her phone was ringing. She tentatively went over and picked it up, half expecting Big Show to barge through her door and assault her.

"NO FUCKING WAY!" she heard Jericho yell over the phone, "THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY I'M LETTING YOU GO OUT THERE!"

She winced at the volume of his voice, "Chris, please."

"Uh uh Stephanie. No way, I'm coming down there, that's it!" he said, his voice considerably lower.

"Chris, you can't!" she implored.

"No Stephanie, that's it! That's IT! I'm not letting him get away with that. I don't fucking care if he's bigger than me, I'm taking that son of a bitch down!"

"Chris, let me handle this!" she told him firmly.

"NO! Don't you get it Stephanie, he is out to hurt you!"

"Chris, don't you think I know that? I know he wants to hurt me, but I'm going out there. I'm showing them I'm not taking this lying down."

"God Stephanie! Are you crazy!?!"

"I just may be," she told him, "But I'm going out there, and if I get hurt, than I get hurt."

"Why do you have to make me love you more?" Jericho said frustrated.

"I'll be fine Chris, you'll see."

"Ok, but I swear to God, if I ever get my hands on that dirty bastard, I will make him pay through the fucking nose!"

"Shh, ok, take a calming bubble bath or something," she said, "I've got a match to win."

She hung up the phone and tried to resolve all of her courage. She would go out there and she would try her best. And when that wasn't good enough, she'd get Kurt to come out and do the dirty work for her. She laughed at the thought. She opened her office door and walked out, ready for her match, or at least, ready in the sense that she wasn't going to let herself get more scared than she was at the moment.

She got to the gorilla and went to stand by Zack, "I'm sorry about all this Stephanie."

"It's ok Zack. It's partly my fault."

"It's not too late to back out, I'll just go out there myself."

"Nope, this is our match. When you've been in this company as long as I have, you learn to take the good with the bad."

Her music hit and she went out to the ring, trying not to look as scared as she knew that she was. She saw her father watching her and she hoped that he felt terrible for putting her in this match, she hoped he'd suffer for this. She waited for Zack and they walked to the ring together.

She stood in the corner, suddenly in shock. She was actually in a match with a monster. She stood frozen, not being able to move as Zack tried to go after Big Show, but was rebuffed and knocked down. Suddenly feeling a hot surge of hate rise up, she tried to hit Big Show, but only got a shove down for her efforts. She crawled across the ring and onto the apron. She saw Big Show with his back turned to her and she thought back to the match with Jericho. What had she done then to try and distract Jericho? So she did the first thing that came to mind, she jumped on his back.

She got flipped on her back and onto the floor and she felt the pain in her back. That did not feel good at all. But what did she expect, not a walk in the park that was for sure. She laid there, holding her back and trying to get up, to no avail. She finally got up when she saw the Big Show holding Zack. She tried to run towards him, but he just pushed her away like a doll and she once again found herself on her back. Yeah, this was not going well at all.

She tried to rush towards Big Show again, and this time he didn't push her away, but picked her up. She tried to get his large hands off her throat, but before she could, he threw her into the ring, where she landed hard. She lay there, trying to get her bearings back. She got up and tried to do the one move that she knew she was good at, her bitch slap.

When Big Show blocked it, she got the ill feeling that he would try to kiss her. That would be worse than getting chokeslammed. Instead, he picked her up and held her with one hand. She didn't try to squirm, knowing that she could fall and really hurt herself. Through her hair around her face, she saw her father coming and she hoped that epiphany she was hoping he would have earlier had come and he would stop this abysmal match. Instead he made a throwing gesture and she became horrified. She braced herself to get hurt, but instead, she just fell down. She rolled to the side of the ring, trying to see if she was hurt. She was relieved to find she wasn't.

From her spot on the ground she saw her father come in the ring and coordinate a beating on Zack. She struggled to get up, to do something, anything that would show her father she wasn't quitting. She finally got to her feet and stared at the back of her father.

The contempt rose through her, and she felt a rush of emotions come to her as well. This man was responsible for Jericho breaking up with her the first time. She was so fucking afraid to tell him about her and Jericho that she risked the man she loved to please her father. This was the man she had defended time and time again, who she had looked up to, who she had wanted to be, and now that was shattered. Vince didn't deserve anything from her, he had caused her nothing but anger. So she took that anger and put it into physical form. Using all her strength, she grabbed her father and turned him towards her, and then she did something she had wanted to do for so long, she gave her father the slap of her life. She had given many a slap to many a man in her time, but this one, she put a little extra sting into it. If anyone deserved that, it was her father.

He gave her a deathly gaze and she backed up, wondering what he was going to do to her. But for once she wasn't afraid. C'est la vie and all that. She wasn't afraid, well, she wasn't until she backed up right into Big Show and in a flash, his hand was wrapped around her tiny throat. She gasped for air, clawing at his hands, hoping he wouldn't lift her in the air. She choked and wheezed as she was lifted off the ground. Through her eyes that were beginning to droop from lack of oxygen, she saw her father egging Big Show on. She tried to hold back the feelings of sadness at that image. Then she prepared herself to get thrown to the ground violently.

Except it didn't come. She was put back down and knocked into her father as she rolled out of the ring. She looked up and saw the man who always had her back. Kurt had come to save her and she had never been more thankful to see him in her life.

Kurt had run down the ring, sensing trouble was a-brew. He saw Stephanie in the chokeslam position and he ran out there. Seeing him, Big Show dropped Stephanie, much to Kurt's relief. He felt himself get caught with Big Show's hand around his throat, but quickly remedied the situation.

"You wanna hurt her huh? I don't think so you fucking asshole!" Kurt screamed as he kicked him and put the anklelock on him, "How does that feel!?!"

Kurt looked over at Stephanie, glad that she was ok. Then he felt cold steel on back as he was taken down by a chair to the back. Luckily Kurt could see Brock coming down to help. Kurt saw Big Show hit by a chair and he did the Angleslam on him, taking him down, then saw Brock give him the F5. Then Zack won the match and he helped Zack up.

He looked over at Stephanie to make sure she was ok, "You good Steph?"

"I'm fine Kurt, thank you," she said as she went over to Zack.

"No problem," he said as he left the ring to let her celebrate.

Stephanie was amazed at the turn of events. She hadn't really done anything, but it was still nice to win. She raised Zack's hand and celebrated her win. She was happy. Her father had tried to beat her, but he underestimated the power of her friends who had come to save her. She was very grateful for them.

She walked backstage and saw Kurt waiting there for her. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. No words were needed, he knew she was saying thank you, and she knew that he was saying you're welcome.

"Get back to your boy," he whispered, "I'm sure he's having a coronary hoping you're ok."

"Probably," she laughed, "See you later Kurt, and thanks again."

"My privilege."

She smiled all the way back to her office and didn't bother changing into her street clothes, just wanting to get out of there, in case her father had something else planned for her. She hightailed it to her limo and had her driver go as fast as he could back to the hotel. She went up to her room and walked in, throwing her things down.

"Chris! I'm back!" she called out.

He came out from the bedroom, "It's about time."

"I left as soon as the show was over."

"Do you know how lucky you are?"

"Yes," she said, rubbing her throat a little.

He rushed over to her, concern in his eyes, "Are you ok? Is it your throat? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Chris, whoa, I'm fine," she said, taking his hand, "I'm just a little sore. Getting thrown around will do that to you."

"Yeah, I know."

"I just want to take a shower and go to bed."

"Ok, you go do that."

"Thank you Mr. Bossy," she said, going over to her suitcase to grab some things.

She took her shower and changed into some pajamas. She was still a little sore and walked slowly back into the bedroom. She went to the bed and gingerly climbed inside. Jericho, who was sitting on the bed, looked over at her and scowled, hating that she was in pain.

"Wanna lie on me?" he asked.

"If you want me to."

He laid down on his back, turning off the television. She slowly made her way to him and lay her head down on his chest. He rubbed her back in all the right places as she sighed and closed her eyes, the makeshift massage feeling great.

"I sucked out there didn't I?" she laughed.

"No, you were...........interesting."

"I sucked."

"You tried."

"I sucked."

"Ok, you sucked.........a little, but you're not a wrestler. At least you looked good in your outfit."

"Oh, that makes me feel better," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Come home with me this weekend," he said out of the blue.

"Why?"

"Just to see if we can you know, have fun together again? See if you might want to move back there."

"What will we do all weekend?"

"Well, you know, it's the 4th of July tomorrow. We can barbeque and watch the fireworks or something........."

"Give it up Chris, you wanna make fireworks with me, admit it," she said. She always knew when he had ulterior motives.

"Ok, you got me, I think we have plenty of fireworks between us."

"Only you would use the holiday to think up some cheesy pun to get me to come home with you," she told him playfully.

"So you'll come."

"I'll come."


	111. H on Heat! Wow! July 7, 2003

"Sometimes I just don't want to come into work."

"Yeah, but you don't have a match every week."

"Yeah, but I have one this week."

"I know Trish, you told me already."

"Well you don't have to act like it's not important," she pouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry Trishy, it's important," Christian said, wrapping his arms around her as they sat on the couch in their dressing room.

"Oh come on, you know that you don't think it is. You're too wrapped up in your IC title match tonight," she told him huffily.

"No, no, I'm not too wrapped up in it. I'm just nervous. I mean, Booker keeps persisting and persisting, I'm afraid one day he'll get the title."

"I know, and I'm behind you every step of the way, I just kind of wish you were behind me a little more."

"You know I am."

"You don't even care that my match tonight is for the #1 contender spot," she said, getting up.

"Trish, you know that I care," Christian said, getting up and grabbing her around the waist and pulling her towards him. She snuggled into his embrace.

"I know," she said.

"What's the matter?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Trish had been so wrapped up in everyone else's business for so long, she hadn't really looked into her own affairs. She was happy with Christian, she really was, but she felt like there was something missing. She didn't know what that something was, but she wanted to know what it was.

She had gotten mixed up into the whole Jericho and Stephanie debacle, and everything had taken a back seat to that. But now that she had sworn to keep out of their affairs, she was left with nothing else to worry about but herself and Christian. It was a new thing for her.

"You can tell me if there isn't."

"Chrissy, your match is up soon, maybe you should go out there."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he asked, pulling away to look down at her.

"No, just don't want you to be late for your big match."

"Ok, I'll god, but we're not done here," he told her.

"I know."

She watched him walk out of the room, his title belt over his shoulder. She didn't know that would be the last time she'd see him wear it in front of her. She sat down to watch his match and hope for him to win. And maybe she'd figure out what she was upset about.

As Trish was sitting there, Jericho was just leaving his hotel room. Like planned, Stephanie had spent the weekend at his house, and it had been a blast. They had barbequed on Friday and watched the fireworks as they lit up the dark Florida sky. They had spent the rest of the weekend catching up with each other and basically just talking with each other. Were they back together? No. But they were definitely working on it.

They had decided to start traveling together again though. It was easier to be around each other that way. Now Jericho was just trying to get her to take him back. She was a bit reluctant, but he was wearing her down. He had asked her to come back and live with him, they could have separate rooms for now if she wanted, he just wanted her back home with him.

He got himself to the arena and arrived just as Christian's match was ending. He happened by a monitor and saw his friend lose the title. He cursed to himself, and made a note to go talk to Christian later. He continued walking and wondered who he was having on the Highlight Reel this week. They had told him last week that he was going to have someone scheduled for him instead of him having to find someone. He'd find out after he got settled.

Once that happened, he left and went to go find out what he was doing for the night. He turned the corner and ran right into Molly Holly. He steadied her as she was about to fall and then looked at her. He smiled politely, and she smiled timidly in return.

"Hey Molly," he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Chris," she said, "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, how about you?" he said, feeling the awkwardness of the situation.

"I'm ok."

"Good to hear," he said, "Um, again, I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. You and I just weren't suited for each other. I don't blame you for being in love with someone else."

"I just feel I could've handled it better."

"No, you told me the truth, that's the best thing you could've done. You didn't lie to me, and I appreciate that."

"I'm glad."

"So did you get the girl?"

"I'm trying. She's a little bit stubborn."

"Well, good luck, I've got to go warm up for my match later," she told him.

"Oh, ok, I've got things to do," he paused, "See ya Mol."

"Bye Chris."

Jericho went back to walking down the corridor towards the production desks. When he got there, Christian was walking slowly back to his locker room. He decided to stop and talk to his friend for a second.

"Christian," he called out.

Christian looked up and saw him "Hey."

"Sorry about what happened."

"Yeah, it sucks, but what can you do?" Christian shrugged.

"That's a good way of looking at it."

"Is there any other way? I mean, losing is losing, not much you can do after it happens."

"Well, I'm sorry nonetheless," Jericho said, clapping Christian's shoulder.

"Yeah," Christian said, his shoulders dropping as he walked back to his locker room.

Christian walked slowly back, not happy with his loss. He hadn't held the title nearly as long as he had wanted. He got to his dressing room and walked inside. He didn't notice Trish around, so he figured that she must've gone out to talk to someone or something. He went over to the couch and lay across it, closing his eyes and lamenting his title loss.

Trish walked around, not knowing what to do to kill time before her match. She still had a good chunk of time that she had to wait. She walked around, thinking about Christian, and just about things in general. She kind of wondered how Jeff was, she hadn't talked to him in so long, but she had kind of been dating him, so she would like to know if he was ok. Maybe she'd call Stephanie and ask her to ask Matt about him.

She went to the catering area to grab a water bottle and ran into some of the guys in there and engaged in a little small talk with them. When she was through, she left and went walking again. She ran into Ivory along the way.

"So you're set for your match tonight?" she asked.

"I hope so."

"You'll be great. I mean, I'm sure you're going to go out there and wow everyone, you usually do."

"I try."

"You'll beat Molly, no problem," Ivory told her.

"Let's hope so, I'm ready to get the gold back around my waist."

"Well, you got it, you got it, so go for it," Ivory told her before walking away.

Trish decided now would be as good a time as any to start warming up so she started doing some stretches to limber up. Unbeknownst to her, Test was approaching her from behind and she heard him say something to her and she got up.

She couldn't believe that he was trying to hook up with her. Didn't he know anything? She was quite happy with Christian. As she declined, she felt Test grab her and pull her towards him. She valiantly tried to get him off her, but he was too strong for her. Luckily, Nash chose that moment to walk up and get in Test's face. She started to flee towards her dressing room.

Christian opened his eyes when he heard Trish's voice screaming out. He looked at the television and saw her getting assaulted by Test. He got up in a flash and rushed out of the room, ready to save her. As he was rushing down the hallways, he ran right into someone and before he could right himself, they both fell flat on their asses.

He looked up to see Trish, "Oh Trishy!"

"Christian," she said, getting up.

"Are you ok?" he said, getting up as well and hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, I'm ok, I didn't fall too hard."

"No, with Test?"

"Yeah, he was just being his usual jerk self," she said disgusted.

"Ok, let's go back to the dressing room and watch Chris."

"Ok."

He kept his arm securely around her as they walked back to the locker room. Once inside, they sat down and Trish leaned against Christian as they watched Jericho do his Highlight Reel with Shawn Michaels. They both found Jericho to be, as usual, hilarious. Just some of the things he did were comic genius.

"I'm sorry you lost," she told him quietly.

"I'll live, and I'm sure I'll get it back someday."

"Yeah."

"You just have to go win so one of us can have gold," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Christian," she said, turning towards him, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh huh," he nodded.

"Are we serious?"

"Huh?"

"Like as a couple, are we serious?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm in love with you," he told her.

"I know, but like Chris and Stephanie, they were living together like five months after they started dating. We've been going out for about that long, longer if you don't count our break up, and we don't even talk about that kind of stuff."

"Do you want to move in?" he asked, a bit confused.

"That's not the point, the point is, sometimes I wonder where we're headed."

"We'll figure it out Trish, we just can't expect everything to be cut and dry with us. Let's see where things fall."

"I guess," she gave in.

Jericho walked backstage after his show. He thought it had gone fairly well. At least it hadn't ended in a match like last week, or disasters like weeks before. And he had gotten cheered, it felt odd to be cheered again, but he was in Canada, and to expect anything different, well, he was just happy.

He walked backstage, deciding to hang out for the rest of the show. Then he'd go back to the hotel, have fun with Stephanie, and fall asleep happy that she was there. Yes, he was getting gushy, but he couldn't help it when he was around Stephanie. She made him a mushy person.

He sat down to watch the show between now and his match with Mark Jindrak. He thought about the match he had scheduled for when they were in Southern California. He'd finally get his WrestleMania revenge on Michaels, and he knew it'd be sweet. The stage was set, the players were ready, he just had to execute it to perfection.

He watched as Trish ran down to interfere in the Test and Nash match. That must've been because of what he had seen happen earlier. He winced as she was thrown to the ground. God knew what Christian would do if he got his hands on Test.

He started stretching for his match and went out to the gorilla. He hoped it would be short and sweet. This guy Jindrak hadn't really been a big player here so Jericho knew that he had this one in the bag. He went out for his match, and the prophecy did indeed come true. The match was over soon after it started with him locking the Walls on. He was pleased, now he could get back to his girl.

Trish grabbed her back as Christian tried to get the kinks out of it. After she had been thrown to the ground her back had been understandably sore. She'd just have to suck it up though, because her match against Molly was next. Christian was trying to help her out with a quick massage.

"Trish you ok?" Jericho asked as he came backstage.

"I'll be fine," she said, smiling gratefully.

"That's good to hear," he spotted Molly coming over an decided to avoid more awkwardness, "Well, good luck with your match."

"Thanks," she said, "Bye."

"Bye."

Christian and Trish watched him walk away and walk right past Molly with only a nod of the head. They looked at each other in confusion. That wasn't a very typical greeting between people who were supposed to be dating. Molly came over to stand where they were.

"Hey," she said smiling.

"Hey," Christian and Trish said in unison.

"I hope you'll be ok for our match," Molly said, "It wouldn't be fair to win if you're hurt."

"I'll be just fine," Trish said, giving a grin to illustrate her point, "What's going on with you and Chris?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Molly said uncomfortably.

"No........."

"We broke up," she told them.

Christian and Trish looked at each other in shock. Could Jericho have actually come to his senses? Could he have gotten a clue? This was definitely a step in the right direction. They wanted to whoop for joy, but thought that would be inappropriate in front of Molly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Trish said.

"It's ok."

"I thought you guys were happy," Christian interjected.

"He's in love with someone else, you can't help that," Molly said as her music hit, "Well, gotta go out there. See you in the ring Trish."

"Yeah."

As soon as Molly was out of earshot, Trish turned to Christian, "Did you hear that?"

"I did," he said.

"So the idiot came to his senses," Trish giggled.

"Seems so."

"Well, I have a match," she said, "But you go talk to Chris and get the scoop."

"Will do," he said, kissing her, "Good luck."

"Ok, bye," she said, going out for her match.

Christian walked to Jericho's dressing room and knocked, not wanting to barge in, in case he was dressing or something of that nature. Jericho let him in moments later, a bit surprised to see him there and not watching Trish's match.

"What are you doing here?"

"So you broke up with Molly?" Christian said, crossing his arms and giving Jericho a look.

Jericho shook his head and laughed, "How'd you find out?"

"She told us."

"Oh, so Trish knows," Jericho said, packing his things up.

"Yeah, and we're wondering how this came about, because Molly said that you were in love with someone else."

"Yeah, so?"

"So?!? Are you kidding me Jericho, you go on and on about how you're so over Stephanie and how you need to move on with your life, and how Molly makes you happy, and then you just do a 180 and dump her."

"Sometimes you have to do the right thing," Jericho shrugged.

"You are so full of it, you've wanted Stephanie all along, but you were afraid," Christian told him.

"No, I wasn't," Jericho said.

"Sure, I believe that," Christian scoffed, "So are you back with her?"

"No, I'm not. She hasn't taken me back yet."

"Yet?" Christian said, smirking.

"Yes, yet. I'm hoping she will. Now if you'll excuse me," he said, grabbing his bag, "She's waiting for me."

Jericho left and Christian walked out, wondering if Trish's match was over. He went back to the gorilla and saw that the match was indeed over and saw Molly coming back triumphantly, which led him to believe that Trish had lost. She came backstage, favoring her back.

"Trishy, you ok?" Christian asked.

"Uh huh, but I lost," she said obviously upset.

"It's not your fault, you weren't 100%."

"I know, but it still sucks," she said bitterly.

"I know, but it'll be ok, they'll be other title shots. And look on the bright side, we're both losers, so we can be losers together."

She laughed, "And you have to give me the scoop on Chris and you know who."

"Of course, you'll love it."

Jericho drove back to the hotel, whistling the whole way. Tonight had been pretty good. The Highlight Reel hadn't been a disaster, he had set up a match between him and his heated rival, and he had won his match in no time at all. Now he was going back to the woman he loved. Yeah, he was doing alright.

He got back and headed up to his hotel room, wondering what Stephanie was doing. He walked inside, hoping to find her in some state of undress where he could just ogle her beauty. To his dismay she was in baggy pajamas and sitting on the couch with a book. She looked up, and smiled at him as she set the book down.

"Good reading?"

"You can say that. It passes the time anyways," she said, opening her arms.

He walked over and leaned down to hug her, "So how was your evening?"

"Took a bubble bath, ordered room service, watched you, I had a good night."

"Me too, had a good show, won my match, and now I'm here with you," he grinned, which made her grin.

"Did you run into Molly?"

He climbed onto the couch with her and they both squeezed on it, her laying partway on him, "Yeah, I did."

"How was it?"

"Ok, in retrospect, I was foolish to think she could make me happy like you could. She deserves someone who likes only her and isn't hung up on another chick."

"Oh, so I'm just another chick?"

"You know what I mean Steph," he said, "You're the only chick."

She giggled, "That's nice to hear. I just hope it wasn't too awkward."

"A little yeah..........So Trish and Christian know that we broke up and that I'm groveling to you."

"Oh."

"That's not a problem is it?"

"No, not at all, I'm just trying to think of their reactions."

"Surprise, shock, relief comes to mind," he told her.

"That's for sure. So you have a match for two weeks from now."

"Yeah, and this time I'm winning," he said proudly.

"Here's hoping."

"It would be better if I had a girlfriend who loved and supported me, and who lived with me, and could give me good luck."

"Your subtly astounds me," she said sardonically.

"I've exhausted all other methods, now I'm down to just downright begging. I'll even get down on my knees and beg."

"No thanks, groveling at my feet is such a turnoff," she joked, "Can you just be patient?"

"But I'm not patient!"

"Well, you're going to have to be. You can't rush this."

"I know, but is there anything I can do to hurry up your decision. You know any influencing factors, anything I can do. Something to remind you of how great we were, and how great we could be again. Maybe something about the fun we used to have or something to that affect. Break out some old pictures of us--"

"You know what you can do Chris?"

"What?"

"Shut up."


	112. Yay for Steph, July 10, 2003

"You sure you're going to be ok tonight?"

"I should be fine."

"Should be?" he asked.

"Well, I can't see the future so I can't tell you for sure that I'll be ok," Stephanie said, looking at him.

"Ok," he said, running his hand over his cheek.

She pushed his hand away gently, "I should get going."

Jericho looked at her, a little confused, "Is everything ok Steph?"

She grabbed her bag and looked back at him, "Everything's fine Chris."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Chris, stop asking me ok!" she said exasperated.

"Ok," he said, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms, "If you want to act like that, go ahead."

"Oh, real mature Chris," she told him.

"Well you're the one acting weird and distant!"

"I'm just not in the mood to be babied."

"Well excuse me for caring about you, next time I'll be sure to not ask if you're ok. I was just trying to be nice."

"I know, but maybe I don't want nice right now!"

"Then what the fuck do you want!?!" he yelled.

"I just want to go to work!" she yelled back, then sighed, "I'll see you."

"So you're just going to leave it like this?" he asked, gesturing around with his hands.

"I have to go, I have a person to sign tonight," she said, starting to walk to the door.

He jogged over to her and grabbed her arm, "You're not going anywhere until you explain your behavior."

"Let go of me Chris," she warned.

"Or what? You'll kick my ass?"

"Maybe I will," she said smartly.

"Oh yeah, sure Steph."

"You'd never hit me," she said, knowing that she was right.

He got frustrated, "I just don't understand why you're acting so strangely."

"I've got a lot of things on my mind ok? I'm just really, really stressed about things and you're not helping."

"I used to," he pouted.

She let a giggle escape, "I'll see you later."

She kissed his cheek, causing a smile to appear on his face. She gave him a smile and walked out the door. The smile left her face and she thought about tonight. She was signing Zack, and she was actually happy about that. It was the right thing to do, and she was glad that she was the one doing the right thing for once.

But that wasn't what was bothering her. She was really questioning her relationship with Jericho. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him, cause God knew she did, but well, they hadn't had the best luck as of late. They were turning into one of those on and off couples, and she really didn't want that. She wished she could be reassured that if they got back together it would be for good.

She got to the arena and went to her office to sort out Zack's contract. She wanted to make sure it was in working order and there were no loopholes or weird clauses in it. It would be so like her father to try to put something in it to humiliate Zack or make her father able to fire him or something.

She turned on the television to catch the show, and saw that Kurt was on screen. Smiling to herself, she turned up the volume and sat back on her chair. She loved to watch Kurt; he was always so entertaining. She saw him grab Cena's hat and she couldn't believe what he was going to attempt. Kurt was going to rap!?! The whole idea seemed so preposterous. But he started rapping and she couldn't help but crack up. It was just so funny and seeing him try to dance, well, she had seen him dance before, but this took the cake.

She was laughing so hard that she didn't expect Big Show to come out there and chokeslam him. She winced in shock at the impact. That had almost been her last week. But thanks to Kurt she was ok, and didn't have any lingering injuries. She had been sore, that was for sure, but other than that she was ok.

She got up and decided to see if Kurt was ok. Not only was he her employee, but he was her best friend, so of course she was going to see how he was. She walked out of the office and went down to the gorilla to see if he was there. When she got there, she didn't see him and asked one of the production guys if they had seen him and they told her he had headed to the trainer's to get checked. She nodded in thanks and made her way down there.

As she walked up to the door she saw Brock walking her way and laughing. She saw he had just come out of the trainer's door and wondered if she were laughing at Kurt. If he was that meant that Kurt was most likely going to be ok. Brock gave her a smile in passing, which she returned. She walked into the trainer's room and saw Kurt hunched over on the table an icepack on his back.

"Kurt," she said, trying to be cheery.

He looked up at her and smiled, "Hey Steph."

"You doing ok?"

"Better than ever," he joked.

"Good," she sat in front of him, "I loved your little rap out there, very entertaining."

"Well thanks, I'm not much of a rapper though, in case you couldn't tell," he winked, knowing that he hadn't been all that good.

"Oh, I thought you were great," she joked.

"So what brings you here?"

"Just came to check up on you."

"Oh, I feel so special," he grinned.

"As you should feel, besides, I was bored and alone."

"Oh, so the true reasons come to play huh? When you're bored it's automatically find Kurt time."

"Oh, you got me Kurt, you're my cure for boredom and that's it."

"What's on your mind?" he asked seriously.

"What makes you think I have something on my mind?" she said, throwing back a question in his direction.

Kurt studied her, "You have that look."

"I have a look?"

"Yes, you have a look."

"I do not!" she protested.

"You do, you get this little look on your face when you're frustrated, so fess up Steph, what is it?"

"Chris."

"What about him? I thought you two were going slow."

"We are, but that's the thing, he's left it up to me to choose whether I want to be with him or not and that's a hell of a lot of pressure," she sighed.

"Well, you love him and you always wanted him back, so taking him back seems like the right answer doesn't it?"

"You'd think so, but I've been thinking," she said slowly, as if debating her choice of words.

"About what?"

"I don't know, I just don't want to be one of those on and off couples, you know, who break up and make up all the time," she said quietly.

"I don't think you guys would be like that."

"Really? Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well, you know how Chris is, he's intense you know, when he wants to be. And when he wants something, he doesn't let up. He wouldn't let up on you."

"And I'm worried about the whole Molly thing."

"I thought he broke up with her."

"He did."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well, I mean, what if he finds someone he likes better and he dumps me, I don't think I could take that Kurt," she answered honestly.

"He wouldn't even try it," Kurt said confidently.

"How do you know that?"

"I've said it once before, I'll say it again. There's things you don't know about him Steph. He wouldn't."

"Thanks Kurt."

"Never a problem."

"I better go though, don't want to be late for Zack's signing."

"Oh yeah, good luck with that."

They said their goodbyes and Stephanie walked out, thinking about what Kurt had said. It was true, there had to be things that she didn't know about Jericho. He was his own person after all, and he didn't tell her every single detail of what he was thinking every single moment of the day.

She returned to her office to retrieve the contract for the signing. Then she checked herself over in the mirror and headed out to the ring. She was walking down the hallways when she ran into the guy she would be signing in a short time. She smiled at Zack and walked over to him to chat for a moment.

"Is that my contract?" he asked.

"You bet it is."

"Great, can't wait to sign it."

"So are you excited?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Yeah," he said giddily, "This is all just so amazing."

"Well, you deserve it," she told him.

"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to take advantage of it while I can."

"That's a good plan," she heard her music being cued up, "Well, that's my cue, see you out there."

Stephanie walked out confidently, holding the contract in her hands. She was happy to be signing Zack. He was a good kid and he had really persevered to get where he was today. She had to admire that. He really had true grit and passion for the business and that was always refreshing to see.

She got into the ring and started talking to the crowd until it was time to introduce Zack. She smiled as he walked out ready to sign the contract. He got into the ring and made a speech thanking everyone. It was nice to hear someone be so grateful to be in the company. She gave him the contract and he signed. She smiled again, until she heard music she didn't want to hear.

She turned to see her father walking down the aisle with that skank on his arm. Stephanie scowled as she looked at her father, a man she used to look up to. She had talked to her mom the other day and she had informed Stephanie that she had kicked her father out of the house so that he'd cool down. Stephanie knew that Linda wasn't worried, her dad always came back.

She watched distastefully as her father came up to talk to her. She wasn't afraid of him, she knew her father would never strike her; her mother would kill him. He went off on Zack as well and she just watched as he made a fool out of himself, with his whore on his side. She hated that stupid bitch Sable, what she wouldn't give to get the bitch out of the company.

Her dad went on and on and she just stood there, absorbing the fact that this was her father. He was a horrible, horrible man. Then he had to go and make Zack fight against him at Vengeance. What was with her dad and having to make fights with people? He was never content just running the company, he always had to be doing something to someone. It made her sick.

She turned to leave the ring after her father's little announcement and found herself smacked in the face with a clipboard. She fell to the ground, more in shock than in pain. She realized that she had been hit by Sable and her anger went up about 100%. She lay there, just stewing in anger as Zack came over to check on her.

"Stephanie, are you alright?"

"Yes," she answered through gritted teeth as her father and Sable left the ring.

"You sure?"

She sat up and rubbed her head, "I'll be fine, I've just got a little business to take care of."

"Stephanie?" Zack asked confused.

Stephanie ignored him. He obviously didn't know how bitchy should could become. She got up and left the ring, knowing what she had to do. She wasn't going to take this anymore. She wasn't going to let Sable get away with the shit she was pulling over everyone. She walked up the ramp, a very determined look on her face and a steely gaze in her eyes.

She had been nice for a year now. She had played the part of the nice General Manager, the one who everyone wanted to work for. She had put away her slutty clothes and mean demeanor when she had been forced out of that ring so long ago. Well, she could feel it returning, she could feel the sneer that she had once loved coming back to her face. Oh yes, the real Stephanie..........was back.

She was back and she was ready to fight. She had taken the high road so many times in the past year. She had beaten Bischoff with cunning, she had taken humiliation with dignity. She had put all her old habits away in exchange for new ones, supposedly better ones. Well, not anymore.

She got the word that her father and Sable were in her office. Walking quickly, she got there and threw open the door to see her father and Sable wrapped up with one another. Not thinking, Stephanie charged, just like Jericho had taught her, towards Sable, knocking the blond into the couch, causing it to tip over.

Stephanie grabbed Sable's hair and started hitting her head against the ground, screaming at her for hitting her. She wasn't even in control anymore, she was so angry, she just let her instincts take over. She felt her father pulling her off Sable, but she resisted, and she would never figure out how, but she didn't let her father take her, she kept screaming at Sable, not caring what she said anymore.

She was now being held back by security and personnel, but that didn't stop her from trying to get at Sable. She just kept trying to get away, to charge at Sable, rip the blond hair off her head. She screamed until her voice was hoarse and she heard her father yelling to get her out of there. Then she heard him announce a match between her and Sable at Vengeance. She screamed back that it was fine, she'd love to get her hands on the blonde twit and it was true. She wanted to kick Sable's ass.

Security escorted her out of the building, giving her, her things and she took them angrily. She was supposed to be the boss, but she had just gotten kicked out of her own show. Where was the freaking justice around here? She dusted herself off and decided she had nothing better to do than to just go back to the hotel. She couldn't get back in, her father would throw her out.

She got to her rental car, and drove back to the hotel. She couldn't imagine what was going through Jericho's mind when he saw all this. She knew that he loved the bitch in her. He had said it was what attracted him to her in the first place. Well, she was sure feeling bitchy right about now.

She walked up to her hotel room and unlocked the door. She heard a couple of voices talking lowly to each other and she paused with the door slightly ajar. One of them was definitely Jericho's, but she couldn't quite place the second one. It sounded familiar, but Stephanie couldn't think of who it was.

"So that's what I was thinking."

"I think that's a great idea," the woman said.

"Good, I just want it to work."

"I'm sure it will."

"So you'll help me."

"Of course, you know I'm always here if you need me."

"Thanks so much Trish," Jericho said, giving her a hug.

Stephanie gave a sigh of relief when she realized it was Trish. She opened the door and walked inside, causing Trish and Jericho to jump simultaneously at the intruder and then look over at Stephanie.

"Trish!" Stephanie said happily, "It's great to see you!"

Trish got up and went over to hug Stephanie, "I know, but we're never on the same show anymore and you're never in Florida."

"I was there last weekend, we should've done something."

"Damn, we should've, I was there too."

"So what are you doing here tonight?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, the show was in Toronto and Chris over," she said, pointing at him, "Was feeling lonely, so I came to keep him company."

"Fun. So what were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Trish and I were just talking about this plane that I have for Raw," Jericho informed her as he stood up to give Stephanie a hug.

"Oh," she said, thinking to what they were saying when she listened, she should've figured it had something to do with Raw, "What're you planning?"

"You'll have to watch Monday and see," he told her.

"Darn, I hate waiting," she joked.

"Well, I'm going to give you two some alone time," Trish said suggestively, "See ya Chris, bye Steph."

"Bye Trish, call me ok? We'll do lunch tomorrow or something."

Trish gave Jericho a pointed look, "Cool, I'll call."

Trish left and Stephanie turned to Jericho, "So did you see the show?"

"I did, and I gotta say, I was impressed."

"By what?" she asked coyly.

"I saw you kick ass in there. That tackle, my God!"

She giggled, "That was good, wasn't it?"

"I'm now officially scared of you. I think you CAN kick my ass," he said.

"Yeah," she turned serious suddenly, "Chris, can we talk?"

"Of course."

She pulled him towards the couch and sat him down. She sat down across from him, tucking her legs underneath her. She looked at him for a moment, wondering how to breach the topic. She decided to just dive in.

"Chris, about us........."

"Yeah?" he asked anxiously.

"I don't want us to be one of those on and off couples. I want to be with you for a long time. I just don't want to always be fighting and making up, it sucks."

"I know," he said quietly, "I don't like it either."

"I'm just nervous that we'll be that way, and I'm unsure if we should be together."

"Steph," he said, taking her hands, "I promise it won't be that way."

"I just don't know."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that something will come up soon that will make you sure about everything."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I have my ways."


	113. Bleh to Austin, July 14, 2003

"So you think this'll work?"  
  
"I don't see how it can't."  
  
"I just want it to be good."  
  
"It will be," Trish said.  
  
"You sure?" Jericho asked.  
  
She stopped him and looked at him, a huge grin on her face, "It will work out. I'm glad you let me help you."  
  
"Hey, you're my closest girl friend, who the hell am I going to ask?"  
  
"Yes, you need me."  
  
"Oh, of course," she said, hugging him around his waist, "So should we go to the arena?"  
  
"I guess, I just want to make sure that we've got everything planned and ready."  
  
"You know we do, you're getting overly paranoid."  
  
"I can't help it."  
  
"Why are you so nervous?"  
  
"I know, but I've never done anything like this before," he said nervously.  
  
"Please Jericho, it's not that difficult."  
  
"Oh sure, because I'm sure you've done it."  
  
"Shut up Chris. Let's go."  
  
They walked to his rental car and he opened the door for her, being the perfect gentlemen. She smiled and got in before he went to his side and got in as well. He started driving to the arena after his and Trish's little excursion into downtown Indianapolis.  
  
"So where's Stephanie?"  
  
"Back at the hotel, she might get a chauffeured car and go shopping or something," he shrugged.  
  
"I can't believe you didn't tell us about this little bet you had going," she said, shaking her head.  
  
"We had our reasons."  
  
"Like what?" she asked, crossing her arms.  
  
Jericho looked over at her and laughed. If he had told them what was going on, they were liable to go into a frenzy. His friends were not ones to sit back idly and let things happen the way that they should. Kurt was probably the only one who would never get directly involved, the others, not so much, as sad as that was to say.  
  
"You'd butt in if you knew," he said bluntly.  
  
"I would not," she cried indignantly.  
  
"Sure Trish, like I believe that. You're the one who got pissed at me for not going after her when she was supposedly with Hunter."  
  
"Do you blame me?"  
  
"No," he said, "Though I should've told you so I could get you off my back."  
  
"If you think I'd let up because I knew of this stupid, lame bet, you're wrong Chris Jericho."  
  
"I know," he chuckled, "Trust me."  
  
She smiled as she turned up the radio when she heard a song she liked. She had had fun with Jericho today. They had never done anything together by themselves before. It was weird at first, but she had really had come to enjoy herself. Jericho was a really fun guy to be around. She couldn't believe that at one point and time she had thought that all he wanted from her was her body, when in reality all he wanted was Stephanie.  
  
"Chris, can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure, go ahead," he said, turning to look at her briefly as he drove.  
  
"When did you fall in love with her?"  
  
"Stephanie?"  
  
"No," she said, rolling her eyes, "Stacy? Of course Stephanie?"  
  
"I don't know when it happened to tell you the truth. When did you realize you loved Christian?"  
  
"He told me first, and when he told me, I knew that I felt the same way," she said.  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"Did you ever really hate Stephanie?"  
  
"I don't know. I want to say that I didn't. I'd probably tell her that I didn't, but I can't say for sure," he shrugged.  
  
"But then you fall in love with her, strange the way life works huh?" she said, a bit morosely.  
  
"Hey, you ok?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"How are things with you and Christian?"  
  
She sighed a bit. She was still thinking about what she had been thinking about last week. She couldn't get the subject off of her brain. Maybe she wanted more with Christian. Maybe that's what was bothering her so much. Maybe she felt that they were just stagnant right now, not going forward, but not going back either.  
  
"They're fine," she told him.  
  
"That's good, at least there's one happy couple out there."  
  
"Yeah, but you and Stephanie will be back together soon. You two never could keep out of each other's business. Even when you didn't like her."  
  
"So what's the trouble with Christian?" Jericho asked knowingly.  
  
"What makes you think there's a problem?" she asked, wondering how in the hell he figured that something was wrong.  
  
"Because I'm pretty good at reading people and right now, something is telling me that you don't feel like everything is fine. So spill."  
  
"Can you keep a secret?" she asked.  
  
"I can keep a secret, believe you me."  
  
"I just feel like we're in a rut."  
  
"Well, I guess you're past the honeymoon stage then," he told her.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The novelty has worn off, you guys are just a normal couple, like any other couple."  
  
"I guess, so how did you and Stephanie deal with it?"  
  
"Oh, we never got over that honeymoon phase," Jericho winked.  
  
"Ewww, too much information!" she said, feeling better already.  
  
"You asked!" he told her.  
  
"But I didn't need to know about your sex life," she said, pushing his arm.  
  
"Oh please Trish, I didn't even mention our sex life, but if you want to get into that, well Stephanie likes to--"  
  
She reached over and covered his mouth, laughing the entire time, "That's something that you can just keep to yourself buddy!"  
  
"Wfhoiroehow," he mumbled from behind her hand.  
  
She let her hand off his mouth and shook her head. He sent her a wicked little grin and she laughed as she went over to her seat. They arrived at the arena and got out of the car, Trish waiting while Jericho retrieved their bags. Being the nice guy that he was, he carried in her things as well. They walked inside and found out what they were doing for the evening, Jericho was doing the Highlight Reel and Trish had a match with Nash and Steiner as her partners. That should be one interesting match.  
  
"So where should I drop you off mademoiselle?" Jericho asked, shouldering her bag.  
  
"Christian and my locker room please," she smiled.  
  
He walked her to her door and she opened it for him, letting him walk in with her things. Christian didn't appear to be there yet, but she and Jericho were early. He set her bags down on the couch and she reached inside to grab her wrestling clothes, intending to lay them out for her match later.  
  
"So you and Nash huh?" Jericho joked.  
  
"Shut up. For some reason whenever a guy comes to my aid, they always pair me up with him the next week, it's like some trend."  
  
"A lot of guys go out to save you, I wonder why that is?" Jericho asked, tapping his chin with his index finger, to emulate being in deep thought.  
  
"Shut up," she joked, "I can't help it if I'm irresistible."  
  
He laughed as Christian wandered into the room. He looked between the two occupants and just walked past them to put his stuff down. Jericho and Trish looked at each other and burst out laughing. Christian turned to them and crossed his arms, wondering what had given them a bad case of the giggles.  
  
"What is up with you two?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing," Trish said, trying to hold in her laughter.  
  
"Were you two talking about me?" he asked suspiciously, looking between the two of them.  
  
"No, of course not."  
  
"Sure, yeah right."  
  
"We weren't," Jericho told him.  
  
"So why did you two run off this morning? I barely even got a goodbye from you Trish, you were in such a hurry to get out of there."  
  
"Personal business," Jericho said, pursing his lips.  
  
"Personal?" Christian asked, "You two aren't like..."  
  
"Oh my God!" Trish said, "Me and Jericho!?! Are you kidding me, not in this lifetime!"  
  
"Well thanks," Jericho said, looking hurt.  
  
"Oh get off it," Trish told him, "I was helping Chris with something."  
  
"What?" Christian asked.  
  
"It's a secret," Jericho said to him.  
  
"Give me a hint."  
  
Jericho looked to Trish. He wanted to keep this under wraps so that when everything came out, everyone would be surprised. The element of surprise was key here. Trish raised an eyebrow and he gave her a look telling her to keep her mouth shut.  
  
"It's nothing really."  
  
"Does it have to do with Raw?"  
  
"Yeah, that's exactly what it has to do with...Raw," Jericho smiled proudly.  
  
"Ok, well, I guess I can't wait to see what it is then," Christian said, going over to sit with Trish.  
  
"Yeah, but right now, I've got to go get ready for the Highlight Reel. I read that I have to have Bischoff on my show. He's the last person I'd want."  
  
"Suck it up," Christian told him.  
  
"I always do."  
  
Jericho walked out of the locker room, letting the two of them have some alone time. He walked down the hallway, thinking about what he and Trish had been doing today. It had been a good time and they had accomplished what they set out to do. And that was the most important part of the whole thing. He whistled at his good fortune and he made his way to his own locker room.  
  
"Jericho, just the man I want to see," a smarmy voice said behind him.  
  
Jericho rolled his eyes and turned around, "Bischoff."  
  
"Yes, I wanted to talk about your show tonight," he said, coming over.  
  
"What about it?"  
  
"Well, didn't you read the schedule, I'm on it. I thought it only appropriate that for my return I make a special appearance to my adoring fans."  
  
Adoring his ass, Jericho thought. Nobody, least of all him, wanted to see Bischoff back, but this was his job and he had to remain impartial, at least for a little while, "So what do you want me to do about it?"  
  
"I want you to make me look good."  
  
"So you want me to say nice things about you, is that it?"  
  
"Now you're catching on."  
  
"Fine, whatever."  
  
"Good, well, see you out there," Bischoff told him giving him that stupid smirk of his.  
  
Jericho watched him go, and scowled. Of all the people to come on his show. He walked down the hallway until he reached his own locker room. Going inside, he collapsed on the couch, not really wanting to go out there anymore, if it mean sucking up to Bischoff. Finally, noticing he really didn't have much time, he drug himself off the couch and grabbed the outfit he was wearing for the show tonight. Putting it on, he felt like a whole different guy. Topping off the outfit with a slick pair of sunglasses and he was ready for business.  
  
He walked out and to the gorilla just in time to go out for the show. He made his way down to the ring, making sure he was going to be out there right when the show started. Might as well start out with a bang right? And if anyone was going to make a bang, it was him.  
  
Seeing the opening the video, he decided that would be the perfect way to open the show. He'd mention all the Kane assaults that had happened last week. That way he could try to cut down on all the ass-kissing he was required to do with Bischoff. The show began and he did what he set out to do, he mentioned the beatings and everyone being scared, which was a little far-fetched, but hey, whatever sells and all that.  
  
He then went on to talk about Bischoff, but he managed to keep it pretty short. Of course, the whole close personal friend line was done tongue-in- cheek. Jericho despised this man with everything in him. He was indirectly responsible for his first breakup with Stephanie. If they hadn't tried to foil Bischoff, than they could've showed off their relationship to anyone and could have gotten her dad's approval before she realized she hated him.  
  
Bischoff came out and Jericho went into another suck up diatribe, knowing that was what Bischoff wanted to hear. Then he let Bischoff talk about whatever the hell he had wanted to come out here for. Jericho stood and nodded, thinking about Stephanie the entire time. If he punched out Bischoff right now, would that be grounds for getting himself fired? Maybe it would, and then he could go over to SmackDown.  
  
Jericho shook himself out of his thoughts when he heard Bischoff talking to him. He pretended to listen to what he was saying, not really caring, but hey, what better did he have to do at the current moment? Not much was the answer. He stared out in the crowd. Oh look, there was someone wearing a Colts jersey? Was that Peyton Manning's number? Yeah, it was, pretty nice jersey he thought to himself.  
  
He was jolted out of his thoughts when Bischoff was talking about Kane beating on people. Bischoff said something about footage and Jericho showed it. What was he going to do? Say no, of course not. Besides, it meant he got to show off the Jeritron 5000. He watched the footage. Man, Kane was on edge nowadays, he was almost kind of glad he wasn't on the receiving end.  
  
He mentioned his much anticipated rematch against Michaels figuring now was as good a time as any to mention it. Then as he was about to say that they wished Bischoff well, he was mercifully interrupted by Austin. Thank Go for small miracles. He went to say something, but was cut off and went back to his daydreams as Bischoff and Austin fought with each other. He wondered what was going to happen with Stephanie on Sunday. He hoped she could beat Sable, Stephanie could kick ass when she wanted to. Sable was going to get a fight from Stephanie, that was for sure.  
  
Seeing Austin leave, Jericho saw an opportunity to be a little mischievous. He did a little dig at Austin, nothing uncommon for him. He really didn't want Austin to leave, but well, he loved playing the devil's advocate, it was what he did best. Of course, he was also a nice guy, but he never got to display that, only a few people got to see that. As he was rambling, he wasn't really paying attention and got a stunner for his efforts. Great, just great, and THIS was the reason that sometimes being a devil's advocate wasn't fun.  
  
He rolled out of the ring and walked up the ramp grabbing his neck. That was going to be sore in the morning. He'd just have to get Stephanie to give him a nice massage. She gave the best massages.  
  
As he walked backstage he saw Trish warming up for her match next. She stopped what she was doing and walked over to him. She gave him a sympathetic look and he pouted like a child.  
  
"Are you ok?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine, but I think I need to have a talk with Bischoff."  
  
"But you don't like him."  
  
"Well, considering that the other GM stunnered me, I have to go for the lesser of two evils I guess."  
  
"Good luck," she said.  
  
"Good luck to you too," he told her as he walked off.  
  
Jericho walked to Bischoff's office to find him already there. Jericho started bitching to him about Austin and how this was totally unfair and all that kind of stuff. Really, this was just his anger talking, but damn it, he wanted something done now. When Bischoff said "company policy," a light went off in his head.  
  
He left the office and went back to his locker room. Yes, this could work perfectly. He had told Stephanie that he and Trish were cohorts in something that had to do with Raw. This had to do with Raw, and it was very different from the norm. He grabbed a clipboard on the way and a few sheets of paper. As he walked inside his locker room, he smirked at what he was planning. On the paper he scrawled some bullshit about getting Austin to resign.  
  
In reality, he didn't care whether or not Austin was GM. In fact, it was probably better that Bischoff didn't have all the power. But this was the perfect supplement to what he had told Stephanie. She'd never see what he had planned coming. He went out in search of signatures for his "petition" and the first person he saw was Christian. He jogged up to him and slapped him on the back.  
  
"What's up man?" Christian asked.  
  
"I'm making a petition."  
  
"For?"  
  
"To get Austin to resign."  
  
"Dude, don't you think you're going a little too far with this one?" Christian asked.  
  
"Hey, this is my big thing on Raw," Jericho explained, "Remember what I mentioned earlier."  
  
"Oh yeah," Christian said, getting the picture, "But still, you talked to Trish about this? That's weird."  
  
"It's a ploy dumbass, what I had to talk to Trish about had nothing to do with Raw," Jericho told him, "It had to do with Stephanie."  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"Don't worry about it," Jericho said, "Help me go shill."  
  
"How will I shill?"  
  
"Be the first one to sign, get other people to sign. Just enough to make sure Stephanie sees it."  
  
"Well, then we should hit the guy's locker room, there's bound to be people there."  
  
"Great, let's go."  
  
They sauntered over to the men's locker room and went inside. The boys looked up curiously wondering what was up. Christian, who was out in the hall ushered in Victoria and then told one of the production people to find Dreamer and Rico, he figured Jericho could make a good case to them about why they should sign.  
  
He went into his little spiel, and as planned, Christian signed. Jericho sent him a goofy smile, knowing that the people would fall for it. Rico and Dreamer came in and then he really went at it full-force. He felt like one of those circus guys who was trying to get people to come to the show. Only the show was a petition. He said he'd send it to Linda, that was a laugh. Linda was practically his mother-in-law, and he didn't want to bother her with something this silly; he knew how much work she already had to do. Not to mention the wandering eye of her husband. But the guys and girls bought it and he was getting signature after signature. He couldn't resist and laughed to himself and the absurdity of it all. The things he went through for Stephanie, it was madness.  
  
He left the room, leaving the guys to their cheering and walked down the hallway, intending to go back and leave. On the way, he ran into the members of Evolution. Or in Hunter's case, reverse evolution. He figured, he'd dupe these guys as well, because God knows if Hunter found out something went around without his signature he'd throw a hissy fit and go sit in the corner like a little boy who didn't get any ice cream. He gave them a few obligatory compliments and got the idiots to sign. This was actually getting funny. As soon as they were done, he took the petition and himself back to his locker room.  
  
He got dressed in some more comfortable clothes, packing away his things. He took the phony petition, thinking he'd show it to Stephanie, to prove he wasn't bullshitting. He also packed away some other things he'd acquired during the day and left the arena, actually early this time, that was always a plus.  
  
He got back to the hotel quickly, not having seen Stephanie since early that afternoon and jogged from the elevator to the room, not wanting to waste a moment more without her. Letting himself inside, he dropped his bag by the door and scanned the room.  
  
"So that was your little surprise?" she asked, leaning in the doorway to the room from the balcony.  
  
"Surprise."  
  
"It should be the other GM you're after," she said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"All in due time, pretty soon, I'll make sure that you run everything," he said, going over to hug her.  
  
He took her in his arms and lifted her up as she embraced him as well. This felt so good, he didn't know how he had gone without it for so long. He finally let her down and looked at her. She blushed under his scrutiny and kissed his cheek before pulling away and walking fully into the hotel room.  
  
"Will you be with me when I run everything?"  
  
"If you take me back, sure."  
  
She turned to face him, "I wish that some sort of sign would just hit me and let me know which path I should take. The last thing I need is another divorce."  
  
"Whoa, who said we're getting married?" he asked.  
  
"Oh sorry, didn't mean to presume."  
  
"I mean, I don't think that if we got together that'd mean marriage, I mean, we're still a secret, I don't think I'd propose while we're still a secret."  
  
"Oh," she said, a bit disappointed, "Well, let's get off this subject, shall we? I wanna see the petition."  
  
"Ok, it's in my bag," he told her.  
  
She went over to his bag and unzipped it when Jericho remembered that he had stuff in there that was private. He rushed over and snatched up the bag. Stephanie took a step back and looked over at him, bewildered by his sudden strange behavior.  
  
"Sorry," he apologized, "Just didn't want you to have to smell my dirty laundry."  
  
"Ok...even though I've done you're laundry before," she said, her brows knitted.  
  
"Yeah, but you haven't in a while and it's impolite," he grabbed the clipboard, "Here you go."  
  
She took it slowly, "Thanks."  
  
She took it over to the couch, where she sat and read it. Jericho went into the bedroom with the two beds in it and went over to his suitcase. He put his things inside, burying certain things from prying eyes and then went to join Stephanie on the couch.  
  
"This is great," she laughed, "I should show it to Mom."  
  
Jericho laughed as well, "Go ahead, I'm sure she'd get a kick out of it."  
  
"So are you nervous?" she asked, putting the clipboard down.  
  
Jericho's head snapped up, "What?"  
  
"About your rematch? Nervous?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, a little. I just want to win this time."  
  
"You will. I'm a little nervous about Vengeance."  
  
"Don't worry, you'll do fine," he said, leaning over to kiss her temple.  
  
"I wish I could be sure."  
  
"Well, I'm sure enough for the both of us."  
  
"So Friday, did you want to do anything?" she asked.  
  
"I was just going to hang out at home, did you want to spend the weekend down in Florida with me?"  
  
Stephanie gave him a crooked smile, as if she was trying to tell him something. Jericho knew exactly what that something was, but he wasn't going to let her know he knew. This all went back to the element of surprise and how that was the key. Even if it did mean making her feel a little bad about it. But he was sure he could make it up to her.  
  
"Yeah," she nodded, "I'd like that. So Friday, you're not doing anything."  
  
"No, why would I?" he asked.  
  
"Oh....no reason."  
  
"If you say so."


	114. One Year and Counting, July 17, 2003

A/N: A year sure flies doesn't it? Thanks for the reviews guys, they mean a lot to me. Hope you enjoy my 1 year anniversary chapter. :)

And sorry for the delay.

I might hold off the Raw chapter until Tuesday so that people can catch up with this chapter, and please let me know what you thought about the chapter. :)

* * *

Stephanie chewed on her pen as she was deep in thought. Tomorrow was the day that she and Jericho had first realized their feelings for each other. It was the first time they kissed without hatred being the fuel. She could still remember every single detail of that evening.

After he had kissed her, she had pulled away, not in shock, but just in acceptance. They knew this was right somehow. They knew that they had finally figured out what people probably saw between them for a while now. After that kiss, they had gone back to her suite and talked all night. It was fun.

And the dope had forgotten that day. She had spent Monday night with him, then had flown to Florida on Wednesday and then they had spent today together. During those days, nary a word about their anniversary. Not one solitary word about this special occasion had been uttered from his lips. She was appalled.

Jericho usually remembered everything. He was just like that. He remembered everything, every small little thing, how come he couldn't' remember this? He remembered the first time they hugged for God's sakes! How could he possibly forget the day they became a couple.

Sure she could possibly blame it on them being not together right now, but he wanted to get back together. This was really telling her whether or not she should be with him. Even if technically they weren't together, they couldn't just stay away from each other, no matter how hard they tried. She sighed and resolved to stop thinking about it for the rest of the night, lest she get a migraine.

She thought to her match against Sable coming up at Vengeance. She knew she could beat that blonde bitch, but she also knew Sable would have her father on her side. It was sickening the way he was around her. When she really thought about it, it was sickening the way her father her father was around any young woman. Sometimes she just wished she could be a part of a different family. Damn it, there were thoughts of Jericho again, thinking about family and the such.

She decided to go talk to Kurt. If anyone could sort out her feelings, she knew it would be him. He was always so level-headed when it came to things like this. If anyone could figure out what to do about this whole situation, he could. She just hoped he wasn't too busy preparing for her match.

She walked down the corridor towards where she knew Kurt was at tonight. She knocked tentatively on his door, not wanting to walk in on him or anything. He answered and gave her a big grin and ushered her inside. She wished that she could smile back at him, but she was finding that difficult nowadays.

"Stephanie, so good to see you," Kurt said.

"Likewise," she answered shortly.

"Oh no, Stephanie is having another problem," Kurt said, crossing his arms, "What is it this time?"

"Oh, so I'm just a Princess with no real problems?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Steph, you worry a lot, that's all."

"I can't help it."

"Of course you can.........just stop doing it."

"Easier said than done."

"Of course, but admitting you have petty problems is the first step to recovery," Kurt joked.

"You're not helping," she laughed, sitting down on his couch.

"Now unless I'm mistaken that seemed like a laugh to me. So obviously you're not as upset as you'd make me believe."

"I guess not."

"But in all seriousness, what's on your mind?" he asked.

"What do you think?"

"Oh, him again. God, do you ever stop thinking about him for two seconds?"

"Yes, but then he pops back in. He just won't leave my mind."

"Which means that ding ding ding, Stephanie is going to take Chris back because God knows if she didn't she'd never forgive herself."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't know about that."

"What'd he do this time?" Kurt said, sighing dramatically.

"He has forgotten our one year anniversary."

"But you're not even together," Kurt said to her.

Stephanie gave a sigh of exasperation, "I know, but I mean, we've always been entangled with each other. I mean, he slept with me when he was with Molly, what does that say?"

"True," Kurt gave in, "But who knows, maybe he didn't."

"No, he did, he hasn't even made mention to it, and when I bring it up, he doesn't even know what I'm talking about."

"Well, I don't think there's an easy answer here Steph."

"Damn, I was really wishing that you had all the answers," she kidded.

"I don't and you know it."

"Thanks anyways Kurt."

He shrugged, "Do what you think is right. That's all you can do."

Stephanie got up and hugged him. He hugged her back, hoping that she would pull through this. Stephanie was under a lot of stress, and he was a little worried that she would snap at any moment. And Stephanie snapping would not be a pretty sight.

"If it's any consolation," Kurt said, "Happy anniversary tomorrow."

"Thanks Kurt," she said genuinely.

She gave him a weak smile and left him then. She walked down back to her office and walked inside. She saw her father sitting on her desk and couldn't believe her bad luck. First she was unhappy about Jericho, now she had to talk to her father, the scum. This was just not her day.

She went up to her father and looked down at him scornfully. She knew he was the boss, but damn it, she didn't have to like it. He got up and went into a little spiel about how he was protecting Stephanie from Sable. As she was listening, she accidentally touched the hot lamp sitting on the table and quickly took her hand off in pain. Of course her father didn't seem to care about her, or that she had hurt herself. Of course not, he was too busy protecting his precious Sable.

Then he had to pull out the freaking Midol and she snatched it out of his hands. As she turned to leave the room, she turned to look at him and threw down the box of pills in anger. She had had just about enough of her father and that terrible wench. She scowled as she walked around, not really having anywhere to go. She walked around for a long time, chatting with a few wrestlers on the way, but nothing more than a few words.

She stopped by a nearby monitor as she saw her father in the ring again. She listened to what he had to say and found out just where Sable was. Nice to know where she was at least. She figured that now she wouldn't have to worry about any sneak attacks from Sable. There was one plus in a whole sea of minuses.

She found herself getting angrier by the minute. As she was ambling through the halls, not stopping in any one place for too long, her cell phone in her pocket started to ring. She retrieved it and answered it quickly.

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Hey Steph, it's me," Jericho said, "I just caught what happened with your dad."

"Oh, so what else is new between us," Stephanie said sarcastically, a twinge of bitterness in her voice as well.

"How's your hand?" he asked sympathetically, "I saw you hurt it."

She looked down and her fingertips, they were a little burned, but nothing to seriously worry about, "I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling slightly.

"Ok, just wanted to confirm that you were alright," he told her, "So you're meeting me at the airport tonight to catch the red-eye to Florida right?"

"Yeah, of course," she said dully.

"Is something bugging you?" he asked.

"No, nothing. So still no plans for tomorrow?"

"I wasn't planning something," Jericho lied, "But if you wanted to do something?"

"No, no," she said wistfully, "I'm fine just hanging out."

"Cool. So what are you going to do about this Sable thing?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You have to do something to get back at her for that stupid little crack she made."

"I don't know Chris," she answered apprehensively. She really wasn't in the mood to do anything tonight.

"You know what you should do?"

"What?" she said, taking the bait he was giving her.

"You should go up to her private box and totally pretend to be an employee and then just wail on her," Jericho said excitedly.

"Chris!" she said giggling madly at the suggestion, then quieted her voice as she realized she just exclaimed his name in public, "I couldn't."

"You're Stephanie McMahon, you sure as hell could."

"I think I'll do it," she said, grinning widely for the first time in a while.

"Ooh, I love when I get to see the bitch in you come out," he told her.

"I'll see you at the airport, bye Chris," she said quietly.

"Bye."

She smiled as she thought about what Jericho had proposed to her. She liked that idea. She could get the upper-hand on the snotty bitch and have fun while doing it. She decided to go find some employees. She walked up to the private box level and looked around at the different people hustling and bustling around. She saw someone who she could fit into their uniform and walked up to her.

Offering her a hundred dollar bribe, the girl eagerly nodded her head in commiseration. The girl went into the break room and changed out of her uniform and into her street clothes. She came back out and handed Stephanie the uniform. Stephanie thanked her profusely and went off to change. This was going to be priceless. She ducked into a nearby bathroom and changed into the uniform.

As she left the bathroom she looked around to make sure no one she knew was around to blow her cover. Seeing that the coast was clear she left the bathroom and walked down to where she knew Sable was staying. She walked in the room and saw another employee getting a glass from Sable, going to fill it with more wine. She walked over and whispered that she would take it from here.

She took the filled glass and walked over to Sable, who was getting interviewed by Josh Matthews. She went to hand it to Sable, who hadn't seen her yet. Instead of handing it to her though, she took the wine and poured it on Sable's head. Stephanie gave a self-satisfied smirk, and that's probably why she didn't see what was coming next.

All of a sudden Sable bolted from her chair and knocked her into another chair and causing her to tumble to the floor. It didn't feel particularly good on her back, and as she tried to get up, she felt Sable hitting her. She tried to retaliate but it was hard to gain momentum. Sable grabbed her by the hair and she felt the pain on her scalp, and she hoped that Sable didn't pull it completely out from the roots.

She fell back first into the cabinets and winced in pain. She was definitely going to be sore tomorrow. She tried, once again, to gain the upper-hand, but Sable was on her feet while she wasn't, and that was more advantageous to the opposing party. Then in a disgusting twist of fate, she found herself face first in a pile full of food. She could feel it going all over her face as Sable smashed her into it. She was pretty sure there was cake up her nose, and she could feel herself choking and couldn't do anything more, so she just laid there.

As soon as her strength came back, Stephanie attacked Sable from behind and tackled her to the ground. She beat her head into the ground, her anger finally getting the better of her. She supposed it wasn't all anger towards Sable that was causing her to go ballistic, maybe it was a little bit of anger towards her father, and anger towards Jericho that was tempered with this. She let loose all her rage before she felt herself getting pulled back, despite her best efforts to charge at the blonde whore.

The security guys escorted her back to her office and she could hear the snickers from some of her wrestlers. Probably not from what she had actually done to Sable, who wasn't popular among anyone, but because she was covered in food. She must really look a fright right now. She went into her private bathroom and surveyed the damage. It was bad, it was very, very bad. She was going to need a shower, there was no way she could go to the airport looking like this.

Luckily she had regular clothes with her, and these weren't hers at all. She stripped down to take a quick shower and then changed into her normal clothes, feeling much better now that she had had a warm shower. She tied her damp hair back out of her eyes. She checked herself in the mirror, man she looked like a little girl right now. Of course, if she were a little girl, maybe her father wouldn't be such an ass to her.

By the time she had dressed and everything the show was already over. She grabbed her things and went out to her limo that had been waiting since she arrived her earlier. Telling her driver that she was headed to the airport, he took her things and put them in the trunk as she got in the limo itself. Soon they were on their way, and she wondered if Jericho was already at the airport.

She felt much calmer now she thought, coming to the conclusion as she contentedly watched the scenery pass by. She guessed that taking out her aggression on Sable had really allowed her to calm down in a lot of aspects. Sure, she was still upset, but now that feeling like she wanted to kill someone, completely disappeared.

She got to the airport safely and disembarked the limo. She walked into the airport, finding Jericho waiting for her on some of the plastic waiting chairs by the door. She smiled a little as she saw him, he seemed to be thinking very hard and she didn't want to disturb him, but came over anyways.

"Chris," she said softly.

He looked up and smiled at her, his eyes brightening, "I thought you'd never get here."

"I'm here aren't I?"

"Yeah. So you ready to go?" he said extending his hand.

She looked down at it a moment as if she was undecided about what to do, but took it, "Yeah."

They got their tickets and proceeded to the terminal to wait for their flight. The time waiting was spent in silence as Jericho once again seemed to fall into a trance of deep thought. She wondered what he could possibly be thinking so hard about? If only he had put more focus into what tomorrow was.

The flight boarded and Stephanie had to give Jericho a little tug on the arm to get him to cease his spacing out. He snapped out of it and they boarded the mostly empty flight. He stared out the window the whole time, and she spent the flight mulling over whether or not she should ask him what was wrong.

"Chris?" she finally asked.

"Hmm?" he said, not taking his eyes away from the window.

"Why are you barely talking?"

"Huh?" he turned to her briefly, "Oh, I'm just thinking."

"Bout what?" she asked.

Jericho thought of something quick to cover up what he had really been thinking about, "My rematch with Shawn."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I interrupted," she said disappointed.

He didn't answer as he was already back to his thoughts. They remained in silence for the duration of the plane ride, and the car drive back to Jericho's house. He managed to come out of his deep thinking long enough to open the front door and let them inside. Stephanie dropped her lighter gym bag on the floor of the living room.

"I'm going to bed," Stephanie said.

"Ok, night," Jericho called out from the kitchen.

"Night."

She walked up to the guest room where she had been staying. Her can Jericho weren't really ready for the same bed at home thing. It would just be a little weird and they were trying to avoid that. As she started to drift off to sleep she wondered what Jericho was doing.

Jericho looked through his things, making sure that everything was in order. He wanted things to go smoothly tomorrow and to do that he had to carefully plan every last detail. Not to mention he was nervous about her reaction and was desperately trying to make sure he was doing the right thing.

The next morning, Stephanie woke up bright and early, hoping to go downstairs and find some big elaborate spread for their anniversary. She took the stairs quickly and went into the kitchen. Jericho was getting a cup of coffee. She looked around expectantly, but saw nothing.

"Morning," Jericho said cheerfully.

"Morning," she smiled.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Great......so how's your morning been?"

"Boring, I think I may go out with some of the guys today," he said nonchalantly.

Stephanie could feel herself start to fume, "Well, I'm going to call Edge and see if he wants to go out with me."

"Good idea," Jericho said, calling out as he walked into the backyard, cup of coffee in hand.

Stephanie scowled and picked up Jericho's phone, dialing Edge's number, "Hey Edge."

"Stephanie?" 

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to do anything today? Like maybe go out to lunch."

"Sure when?"

"As soon as possible."

"Ok, come over here then and we'll leave from here," he said to her.

"Great. Be there soon."

Stephanie walked to the back door and stuck her head out to look at Jericho, "I'm going out."

"Where?"

"I'm going out with Edge," she said, hoping he'd say no and he had something for her.

"Have fun."

She frowned and went upstairs to change. When she was through with that, she went back downstairs and left, not looking back once. Jericho saw this and grabbed the phone to dial Trish's cell phone number.

"She's gone."

"How'd you get her to leave?"

"I didn't have to. She went out with Edge."

"Great, I'm on my way over."

"See ya."

Jericho sat on the couch, waiting for Trish to come over to help him with the thing he wanted to do. He heard the doorbell ring and went up to get it. Opening the door he saw Trish on the other side, a ready for action look on her face.

"So where do we start?" Trish asked, walking in.

About an hour and a half later, Trish and Jericho finished up the arduous task and collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. Trish looked around the room and surveyed the work that they had done, and quite frankly she was in awe. Who knew the two of them could pull this off?

"This is so fucking awesome," she said.

"You're starting to sound like Christian," Jericho joked.

"Seriously Chris, this is amazing!"

"You think she'll like it?"

"If she doesn't she's crazy!" Trish exclaimed, jumping out of her seat, "I mean, look at this!"

Jericho looked around at everything and smiled a little, "It does look good."

"Good?!? Chris, I'm about to start crying and this isn't even for me," she said, her eyes seriously watering with tears.

"Trish, don't cry," he said chuckling, then getting up to tug her into a hug.

"I know I shouldn't, but I wish Christian would do something like this for me."

"Hey, hey, when you and Christian get to your one year anniversary I'm sure that he'll do something great for you."

"You think he would?"

"Of course."

"More importantly though, do you think we'll make it that long?"

"Is there any reason why you wouldn't?"

"No, I guess not," she said, "So where's Stephanie?"

"She went out with Edge. She wanted to catch up with him, at least that's what she told me. I think she's kinda upset that she thinks I forgot."

Stephanie sat sulking, her chin in her palm as she stared off into space. Edge looked at her from across the small table that they were both seated at. She had barely said three words the entire afternoon and she was the one who wanted to go out in the first place.

"Stephanie, what is the matter with you?" he finally asked.

"Huh?" she said, looking up at him, "Oh, nothing."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," he kidded.

"Do you know what today is?" she questioned.

"It's Friday."

"No, the date?"

"Um," he pondered, "It's the.........18th."

"Exactly."

"What's the date have to do with you being upset."

"A year."

"Ok," he said, still perplexed.

"Chris and I got together a year ago," she said distantly, "He was mad that I wouldn't hug him when he came to congratulate me. He came back, barged into my locker room, and demanded to know why I wouldn't hug him. Then it all just kinda came out. After that did something that I never would've thought he'd ever do without having the sole purpose of pissing me off..............He kissed me."

Edge saw the most beautiful smile he had ever seen from her light up her face, making her eyes shine bright. He had never really heard a detailed account of the story of the two of them, other than they got together when she had become General Manager. She seemed so happy just to recall her and Jericho, and he was the guy that she was unsure about getting back together with.

"So I assume that you're getting back with him."

"But he forgot our anniversary!"

"Maybe he didn't want to make any assumptions that you wanted to celebrate it, in case you didn't want to."

"But he should know!" she cried, "He forgot!"

"You don't know that," he argued.

"He would've said something."

"Well.........then I got nothing."

"So when is she getting back?" Trish asked.

"Not sure, hopefully not for a while. I just want everything to be perfect."

"It will be.........So she thinks you forgot huh?"

"Yeah, she's got no idea at all," Jericho laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she keeps hinting to what today is."

"Poor thing," Trish sympathized, "But this will make her forget."

"Hopefully," he said, crossing his fingers.

Trish smiled and nodded, "It has to."

They went around making sure everything was in place. Christian walked up to the house, having walked from his own house, which was about a fifteen minute walk. He was wondering what Trish and Jericho were up to. He saw the door was unlocked and a bit ajar and he let himself in.

"Put it right there, yeah, right there," he heard Trish say.

"Is that good?"

"Yeah, I love it!"

"Do we want more?" he asked.

"Just a little," she giggled, "Haven't you had enough?"

"Never!" he laughed.

Christian's eyes narrowed. What the hell was going on? The two of them had been so secretive for the past week or so, and it was starting to bother him. What was so important they had to keep it to themselves? He had to know what was up? He turned to enter the room.

"Holy shit!" he practically yelled.

Trish and Jericho turned to him, "Hey man."

"Fuck, this is.........fuck," he muttered, looking around.

"You like it?" Trish asked.

"This is fucking amazing! Is this what you two have been whispering about for the past week?"

"Yeah," Jericho told him, "Think Stephanie will like it?"

"Once she gets over the shock, she's going to love you forever."

"Good that's what I was going for."

"How did you do this?" Christian asked walking around, looking at everything.

"It was pretty easy. Trish helped me put it all together."

"Didn't Chris have the best idea Chrissy?" Trish said, coming over and hugging Christian.

"It is a good one, but I have a feeling this is your way of giving me a not-so-subtle hint for the future."

She kissed him lightly, "Good boy."

"Ok you two, either leave or help," Jericho interrupted.

"Where do you need help?" Christian asked.

"Actually," he checked everything, "I think I'm done."

"So do you just want us to leave? I don't think that you want us here when Steph comes back, even though I would love to see the expression on her face when she sees this," Trish said.

"Actually, can one of you call Edge and see where he and Stephanie are? They went out like three hours ago and I want to make sure I know where they are so I know how much time I have left."

"Ok, give me the phone," Christian said.

"Here Chrissy," Trish said, handing him her cell phone.

"Thanks."

He dialed Edge's phone number by heart. He waited for Edge to pick up on his end. Edge felt his phone vibrating against his hip and grabbed it from his pocket. He checked the display and saw that it was Trish's number, but he figured it was his brother calling, not her.

"What?" he answered.

"Is that any way to answer your phone?"

"When I know it's you, absolutely."

"Ha ha big brother."

"So what's up?"

"Just wondering where you were?"

"Out with Steph."

"Oh, are you guys coming home soon?"

"Yeah, she's just in the bathroom. She's kind of upset."

"Why?"

"Chris forgot their one year anniversary. She's just really upset about it, considering she's still unsure about taking him back. The poor thing."

"Yeah........"

"You'd think he'd remember."

"Uh huh."

Stephanie walked out of the bathroom, wiping her eyes a bit. She had wanted to get cleaned up after getting upset about Jericho. She walked to the table and saw Edge on the phone. She sat back down and watched him.

"Steph's back, I gotta go," Edge said.

"Do me a favor man?" Christian asked.

"Sure."

"Make sure she gets home."

"Ok, can I ask why?"

"No, just get her home."

"I will then, bye."

"Bye," Christian said.

Edge hung up the phone and looked at Stephanie, who was gazing at him curiously, "It was my brother."

"Oh."

"Let's go home shall we?"

"I don't really feel like going back to the idiot."

"Come on," he said, standing up and putting some money on the table.

"Can I stay with you for a while Edge?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've decided not to take Chris back," she said seriously.

"Whoa, why?"

"If he loved me like he claims to, don't you think that he would've remembered something this big?"

"Steph, you have to give the guy a break."

"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Because you love him."

"I know I do, but he obviously doesn't."

"Stephanie, let me just take you home," Edge insisted.

"Edge, I really don't want to!"

"Ok, fine, we'll go pick up your things, how's that?"

"Thank you."

She walked out of the restaurant. This was better. She couldn't take him back if he didn't even love her enough to remember a momentous occasion. This was her sign to not take him back. It was as clear as day. Even Hunter had remembered their first anniversary.

Jericho practically pushed Christian and Trish out of his house. He didn't want them around when Stephanie got back. Christian had told him that Stephanie was upset, and he felt terrible for that, but he couldn't tell her what he had been doing. It would've ruined everything. He ran upstairs to change out of his t-shirt and warm up pants. He put on some nice jeans and a nice light blue button down shirt that he knew was her favorite. He grabbed something from his nightstand and went back downstairs.

Stephanie stared out the window as Edge drove her home. She would just get her things then leave. She wasn't going to let him talk her into staying. Her decision was made and she wasn't changing her mind. Unlike Jericho, she COULD keep a promise.

Edge arrived at Jericho's house and parked in the driveway, "Go get your things."

"Can you come in with me?" she asked.

Edge had a feeling that Jericho hadn't really forgotten their anniversary, "You should do this alone. But I'll wait out here for you ok?"

"I guess," she sighed, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," he smiled, wondering what the surprise Jericho had done for her.

She got out of the car, resolved to break it off with Jericho. She walked up to the front door and looked back at Edge, who gave her a spirited thumbs up. She smiled warily and took out her key to open the door. She unlocked it slowly and walked in, looking around. As soon as he saw her enter the house, Edge pulled out of the driveway and drove away, ready to go get the scoop from Trish and Christian.

Stephanie didn't hear anything in the house and wondered if Jericho was even home. She secretly hoped that he wasn't. If he were out then it would make this so much easier. She'd just leave a note and get the hell out of here.

"Chris!" she called out.

She got no answer. She called out again, and once more she got no answer. She figured he must indeed be out. Sighing, not sure if it was in relief or sadness, she walked into the living room to go grab her bag, which she had left there. As she stepped inside, she gasped.

"Oh my God!!" she yelled.

She felt tears already forming in her eyes as she looked around the dimly lit room. The light was having a hard time getting through the windows that had been covered. Everything was covered in fact. She stood in the middle of the room and just took it all in. The tears kept cascading down her face as she walked around, gaping at what he had done.

She couldn't believe it; this was incredible. She couldn't believe he had done this. When had he done this? He'd have to have planned it out for a while, this wasn't something he could do today on the spur of the moment. She walked over to one of the walls and just stared.

On all the walls and hanging in mobiles from the ceiling were pictures, just wall to wall pictures. And they were of the two of them. They were all real pictures, put in black and white and they were everywhere. And every single one was different. No two were alike, and yet there were hundreds of them everywhere. Blown up for her to see, they were all about the size of a sheet of binder paper. She looked up and saw that he had made make-shift mobiles to hang from the ceiling with pictures attached to string hanging down from them.

She was too shocked to say anything or do anything, not even look for Jericho. This was simply the most spectacular thing anyone had ever done for her. She tried to stop crying, finding it difficult to look at the pictures, all of them blurry through her tears. She wiped her eyes futilely, finding that as soon as some tears were gone, there were more in its place.

She walked up to one of the mobiles and looked at the pictures that were descending from the ceiling. The top picture was from Christmas Eve the year before last, when she had gone to give her father the money clip and found him talking to Jericho. He had just stared at her, disbelieving that she was actually there. The next picture was from when she and Hunter had watched him being taken away on a stretcher, laughing at him. She frowned a little at the picture. The picture below that was from when she had thrown the bucket of water on him as he went to do a Lionsault. The picture below that was them standing in the ring, staring each other down. And then the final picture below that, just grazing the ground was a picture of them from when Stephanie had come back to be General Manager, when she had refused to hug him.

She laughed as she looked around again, trying to look at every picture at once. She could conjure up a memory for every single picture, each of them having a distinct place in her heart. They were lucky to have these moments, even the bad ones, and Jericho understood that. She wondered how he could've possibly gotten some of these pictures. But most of all, she wondered where he was.

As she stood there, looking around, she couldn't believe that this was the guy she was not twenty minutes ago, going to break up with. She had seriously thought that he had forgotten the day that they had discovered their feeling s for each other. But of course, in typical Jericho fashion, he remembered. Jericho remembered everything, and she loved him for it.

As she was staring at the wall behind the couch, Jericho came in through the kitchen door and watched her. He had wanted to give her time to process everything before he came in. She looked stunned by everything and that was a good sign. He could hear her quietly sobbing, and knew they were happy tears, not sad ones. This was the reaction he wanted and he was glad she liked it as much as he was hoping she would. He smiled to himself.

"You told me that you were unsure about us. That you didn't want to be one of those on and off couples. You wanted a sign."

She turned around, a big grin plastered on her face, "This wasn't what I was expecting."

"I had to remind you," he told her, still leaning in the doorway.

"Remind me?" she asked, deep in thought.

"Remind you of what we have. Remind you of what we were, how happy we were, how crazy about each other we were, how much I hated your guts and how you hated mine."

"I never hated you," she said, shaking her head, still standing in the middle of the room.

"Of course you did. But that's ok. Because it gave us so many great memories, like this," he said, pointing to a picture of Stephanie slapping him.

She laughed, "I prefer picture like this."

She pointed to a recent picture of them from when they were together. They were leaning against each other as they stood in front of his car. Jericho smiled and nodded in agreement of her choice.

"I like the good ones too. But I wouldn't trade back any of the bad ones."

"Neither would I," she said, "How did you do this? Where did you get these pictures?"

"Well, I talked to your mom about what happened with all the pictures that the photographers took during shows. She said they had an archive of them, by date and show. I spent Tuesday looking through them. Trish helped me. Then we got them resized and put in black and white," he smiled.

"I can't believe you did this just to convince me that we were good together," she said, shaking her head in incredulity.

"Well, I had to get you back some way didn't I?" he grinned.

"I thought you had forgotten about today."

"Forget the day I finally bagged Stephanie McMahon, no way!" he exclaimed, walking over to stand in front of her.

"I was going to come here to tell you I didn't want to get back together, because I didn't want to be with someone who could forget something so important, I'm so glad you proved me wrong."

"You were going to leave me?" he asked.

"Yes, but then..........this, I couldn't," she told him.

"Well, good thing I remembered then. But the point is Stephanie, look around, I couldn't have had these moments with anyone else because they wouldn't have been as fun. I wouldn't be happy in some of these photos if you weren't in them. You, Stephanie, are just the most amazing thing in my life and as evidenced, you have been for a while. I didn't interact regularly with a lot of the other divas because none of them can hold a candle to you."

"You mean that?" she asked, just wanting to hear him say it.

"They put me in a tag team with Lita a couple times, and I looked out for her when Dean was around, but did I want to, no. I'll let you in on a little secret, I don't really like Lita. And Molly, she's great, but these moments, well, she would never have done this. She never would've set me up to get hit with a sledgehammer. She never would've sent goonies after me. Chyna, she was cool when I was with her, but let's face it, she's too butch for me. And all the other divas just fade into oblivion."

"Say it Chris," she urged.

"You are the only diva for me," he told her.

She reveled in it, "Thank you for all this. You didn't have to go to so much trouble. A nice dinner and flowers would have sufficed."

"No, they wouldn't of."

"What do you mean?"

Jericho wiped the sweat off his palms. Stop being nervous, he kept mentally telling himself those words. This wasn't hard, and once he was through with it, he'd have Stephanie back in his arms and finally, after much time of being apart, she'd be his again. He took a deep breath and answered.

"Stephanie, you know I want to marry you. You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you right?"

"Yeah," she said, slowly, wondering where he was taking it.

"But we can't because we're a secret and because you really wanted your father's approval."

"Yeah," she said sadly, "Even now."

"So I wanted to propose," he told her, looking at her as she gasped, "But I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because of those reasons, because Stephanie, despite what is going on, you are a Daddy's girl, and I can't marry you without him knowing about us, and at least approving of us."

"Oh."

"And because I want you to be happy, I want everything you've ever dreamed of to come true when we get married."

"You said when we get married?" she smiled, "You used to say if and/or when."

"Well, that brings me to why I did this in the first place."

"What is it?"

He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a black velvet box, "Stephanie, I can't propose to you. Because there's a few obstacles in our way right now."

Stephanie was getting nervous and her hand started shaking. She could see Jericho pull something out of his back pocket. What was he going to spring on her? She wasn't sure she could wait much longer to find out.

"Chris," she said shakily.

"I love you. I haven't always loved you, but I have for the longest time. I want you to know, that if all the cards were on the table with us, this would be a marriage proposal, but as it is........." he trailed off.

"Chris," she said again, just as shakily, but in a much quieter voice.

"I want to make a promise to you," he said seriously, standing in front of her, "I want to be with you, this moment, today, tomorrow, next week, next year, next decade, forever."

"I want that too."

"Then take this," he said, opening the box.

She looked down at it. It was a simple platinum band with a simple square cut diamond in the middle, with four sapphires next to it. She smiled at him. This looked suspiciously like an engagement ring.

"Chris, what is this?"

"Consider this.........your pre-engagement ring."

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"Because, I'm making you a promise right now. You will get that engagement ring, you will get that wedding you want, and you will get everything you have ever wanted in life. I'm just making sure that you and I know that it's going to be with me."

She giggled, "So we're pre-engaged?"

He laughed, "If you accept me?"

"Yes, I will promise get engaged with you!" she exclaimed.

He scooped her up in a hug and she hugged him back tightly. She didn't let him go for a good long while, even when he let go of her. Damn, there were those tears again. She wiped her eyes with the back of her palm and set herself back down in front of him. He took her left hand and put it on her ring finger, smiling as he slid it on.

"Since it's a pre-engagement ring, maybe I should wear it on the other hand?" she laughed.

"If you want."

She took it off and switched fingers, "Now I can see it while I write."

"You like it?"

"Well, for a pre-engagement ring it's nice, but what will my real ring look like?"

"Oh, it'll be a rock, that's for sure."

She kissed him deeply, letting her hand linger around his collarbone. Jericho had waited to feel these lips on his again for the longest time. He pulled her closer, so close she was practically standing on his feet. She pulled away breathlessly and gazed up at him.

"I love you."

"No, I love you."

"Don't argue with me Jericho, I love you!" she said playfully.

"Nope, sorry, I love you."

"Shut up," she joked, "So care to show me all these pictures my pre-fiance?"

"With pleasure my dear."

"Here's to a good year," she said, leaning up to kiss him.

"A very good year."

"We've got a lot of moments haven't we?" she said as they walked around.

"I'd say so."

"Favorite one?" she asked, turning to him.

"This one right now."


	115. Well, He Won the Rematch, July 21, 2003

"So, tell us how it went."

"It went."

"That's all!?!" Trish exclaimed, "You don't talk to us since Thursday, we have no idea what the hell happened, we're all on the edge of our seats and all you have to say is that it went!"

"What more is there to say?" Jericho said, smirking.

"Oh, I don't know, how it was, what happened!?!"

"Why do you want to know?" Jericho said, evading the question once again.

"Dude, you know you're going to get her worked up into a frenzy," Christian said, laughing at his girlfriend.

Trish shot Christian a glare, "I helped him decorate, I should get to know how it went."

"Oh, so that entitles you to know huh?" Jericho said.

"Yes!"

"She's a little bit nosy this one," Jericho chuckled.

"Yeah, but can you blame her? Even I'm a little bit curious as to how it went."

"I mean, we didn't even hear from you all weekend!" Trish told him.

"Hey Trish, can you take it down a tone or two, you're starting to yell everything," Jericho joked.

"I can't help it if I'm intrigued," she pouted.

"It went well," Jericho gave in and answered.

"Great!" Trish said, clapping her hands together excitedly, "So she liked the pictures and everything?"

"She loved them, tears galore," he grinned.

"Oh, I'm so happy," Trish said, sighing contentedly as she leaned against Christian.

"And so you two are back together?" Christian asked.

"You got it," Jericho said, "She finally, after a long and tortuous separation took me back."

"Well, you deserved to have to wait," Trish said, giggling.

"Whatever," Jericho said, giving her a look, "But I'm just feeling really good today. I have my girl back, and I'm going to go win that WrestleMania rematch."

"You are so going to win man," Christian encouraged.

"You are," Trish reaffirmed, "I mean you're on a nice high and you've got great momentum going into the match."

"Thanks for your insight," Jericho laughed.

"So where's your woman?" Christian asked.

"She's back at the hotel, watching on the television. She's rooting for me," Jericho smiled, "Hey, are you guys doing anything this weekend?"

Trish and Christian looked at each other. They were mentally looking at their calendars, wondering if they had anything planned. They had a conversation with their eyes and Christian nodded slightly. She smiled and then looked back at Jericho.

"No, we're not doing anything."

"Great."

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, well Stephanie and I wanted to have all you guys over, you know, since we're back together and everything."

"Yeah, we'll be there. Is Stephanie back in the house?"

"Yeah, she went home and got her things, she's officially moved back in," he said, beaming.

"I'm so happy for you two," Trish said, then looked at Christian's watch, "I hate to cut this short, but I've got to prepare for my match with Gail. I'll talk to you boys later."

She kissed Christian goodbye and then got off the couch. Giving Jericho a pat on the shoulder, she left the room. Jericho turned to see her close the door then turned back to Christian, who was looking at him with a dopey grin on his face. Jericho gave him a strange look before settling on a folding chair and propping his feet up on Christian's suitcase.

"What's with the stupid grin?" Jericho asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back in the chair.

"Well, Linda is here tonight, does she know about the recent developments in you and Stephanie's relationship?"

"I don't know," Jericho shrugged, "If Stephanie said something, then I have no idea."

"You should go talk to her."

"I might."

Christian gestured towards the television, "Did you actually send her that petition."

"Nah, I showed it to Stephanie, she might have showed her mom. I only did that petition to make sure Stephanie didn't have a clue what I was planning for her."

"You know, next time can you not include Trish is something like that?"

"What, why?" Jericho asked, slightly bewildered.

"Because then she gets ideas, and I'm going to have to do something on par with what you did and dude I don't think anything I do will compare to that."

Jericho scoffed, "Sorry, I had to go all out with this one."

"Yeah, and make me look bad in the process."

Jericho stood up, "Not my fault."

"Where you going?"

"I was thinking I'd get dressed you know for my match and then I'd walk around, clear my head. I don't want to get distracted during my match."

"Ok, good luck with that," Christian said, eyes glued to the television as Trish came out for her match.

Jericho walked out of the room and made his way down to his own dressing room. He proceeded to get dressed and then grabbed his cell phone. He just wanted to call Stephanie and say hello, tell her he was thinking about her. The usual stuff that he wanted to call about. He dialed the hotel phone number and then their hotel room. She didn't answer and he wondered briefly where she could be.

He shrugged and left a message, "Hey baby, just wondering where you are. Call me."

Once he had left the message he thought maybe a walk would be a good idea. He wanted to think strategy for his match later. This was his chance to get back at Michael's. This time there wasn't going to be an ooey gooey hug at the end of the match. It was going to be Jericho pulling out the victory.

He was walking around when he saw Terri standing around near the entrance, presumably waiting for Kane's entrance. Word had it he was under house arrest for setting JR on fire. He hated to think it, but he actually thought that little scene had been funny. Yeah, he was hell-bound for sure.

He decided since he didn't see Kane around anywhere this would be the perfect opportunity to hype his match for later. He went up to Terri and told her that the reason everyone was here tonight was for him, the Highlight of the Night. It had to be true, the people loved to hate him. He was the best out there, he knew that to be true.

Deciding that since he wasn't doing his normal show, he'd have to entertain the fans in other ways, and maybe he'd give them a little song and dance. Thinking quickly, he came up with a way to make it up to the fans for not having their beloved Highlight Reel. Doing his little song and dance number, he exited almost running into Austin on the way. Giving the man a bit of a smirk, he was off.

He continued down the corridor, unaware that someone was watching him. He saw the members of Evolution walking down the opposite direction towards him. He looked down, hoping that they would leave him alone. He didn't want to take to any of them, least of all his girlfriend's ex-husband.

"Jericho." He heard Hunter grunt at him.

Jericho sighed and looked up, "What?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm kind of busy."

"This'll only take a second."

"Fine, what is it?"

"You need help in your match tonight?" Hunter asked.

"No."

"Well, I want to help you," he said.

"Why would I accept your help."

"You're a good wrestler Jericho, I see potential in you."

Jericho gave him a weird look, "What has that got to do with anything?"

"I just think you're good, and that can come in handy down the line. You know, Evolution, we're a good bunch of guys and we always get what we want."

"Paid, Laid and Made man," Orton said.

Jericho groaned inwardly, "Thanks, but I'm going to have to decline."

"You don't decline us Jericho."

"I..........just did."

"We're gonna help you tonight, whether you like it or not Jericho," Hunter told him.

"Go ahead, if you think I care, I don't."

Jericho walked off and shook his head at the same time. What was with that guy? He seemed to think he owned the joint. One of these days, he was going to get his comeuppance. He just hoped it happened in the grandest fashion and that he himself was a part of the humiliation. Heh, maybe it would have something to do with him and Stephanie.

"Chris Jericho," a voice said ahead of him.

Jericho looked up and saw Linda McMahon, his boss, and more importantly the mother of his newly reinstated girlfriend. He stood up straight, suddenly feeling like he was under some sort of scrutiny. Linda gave him a warm smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"Good luck tonight in your rematch," she said simply.

"Thank you Mrs. McMahon," Jericho said respectfully.

"What have I told you Chris," she said, smiling at him.

"Sorry, thanks Linda."

"I've heard some very interesting things about you lately," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Jericho immediately knew what she was talking about. There was really only one things that would really incite Linda's interest. Jericho unwittingly smiled to himself as he thought about Stephanie. Linda picked up on this and gave a smile of her own, happy that her daughter had found happiness, especially with everything that was happening between her and her father as of late.

"Have you?" he asked.

"Yes, and sometime in the near future, I'd like to discuss your intentions."

"Oh, don't worry, I intend on doing just that."

"Well, I'll let you go, I'm sure there are many people who would love to see you tonight," she said knowingly, giving Jericho a little suspicion.

"Ok, see you later Linda."

"Goodbye Chris."

Laughing to himself he went to go see how Trish was doing after her match. He hadn't seen if she had won or not, but he wanted to congratulate her if she had. He saw Christian and Trish talking outside of their dressing room and he went over to them. They saw him and waved.

"How was your match?" Jericho asked Trish.

"It was fine, we lost," she said, "Mistake by me."

"Oh, that sucks."

"I'll live. Just as long as you win. Someone among us needs to kick ass tonight," Trish added.

"Don't worry because I plan on making sure this match is won by yours truly."

"Good."

"Christian, you don't have a match?" Jericho asked.

"Nope, I got the night off."

"Cool, one of these days, I'd love that."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna stick around and check out the Intercontinental title match."

"Cool," Jericho nodded, "You wouldn't believe what just happened to me though."

"What?" Trish asked anxiously.

"Evolution wants to help me in my match," Jericho said, giving a sour face.

Christian laughed, "And you don't want their help?"

"Do you even have to ask that?" Jericho said.

"So tell them you don't want their help."

"Don't you think I told them that?" Jericho told him, "But you know they won't listen."

"Hey guys," a voice said from behind them.

Jericho, Trish, and Christian all turned towards the voice. Jericho's eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw Stephanie standing there, giving a small wave to them. Trish and Christian looked at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Stephanie grinned widely as she stood there.

"Long time no see huh?" she said to them.

"Um........." was Jericho's only response. He shook the cobwebs out of his head, wondering what she was doing here, but he wasn't coming up with anything.

"Stephanie!" Trish exclaimed, "You're not supposed to be here."

"Of course I am. I came with my mom, just decided to see what was going on over here on this show."

"Oh," Christian said, looking over at Jericho who had yet to grasp any kind of words.

"Yeah, so what's been going on, it's been so long since we talked, not since the brand split right?" she said cheerily.

The three Raw superstars realized what Stephanie was doing finally. She was playing her part, pretending that she didn't know them outside of work. This way she could just be conversing with random people rather than her boyfriend and two of her closest friends. She winked at them and finally Jericho found his voice.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie," he said, giving her a grin.

"Oh, I don't know if I should talk to you Jericho, you did leave my show after all," she told him.

"Oh yeah, that, so sorry Stephanie, but I just couldn't work under you, or over you as the case sometimes was," he said.

"Oh, you're a laugh riot," she said, walking over, "So what are you three whispering about?"

"None of your business Princess," Jericho told her bluntly.

"Come on, I come all the way here and you can't even tell me what's going down, where's the hospitality?"

"Evolution is apparently helping me in my match."

Jericho saw Stephanie gulp at the thought of her ex-husband. Jericho quickly grasped her left hand and gave it a squeeze. The gesture went unnoticed by anyone and she gave him a small smile. Trish and Christian just looked at each other.

"Interesting news," she said, "Well, I better get back to my mom, it's been nice chatting with you."

"We'll chat some other time," Jericho said talking in code, knowing that she would know that he meant after his match.

"I'm sure we will," she responded.

She gave him a loving look then turned to leave. Jericho watched her go, her eyes riveted on her as she walked away. He gave a proud grin as he realized that woman was his and his alone. He saw the light glistening off her ring and he wondered if Trish or Christian had noticed it.

"Well that was surprising," Christian said.

"Yeah," Jericho said dreamily, "Well, I've got a match to win."

"Is it time for it already?" Trish asked.

"Seems so."

He gave a mock salute to them and then he took his leave. Walking down to the gorilla and out to the ramp. It was time to prove he was the Highlight of the Night and that he could beat Michaels once and for all. It was time to prove himself.

The match started off slow, the two of them trying to feel each other out. It had been a while since their WrestleMania match. Once they got into the groove of things, the match started to get interesting. Jericho put everything he had into the match. It was a toss up for a while, each of them getting the offensive when out of the corner of his eye Jericho saw Flair running down. Jericho cursed to himself, why couldn't they mind their own damn business? He tried to ignore Flair as much as he could and continue with the match.

Jericho managed to lock in the Walls, but much to his dismay Michaels reached the ropes. The match kept going back and forth, both men not gaining enough advantage over the other to get the pin or the victory. Later into the match, Jericho saw Orton run down as well and perform a bulldog on Michaels. Jericho groaned to himself, if Hunter showed up, he was going to be damn pissed. Luckily he didn't and the match continued. Jericho was almost glad that Michaels had gotten his shoulder up after the interference. He didn't want to win that way. Eventually Jericho was able to lock in the Walls again and then he heard the bell ring. It took him a moment to realize that they were calling his name in victory.

He couldn't believe he had won. He staggered out of the ring and up the ramp. He vaguely remembered going backstage and getting congratulated by Christian and Trish who were standing at the monitors. But somehow he found himself back at his locker room, getting in the shower and then coming out to change into some street clothes. It wasn't until he was about to leave that the realization finally came over him. He jumped in the air and pumped his fist. He had won!

He practically skipped out of the room and down the hallway. He looked to his right and saw that the room at the very end of the hall was Linda's. He decided to pay a visit and knocked on the door. It opened moments later with Linda peering at him. She smiled and allowed him entrance. There Stephanie was sitting in front of the television.

When she saw him she jumped out of her seat and ran over to him, practically leaping into his arms. Linda smiled as she saw the two of them celebrating. It was about time those two got their act together. Stephanie kissed Jericho all over his face, and he just laughed in response.

Finally Stephanie pulled away, "Congratulations sweetie!"

"Thanks, I'm pretty happy," he smiled.

"Yes, congratulations Chris," Linda interjected.

"Thanks Linda," he said, looking over at her as Stephanie wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled into his embrace.

"Yes, and that's not the only congratulations that are in order are they?" she said, smirking a bit and reminding Jericho of Stephanie.

"No, it's not," he said, looking down at Stephanie and kissing her forehead, "So you told your mom."

"I had to tell someone!" she giggled.

"I expect you to keep that promise Chris," Linda said.

"Don't worry, I intend to."

"I'm just sorry your father is being such a stubborn asshole," Linda said, "Then you two could be celebrating a wedding engagement."

Stephanie gave a look of uneasiness, "So do I."

"It's ok baby," Jericho said softly, running his fingers along her temple.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be," Stephanie said, putting on her false happy façade.

"So who else knows about you two?"

"Nobody," Stephanie said, "But we're telling our friends this weekend."

"Yeah, they all thought I was just celebrating our anniversary," Jericho said, "They had no idea about the ring."

"I had no idea," Stephanie laughed.

"That was the point baby."

"I'm just glad you two are happy," Linda said.

"So are we," they said in unison then laughed at each other.

"Oh to be young and in love," Linda mused.

"Mind if I hang out here with you guys?" Jericho asked.

"You never have to ask sweetie," Stephanie said, leading him over to the couch.

He sat down and Stephanie sat on his lap as they watched the television. Linda sat in one of the chairs in the room. Stephanie and Jericho barely paid attention to the match, instead whispering things to each other, causing them to laugh to themselves. Linda simply shook her head at the two.

They didn't even notice when she left the room during the whole Kane fiasco, they were too wrapped up in each other to care. They were making out as Stephanie heard her mother's name said on television. She pulled away a moment to look at the screen. Her eyes widened as she saw Kane advancing on her mother.

"Oh my God, Mom!" Stephanie yelled.

They watched in horror as Linda was picked up and given the Tombstone. Jericho and Stephanie looked at each other as Stephanie started to get up. Jericho grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him and she gave him a look of annoyance.

"I have to go see her Chris!" she yelled, trying to wrench out of his grip.

"Stephanie, you can't!" he protested.

"But Mom!"

"Kane is still out there somewhere and I don't want him to hurt you," Jericho said.

"I don't care! I can take care of myself."

"Fine, but I'm going with you."

"You can't, people will think........."

"As a friend then?"

"Ok," she said uneasily.

They walked out of the room and searched the hallways. Everyone was in such an uproar over what happened they didn't notice Jericho escorting Stephanie to where they had taken her mother. They finally reached an ambulance, and Stephanie turned to Jericho.

"Go," he urged.

"But--"

"It's ok, I don't mind."

"Ok, see you later."

"Just go make sure your mom is ok."


	116. Stephanie Mad is Scary, July 24, 2003

"So I haven't talked to you in a week."

"I've been busy."

"So I've heard," Kurt said, raising an eyebrow.

Stephanie grinned, "And just what have you heard?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she joked.

"Well, let's see, you are in an especially good mood tonight, so it has to be something to do with Chris, am I right?"

Stephanie's grin grew wider, "I'm not telling."

"It does," Kurt said, coming into the room fully.

Stephanie just giggled to herself and Kurt just rolled his eyes playfully as he saw her. He had heard from Edge what Jericho had done for her. Leave it to Jericho to blow every other guy in the world out of the water with his little stunt. Stephanie went back to her work and Kurt just sat and watched her.

There was definitely a different feel to her tonight. She was happy for the first time in a long time and it made Kurt happy to see. After everything that was going down with her father and Sable she was still going strong, still acting like it didn't bother her. She was the strongest woman he knew.

"How's your mom?" Kurt asked as she kept working.

Stephanie stopped what she was doing and sighed. Her mother was resting at home after getting Tombstoned on Monday. She gave a deep breath as she thought about it. She had stayed with her mother to make sure she was ok, until her mother had ordered her to go back home to Jericho.

"She's doing ok, I guess," Stephanie said softly, looking up at him.

"I saw what happened, it was brutal."

"I know, Shane is up in arms about the whole thing."

"I would be too if it were my mom," Kurt said, shaking his head in disgust of Kane's actions.

"I'm just sick about the whole thing. I know that I've slapped my mother, but that never seriously injured her, ya know?"

"Yeah, I get what you're saying."

"I just don't know what possessed Kane to do that? It's like he's changed or something."

"Well, I mean, look at him," Kurt said, shivering a little.

"I don't know, but Shane is thinking about going to Raw and calling Kane out about what he did. I think he's totally justified in doing that."

"Well, if anyone's crazy enough to stand up to Kane, it's definitely your brother right?"

"He is crazy," she said, laughing shortly, "But he is so pissed it's not even funny."

Stephanie's cell phone rang and she picked it up off her desk. She hoped it was Jericho, calling to say hi from the hotel. Ever since they had gotten back together she had missed him even if they were apart for a few minutes. It was like when they first got together all over again. She smiled at Kurt and answered the phone.

"Stephanie McMahon," she answered, knowing Jericho liked to hear her say that.

"Stephanie, this is your father," Vince said coldly over the phone.

Stephanie scowled and bit her lip, "What do you want?"

"I won't be at the show tonight."

"Thank God," she muttered.

"What was that Stephanie?"

"Nothing Father," she said with disdain.

"I'm informing you that I will be staying with your mother tonight since she is injured."

"Oh, so you're finally realizing where you should be huh?"

"Don't take that tone with me young lady."

"And why not?" she asked testily.

"I am your father and you will treat me with the respect that I deserve, you are not so powerful that I can't fire you, do you understand?"

"Whatever, go ahead and do whatever you have to do, I don't really care."

"Goodbye," her father said.

"Sure," she said hanging up her phone.

"Tense conversation?" Kurt said, looking up at her.

She sighed again, "You can say that again."

"So what did he want?"

"To tell me that he wouldn't be coming in tonight because he was going to take care of my mom, for once he's doing the right thing."

"Well, at least you don't have to deal with him right?"

"Yeah, and finally the show will feel like mine again."

"So what are you going to do?"

She thought for a second, "I know what I'm going to do, I'm going to get rid of all this bullshit with handicap matches."

"Yeah, thanks Steph, one week too late," Kurt laughed.

"Sorry Kurt, but how would you like to team with Brock and Zach?"

"That's cool."

"Consider it done."

"Great," Kurt said, "So you going to announce that your father isn't here?"

"You know, now that you mention it, that would be a good thing to do wouldn't it?" she said, pondering.

"Go for it, you're in charge."

"I think I will," she grinned, then eyed her cell phone.

Kurt looked at her knowingly, "Go ahead and call him, you know that you want to."

"You know me too well Kurt."

"I know, it's part of my charm," he said, getting up, "Mind if I tell the guys we have a match?"

"Go for it."

"Bye Steph," Kurt said as he opened the door.

"Bye," she smiled.

Kurt left the room, but then opened it up again. Stephanie looked up at him, wondering why he had come back in. Kurt smiled at her, and she cocked her head curiously.

"Oh, and Steph?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that you and Chris are back together."

She beamed at him, "Thank you."

Kurt left again and closed the door behind him. Stephanie smiled for a moment before grabbing her phone and dialing Jericho's cell phone number. She tapped her fingers impatiently waiting for him to answer the phone. He couldn't answer it fast enough for her.

"Jericho speaking."

"Hey love of mine," she said coyly.

"Oh, I love hearing this voice."

"I know," she giggled.

"So what's up baby?"

"I just felt like hearing your voice."

"Well, that's always nice to hear," he said, smiling to himself.

"Daddy's not here tonight," she informed him.

"Oh, so that's why you're in a good mood."

"Yeah, that and I get to talk to the man that I love, the man that I'm going to marry one day, hopefully soon," she said, hinting.

Jericho laughed, "Ok, baby, I get the point."

"Good."

A production assistant knocked on her door and told her the show was starting in a few minutes. She told the person to leave the spot at the top of her show for her to speak for a few minutes. She wanted to make sure that she got to make the announcements she wanted.

"So I guess you have to go?" Jericho asked as she came back on the phone.

"Yeah, I want to go make some announcements, you know, about my dad not being here and stuff like that."

"Ooh, I love when you get professional," Jericho said seductively.

"Oh you," she smiled, "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, I love you."

"I love you," she said, hanging up.

She took off her ring and put it in her bag, she didn't want anyone to get suspicious about it. She wore it everywhere else, but in the ring she was sure someone would notice and make mention of it and she didn't want anyone to find out until she and Jericho could make the announcement together.

Stephanie got up and made sure that she looked ok. She liked to look presentable for the people. A far cry from when she wore sequins and glitter all the time. She missed those days actually. Not a care in the world. She loved when she and Jericho were business partners and they would coordinate their outfits, they had had so much fun together. Now they had a different kind of fun. She smirked to herself as she made her way out to the ring.

She went inside the ring and announced that her father was not going to be here tonight and she was relieved to hear the positive response. Then she made the announcement of the six man tag match and got a great response for that. See, this is what the people wanted to see, not someone getting beat on mercilessly. Then she mentioned the bitch that was taking her father, and gave her a warning about Sunday. It was about time that she took control.

She was about to leave when she heard John Cena's music. That was odd. She had no idea why he would come down here. She listened to him speak. She smirked when he said he had a dream about her. Hell, she was sure lots of men dreamed about her. She tried to hold in her laughter as he talked about his dream. Then he decided that her breasts were more interesting than his face. She gently reminded him that her two friends didn't talk.

She was a little taken aback by his attempt at rapping. She didn't know what to do, so she just stood there and laughed at his attempt to.........well, she didn't exactly know what his intentions were. She just stood there and laughed at what he was saying. She couldn't help that she incited these kind of fantasies towards men. It was her burden.

Then Cena asked to spank her and she felt kind of funny tonight. What the hell, she was in a good mood, what would it hurt? She dared him to spank her and he jumped at the opportunity, just like any red-blooded guy would've done. She turned around, knowing she'd have to answer to Jericho later, and let Cena spank her. She laughed as he got all giddy.

Then she heard the one thing she didn't want to, Sable had decided to make an appearance and ruin all the fun. She turned towards the Titantron and towards the woman that had become the bane of her existence. She listened to her insults and then the footage of the food fight, with the footage of her beating on Sable conveniently left out. She made mention of this and Sable said that if she wanted to get her to come get her. Stephanie was trying to remain diplomatic, but when she heard Sable insult her mother, she lost it.

Stephanie got out of the ring, with the sole intent of finding Sable and kicking her whorish ass. She walked quickly backstage, searching from room to room. She was going to find that bitch and show her who was boss around here. She walked, opening doors, and not locating her. She saw a blond and grabbed her, but it turned out to be Torrie. Apologizing quickly she went about her search.

She kept opening every door, not caring what she found on the other side, just having her mind set on teaching Sable a lesson she'd never ever forget. Oh man, she was starting to recite Jericho's catchphrases, that wasn't good. She opened a door and saw Kurt on the other side and he looked up at her.

"Sorry Kurt," she mumbled as she went to close the door.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, running to catch up to her, "What's going on with you?"

"Sable, I need to find Sable," she said determined to find her goal.

"Why?"

"The bitch wants a fight, well, I'm going to give her one."

"Stephanie, maybe you should calm down," Kurt said, running his hand up and down her arm soothingly.

"CALM! Oh, I'll be calm" she said, smiling crazily, "Once I teach her a lesson, I'll be all nice and calm."

"Um, ok," Kurt said, a little nervous by the look in her eye.

"I've got to find her," Stephanie said, walking away.

"Um, good luck," Kurt muttered, watching her go.

Stephanie kept looking around, not finding her anywhere. She was about to give up when she finally found her outside near the exit. Stephanie's breath came in short gasps of anger as she eyed the blonde woman. Stephanie charged at her and ran her into a limo, slamming Sable's head into it. She threw her on the back of the limo, not knowing where this strength was coming from. All she knew was that she hated Sable and wanted her gone.

Sable tried to fight back, but by this time it was futile, Stephanie was on a rampage. All she saw was red and she wanted to hurt someone badly. Damn this McMahon temper that got out of control all the time. She pulled Sable down on the ground and Sable tried vainly to get inside the limo, but Stephanie grabbed her shirt and pulled it off. Sable finally made it in the limo and Stephanie tried to get in as well to continue her beating, but Sable managed to push her out at the last second and Stephanie ended up on the ground.

She quickly got up again and tried to open the door. Finding it locked, Stephanie banged on the windows, trying unsuccessfully to open the door and get at Sable. Stephanie looked briefly over her shoulder and got a good idea. She went over and grabbed a pipe, intending to break the window.

Just as she was about to hit the window and get at her target her father showed up in front of her. She was shocked to see him, hadn't he said that he was with her mom tonight? What the hell was he doing here? He went on to yell at her, and she yelled back. She grew angrier and angrier as he kept talking. He walked away and the first thought that ran through her mind was to hit him with that pipe she was holding. Instead she threw it to the ground. It was time to confront someone.

She saw her father walking away and looked at him, anger the only thing in her eyes. She took some deep breaths and walked after him. Catching up to him, she grabbed his arm and forcefully turned him to her. She must've been stronger than she thought to be able to do that. He looked at her in fury and shock and she gave him a sneer. Then she reared her hand back and slapped the taste out of his mouth.

"How dare you!" he yelled.

"Shut up!" she screamed back, "You shut the hell up!"

"Don't talk to me like that young lady!"

"I will talk to you any damn way I please."

"No you won't," he said annoyed.

"NO!" she yelled, "I am so tired of you and your stupid whore loving ways! And I'm sick of it, do you hear me I'm sick of it!"

"Don't--"

"Shut up," she growled, "You will listen when I talk to you, do you hear me?" she told him, and he knew she meant business.

He stood there his arms folded carelessly. She knew he was trying to make it look like he didn't care, but hell, she was about to make him care. And if he didn't care after that, then to hell with him. She didn't need him, she had so many other things to look forward to.

"I hate you," she said clear as day, "I hate what you do to me, I hate how you treat me. I hate how you treat Mom."

"Don't bring your mother into this," Vince said calmly.

"I will bring her into it. She was fucking Tombstoned, but do you care? Huh!?! NO, YOU DON'T!?" she screamed in his face.

"Don't presume to know--"

"Did I tell you that you could fucking speak!" she yelled, getting in his face.

"Stephanie," he said warningly.

"Shut up! You have no idea about my life, you don't care about me, and I'm starting to think you never did. As soon as a whore in a short skirt walks by, it's bye bye family. Do we mean nothing to you," she said, angry tears in her eyes, "Cause if we did, you wouldn't alienate us, you wouldn't make us just baggage that you carry along with you! You know nothing about me Dad! Nothing, you don't know anything, not what I like, not what makes me happy! Not who I'm dating or anything."

Vince's face softened momentarily, "You're dating someone?"

"It's none of your damn business," Stephanie said, the tears finally getting the better of her.

She didn't want her father to see her cry. It would just show him how much she actually cared about him, and how he could get to her and make her upset. She fled him then and ran all the way back to her dressing room. She was embarrassed that she was crying. She didn't like showing how weak her father made her. How could he still make her feel like she was seven years old? She was a grown woman for God's sake, her father wasn't supposed to make her feel like trash by the side of the road. She grabbed her ring and slipped it on.

She grabbed her things and made her escape. She couldn't stay here, knowing that he was here too. Forget the show, her personal life was more important than any show. She couldn't look at her father right now, he would only incite more tears. She got in her rental car and sped back to the hotel, not looking back, not wanting to, knowing he was there and he was hurting her so much.

She got back to the hotel and as soon as she walked in, she collapsed against the doors, the tears still with her. She brought her knees up to her chin and cried into her arms. She hated her father, she hated him so much. If he didn't want her as a daughter, she didn't want him as a father.

She was vaguely aware when Jericho picked her up and then stood up herself. She cried into his neck as he led her to the bed. He gently laid her down and then sat beside her. He leaned back against the headboard and then pulled her into her arms. She willed herself to stop crying and so she did.

"Tell me what happened?" Jericho asked.

"I hate him."

"Hate's a strong word baby."

"I hate him Chris, I really do."

"Ok, shh, it's ok."

She took his hand that was around her and started playing with it. She intertwined their fingers together and then studied her ring as it shined in the dim light from the muted television. She looked at it from different angles, loving the way it looked on her finger.

Jericho just watched as she looked at her ring over and over again. She didn't want to talk, and he didn't want to force her to. She would open up to him in a little while anyways, he just had to be patient. At least her ring and he himself could calm her down a bit.

"I love the way it looks, don't you?" she asked.

"It does look nice."

"My father wouldn't care," she said, "He doesn't care about me."

"Steph, you don't know that."

"If he did, he wouldn't be chasing after that bitch."

"I know, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care about you."

"Not me, not my brother, not my mom, only himself and his own carnal desires," Stephanie said bleakly, "If he didn't want us, why'd he marry Mom and have Shane and I?"

"Because I needed someone to fall in love with," Jericho said, kissing the back of her hand.

"I just wish that he wasn't like this, he makes me crazy."

"I know, I saw."

"Why is he like this Chris?" she asked tucking their hands under her chin.

"I don't know baby. But if he were a smart man he'd realize what he's giving up. I mean, I don't think Sable is worth giving up his entire family.""I thought he actually went to see Mom, I thought for once he was doing the right thing, but he never does. He's only about himself, and we all come in a distant second."

"You're number one to me, if it's any consolation," he said cheerfully.

She looked up at him and smiled. Once again, he made her problems seem trivial. And he made her feel like she was the only person in his world. It was nice to feel special, to feel like the person you were with only wanted what was best for you. She knew she was lucky.

"It is, a huge consolation."

"How can I make you feel better?" Jericho asked.

"Just sit with me, I'm happy right here. Talk to me about something, anything but my father. Make me forget about him."

"Ok," Jericho said, trying to think of a subject they could talk about, "What was with Cena?"

She laughed. She knew he'd bring it up, "I don't know."

"He probably wants you," Jericho said.

"Maybe."

"Well it didn't help that you had him spank you," Jericho joked.

"Hey, I WAS in a good mood. Of course that disappeared."

"Unfortunately, that means I can't do any spanking."

She hit him with her arm, "Shut up!"

"What, what'd I say?"

"Not what I wanted to hear."

"What did you want to hear?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"I know a lot of guys would love to be with you, but I don't like the way he went about it," Jericho confessed.

"What, staring at my breasts?"

"Well, yeah, that," Jericho said, "Not to mention you know, all the other stuff he mentioned."

"Like you have anything to worry about," she scoffed.

"I know."

"I want to win on Sunday," she blurted out.

"I want you to win on Sunday."

"I know my Dad has something up his sleeve. I just wish I knew what it was."


	117. Shane's Back! July 27 and 28, 2003

A/N: Sorry I didn't get the Vengeance chapter up last night, but I was so tired I fell asleep so instead of having them separate, this is going to be one long Vengeance/Raw chapter for you to enjoy. :)

* * *

"So we brought you here for a reason."

"Yeah, as you know, Chris and I got back together last week," she said, looking up adoringly at Jericho.

"Yeah, we know," Kurt said.

"And it was about damn time," Edge said, causing everyone to laugh.

Jericho and Stephanie had called everyone and told them to fly to Denver for the show tonight. Since Kurt and Stephanie were in it, and Jericho was already down here, Jericho and Stephanie had decided to make there little announcement to everyone before the show that night.

"Ha ha," Jericho said, rolling his eyes, "It would've been much sooner if Princess over here had taken me back."

"Hey, give the girl a break, you did decide to date Molly Sunshine," Christian interrupted.

"Only because I wanted someone who didn't remind me of Stephanie and who better than Molly," Jericho explained.

"He's got a point," Shane said.

"He always does," Trish told them, "Even if it makes no sense at all."

"I resent that," Jericho said, pouting.

"Aww, now look what you've done," Stephanie said, leaning up to kiss him.

Everyone gave little "awws" as they saw the newly reunited couple showing a public display of affection. They were all in Jericho and Stephanie's suite at the hotel, gathered around the dining table lavishing decorated for the lunch that Jericho and Stephanie had planned.

"Aren't they once again sickeningly sweet?" Shane said, looking around at everyone and his sister and her boyfriend continued to kiss ignoring everyone else.

"It's like they just started going out all over again," said Kurt, who was really the only person to see them when they were first together.

"I don't know how you went with being the only person to know about them Kurt," Edge told him.

"It was trying that's for sure," Kurt said.

"But come on, you have to admit they're cute together," Trish said to the boys.

They all grudgingly nodded their heads and turned back to Jericho and Stephanie. They finally pulled apart and Stephanie gazed up at Jericho, smiling at him softly. He ran a finger down her cheek, then kissed her nose. Everyone else groaned.

"You guys are killing us over here," Edge told them.

Jericho and Stephanie turned to the rest of them and Jericho said, "We're sorry, we're just a little happy."

"Wow, really, are you sure that's happiness?" Christian said sarcastically, "Because we all thought you went back to hating each other."

"Well, we don't hate each other, but we do have something we wanted to say," Stephanie said, laughing as she looked at Jericho who laughed at her.

"Ok, tell us then," Shane said.

Stephanie giggled and looked at Jericho who nodded at her, silently telling her to go ahead and tell everyone what had gone down between them last week. Stephanie kissed his cheek quickly and then held out her right hand. The light glistened off her diamond and everyone gasped as they saw it.

"Holy shit," Edge muttered.

"Oh my God!" Trish exclaimed, "Are you guys engaged?"

"Sorta," Stephanie told them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shane asked.

"Well, Chris understood that getting engaged right now wasn't the best thing, so this isn't an engagement ring, it's like a before the engagement ring."

"And what is that exactly?" Kurt asked.

"Well, it's like promising to get engaged," Jericho told him.

"Oh, so you will get engaged?" Christian said to them.

"Exactly," Stephanie responded, "But isn't it a beautiful ring?"

Trish got up and rushed over to Stephanie and pulled her by the hand over to the windows to get a better look at the ring. They talked in hushed whispers, laughing everyone once in a while as Jericho sat back down at the table.

"So how come none of us knew you were going to pull that?" Christian asked.

"Because it was my surprise for her," Jericho said.

Kurt shook his head, "Well she seems pretty happy about it at least."

"I knew I'd have to do something special for her," Jericho said, looking over at Stephanie, who was still showing off her ring to Trish.

"Well congratulations," Shane told him, "My future brother-in-law."

Jericho chuckled, "Damn that sounds weird."

"Dude, you're gonna be part of the McMahon family," Edge said, "That'll be a trip."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Stephanie said, coming back over with Trish and settling herself in Jericho's lap while Trish sat on Christian's lap.

"Nothing, I just figure Chris is not really you know what I'm sure your parents wanted for you, or something," Edge said faltering.

"My mom loves him," Stephanie said, kissing his cheek, "And my dad doesn't matter right now."

"That's right," Jericho said, rubbing her lower back.

"Hey, don't want to break up this happy party, but Stephanie we've got a show to go to," Kurt said, "And I don't want to be late for winning my title."

"And I don't want to miss my ass-kicking of Sable," Stephanie said, getting up.

"And I don't want to.........well, I don't have to be there, but I want to be," Edge said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What are you guys doing?" Kurt asked as he too got up from the table.

"We're just going to watch it from here, we got the special hook up in here so we can watch," Jericho said.

"Bye guys," Stephanie said, then leaned down to kiss Jericho, "And bye you."

"Mmm, good luck baby," Jericho whispered.

"I'll need it, knowing my dad," Stephanie said morosely.

She walked over and got her bag and walked over to Kurt and Edge who were waiting for her by the door. She gave Jericho a smile and everyone else a wave before leaving with the two guys. She was nervous about the outcome of her match and she just hoped that everything would turn out in her favor. God help her if it didn't.

She sat in the backseat as Kurt drove the three of them to the arena. They just figured it was easier to travel together. Now that Kurt was a good guy, Edge and Kurt didn't have to pretend to hate each other, which was a plus. She silently looked out the window as Edge and Kurt talked among themselves in the front seat.

They got to the arena, too soon for Stephanie and she stepped out of the car when Kurt had parked it. She looked around, not knowing exactly what to do. All she knew was the shaking of her hands as she thought about later. It wasn't that she was nervous about Sable, she was nervous about what her father was going to do. At this point, she didn't put anything past her father, even if it meant hurting his little girl.

"Steph, you coming?" Edge called out. She looked ahead of her and realized that the two boys had walked out ahead of her.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, walking over reluctantly.

"Nervous?" Kurt asked, wrapping an arm around her.

"You can say that?"

"Don't worry about it alright?" Edge told her, "Everything is going to turn out just fine."

"Sure," she said disbelieving him.

"Hey, I'm here, nothing'll go wrong," he reassured her.

"I guess," she said, giving him a little smile, "Are you staying with me in my dressing room?"

"If you want me to, I will."

"I want you to."

"Oh, so I'm not invited to the party," Kurt said, scoffing.

"No Kurt, only the pretty people are allowed," Edge laughed.

"Ha," Kurt snorted, "Then why are you invited?"

"Boys, no fighting," Stephanie said good-naturedly as they walked in the arena.

"She only allows fighting if it's over her," Edge said, giving her a little nudge with his shoulder.

"Funny," Stephanie said as they reached Kurt's door, "Well, I guess we'll leave you to get ready Kurt."

"Yeah, wish me luck," Kurt said, crossing his fingers.

"You don't need luck," Stephanie said, giving him a hug, "You have talent."

"That I do," he smiled, then walked in his door, "And I'll win tonight."

Stephanie smiled and continued the walk to her own dressing room for the evening. Once there, she threw her bag down on the ground and collapsed on the couch, a bundle of worry. Edge scowled slightly and sat down next to her. He took her hand and gave it a companionable squeeze.

"You'll do fine out there."

"I just hope that my dad doesn't try to pull anything, that's what I'm afraid of."

"Well, just think positively ok."

"I'll try."

"Good," he responded.

"I think I'm going to change for my match, you know so I don't have to worry about it later."

"Go for it, I'll just wait here."

"Thanks," she said, picking up her bag and heading into the bathroom.

She closed the door and turned on the light, looking at her scared and pale face in the mirror. She shouldn't be scared, she was a McMahon damn it, and McMahon's weren't afraid of anything. She stood up tall and resolved herself, she could do this. She was the going to get the best of Sable. She was going to put up one hell of a fight.

She got dressed and took off her ring, not wanting to lose it or misplace it, she put it in her bag. She walked back out and gave Edge a confident smile. Edge seemed slightly confused by her new demeanor. She seemed to be fine now, when she was nervous just moments before.

"You look better."

"Well, I just had to get some confidence in me."

"Took your ring off I see," Edge said, gesturing towards her hand with his head.

"Yeah, don't want it to get lost."

"I don't think I got to say it earlier, but congratulations," he told her, grinning that toothy grin of his.

"Thanks," she told him, a broad smile on her face.

A knock came on her door and she went over to open it. It was a production assistant telling her that her father wanted to speak with her. She sighed and nodded, then looked over at Edge with trepidation. Maybe her father already wanted to pull something. Maybe Sable was ready to attack her and she was falling into some sort of trap. Oh well, she had to do this.

"I guess I'm off to see my dad," she said, biting her lip.

"You want me to come along for moral support?"

"Nah, I think I can do it by myself, I'm a big girl," she said, smiling shakily.

"Ok, well, if you need me, just yell," he said.

"I know," she told him, walking out.

She walked as slow as humanly possible to her father's office, prolonging the agony. When she arrived there, she walked in hesitantly. He motioned her over and talked to her about various things. Her match, his match, how she needed an attitude adjustment. She basically tuned him out until he mentioned her mother. That was when Stephanie got upset. She told him to be quiet and not say things that he didn't mean. He said that he was going to Raw and the first thing that popped into her mind was that she hoped Jericho would kick his ass if he showed his face there, but she couldn't tell him that. So she settled for saying that she'd believe it when she saw it.

Her father then told her that he had gotten her flowers. But God forbid she think that they were the big arrangement, no they were the small one. Because of course her father hated her and didn't care about her. She took the puny flowers and turned to leave.

"You're dating someone?" her father asked, repeating the information she had found out last week.

She turned back to him, "What's it matter Dad? You don't care."

"I do care," he told her seriously.

"No, you don't. Because if you did, you wouldn't treat me like I'm just something you're stuck with," she told him, shaking her head slightly.

"I just want to make sure you're ok. Is that too much to ask?"

She started to get upset, "After what you said to me? What you did to me? You want to make sure I'm ok! You don't have the right to know if I'm ok."

"I'm your father," he said as if that solved everything.

"Then act like one and I might tell you what you want to hear," she said throwing down the flowers, then leaving him, she was tired of talking to him.

She walked back to her locker room and went inside. She saw Edge look up from the couch and the television that his eyes had been glued on. He patted the spot next to her and she heaved a sigh as she sat next to him.

"So how much of that did you see?"

"Up until he gave you the flowers."

"Oh."

"What happened afterwards?"

"He asked who I was dating?"

"And what did you say?" he asked.

"I told him it was none of his business, which it isn't. If he doesn't care about me, why should he get to know about my personal life?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I'd rather not talk about it anymore."

"Ok, that's fine," Edge complied.

They sat in silence as Stephanie waited for her match to start. When it was time, she gave a slight nod to Edge and got up. She took a deep breath and walked out to the gorilla and then out to the ring. She and Sable started fighting outside the ring, with each of them trying to get the upper hand on the other, but not fully succeeding. She chased Sable around, trying to get her.

The match continued on, neither of them getting the count. Finally when Stephanie was thinking that she got the upper-hand, Sable gave her a cheap shot and she recoiled. While she was still recovering she felt herself get knocked down hard. She gasped for breath and grabbed her ribs, wincing in pain. She saw through half-closed lids A-Train walking away. She kept trying to gasp for air, and in her harried state, she lost to Sable.

But right now, that didn't matter. She was helped backstage and taken to the trainer. After getting checked out and finding out that she had bruised ribs, she was helped back to her dressing room. Edge rushed to her side and helped her into the room.

"You ok?" he asked worriedly.

"I guess," she wheezed.

"Ok, you need to get back to the hotel."

"But Kurt?" she said softly, not able to talk louder.

"It's ok, I talked to him, he said to drive you back and then you can rest," Edge said, wrapping an arm around her waist gently.

"But I want to watch Kurt's match," she protested.

"Steph," Edge said, "Come on, let's just go."

"No," she said firmly, leaving his side and then sitting down gingerly, "I'm staying."

Edge knew better than to argue with her, "Ok, fine."

He sat back down next to her and proceeded to watch the rest of the show. He would glance over at her every so often, making sure she was ok. He knew that Jericho was probably worried out of his skull, but Stephanie was not to be reckoned with. She had her arm wrapped protectively against her ribs, but her eyes were riveted to the screen.

They sat watching Vince's match, and when it was over, Stephanie gave a small frown, but said nothing. He figured she was still upset about earlier. They kept watching, until Kurt's match, when Stephanie literally went to the edge of her seat watching. At the end, when they saw Angle Angleslam Brock, Stephanie jumped out of her seat in happiness, then quickly grabbed her middle, forgetting that she had been injured earlier.

"Hey, you ok?" Edge said, getting up with her.

"Yeah, Kurt won!" she yelled exuberantly.

"Yeah, I know," he chuckled, "The bastard deserves it."

Stephanie hugged Edge gingerly, "I know, she said, I'm so happy!"

"Me too," Edge said, smiling as they showed Kurt celebrating.

"I wanna go meet him backstage," she said, making her way slowly overt to the door.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" he asked her, wondering about her ribs.

"I'm sure," she nodded, opening the door, "Come on."

Together they went down to the gorilla, waiting for Kurt to come backstage so they could congratulate him on his win. Finally, after what seemed like endless celebrating in the ring he came back and immediately spotted Stephanie. He ran towards her and picked her up, hugging her and spinning her around din the air.

"The ribs Kurt, the ribs," Stephanie said, gasping in pain.

"Oh!" he said, setting her down gently, "It slipped my mind."

"It's ok, you're allowed, you're the champ!" she exclaimed, patting the belt.

Kurt beamed, "I told you so."

"You did," she told him.

"Congrats man," Edge said, sticking out his hand for Kurt to shake.

Kurt hit his hand away and picked Edge up in a hug. Edge looked at Stephanie gave her the crazy sign. She laughed as Kurt continued to hug him. Edge tried to pull away and just laughed heartily at Kurt's giddiness.

"Dude, I'm really happy for you," Edge started, "But do you think you can put me down?"

"Oops, sorry," Kurt said, "I just won!"

"We know," Stephanie said, "But Kurt, I'm kind of injured over here."

"Oh damn, I'm being insensitive. Let's go back."

"This doesn't mean that we have to cut the celebrating short," Edge said, "Let's go party in Steph's hotel room!"

"Oh, can we Steph?" Kurt said anxiously.

"A party? You know I'm always up for a party.

The three left for the hotel room, intending to party until the sun came up. In the end they had a lot to celebrate about. Jericho and Stephanie's engagement, and Kurt's big win. It was going to be a great night.

The next day, Jericho gathered his things to go to the arena. He was still a little hung over from the party they had had last night. It had been tons of fun once he made sure that Stephanie was ok and not seriously injured. But now he was suffering the consequences.

"Chris," Stephanie whined from the bed she was sitting on, trying to relax her ribs.

"Hmm?"

"Shane told me he's going to be at the show tonight," she told him.

"Why?" Jericho asked, looking up at her.

"He's going to get back at Kane for what he did to Mom."

"Oh."

"So can you just watch out for him? You know, make sure he doesn't do anything too crazy."

"Of course baby," he said, lightly kissing her.

"Thank you sweetie, good luck with the show," she told him, "I'll be watching."

"Just make sure you get some rest ok?"

"Ok doctor," she joked.

He stuck his tongue out at her and then left the room. He got down to his car and started driving towards Colorado Springs, which took him about an hour and a half from Denver. Upon his arrival, he got his stuff and walked to his dressing room. Along the way, he ran into the man he didn't want to run into.

"Jericho, can I speak to you a moment?" Vince said solemnly.

Jericho groaned inwardly. You know, maybe he should just wear a disguise when he came to work. People he didn't want to talk to were always stopping him. If it wasn't Vince, it was Evolution, if it wasn't Evolution, it was Bischoff, and the list went on and on. He figured if he were on SmackDown this wouldn't happen so much.

He didn't want to talk to Vince. Knowing what he knew about the man, knowing how he treated his own family, Jericho became disgusted just knowing it. Part of him told him to brush Vince off, to make up a lame excuse so as not to talk to what Stephanie had deemed "the enemy." But on the other hand, Vince was his boss and if he went against his boss, that wouldn't bode well. It was a lose-lose situation, as much as he was hoping there was some plus in all of this.

"What is it?" Jericho said, a bit crossly hoping Vince would get the point and not want to talk to him any longer.

"You're friends with my daughter right?"

"Um.........." Jericho said, dumbfounded on how to answer this question.

"Well, you were right?"

"I was," Jericho said slowly. After all, they HAD been friends, now they were practically engaged so it was a bit different.

"Well, you seem to be the only one of her friends or former friends that is talking to me, so I needed to ask you a question," Vince explained.

"I can try," Jericho said, wondering what this was pertaining to.

"Is she dating anyone?"

Jericho started coughing, disbelieving the question. Even more crazy was the irony of the situation. Here he was, Stephanie's boyfriend, and her father was asking him if Stephanie had a boyfriend. Well duh Vince, it was him. But the idiot didn't deserve to know, that much Jericho knew.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, she said she was dating someone and I want to know who this boy is. I mean, I just want to know for knowing's sake," Vince said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Maybe this is something you should ask your daughter."

"She's upset with me at the moment."

"I don't blame her," Jericho responded.

"Excuse me?" Vince said, giving Jericho a stern look.

"Well, you have to admit that you haven't treated her with the most respect as of late," Jericho said to him.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure this boy is good enough for her."

"You know, knowing Stephanie, I don't think she would go out with a guy that wasn't good enough for her. She's perfectly capable of making good decisions," Jericho said, getting a bit defensive, he was talking about himself after all.

"You're probably right, thanks," Vince said, walking off thinking intently.

Jericho let out a breath, glad that conversation was over. Maybe now he'd get some peace. Walking over to production he was horrified to find out that Michaels and Orton were his guests on the Highlight Reel. Two men he couldn't stand, just great, the night was getting better by the second.

He walked into his dressing room to find Trish laying down on his couch, sunglasses on her head. She looked up when she saw him walk in. Perplexed as to why she was there, Jericho put his bag on a bench and stood over her.

"What're you doing here?"

"Trying to sleep."

"Why didn't you stay back at the hotel?"

"Christian wanted me here, and I didn't know I didn't have a match."

"Ok, I get that part, but what are you doing in here?" Jericho asked, motioning towards his dressing room.

"Oh, Christian has a match with Test, and I hate him and didn't want to be in the same room with him, so I came to spend time with someone I actually like," she said, smiling teasingly.

"Oh, I'm so flattered," he said, sitting opposite her on the couch.

"As well you should be," she giggled, "I'm just trying to get over this hang over."

"You got one too?" he laughed.

"Yeah, I guess it's ok, since I'm doing nothing."

"Yeah, I am," he told her.

"Highlight Reel?"

"Uh huh."

"Why didn't you tell me you were proposing to Stephanie?" she asked.

"Because I didn't want anyone to know, you know, in case she said no."

"Yeah right, her say no to you, impossible!"

"You say that now, but she could've said no," Jericho retorted.

"No, she wouldn't of."

"Ok, thanks for the morale boost."

"It's my job," she said, then looking towards the screen, "But shhh, Christian's match is up."

Jericho let her watch the match and got up to go put his outfit on. Coming back out, he saw Trish still engrossed in the match, disappointed when she saw Christian lose. He walked back over to her and sat down.

"I had to talk to Vince."

"Huh?" she said, her attention diverted.

"He asked if I knew who Stephanie was dating."

"Holy shit," Trish said, laughing after she said it, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope, he really asked."

"And what could you have possibly said?"

"I just made up some gibberish or something, danced around the subject. Said if Steph wanted him to know, she'd tell him."

"But now, when he finds out, what is he going to think about you lying?" she asked.

Jericho thought about it a moment, she did bring up a good point, one he hadn't pondered, "Well, I've got Stephanie, Shane, and Linda on my side, I figure there's not much he could do."

"He could try to break you two up."

"He wouldn't dare," Jericho protested.

"Oh, but wouldn't he?" Trish said, "You know what's he done in the past."

"It doesn't matter, I love Stephanie and she loves me, and what her father things doesn't matter."

"If it didn't do you think you'd still be a secret."

Jericho scowled, "I don't know."

"I'm sorry I brought it up Chris," Trish said, getting up, "Just popped into my mind I guess. I'm going back to Christian's."

"Bye," he said, already lost in a daydream.

Vince wouldn't really try to break them up. He liked Jericho, there would be no way he wouldn't approve of the two of them. There just was no way he wouldn't. He had said once that he would be good for Stephanie, and he was. But even if Vince did try to break them up, he wasn't giving up Stephanie again, there was zero chance of that happening.

So caught up in his daydreams was he, that before he knew it, they were calling him out for his Highlight Reel. Checking his watch he realized he had been zoned out for half an hour. He got up and walked out mentally preparing himself for another show. He walked out, still in his sunglasses, hoping no one would notice that he was still a little queasy from last night. He walked to the ring and gave his little introduction and diatribe before bring out Randy Orton.

Randy came down and he grudgingly hugged the guy. Didn't hurt to play nice one in a while, a very long while. Randy gave him the Evolution t-shirt and Jericho pretended to be happy to get it, but as soon as it was handed to him he put it on one of the chairs, never to be looked at again. He made mention that his shirt was sold out and Orton didn't even get the joke. Dumb kid.

They talked about Jericho's match last week and Orton interfering in it. Jericho expressed the fact that despite the interference, Jericho would have won anyways. He didn't need help to win, that was for sure. He was the first-ever Undisputed Champion after all.

He brought out Michaels and knew that the fireworks were going to start now. There was a lot of animosity in the ring and a lot was pointed in his direction. He let Orton and Michaels bicker between themselves and he stood back and started to nod off. He was about to really fall asleep when he interrupted and Michaels got all up in his face. Before he knew it a brawl had erupted in the ring and he found himself all of a sudden pulled out of the fray.

He was thrown to the ground by none other than Kevin Nash. Deciding now would be the best time to leave, Jericho started up the ramp only to be called out by Nash. He looked up from the ramp as Nash challenged him for a match right then. The last thing Jericho wanted to do was fight, but he couldn't be a coward and turn him down. He pulled off his shirt and got in the ring and started brawling.

They kept fighting and Jericho pulled a few fancy tricks on the obviously slow Kevin Nash. Jericho spit at him, causing Nash to get pissed and charge at him unsuccessfully. The match went back and forth, Jericho using his quickness to his advantage, while Nash used his size to his. Jericho felt like he could win this. Nash was pretty old, he should be able to take care of him, he'd just focus on those bad knees of his.

Jericho had the match in his hands for the most part, with Nash only getting some mild offense in here and there, never enough to get the count on Jericho. He gave him a bulldog and then tried to go for the Lionsault, but found himself unsuccessful. He landed on his knee a bit roughly and grabbed at it a little. He'd be ok, but it hurt a little, he wanted to end this match, by any means necessary and he found himself getting disqualified by giving Nash a low blow.

After his disqualification, Jericho tried to give the Walls to Nash, just wanting a little retribution. He soon found himself on the receiving end of a beating. He got kicked in the head with a chair and fell down on his back. Nash picked him up by his hair and knocked him down again, hitting him repeatedly. Jericho could tell he was bleeding and just wanted to make his escape but was now being pulled back by Nash. He got tossed around, into the exposed turnbuckle, causing him to bleed more than he was. At this point he could taste the blood on his lips and was just trying to regain enough balance to get out of the situation.

It didn't help that he was thrown into the steel steps and then into the exposed barrier. He saw Nash approaching with the steel steps and managed to climb over the barrier and disappear to the back. He walked woozily backstage, seeing Shane walking down the hallway towards him.

"Good God, what happened to you?" Shane said in shock.

"Nash," Jericho muttered, touching his bloody forehead.

"You should get that checked out."

"It's just a cut," Jericho said, "I'll be fine."

"Still you should get cleaned up," Shane told him.

"Thanks," Jericho said dryly, "I was planning on just driving back to the hotel this way."

"I'm sure someone would play nurse to you," Shane said, smirking at Jericho.

"Heh, I'm sure she would. She also told me to watch your ass when you go out there tonight."

"Why? She worried about her older brother?"

"You know she cares about you," Jericho said.

"Yeah, but she seems to think every little thing I do is crazy."

"It usually is."

"Nah, only some of the time."

"Well I'll tell her you're fine."

"Tell who?" a voice said behind them.

"Nothing Father," Shane said coldly.

"Well if it isn't the prodigal son, come home."

"Only because someone has to defend Mom, and I know it won't be you."

"Why do you think I'm here?" 

"To have some hidden agenda?" Shane said, pretending to play dumb.

"Who were you talking about?" Vince asked, "Stephanie?"

"What's it to you? I was under the impression you didn't care about your little girl, putting her in matches she can't win."

"She's been in matches before," Vince argued.

"Yes, but never against Big Show and never with a partner who couldn't help her," Shane argued back. Jericho just stood there watching this family feud. He might as well get used to it, considering at some point in the future he was going to be a part of this family. Heaven help him.

"She fought against Hunter," Vince said.

"But she had Jericho with her."

"Fine, don't tell me about my own daughter, keep her from me, I have ways of finding things out, and if she's hiding something or someone I will find out."

"Like hell you will," Shane scoffed.

"Watch me," Vince snapped, walking away.

"Sorry about that," Shane said, looking back at Jericho.

"Eh, I figure I'm going to have to get used to it."

"Heh, that's right," Shane chuckled.

"You don't think he meant what he said do you?"

"About what?"

"Finding out about Stephanie and whoever she's with?"

"Nah, I don't think he cares enough to go to all the trouble."

"Well, I hope you're right."

"I am, now get outta here and leave me to my crazy ways."

"Be careful," Jericho warned, "Don't make your sister worry."

"I'll try," Shane said, patting Jericho's shoulder than walking away.

Jericho went into his locker room and took a quick shower, wanting to wash away all the blood. He came back out and put a bandage over the cut. Thinking it sufficient, Jericho grabbed his things and left the room, hoping Shane really didn't do anything crazy, but knowing Shane, something was a-brewing.

As he was walking away he heard many congratulations from people behind him and looked behind to see Molly holding the Women's belt. He smiled to himself. She must've won. Stopping in his tracks he turned around and went up to her.

"Hey Mol."

"Chris," she said happily, which wasn't what he was expecting.

"I just wanted to say congratulations."

"Thanks, it means a lot that you say that," she told him.

"I'm glad. Well, I'm gonna jet," he said, "Oh and Mol?"

"Yeah."

"Remember that girl I told you about?"

"Uh huh."

"She took me back," Jericho grinned.

Molly grinned back and hugged him briefly, "Congratulations to you too."

"Thanks, good luck with defend the belt."

"Good luck to you too," she waved, before getting pulled off to the side by one of the divas.

He left the arena and made it back to the hotel in less time it took to get him to the arena and went up to his room. As he walked in, he thought about what Vince had said, about having ways to find out things about Stephanie. That one sentence was plaguing his mind. What if Vince did try to do something? What then?

"Baby," Jericho called out.

"Yeah?" she called back from the large balcony in their bedroom.

He walked out there and stood next to her, "Hey."

"Hi."

"So what'd Shane do?"

"Attacked Kane. He can be such a doof sometimes," she sighed.

"I know..........So what are you doing out here?"

"Just looking out. It's really beautiful and peaceful here," she commented.

"Yeah, I like it."

"Me too."

"You're dad said something tonight that kind of struck a chord with me," Jericho said, looking over at her.

He could just make out her face in the pale moonlight that was shining on her face, "What'd he say?"

"That he had ways of finding out things about you."

"So why are you worried?"

"What if he finds out about us?"

"If it happens, I guess it happens."

"That's it?" Jericho asked incredulously.

"I just don't think my father would really do that to me. I mean, he's low but come on, having people spy on me or something."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Jericho said.

"Nah, he'd rather fuck Sable than find out about me. There's nothing to worry about."

"I guess you're right."


	118. Kurt as Champ, Yay, July 31, 2003

"I don't see why I can't go."

"Oh, I don't know, because of your ribs," Jericho said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ribs, schmibs," she whined, "I can still work."

"And have your dad's little stooges running around trying to get at you, not gonna happen babe," Jericho scolded.

"You have no faith in me," she said, crossing her arms petulantly.

Jericho sat cross-legged at the end of the bed. He gave her a stern look, a look she knew much too well. He wasn't letting her get out of that bed if he had to sit there all night and make sure she stayed there. He was always like this when she was sick or hurt, making sure that she would rest until she was well again.

"I have faith in you, though I have no idea why that should have anything to do with this."

"If you had faith in me you know that I'd be careful enough to not get hurt," Stephanie replied.

"Well, I still have faith in you, it's not you I'm worried about--"

"Oh, so you don't worry about me?" she said, giving him a dirty look.

"Ha ha Stephanie, you didn't let me finish my sentence."

"Oh, well excuse me, go ahead almighty Jericho," she said, giving him a grand swooping gesture with her arms.

"I'm worried about what your father will do."

"Hasn't he done enough," she muttered, looking down at the floor, suddenly finding the wild pattern more interesting than this conversation.

Jericho crawled over to her and kissed her softly, bringing her out of her reverie. She looked at him and tried to suppress her smile, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had cheered her up. He was always delighting in the fact that she could never stay mad when she was around him.

"Come on," he urged, "Gimme that smile that's begging to come out."

"No," she said, biting her lip, trying to hold it in.

"No, no, you know you want to smile," he said, giving her a coy smile.

She couldn't do it anymore, she gave him a big grin and a shove to the arm. He pretended that it hurt and fell on his side next to her. She looked down at him as he smiled up at her, leaning his head against her thigh. She was so glad they were back together. She had missed moments like this.

"I won't go to the show," she said randomly.

"Good, I get you all to myself tonight," he said, rubbing her leg.

"Yeah, I suppose to do, but don't get used to it, I want to go to work next week."

A knock sounded and Jericho lifted his head from the bed, "I bet I know who that is."

"Who?"

"I bet it's Kurt, coming to collect you for the show. I'll just go tell him that you're not going," Jericho said, popping up from the bed.

"Don't be gone long."

"From you? I can barely stand two seconds," he winked.

Jericho headed for the door and swung it open. Just as he had suspected, Kurt was standing on the other side. He took a step back and let Kurt enter the room, closing the door once he was inside.

"Where's Steph?" Kurt asked.

"She's in bed. She's not going to the show tonight."

"Her ribs still bothering her?"

"You know I can hear you!" Stephanie yelled from the room.

Jericho laughed, "Ok baby!"

"My ribs still hurt a little Kurt!"

"Ok, well I guess that I'll just head to the show all by my lonesome. Just me and my title belt," Kurt said, looking at the belt perched on the shoulder.

Jericho took it off and looked at it, "Oh how I miss you."

"Don't worry sweetie, I'll make sure you get it again," Stephanie said, coming in from the bedroom.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Jericho said.

"I'm sorry doctor, I didn't realize I was supposed to just stay stuck in bed," she said, slowly walking over.

"You should be resting," he told her, taking her gently in his arms, and letting her lean against him.

"I don't think I'm going to get more hurt by walking ten feet," she said, rolling her eyes at Kurt.

"God it's good to have the two of you back," Kurt told them.

They both just laughed. Stephanie looked at the belt that Jericho was studying. She remembered the last time he had held that belt. Well, not that exact belt, but the world title belt. She gave a tiny smile as she thought about it. He had lost it trying to protect her. Story of their lives, him protecting her. She gazed up at him dotingly.

"You miss it huh?" she asked.

"What?"

"Being the champion."

"You can say that," he said, handing over the belt to Kurt.

"You'll get it again."

"How can you be so sure?" he said, grinning, knowing what she was thinking.

"Because you're mine."

"So Stephanie," Kurt said, breaking up the love fest, "Do you want me to do anything for you at the show tonight?"

"Um," she thought, "Just make sure nothing goes too awry. Make sure my father isn't too out of line, though I know that that is almost impossible to ask you for."

"I will try my hardest," he said, "You know you can count on me to try."

"Thanks Kurt. Have fun ok?"

"I always do," he told her, "Bye you guys."

"See ya Kurt," Jericho said, already leading Stephanie back to bed.

"We'll be watching."

Kurt left the room, closing the door behind him softly so as not to disturb the two of them. He walked down to his rental car, and put his coveted belt and gym bag in the passenger side seat. Getting in himself he started off towards the arena, wondering how the crowd would react to the new WWE champion. It felt really good to say that, WWE champion. He knew that he had held it three times before, but it was special this time, seeing as how he had just come back from injury.

The drive went by quickly and soon he was parking at the arena. He got out of his car and saw some fans screaming out his name from one of the entrances. He gave them a quick wave and held up the title before going inside for the show. He got many congratulations from the guys and smiled and nodded in appreciation.

He finally made it to his dressing room after stopping to talk to numerous people and how they were glad that he had made such a great comeback. He put the belt down on the couch and went to change into his wrestling attire for the evening. He put on his jumpsuit. He loved this thing, he'd wear it everyday if he could.

Now he just had to wait for the show to start. Trying to figure out what to do was going to be hard, he didn't really have anything planned for tonight. Just as he was about to sit down on the couch and think about it, Vince McMahon walked into his locker room.

"Um, thanks for knocking," Kurt said, standing upright.

"I'm the boss, there's no need for knocking," Vince boomed.

"Well then," Kurt said, not saying what he wanted to say.

"Kurt, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what? A rematch with Brock?" Kurt asked.

"Well, no, but now that you bring that up, it's a good idea."

"Well, you know, I was just thinking that you should really save that for like WrestleMania, you know the big money match, big advertising and all that," Kurt rationalized.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Vince said, nodding, "But that's not what I wanted to speak with you about.""Then what is it that you want?"

"I want to talk about Stephanie," Vince told him.

Kurt looked at him, wondering what he wanted with Stephanie. He didn't know if Vince didn't know that she wasn't going to be here tonight. He didn't really want to be the one to tell him, he'd probably feel like a snitch or something. Kurt crossed his arms defensively and gave a stand-offish look to Vince.

"What about her?"

"I want someone to keep an eye on her."

Kurt didn't like the way that sounded. If Vince were a good father it would mean something like keep her out of trouble. But Stephanie wasn't in trouble so there's no way it could be that. It had to be in the vein of spying on her.

"What do you mean?"

"I want to know everything about my daughter, and you are my key to doing that Kurt," Vince said persuasively.

"How so?"

"By telling me everything there is to know, if she tells you something, then you tell me. It's as simple as that."

"So you want me to blab about her personal life because I'm her best friend?" Kurt said testily, not liking what Vince was trying to get him to do.

"If you want to put it that way........yes."

"Why do you even care about her? I mean, you sent your henchmen after her and hurt her."

"Because she is MY daughter and I demand to know everything about her!" Vince said angrily.

"You just hate the fact that you can't control her anymore huh?" Kurt said bluntly.

"Are you willing to do this Kurt?" Vince said, avoiding the question asked of him like it were a contagious disease.

"No," Kurt said simply, "I will not betray my best friend's trust like that."

"Fine. But you'll regret that decision Kurt."

Vince stormed out and sat down on the couch. Well, that had sure put a damper on his day. But he refused to go against Stephanie like that. She was his best friend, and so was Jericho, and they would never turn him in like that, so he had to return the favor. It's what friends did for friends.

As he was sitting there, his mind wandered to his newly won championship and looked over at the shiny gold belt sitting next to him on the couch. It felt good to be at the very top. He wanted to share his joy with everyone tonight. Getting up and grabbing his belt, he walked down to the gorilla and told production that he was going to go out and cut a promo.

He walked out there and heard everyone cheer madly for him. He was still getting used to that feeling. He walked to the ring and got inside talking to the fans about how this title win was special to him and it was. He really didn't know what would happen after his surgery, but he was happy that it had led him back to the one place he felt was home.........the wrestling ring.

Brock interrupted his speech and came down to the ring purposefully. Kurt listened as Brock talked about how he had been there with him through his rehab. Well, Kurt wouldn't go that far, sure Brock had visited him, but he would say he was there for him through his rehab. Brock finally got to the point of his interrupting, he wanted his rematch.

Kurt was willing to give it to him. He wasn't afraid of Brock, he knew he could beat him, hell he had beaten him last night, so of course he could beat him. Just as he accepted Brock's challenge, Vince came swaggering down to the ring. He told Brock that Kurt had told him not to give him the rematch and Kurt looked at Vince in disbelief. Vince only gave him a dirty look in return.

Oh, so this was Vince's little plan. To try and make him and Brock enemies, that was the whole point of this thing. Leave it to Vince to come up with some lame ass plan that probably wouldn't work anyways. Kurt turned to Brock and denied the whole thing, but Brock wasn't really listening to him. That's when Vince made a match with the two of them against Big Show and A-Train. Just great, Kurt thought, if Brock thought he wasn't on his side, they're being partners later was just going to go down the drain.

Brock stalked out of the ring, leaving Kurt behind. Kurt sighed and glanced at Vince, shaking his head. He let himself out of the ring and walked backstage. He stood there a moment, trying to collect his thoughts when Vince came up from behind him.

"Have you thought more about my offer? I really do believe you should accept it," Vince said to him.

"I told you no before, and I mean it," Kurt told him seriously.

"So be it," Vince said coldly, "Good luck later."

Kurt let out a deep breath and walked back to his locker room. He needed to talk to Stephanie about this whole thing. Maybe she would have some insight on the entire thing. Vince was her father after all, she would know him better than Kurt did. He dialed her cell phone number and waited.

"Stephanie McMahon," came the giggling voice over the phone.

"Steph?" Kurt said, "What's going on over there?"

"Nothing," Stephanie said, still giggling, "Chris is just doing some impressions for me."

"Sounds a lot more fun than my night."

"What's up Kurt?" she said more seriously.

"Your dad."

He heard Stephanie sigh on the other end, "What's with him now?"

"He wanted me to spy on you and tell him everything about you because he wants to know about everything."

"What!?!" she said, taken aback.

"Yeah, he said that I would tell him everything there is to know about you. I think something fishy is going on Stephanie. Why would he ask me that out of the blue?"

"You know, he told my brother and Chris on Monday that he had ways of figuring out things about me because I wouldn't tell him who I was dating. This is probably his way of trying to find out. I just want to know why he wants to know."

"He didn't really explain his motives."

"I have a feeling he wants to use it against me or something."

"Yeah, probably. But I told him no."

There was silence over the phone and Kurt waited, wondering what was taking her so long to respond, "You shouldn't have done that."

"Huh?" Kurt asked, befuddled by her response, "But Steph, he asked me to spy on you!"

"But you've already told me about it, so it's not spying," she told him, "And if you do this, we can have some fun with him."

"Stephanie, what purpose would that serve?"

"I could get back at him for all the shit he's put me through," she said.

"I don't know Steph," Kurt said uncertainly.

"Please Kurt, we'll just try it out, and if you feel uncomfortable, we'll drop the whole thing, does that sound fair?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Great, so you go tell him then, and then we'll start to have our fun," she laughed.

"Ok, I guess I'll see you."

"You will."

Kurt hung up and decided that he would go tell Vince right now. Then after that he would go to Brock and explain what he had actually said to Vince. He didn't want Brock to get the wrong idea and then go after him that's just not what he wanted. He first headed to Vince's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" said the gruff voice.

Kurt walked in and Vince stopped what he was doing, "Kurt Angle, what are you doing here?"

"Your offer," Kurt said, "I accept."

Vince's smirk grew into a smile, a cruel, evil smile. Kurt didn't like it one bit, it was the smile that Vince wore when he was up to something and he was definitely up to something right now. Vince got up from his desk and extended his hand to Kurt. Kurt thought back to Stephanie and shook Vince's hand, feeling like he had just made a deal with the devil. He probably had.

"You've made a good choice," Vince told him.

"Prove it," Kurt said shortly.

He turned abruptly and left the room without a second glance. He hated doing that, but well, it might be fun to screw with Vince's mind. God knew he deserved it. He walked in the direction of the locker rooms and asked one of the production people if they had seen Brock. One of them pointed him to a door and he went inside.

He spotted Brock and walked over. He stared trying to explain what was really said earlier in the day. He couldn't be too sure that Brock was buying all of it, even if it was the truth. In this business you had to be wary of alliances, for they could fold like house of cards. Kurt told Brock that he might know a way to get his rematch and they walked off. Kurt said going to boss and making a proposition would probably work. Brock nodded and left him in the middle of the hallway, presumably to talk to Vince.

Kurt shrugged, he was alone again, with nothing to do. He looked around. It was kind of lonely here with Stephanie, now that he had a moment to think about it. He walked slowly back to his locker room, dawdling around, not knowing what to do. Yeah, it was good being the champ, eh chuckled to himself.

He finally arrived and just sat on the couch, watching the show. He might as well scope out the competition. He sat, watching, and checking his watch for when his match would be. He just hoped that Brock had not believed what Kurt had said. But, well, maybe he and Brock not being friends was a good thing.

Maybe Kurt could prove his loyalty to Vince, false loyalty of course, by doing something against Brock, who he called his friend. That way, Vince would never suspect that Kurt was actually going to be a mole for Jericho and Stephanie. It was perfect, brilliant even.

He got into his wrestling attire and walked out for his match. This was going to be good. For the better part of the match, he and Brock got along fine and were doing well as a tag team. At the end of the match, Kurt saw that perfect opportunity. He tagged himself in just as Brock was going to get the win and then got the pin for himself. There Vince, you got what you wanted, he thought to himself.

What he didn't expect was for him to get kicked and then lifted. He knew what was coming next and was met with a face full of mat. Damn, getting the F5 never got any easier, no matter how many times you had had it done to you. He laid on the mat, hearing Vince's music playing. Then hearing Vince's announcement of the match, good for Brock, Kurt hoped he would kick Vince's ass. Then he heard that he would be the guest referee. Well, wasn't that a change of pace.

He slowly got out of the ring and went backstage. He got his things ready and went out to his car, ready for the return trip. Once he arrived at the hotel, he knew where he had to go. He walked straight up to Stephanie and Jericho's room and knocked loudly. Stephanie answered.

"It's done," he told her.

"You're in?"

"There's a new plan going down around here. And this time, we're doing it Kurt style."


	119. NO! Not the Hair! August 4, 2003

A/N: If you sent me a review last Friday, my thing got screwed up and I didn't get to read them, but thanks anyways. :)

* * *

"Don't do anything crazy."

"Oh come on Steph, I don't do crazy stuff."

She guffawed, "Yeah right. You know you're crazy, it's bad enough that you have to play the tough guy, but then you have to go out there and act like a maniac."

"I do NOT act like a maniac," he protested.

"Shane, all I'm asking is that you don't do anything you're going to regret later. You have a habit of acting before thinking."

"I won't do anything stupid."

"Sure man, you know you're going to go all out and do something insane. That's just how you work," Jericho said, coming out and handing them both a glass of water, before taking a seat himself.

The three of them were sitting at the table on the balcony, looking out over the city. Shane and Jericho were biding their time before they had to go to the show, and Stephanie was still recovering from the brutal attack she had suffered at the hands of Albert at Vengeance.

"Well, he hurt my mother, am I supposed to take that lightly?" Shane protested.

"Of course not, I'm upset about Mom too, but you don't see me going after Kane and trying to kick his ass," Stephanie told him.

"No, you only yell at Dad and make him look like a fool," Shane laughed.

She scowled at him, "You know he deserved that!"

"Calm down baby," Jericho said, taking her hand in his.

"I am calm. It's just the topic of Daddy is a sore one for me," Stephanie said, shooting daggers at Shane for bringing it up.

"Well, the subject of Kane is sore with me," Shane countered, staring down Stephanie. 

"So this is what I have to look forward to?" Jericho said, glancing back and forth between them, "Is this what holidays are going to be like?"

Stephanie broke the stare down first, looking over at Jericho, "Oh, it's always worse sweetie. But don't worry you'll get used to it once you're part of the McMahon family."

Jericho pretended to collapse against the chair, "I don't think I can do it. I'm not strong enough to be put through that."

"Wuss," Shane laughed, "Can't handle the McMahons."

"He can handle us," Stephanie said, rubbing her thumb over his hand, "He puts up with me doesn't he?"

"Yeah, and behind Dad, she's the most difficult to deal with, so I gotta give you props Chris," Shane said, glancing at Stephanie who gave him a dirty look.

"I am not difficult! Chris, tell him I'm not difficult!" Stephanie whined.

"Shane, she's not difficult," Jericho said, pretending to chastise Shane for what he had said, "She's worth it all."

Stephanie grinned and stuck her tongue out at Shane, "See."

"Man Jericho, my sister has you wrapped around her little finger."

"Can't help it," Jericho said, "Look at her."

Stephanie gave the best innocent look that she could before kissing Jericho's cheek. He smiled at her and then reached up to ruffle her hair. She angrily slapped his hand away, upset that he had mussed her perfectly coiffed hair, while he feigned being hurt by her slap. Shane just looked at them, thinking they were made for each other. He didn't know if anyone else could put up with the two of them.

"Ok, so I think that it's time to go to the arena," Shane said, standing up from his chair.

"Already?" Stephanie asked, looking at her watch.

"Yeah, I want to get there early, you know, tell Kane what's what around there," Shane explained, "You coming Chris?"

"Yeah, just gimme a sec to say goodbye to Steph," Jericho answered.

"Sure," Shane said, heading inside the room.

Jericho turned to Stephanie and kissed her lightly, "Bye baby."

"Please make sure he doesn't get into more trouble than he's looking for."

"I'll try."

"I know that he's going to try to do something idiotic and harmful to himself, just please make sure he doesn't go overboard," she whispered.

"I know, I'll try to keep him in check for you ok? I don't need to see three-quarters of the McMahon family injured," he said, kissing the tip of her chin.

She smiled, "I'll be watching you."

"You better be," he said, standing up, "Don't overexert yourself now."

"Ok," she said, rolling her eyes, "Now go!"

"Geez," he joked, walking back inside to see Shane waiting for him by the door, "Well, someone looks like they're ready."

"I want to go kick some ass."

"Ok, come on Boy Wonder," Jericho said, leaving the room, "Bye Stephy!"

The two men left the hotel room and walked down the hallway. Jericho kept thinking that Shane was crazy. Sure, he had known this before hand, given some of the stunts he had pulled in the past, but he knew Shane really cared about Linda and had done a lot in the past to defend her, and he knew now would be no exception.

"So what are you planning on doing?" Jericho asked as they got into his rental car.

"Don't know," Shane shrugged.

"Please don't do anything dumb ok," Jericho said as he began driving, "Stephanie asked me to watch your back, so please don't get yourself killed, or I'm on the hot seat with her."

"Don't worry about it. You don't have to be my savior. In case you've forgotten Jericho, I'm older than you are."

"Oh, and that means that you can take care of yourself right?"

"Right."

"I'm not asking you to take this lying down, just please don't add to Stephanie's stress. She's going off the walls in worry and anger about everything."

"How is she really?" Shane asked, "I know she puts on the happy front for everyone, even if she doesn't feel that way."

"I think you underestimate her sometimes Shane. She's the strongest person I know, and she's putting up with everything right now. Of course it's hard on her, but you know Stephanie, what doesn't kill her only makes her stronger."

"I know, I just worry about her, she's my baby sister you know."

"Trust me, I know," Jericho said, turning into the arena.

"I feel like I should have my big brother talk with you though," Shane laughed as Jericho searched for a parking space.

Jericho found one and parked quickly, "What big brother talk?"

They both got out of the car and Jericho grabbed his stuff from the trunk. Shane waited for him to close the trunk and lock the doors before they were making their way into the arena. Jericho wanted to find out if he had a match before he went to his locker room.

"The talk a guy always gives to the guy his sister is going to marry," Shane said as they walked down the hallway to look at the match schedule.

"Oh, that one. I don't think I need it," Jericho told him, brushing it off.

"Oh, but I think you do," Shane said seriously.

"Hold that thought."

Jericho walked up to the schedule and saw that he was facing RVD. He nodded to himself, he could deal with that, he liked facing RVD; he was a formidable opponent. He turned back to Shane and motioned for him to follow him to his locker room. Once inside, Jericho threw his stuff down.

"So give me this big talk," Jericho said, folding his arms and sitting on the arm of the couch.

"I just wanted to tell you, if you ever hurt my sister, or make her upset in any way, I will hunt you down and make sure that you regret it for the rest of your life."

Jericho laughed; this was pretty funny. He knew that Shane was being semi-serious, but did he actually think that he would be afraid of Shane. Well, he knew that Shane could probably, in some way, back up that threat, but he had to know that Jericho was not going to hurt Stephanie. And besides where was Shane when Hunter was hurting Stephanie.

"I believe you, to a degree, but I must ask, why didn't you do this with Hunter?"

"Stephanie loved Hunter, but by the time it was over between them, she didn't even really care. She got back at him herself. But I know how she feels about you, and if you even try something with her, you will rue the day you crossed a McMahon."

"I get ya," Jericho told him, "I won't."

"Good, we understand each other."

"You don't think I'd actually hurt her, do you?" Jericho asked, his brow creasing.

"No, but just wanted to warn you not to."

"Ok, good."

"So Stephanie was telling me about something having to do with Kurt."

"Oh yeah, we're gonna screw around with your dad, make him think crazy things about Stephanie. Kurt's our mole."

"Fun," Shane looked at the time, "And I'd love to stay, but I want to be on the top of the show. Best way to make an impact."

"I hear ya," Jericho said, "Good luck." 

"Yeah, I don't need it, but thanks anyways."

Jericho shook his head as Shane left. Those McMahons, they were all the same when you thought about it. He fell back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling. He didn't have anything to do for a while so he just lay there, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about everything and nothing.

A knock at the door broke him out of his reverie. He looked up, wondering who would come knocking on his door. If it were Christian or Trish they would usually just barge in, forgoing knocking because they were friends.

"Come in," he called out.

Molly opened the door, "Oh, Chris, I'm sorry, I thought this was someone else's locker room, I'll just go."

"Hey, wait," he said, "You don't have to go."

"Oh, I thought I'd probably be the last person you'd want to see."

"Of course not," he replied, sitting up, "That belt looks great on you."

"Thanks," she smiled, looking at the belt around her waist.

"So who's locker room did you think this was?"

"Oh, I was looking for Randy."

"Randy?" Jericho asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He asked me out on a date earlier," Molly said, sitting down.

Jericho frowned a little. He didn't like the sound of that. Randy was bad news, and a notorious ladies man. The wam, bam, thank you ma'am kind of guy. And Jericho still cared about Molly as a friend and didn't want her to find that out the hard way.

"Oh, you don't want to go out with him do you?"

"I don't know, I thought about it, he seems like an ok guy."

"Mol, have you been living under a rock?" Jericho asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mol, you're my friend, an ex-girlfriend, and I still care about you. I know you try to see the good in everyone, but don't you find it hard with Randy."

"A little," she admitted.

"He'll just be using you."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she told him smiling, "Speaking of ex-girlfriends, how are you and that girl you wanted back?"

"I got her, we're happy," Jericho told her.

"That's good, I'm happy for you," she said thoughtfully, "I better be going now though, have to go turn down Randy."

"Ok, it was nice talking to you Mol, I'm glad we can at least be friends or something."

"Me too," she said, giving that wide smile of hers.

She walked out the door and Jericho got up to go put on his tights for his match, might as well get ready while he could. He put his green tights on and then his new t-shirt. Thinking that there would be nothing but boredom awaiting him in the locker room, he decided to go see what kind of mischief he could get himself into.

He was about to leave when his cell phone rang. He rolled his eyes, knowing that Stephanie was on the other end. Only she would call during a show, most likely to complain about something or another. If he didn't love her, he'd probably be annoyed.

"Yes baby," he said, answering the phone.

"My brother is nuts!"

Jericho sighed, "What happened?"

"He challenged Kane to a match, and told him to watch his back, that he would get him. Then Bischoff wanted to fight him, and now they have a match later. What the hell is he thinking!?!"

"Steph, calm down." 

"Ugh, why does he do this?"

"Because he wants to defend your mom, ok, that's the reason. Cut him some slack Stephanie."

"Fine, I will."

"That was too easy, why'd you give in?"

"I don't want to fight, my ribs are bothering me."

"What have you been doing?"

"Nothing, I swear, they're just acting up. I guess I'm not as healed as I thought."

"Get in bed and rest, and I will be back there soon."

"Fine, don't get into trouble."

"I won't."

"Love you, bye."

"Uh huh, love you too."

Jericho hung up and decided to go see what was going on outside his locker room. Maybe he'd run into Shane and talk some sense into the knucklehead. Shane was definitely the most crazy of the McMahon's, going out of his way to prove that in ways like his match against Kurt at King of the ring. Jericho still shuddered when he thought about Shane going through that plexi-glass.

As Jericho was walking, someone big and tall bumped into him. Jericho was almost knocked back, but managed to catch himself before he made a scene by landing on his ass. He looked up to see Kevin Nash looming over him.

"Watch where you're going," Jericho said snidely.

"Why don't you watch where you're going," Nash shot back.

"I'm not the one who ran into someone else," Jericho argued.

"Just watch your back Jericho."

"Oh, am I supposed to be scared huh? I'm so scared of the big, bad Kevin Nash," Jericho said, mocking the other man.

"You don't want to get on my bad side," Nash said menacingly.

"Whatever you son of a bitch, like I care," Jericho said, walking away, leaving Nash and the conversation behind.

Jericho didn't look back as he walked over to the monitors by the gorilla. He saw the end of the Goldberg and Flair match, and saw it turning into one huge brawl free-for-all. Seeing Michaels, Jericho didn't have to think before he ran out there and started going after Michaels. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nash sauntering down to the ring and he high-tailed it out of the ring, not giving Nash the opportunity to get at him.

They were all going to fight again when Austin's music hit and the men all looked up to the ramp, wondering what the co-General Manager had to say. Jericho was astonished when he heard the new stipulations to the title match. Another Elimination Chamber? He wasn't looking forward to that, and being put in the title match itself was quite the surprise for him.

After getting over the initial shock of the match, he realized he had been abandoned by Evolution and that Nash and Michaels were standing idly in the ring. Seizing the opportunity, he ran into the ring to attack, and managed to get Michaels, but Nash got a hold of him, and before long he was being jackhammered. Yeah, now was a time where he should've been watching his back.

He got out of the ring gingerly, cursing himself for trying to pull that off. Now he was going to be sore and hurt for his match later. Damn Nash, couldn't keep his damn hands to himself. He went back to his locker room to try and relax before his match. There was nothing worse than fighting while hurt. He lay down again, on his stomach, just letting his back take a rest.

Because of him resting, he failed to see Shane trying to get at Kane, and also failed to see Bischoff letting Kane out of the van that he had arrived in. He got up for his match, still sore, but it was more tolerable now than it had been a short while before.

He went down for his match and just decided to go for it full-fledged, injured or not injured. He'd just suck it up and deal with it. The match itself was going pretty well. He knew that he and RVD had great matches and this was no exception. None of them were really able to gain the upper-hand, making for an exciting match, the upper-hand going back and forth between the two men.

The match was filled with near pinfalls and it got to the point where Jericho just wanted to lock this match up. He stepped it up a notch and tried to get RVD out of the zone so he could capitalize and gain the advantage, and after that, the win. He managed to avoid or block some of RVD's key moves, but then as he was starting to feel very sore, RVD hit the split-legged moonsault and he could hear the one-two-three before he could get his shoulder up. He cursed himself as he lost.

Angry and upset, he motioned for a microphone and started espousing about how this was not his loss. It had been all Kevin Nash's fault for injuring him earlier in the evening, knowing that he had a match. Jericho insulted Nash and thought of the one thing that Nash loved above all else and he decided to exploit that. In his post-match stupor, he challenged Nash to a hair vs. hair match, and promised to shave Nash bald.

He threw down the microphone and walked up the ramp painfully. He vaguely registered what he had just said, but didn't really think about the consequences it would reap. He walked back to his locker room and found a note from Shane saying that he could head out and that Shane had arranged to be picked up after the show.

Jericho went to clean up and when he came back out he saw that Shane was trying to get at Kane and was actually doing a pretty fair job of it. For awhile it seemed, before the tables turned and Kane got a hold of Shane. Jericho cringed at the systematic beating Kane was laying on Shane. This was not good at all. He got his stuff and waited by the gorilla to see how Shane was.

He was brought back on a stretcher, but he was struggling to get off of it, much to the EMT's disdain. He managed to sit up, despite their protests and Jericho walked over, a disapproving look on his face.

"Don't say it," Shane mumbled.

"You are such a dumbass," Jericho told him bluntly.

"Ha ha, I had to do something." 

"Oh, would that something be getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter?" Jericho said.

"No, it wouldn't. What are you still doing here anyways?" Shane said as the EMT cleared him for now.

"Well, I saw you getting beat up and decided to stick around and make sure you made it out of there alive. I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't."

"I'm fine, I'm tough, I can withstand that, I've been through worse."

"That's not a good thing you know," Jericho told him.

"I know, but that's my life, and I like it. Now get out of here before I have to here you lecture me about why I should not go after Kane." 

"You should be getting a lecture," Jericho said, "But I have far more pressing matters than talking some sense into your thick skull." 

"Well at least I don't have the potential of having a bald skull now do I?"

It was then that Jericho really thought about what he had done, "Shit."

"Good luck with that," Shane said, patting his shoulder companionably.

Jericho walked away sighing. This was not going to end well. He went to his car and drove back to the hotel. Upon his arrival into his room, Stephanie came out of the bedroom, a stern look on her face and her arms crossed. She came over to him and gave him a hard shove.

"What the fuck are you thinking!?!"

"Oww," was his only response.

"HAIR VS HAIR!" she screamed, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Steph, don't yell."

"Oh my God, how could I not? You cannot lose that beautiful head of hair," she said, running her hand through his blond locks.

"I won't, don't worry, I'll win."

"And if you don't, you'll be.........bald," she choked out.

"So?"

"I don't want to date you if you're bald, you'll look bad," she said, making a disgusted face.

"It's not going to happen, don't worry about it. Nothing is coming between me and this," he said, running his own hand through his hair.

"You better be right. I can't believe you'd be so stupid, I mean, of all the idiotic ideas you've ever had, getting bald is not one of them. Sure, it works for Kurt, but you bald? Not a pretty sight."

"Whatever," he said, then changing the subject, "So I have a title shot."

"So I heard, I want you to win it from that bastard."

"I don't want it."

"What?" she asked incredulously, "First you make a dumb match, now you don't want the title, are you ok?"

"I'd rather not win it and stay on Raw, I'd rather go over to SmackDown with you," he admitted.

"That's a nice thought," she sighed, "Maybe it can come true, but not if you're bald, then we won't want you."

He kissed her deeply, calming her rambling. As he pulled away he whispered against her lips, "I'm telling you right now, it's not going to happen, I'm not going to lose my hair."

"I seriously hope not."

He didn't want to admit it, but Jericho hoped he didn't lose it either.


	120. Kurt as Ref, Nice, August 7, 2003

"I don't know why I agreed to share a room with you guys."

"Because you wanted to join the party!"

"Yeah, you two are a barrel of laughs, you are."

"Oh come on Kurt, you know that you like being around us. We're the fun couple!"

"You two act like children, it's more like I'm babysitting," Kurt told them.

"You're no fun, you know that. What happened to that doofy Kurt, the one who wore a silly little cowboy hat?" Jericho asked.

Kurt looked at Jericho and Stephanie as they jumped from bed to bed. They hadn't wanted to go all the way back to Florida and had decided to do a little traveling around Canada. They knew that Kurt was here for the show, and despite Stephanie still being a little sore and not wanting to go to the show, they felt being in the same city where the show was being held would be a good way to be.

Kurt, Jericho, and Stephanie had just decided to share a room, kind of like having a big sleepover, and it saved on money. Not that money was a big factor or anything, but this way was more fun. Well, Kurt had thought so at first, until he found out what being sequestered with Jericho and Stephanie would be like.

He hoped to God this wasn't how they acted when they were alone because they were two of the most hyper people he had ever been with in his life. Sure, he had stayed at their house before, but he didn't share a room with them. They were practically bouncing off the walls. He wasn't sure if it was to annoy him, or if this was just how they normally acted. He hoped it was the former, because if this is they way they acted, he shuddered to think of what their children would be like.

"He grew up," Kurt said flatly.

"What's the fun of growing up?" Jericho said.

"You're just a little kid at heart sweetie," Stephanie said, leaning over to stop Jericho from jumping and kissing him on the cheek.

"You two have like cabin fever or something right?" Kurt asked from his spot on the armchair in the corner.

"Now why would you ask that?" Stephanie said, looking over at him.

"Well, I mean, you two are just off the walls crazy. It's a little jarring."

"Oh, so we're not fun? Did you hear that Steph, we're not fun," Jericho said pouting as he sat down on the bed and Stephanie sat down between his legs.

"No, you're fun, when you're not acting like two year olds."

"I think someone's just nervous about tonight," Stephanie whispered audibly to Jericho.

"Why would I be nervous?" Kurt said, "I'm the freaking champion, I have nothing to be nervous about."

"Yeah, but you have to be fair in this match, and you're afraid if you screw up something is going to happen to you," Stephanie explained.

"No, I'm not," Kurt said, trying to sound confident.

"It's not like you had a choice in this Kurt, I mean you were commissioned, you just have to go out there and call is as fair as you can," Jericho told him.

"I know, and that's what I'm planning on doing, but I just have the weirdest feeling that something is going to go wrong."

"Don't be worried about the match," Stephanie answered, "Just be worried about what you're telling Daddy Dearest tonight."

"Oh yeah.........that," Kurt said, making a face.

The three of them had been planning on what to tell Vince about Stephanie. Since he wanted to know so badly, they were going to give him a bunch of lies to confuse the hell out of him. It wasn't meant to be a serious plan at taking him down, they just wanted to have a little fun with him. He was a jerk, they could get back at the jerk, plain and simple.

"You know, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Jericho told him, "Just because my lovely girlfriend wants you to, that doesn't mean you don't have to."

"I'm not a slave driver Kurt," Stephanie said.

"I know, and part of me would love to get back at him, so I guess I have to go along with this don't I?"

"Awww, are you doing this for me?" Stephanie said, giving him her best angelic look.

"Of course I am, I'd do anything for you and you know it."

Stephanie laughed and gave him her best smile, "That's all I wanted to hear."

"Yeah, well if I don't get to the arena soon, I'm going to have to hear about it from your dad, and I do not want that."

"Ok, good luck Kurt," Stephanie told him.

"Yeah, good luck," Jericho repeated, "We'll be here watching."

"Yeah, I'm sure you two will be just watching," he scoffed.

"What was with that little scoffing sound I heard?" Stephanie told him, giving him a little look.

"Nothing, I just don't think you two will only be watching the show."

"And what do you think we'll be doing exactly?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know, running around like you just had fifteen cups of coffee or something," he looked at their faces, "Eww, no, that's not what I was thinking."

"Oh ok, cause that's what we were thinking," Jericho laughed.

"Please don't do that while I'm gone, because I will have nightmares for weeks," Kurt said shuddering.

"Damn, and we were planning on doing it on your bed too," Jericho said, snapping his fingers.

"Ha," Kurt said sarcastically, "Well, I'm off."

"Bye," the two of them said.

Kurt gave them a salute and grabbed his bag, walking out of the room, hoping the two of them really did behave. He got to his car and started towards the arena, mentally preparing himself for the match later tonight. He didn't want to play favorites, because he didn't want to appear corrupt. But Brock was his friend, and he had to take that into consideration. Tonight was going to be a long one.

As he arrived he thought about who he should go see first. Maybe he'd make a stop by Vince's, give him the little spiel and then go talk to Brock. That way he could be impartial going into the match. Sounding like a good plan, he decided to take that route. He parked and got his stuff out

As soon as he had located his dressing room and set his things down, he set out to find the owner of the company. He figured that he'd be in his dressing room, probably doing something with Sable. Kurt almost gagged at the thought, he would never figure out why Vince had to prey on the divas.

Finally finding the locker room, he knocked twice, then waited for it to be opened. Unsurprisingly, Sable answered the door, dressed in some hideous skin-tight outfit that was incredibly unflattering to her. He brushed past her and walked straight up to Vince.

"Kurt, you're here," Vince said, spinning his chair around to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm here, I mean, we did make a deal last night didn't we?"

"That we did, so what did you find out."

"Reassure me once again what I have to gain from this endeavor," Kurt said professionally.

"I'm the boss Kurt, need I remind you of that fact," Vince told him.

"I'm well aware thank you, that still doesn't answer my question though. I need something to assure me that I'm making the right decision."

"What do you want Kurt?" Vince said, cutting to the chase.

"I want to make sure that I keep the title," he said bluntly, "It's about time I started looking out for myself isn't it?"

"You will keep that title, I promise you that," Vince said, giving him a devious look that Kurt didn't appreciate in the slightest.

He knew better than to trust Vince McMahon. The man was cunning, manipulating, and a mastermind when he wanted to be. You always had to look over your shoulder with him, lest he have one of his goons waiting behind you to stab you in the back. Kurt was not deterred by Vince, and knew that he couldn't trust the man as far as he could throw him.

"I'd like to believe you Vince, but if the past is any indication, trusting you is very risky behavior."

"I guarantee you that this will be worth your while."

"Fine, but I want the blonde out of here," Kurt said, gesturing towards Sable who was standing next to Vince's chair.

"Why can't I be here?" Sable asked, "You got something real good on the little Princess?"

"None of your business bitch, I just want you and your ugly hag face out of my line of vision," Kurt spat.

"Hey, there's no need to talk to her like that," Vince said, wrapping an arm around Sable's waist.

"I will talk to her any way I damn well please," Kurt said, "If you want the information I got."

"Well, maybe he doesn't want your information," Sable said tartly.

Kurt gave her a glance, sending daggers at her through his steely gaze. He briefly saw Vince wince at her words, knowing that as much as he was "involved" with Sable, he still wanted to know what Stephanie was up to. Underneath everything, Kurt still figured Vince cared about what happened with his daughter.

It was really sad to Kurt that Jericho and Stephanie had to hide this spectacular relationship that they had. It was sad that they had to suppress their love to the world and only let it show when they were in seclusion. But looking at Vince, knowing that he would manipulate anyone to his advantage, even his own family, he knew why Jericho and Stephanie did everything they could to hide from Vince. He was such a bastard and he didn't deserve to know about the best thing to ever happen to his daughter.

"Now Sable, baby, let's not get too hasty," Vince said, looking up at Kurt.

"Well, if your little whore won't leave, I will," Kurt said, knowing that Stephanie might not be too happy, but he'd be damned if Sable tried to use anything he said against his best friend.

"Now Kurt, you're making a hasty decision here and I think you need to consider your options. Would it really be detrimental to what you're saying if Sable I standing right here."

"Yes it does Vince."

"Sable, please give us a minute."

"I don't see why I should have to leave," she said.

"I'm gone, bye guys," Kurt said, turning on his heel and leaving. He'd just have to tell Stephanie what happened. She would understand, she was much more accepting than her father. She must've gotten that from Linda.

He left the office, not turning back, despite hearing Vince calling after him, then him chastising Sable. He walked up the stairs to his left, knowing that was where the rest of the locker rooms were located. He walked down the small hallway, coming up Brock's and didn't bother to knock, walking right in.

"Hey Brock," Kurt said to the former champion, who was warming up a little.

"Kurt," Brock said with a short nod.

"I just wanted to wish you luck in your match tonight."

"Don't need it," Brock said curtly. Kurt thought he just meant that he would decimate Vince, and didn't get the almost cryptic message that Brock was sending him.

"I hope you know I'll be calling it right down the middle, no favorites or anything."

"Sure Kurt."

"Ok," Kurt said, a bit confused by his distant behavior, "As long as we have that covered."

"We do," Brock said, practically ignoring him.

Kurt shook his head in confusion and left. Brock was being weird, maybe it had something to do with last week, but he would've thought that he and Brock were cool. Oh well, he was sure by the end of the night everything would be kosher with them again. As he was walking down the hallway, Josh Matthews caught up with him for an interview, which he gladly gave.

Meanwhile Jericho and Stephanie were watching the show, and Stephanie smiled as she saw Kurt talking about the match later tonight, and how Brock was a friend, a dumb friend, but a friend, "I think that's how Kurt sees you."

"What? A dumb friend?" Jericho asked.

"Yep."

"I'm not dumb, I'm very intelligent thank you very much."

"Not intelligent enough to not make a dumbass move like making a hair versus hair match," she countered.

"I told you I'd win already."

"I think you should talk to Kurt about it when he gets back. I mean, he's had his head shaved, and look what he did.........wore an ugly wig for weeks. I don't want to see you in a wig," she whined.

"Fine, whatever, I told you I wasn't going to lose my hair.........and speaking of my hair, what the hell are you doing to it right now?"

Stephanie had been sitting on the bed while Jericho occupied the floor beneath the bed. She had been playing around with his hair for the last half hour and he had no clue what the hell she was doing to it. He didn't mind really, she was always playing with his hair, but he had a feeling it was quite girly.

"Making you pretty," she answered.

"I don't think I wanna know," he said as they kept watching the television.

"I'm bored, sue me."

"I'm not suing my future wife, think of the problems that would bring to the relationship."

"Yeah, considering you'd have nothing after I won," she said, then looked up to see her dad on the screen, with Sable in his lap no less, "Oh look what the cat dragged in."

Jericho looked up, "Oh, want me to cover your eyes and mute the screen?"

"Nah, might as well hear what the deadbeat has to say."

They listened and watched as Undertaker berated Vince for ordering A-Train to go after Stephanie. Stephanie gave a slight smile that people were coming to her aid even after she wasn't there. She really was being accepted after being such a bitch for a long time.

"I think I should call him," Stephanie said.

"Who?"

"Undertaker, I mean, he just stood up for me."

"Well, he should, I mean, you did almost marry him," Jericho joked.

Stephanie slapped him upside the head, "Don't bring that up ok? Just another example of my father being a complete asshole?"

"Ok, so I'm guessing you won't wear black to our wedding," Jericho asked, looking up at her.

"Oh, you're so funny Jericho," she said, giving him a dirty look.

"Ooh, I'm being called Jericho, I'm in trouble."

"That you--"

She was cut off as she saw her father being pulled by Funaki. He was led to another area of the arena where Brock was laying on the floor being helped by the EMT's. Stephanie looked confused at what was happening, who would attack Brock and why? She saw Kurt in the background.

Kurt had just happened upon the scene. Rushing over he stood back as he watched Brock being worked on. He hoped it was nothing serious, but he didn't know what to think. He didn't see anything, just happened upon the excitement. But that's not what Vince thought as he came over to Kurt and looked at him, gesturing towards Brock.

Kurt couldn't believe that Vince would even insinuate that he would attack Brock. What did he take him for? Kurt had integrity, he would never pull a low-down, dirty trick like that. He walked away in disgust at what Vince was implying, he wouldn't do something like that to a guy he considered his friend.

He ended up back in his locker room, not knowing what else to do with himself. Everyone probably already thought he had attacked Brock. Just because he himself had gotten an F5 last week, but he really hadn't. His cell phone rang and he picked it up hesitantly.

"Hey Kurt," came the cheery voice on the other end.

"Steph," he said, his own smile breaking through the frown.

"I saw what happened, for what it's worth, I believe you didn't do it."

"I didn't."

"Good. I know you wouldn't do that."

"I just don't like you're father suspecting I did. Like I would try to help that bastard."

"How did it go with my dad? Did you talk to him yet?"

"I did."

"And what happened?" she asked anxiously.

"Nothing happened. I didn't tell him what we planned."

"Oh, any reason why?"

"Well, the bitch was in there with him and he wouldn't get her to leave and she wouldn't leave, and I didn't want her to hear anything I was telling your dad, so I left, plain and simple."

"Wow, I'm actually impressed," she said.

"You are? I thought you'd be pissed at me," Kurt said, surprised.

"Nah, you know, it's probably better you keep him in suspense, let him stew a little while."

"Yeah. I guess I'm going to go walk around, calm my nerves," Kurt said, "I'll see you later."

"Bye Kurt, good luck."

"Thanks," he said, hanging up.

Stephanie hung up the phone and looked at Jericho, who now had his hair in pigtail buns courtesy of her, "He didn't do it."

"Of course he didn't. Kurt wouldn't and you know it."

"Yeah, I just wanted to be sure," she told him, "He didn't tell my dad anything, Sable was there and he didn't' want to."

"Eh, that's cool, whatever," he said, getting up and looking at himself in the mirror, "Holy shit Stephanie, look what you've done to me, I look like Britney Spears on steroids."

She laughed loudly, "I think you look pretty my love."

Kurt barged into Vince's locker room, "I didn't hit Brock!"

Vince looked up at him, "Of course Kurt, I believe you."

Kurt knew he didn't and he didn't like it one bit. He didn't want Vince thinking that he would dare help him. He would never voluntarily help Vince win anything, if he had his way, he'd want Vince gone and Stephanie and Shane come into power.

"I really didn't," Kurt said firmly.

"Ok, you can go now, I have to get ready for my match."

"I don't care if you don't believe me, but just know that I speak the truth."

Kurt left him again, knowing the match was coming up soon and mentally got ready for it. He went down to the gorilla and waited for his cue to go out. He heard his music hit and went down the ramp and to the ring, climbing into the intimidating cage. He waited for Vince and Brock to get out there and the match began.

He tried to be fair the whole way through, resolving to call it down the middle as any good referee would. He figured he had everything down and was doing a good job. He thought the match was going fairly well until Brock seemed to sway as he was about to give Vince the F5 and then fall to the ground.

He knew that Brock might have a concussion and went down to him to see if he was ok. Vince came up and was trying to convince him to give Vince the three count despite Brock being virtually unconscious. Kurt, of course refused, that was playing dirty and he didn't want that to go down. So he ignored Vince and started calling for some help out there.

The last straw was Vince slapping him. The bastard would've come out unscathed, but he had to slap him. He put the ankle-lock on Vince and failed to notice that Brock had suddenly gotten up and was standing menacingly behind him. As he got attacked he saw Brock and Vince smile at each other, and it was then that he realized he had been duped.

And he had probably been duped because he had withheld information from Vince about Stephanie. That was the thoughts going through his mind as he was slammed up against the steel cage. That was why Brock had been so short with him earlier, he thought as he got continuously beaten.

He tried in vain to get up, knowing he was bleeding and he managed to get on his feet, only to be brought down again by a belt shot. He was struggling now to get up and saw Brock taunting him with the belt. Yeah, this is just what friends did for other friends, he thought as he was hoisted up by Brock and slammed once again into the steel.

He felt himself getting pulled to the middle of the ring but was too weak to resist. He felt the humiliation creep up into him as he opened his tired eyes to see Brock and Kurt hovering over him hugging and having a good 'ol time. Damn them, was the only coherent thought he could muster. Damn them to hell.

The walk back to the locker room was slow, having to lean on the people coming out to help him. He'd get his revenge on Brock, oh he would, and it would be sweet. He got cleaned up and bandaged and then went to his locker room, slowly gathering his things. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right now, and suddenly wished he wasn't sharing with Jericho and Stephanie.

That became apparent when he saw the sympathetic looks they were giving him as he walked slowly into their hotel room. He was beaten and broken and the last thing he wanted right now was to be around anyone. But what could he do? He couldn't order them out of the room.

Stephanie got up and went over to him, giving him a small smile and a big hug, "You were great out there, you did the right thing."

Kurt hated to admit it, but moments before, he had been wrong. He did need his friends, they understood him, and they always made him feel better. Hell, he was lucky to have them. Brock, no, he hadn't been a real friend. These were his real friends. Kurt returned her hug.

"Thanks, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"You couldn't have known."

"I should've. Brock was acting weird earlier."

"Well you know what, you don't need him, you have us," Stephanie said, pulling away from him and leading him over to the couch.

"I guess so, and if I can't have that overgrown oaf as a friend, I guess I can have a couple of two year olds."

Stephanie laughed and settled her head on Kurt's shoulder, "You don't need someone like Brock, who'll turn their backs on you the second they get a better offer."

"She's right," Jericho said, "You have a good, solid group of friends who wouldn't betray you and humiliate you."

"I thought he was sincere you know, but I guess I should've known," Kurt said, letting Stephanie wrap him in a hug as they sat there, "I just wish I could've prevented what happened and looked less like a fool."

"You didn't look like a fool," Stephanie whispered.

"I did, I mean, I was so gullible, I should've smelled a rat a mile away, but I'm too much of a nice guy. I was a total fool."

"You are NOT a fool. You will get back at Brock and my father and you will show them why you are champion and why Brock isn't. You are anything but the fool in this situation. You are the smart one, because you didn't give in to their silly games and you didn't give into my father. That doesn't make you a fool in my book."

"I guess you're right," Kurt sighed, "I guess I'm not a fool, but you know who is a fool?"

"My dad?" Stephanie guessed, "Or Brock? Maybe Sable? Or A-Train? Or even Big Show?"

"Nope," Kurt said, looking over at Jericho and his hair.

"Then who?"

"Chris, what the hell did you do to your hair?" Kurt said, looking at it and gawking.

"Hey, it's not my fault, Stephanie did this to me," he said, touching his hair defensively. Kurt laughed and shook his head. At least he had true friends.

"And I thought I was gullible."


	121. I Like When Chris Flips His Hair, August...

"What are you going to do if he accepts?"

"I'm going to go through with the match, what else?"

"But I don't wanna see you lose your hair," she whined.

"I'm tired of saying it Steph, I'm not going to lose," he said, running his hands through his hair.

"You better not, or I swear, I will break up with you."

"Oh no!" he said in mock shock.

"I will," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Then I better win right?" he told her.

"You better, because I don't want you bald, you'd look so incredibly weird, and then I'd feel like I was dating Austin or something," she shuddered.

"Well, we can't have that," he said, shaking his head.

"No, we can't," she said, then collapsed on her back on the bed.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, I just have nothing to do tonight," she said sighing.

"So go out."

"Where?" she said, looking up at him.

"Shopping?" he suggested.

"But I don't want to. I went shopping yesterday remember."

"Oh yeah, and you probably bought every little thing you saw right?" he joked.

"It's not like it's your money I'm spending."

"Oh you just spend Daddy's money huh?"

"He deserves to pay for everything, after all he's put me through," she said, her mood turning sullen.

Jericho noticed it and felt bad. He knew that her father was such a sensitive subject with her, especially now. She sat there, biting her lip, willing herself not to cry. It seemed whenever someone brought up her father, her eyes would tear up and she would try valiantly not to cry. He wanted to take her mind off her dad and he racked his brain, trying to think of an idea.

"Hey, I've got a idea," he said, trying to act cheerful.

"What?" she said, wiping her eyes, trying to remain inconspicuous.

"Come with me tonight," he told her brightly.

She looked up at him in shock, "Chris, what are you talking about?"

"Come with me to Raw."

She rolled her eyes, "You know I can't."

"And why can't you?" he asked.

"Um, hello, I'm the enemy remember?"

"Yeah, I know, but we'll sneak you in."

"Chris, that's too dangerous and you'd be everywhere all night and I wouldn't have anyone to talk to, and then if I got caught it--"

"You think too much, it's a simple yes or no question baby, do you want to come with me to Raw?" he asked slowly.

She couldn't go, it would be way too crazy if she went, she couldn't risk getting caught. But then again, she never did anything daring, she was the boss now and tried to be nice and kind to everyone, "I think I will."

He smiled, "Finally, I get to sneak you in, instead of the other way around."

"That's right," she said, "Let me get dressed."

"Ok, but hurry up, we've gotta go."

"Ok, she said, pushing him out of the bedroom and closing the door. He stood there a moment, wondering why she had thrown him out of the bedroom. He shrugged and sat at one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He waited for her, wondering what was taking her so long. He looked at his watch and doing so, missed her big entrance. She cleared his throat and he looked up.

"Oh my God," he said, bursting out in laughter.

"So do I look like myself?" she asked coyly.

"Um, I want to ask why you have stuff like that in your suitcase?"

"You never know when you can't be yourself."

He shook his head and looked her over. She had decided that getting a disguise was the best way to get unnoticed at Raw. She was now decked out in a straight blond wig that fell past her shoulders, and she was wearing dark sunglasses so you couldn't see her eyes. She was wearing an outfit that she wouldn't be caught dead in now, but had seemed oh so appropriate back when she was with Jericho and before that. She had on a short leather skirt that could rival any of Stacy Keibler's skirts and a halter top that was attached with clear strings in the back so it looked like nothing was holding it on. She was also wearing leather boots that went up to mid-calf.

"Well, I think this cements it," he said.

"What?"

"I'm going to look like I'm going to the show with a hooker."

She scowled at him, "I do not look like a hooker!"

"Whatever," he said, laughing.

"Just say I'm your girlfriend."

"Ok, and what is your name going to be?"

"Hmm, well, Marie would be too obvious wouldn't it?" she said, tapping her chin with her index finger.

"Yeah."

"How about Kiki?" she said.

"Are you kidding me? I'm dating a girl named Kiki."

"Sure."

"No."

"Ok, how about Burke?"

"Burke, isn't that a little boyish?"

"Nah, I'm Burke, your girlfriend," she said proudly, changing her voice to sound higher, "Now let's go."

"Can you not talk like that when we're alone? You sound weird."

"Fine," she said in her normal voice, "Let's go."

He took her arm and together they walked out of the room. Jericho had to keep himself from laughing. Of all the half-baked ideas she had ever had, this was by far the funniest. They walked out to their rental car and he helped her into the car, making sure that her skirt didn't go up around her waist and reveal too much of her.

He got in the car himself and then drove the two of them to the arena. She picked up her purse and grabbed some gum. Giving herself a piece, she gave one to Jericho as well, feeding it to him. He glanced over at her and smiled. She started chewing her gum obnoxiously and he went back to driving. It wasn't too long before they got to the arena, and parked the car.

"Time to put on a show," Stephanie said, checking herself in the mirror.

"I guess so," Jericho said, still a little weirded out by her.

He got out of the car and ran around to her side and opened the door, helping her get out. She pulled her skirt down as he grabbed his bag for the evening. She waited for him to get his things and lock the car. They walked in together and the first person they stumbled upon was Hunter. Of all the bad luck in the world.........

"Yo Jericho, who's the chick?" Hunter said, sidling up to Stephanie.

"This is my.........girlfriend, Burke," Jericho said hesitantly.

"Oh really, this is your woman? Nice to meet you," Hunter said, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. Stephanie was about to puke.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said to him, then brought her hand up so it hit his chin, hard, "Sorry."

"Quite alright," Hunter said, rubbing his chin as Jericho tried to hold in his laughter, "You're gorgeous."

"So I've been told. Too bad my ex-husband didn't think so," she said, giggling.

"Yeah, he was a real asshole right baby?" Jericho said, smirking.

"The biggest."

"Well he was an idiot for leaving someone as beautiful as you," Hunter said winking.

"Oh, I better watch out for you, you're a sly one," she said, looking at him through her sunglasses.

"Hey Trips, I'd rather not have you hit on my girlfriend when I'm right here," Jericho said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I just can't escape the feeling that we've met before," Hunter said, "But I've never met someone named Burke."

"Too bad for you," Stephanie said, "But I've gotta go, I think my guy needs oiling up before his match.

Stephanie sauntered over to Jericho, lacing her arm through his. She turned back to Hunter as they were walking away and licked her lips seductively. Hunter's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he watched her leave, and Stephanie and Jericho knew that he was most likely staring at her ass in that too short skirt.

"You were bad back there," he whispered as they searched for Jericho's locker room.

"Serves the bastard right."

"Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all," Jericho said, kissing her cheek, "At least I can sort of show you off."

"That you can," she said smiling at him as they reached his door.

He opened it up, and let her go inside first. Closing it behind him, she took off her sunglasses and shook out her hair. It was kind of fun being a blonde for a while. She sat down gingerly on the couch and put her feet up on the table sitting in front of it.

"So what do you do before the show?" she asked.

"Hang out, find out what's I'm doing for the show."

"Fun," she said, "Are you going to find out what you're doing?"

"I'll go in a little while, or I'm sure someone will inform me of what's going on."

"Ok," she said, leaning her head back, "So you just sit here?"

"Yeah, what do you do?"

"I work."

"Well, I don't have any work, so I just hang around."

"We should go find adventure."

"No, I don't want to risk it, we're fine here," he said.

"Fine, be boring," she scoffed, putting her sunglasses back on, "I can't believe we fooled Hunter."

"I was sure he'd figure out it was you, you'd think he'd know your presence after being married to him for two years."

"Hunter's a little dense, but maybe we can fool some other people," she said mischievously.

"Like who?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Christian and Trish," she said, giving him an evil grin.

"Let's go for it!" Jericho said, pulling her off the couch, "Are you wearing your ring?"

"Of course," she said, showing it off.

"Take it off, they'll know it's you if they see it."

"Good thinking," she said, taking it off and slipping it in her purse.

They left the room and he pulled her down the hallway. First they went to find out what he was doing for the evening. Turns out all he had to do was the Highlight Reel and that wasn't until almost the very end of the show. They had plenty of time to wreak havoc before then.

They wandered the halls, looking for Christian and Trish's dressing room, "Did you know Christian won the title yesterday?"

"He did?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, he called me and told me," Jericho said.

"Oh, that's so awesome and maybe you can win the World title and then you'll both have gold," she said happily.

"I guess, but I'd much rather lose and get to be on your show," he said, kissing the tip of her nose as they reached the locker room, "I'm going to go inside first and pretend like we broke up then I'll introduce you as my new girlfriend."

She giggled and nodded, standing just outside the room. Jericho knocked on the door and moments later, Trish answered, smiling and pulling him in. He gave Stephanie a quick glimpse then entered the room. He acted like he was sad, but not too sad.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Hey what's up?" Trish said, sitting down next to Christian.

"Steph and I broke up," Jericho said, trying to look down.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Trish exclaimed, "Not again."

"No, we both thought that we didn't like the direction we were going in, it was mutual. We're just not made for each other, I think I needed someone a little more exciting and Stephanie just didn't do that for me."

"Chris, man, you're crazy," Christian said, shaking his head.

"Dude, it's cool, I already found someone new."

"Huh?" they said in unison.

"She's outside, you wanna meet her?" Jericho asked anxiously.

"Sure," Trish said dully, not believing that Jericho and Stephanie had broken up again, and what was this about a new girl.

"Great," Jericho smiled, opening the door, "Hey baby, come in."

"Baby?" Trish muttered, looking at Christian, "That's what he used to call Stephanie."

Christian just rolled his eyes as Stephanie entered the room, trying to look as sleazy and unlike herself as possible. Jericho snaked his arm around her and she flipped her hair back flirtatiously.

"This is Burke," Jericho said, introducing his new "girlfriend."

Trish couldn't believe her eyes, "Nice to meet you. You're not what we expected."

"Well, it's nice meeting Chrissy's friends, ya know, I mean, I've heard all about you guys," she said flippantly.

"Well, we've heard nothing about you," Christian said, giving Jericho a mean look.

"That's ok, plenty of time to get to know me, since me and my honey pie are going to be together for a long time, right sweetums," Stephanie said, pinching Jericho's cheek.

"Of course honeybunch," Jericho said, rubbing noses with her.

"Brooke--"Trish started.

"It's Burke," Stephanie said, acting annoyed.

"Whatever, could you give us a minute with Chris?" Trish finished testily, this woman was already getting on her nerves.

"Fine," Stephanie said, then leaned up to give Jericho a kiss with lots of tongue. He returned it eagerly, knowing he and Stephanie were taking it way over-the-top. This was fun.

Stephanie left and Trish got up and shoved Jericho, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What?" Jericho said, rubbing his chest, the girl was strong.

"She's a slut, a skank. I can't believe you gave up Stephanie for that whore!" Trish yelled.

"She's not a whore."

"Oh my God, look at her outfit!"

"I've seen you in some pretty racy outfits," Jericho countered.

"In the ring, never in public," Trish sighed, "I don't know why I try with you. You'll never learn. Fine, give up Stephanie, give it all up for that tramp. God, even her name is annoying."

"I don't care what you guys think of her, I like her a lot, I think I may even love her."

"When did you meet her?" Christian asked.

"About four years ago," Jericho said.

"Four years!?!" Christian said, shocked.

"Yeah, I work for her dad."

"You mean you worked for her dad, you work for Vince right now," Trish said exasperated.

"Baby, you can come back in," Jericho called out. Stephanie came back in the room and stood next to Jericho, "No, I work for her dad."

"You're quitting the company?" Trish said, "Or did Stephanie get you fired cause you broke up with her?"

"I didn't break up with Stephanie."

"Who's Stephanie?" Stephanie said, twisting some of her blonde hair around her finger, acting dumb.

"His girlfriend," Trish sneered.

"I thought I was your girlfriend Chrissy?" Stephanie said, pouting at him.

"Oh you are, you are," he told her, kissing her again.

"So you're cheating on her?" Christian said, "Man, that's low."

"I'm not cheating on Stephanie," Jericho said; God, these guys were dense.

"What?" Trish said.

"Nope, he's not cheating on me," Stephanie said, using her normal voice and taking off her sunglasses, "He wouldn't even dare if he knows what's good for him."

"Oh my God!" Trish yelled, "Oh my God, you guys totally had us."

Trish put a hand to her heart before getting up to go hug Stephanie. Trish pulled away, looking at Stephanie, making sure it was her and they weren't lying. After finding out it was her, Trish went and shoved Jericho playfully as Christian just sat there, his head in his hands.

"You had us fooled," Christian said, looking up, "Totally fooled."

"I can't believe you fell for it," Jericho said, slapping his back.

"Steph, what are you doing here?" Trish asked.

"Well, Chris had the idea, but I came up with the disguise."

"Well, I'm positive nobody will know it's you under there, I mean, we got duped, us, who know you."

"Her ex didn't recognize her either."

"Hunter didn't recognize you?" Trish asked incredulously.

"No, I was pretty surprised," Stephanie said.

"I hate to break this up guys, but Trish, I gotta go for my match," Christian said, "You coming?"

"Oh yeah," Trish said, "See you guys later. I can't believe we didn't realize."

"Bye," Jericho and Stephanie said, watching them go.

"Well, that was fun," Jericho said.

"It was, they were so mad. We should do this more often," she laughed.

"Let's go back to my locker room, I want to get ready for later."

"Ok," she said, holding his hand.

They left and walked back towards his locker room. Stephanie could feel the eyes on her and wondered what people thought. They probably thought that Jericho was dating some knock-out or something. It was funny, Jericho even kissed her cheek a couple times, causing a few scattered whispers among people.

When they got back into the locker room, Jericho locked the door so he could change without someone walking in. He grabbed his very silver outfit and put it on, giving Stephanie a little show, which she just sat giggling at. When he was dressed he went about primping, he wanted his hair to be perfect. He had a few things planned tonight to convince the people they should back him in this match.

"Want me to comb your hair?" Stephanie asked.

"If you want."

"It'll give me something to do."

"Ok," he said, sitting down and giving her his brush, "Make it nice."

"It is nice."

"I know, but I want it beautiful."

She laughed and started brushing his hair as he watched the television. They made some idle banter about the matches and how it was different from SmackDown. When Jericho deemed his hair done, Stephanie put down the brush and leaned against his back, still watching the television. Pretty soon the production girl was knocking on the door saying he had five minutes.

"Can I come down there?"

"You sure that's wise?" he asked.

"Well, nobody knows it's me, I just want to watch you."

"It's cool with me," he said, getting up and helping her up.

They walked down to the gorilla and he kissed her briefly before going out to do the Highlight Reel. To Stephanie this was a dream come true, getting to watch Jericho do what he did best. She had been waiting for his for so long it seemed. She didn't care if she was underneath a disguise, this was great.

Jericho walked down the ramp to the ring. He started talking about the hair vs. hair match and to be funny, he said that he would shave off his facial hair if he lost. Nobody really thought that was funny, he guessed it just went over everyone's heads or something. He went on to give some great hair flips and poses, hoping to entice the audience to back him. Although he got a lot of boos, he did hear some scattered girl's cheering. He smirked to himself. Yeah, the ladies dug him.

He brought out Nash, who had some sort of suitcase with him. He didn't know what was in it, nor did he ask or care for that matter. The two went back and forth with each other and Nash announced he had some visuals for all to see. Jericho, being a nice host, let him show the visuals. He was disgusted to see himself bald. In a weird way, he looked like Austin, Stephanie was right, it would be like dating Austin. He did NOT want to be bald after seeing that.

He and Nash argued and Nash brought out a razor, and Jericho got a bit nervous. He didn't want to lose his hair right now or ever. Seeing the only option he had was to go through with it he accepted. Then he attacked Nash before Nash could attack him. Unfortunately Nash got the better of him. Jericho felt himself get thrown out of the ring and he sat up groggily. Nash was pulling something out of his case and it did not look good. Jericho panicked when he saw the scissors and tried to get away.

Stephanie gasped, she didn't want him to lose his hair. She willed him to get away when she felt two hands on her shoulders. She gasped again, not because of Jericho, who had tried to crawl under the ring, but because she didn't know who was behind her. She turned around slowly and came into the smiling face of Hunter Hearst Helmsley. She swallowed audibly, wondering what he wanted.

"Watching your boyfriend?" Hunter asked, gesturing towards the screen.

"Um, yeah," she said softly, seeing Jericho hose down Nash.

"You're too good for him, I can tell," Hunter said, bringing his hands from her shoulders to her hands.

"No, he's too good for me," she said, and it was true.

"You need a real man."

"Who? You?"

"Yeah," he winked.

"No thanks, I'm perfectly happy," she said, trying to walk away, but Hunter wouldn't let go of her.

"But I'd make you happier. I think you're sexy Burke, and if you wanted I could show you why I'm the leader of Evolution, and why I'm the champion."

"Um, don't you have a torn groin?" she said dumbly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't show you a good time," he said smarmily.

"I don't think so."

Hunter ran his hand up her leg all the way to her thigh, "Come on, you need someone who's all man, like me."

"Leave me alone," she said, trying to get free from him.

"Hey, get your hands off her!" Jericho said as he happened upon the scene.

"Sorry, Jericho, I was just trying to have a conversation with your girl, I didn't know she'd think I was hitting on her or something," Hunter said silkily.

"Sure," Jericho said, wrapping his arm around Stephanie protectively, "Let's go baby."

"Ok," Stephanie said, giving Hunter a dirty look, which couldn't be fully appreciated since she had sunglasses on.

"Bye Burke, hope we meet again someday," Hunter said, giving her a seductive look.

When they were out of earshot, Jericho turned to Stephanie, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, he was just being his usual self," Stephanie said, trying not to look upset. She didn't need Jericho doing something rash.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can handle him, he doesn't scare me," she lied, "I'm a big girl now, I can stand up to him."

"I know," he said, kissing her forehead, "I just don't want you to have to stand up for yourself."

"And why is that?"

"Because you have me to stand up for you."

"I don't want you fighting my fights for me Chris," she reprimanded.

"Hey, I stay out of your affairs for the most part don't I? I didn't step in with the thing with Sable, or with your dad."

"No, you didn't, though if you could I'm sure you would."

"And that's a bad thing?" he asked.

"No, I just don't want you to think I can't handle things by myself."

"Baby, I know you can handle anything."

"Just making sure."

"But can Burke?"

"Hmm, I don't know, Burke's a crazy gal," Stephanie laughed, "Though we both loved what you did to Nash."

"I couldn't let him get at me with those hedge clipper things."She laughed, "God forbid one hair is out of place."

"You know me so well."

"Sometimes Chris, I think I know you too well."


	122. No More Steph in Matches, August 14, 200...

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, I'm loving them all, keep em coming, they keep me writing. :)

* * *

"So I just wanted to tell you that I won't be able to make it there tonight."

"That's ok Kurt, thanks for calling me up and telling me."

"I just didn't want to leave you in a lurch."

"You didn't, show-wise, but I'm gonna miss you," Stephanie said to him over the phone.

"Well, I'll miss you too, but I'm still a little unsteady on my feet after last week, you know how it is," Kurt told her.

"Yeah, I mean, I did take the last two weeks off."

"Yeah, you know, if you could've gotten Chris off work, you guys should've gone on vacation."

"Yeah, that's a heavenly idea, given the current circumstances surrounding the both of us," Stephanie said, "But unfortunately the both of us have things we need to always take care of."

"Sucks that you two barely get any time off."

"Yeah, but that's the life we choose to lead and we have to stick by it by any means necessary," she laughed, "Besides, in some weird way, we like it."

"I'm sure you do, so anything you plan on doing when you get back to work tonight?"

"I don't know, God knows what my dad has in store for me. You know, it's hard to believe I ever loved him in the first place, knowing what he'd do to me now."

"Yeah, but you had no way of knowing he'd turn you away for Sable of all people."

"You'd think because she tried to screw my father out of a lot of money that he would never want to screw her literally, but again I stand corrected," she sighed.

"Don't get yourself down Steph, things will look up soon. I know they will, for the both of us."

"Yeah, you need to come back and get some revenge on my dad AND Brock."

"And I look forward to the day when I get to get back at them, let me tell you," he said seriously.

"I know you do, and I hope you add in a little extra oomph for me as well," she laughed bitterly.

"Of course, you know I always got you covered."

"That's why I'm worried about tonight," she admitted.

"Why?"

"No one there to protect me in case things go awry."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine ok? Think positively," Kurt encouraged.

"I guess so," she said, letting out a deep breath.

"Where's Chris?"

"He's downstairs getting himself some aspirin, he's not feeling too well."

"Oh, that sucks, tell him I hope he feels better."

"I will," she said as she saw Jericho walk through the door, "He's here right now, so I'm gonna get going. He's driving me to the arena tonight."

"Oh, getting a little more daring are we? I mean, first with the disguise and now with him driving you."

She laughed, "We're just slowly letting ourselves get acquainted with actually being out together around other wrestlers."

"Oh, sounds like a pretty good idea, I'd say," Kurt told her, "But I'll let you tend to your boy."

"Thank you," she said demurely.

She hung up the phone and walked over to the kitchen in the room where Jericho was taking a couple aspirin with a glass of water. He had had a slight head cold the last couple days and was still trying to recover. She ran her hands up under his t-shirt and up his back. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his back.

"Feeling any better?"

"No," he told her.

"Do you want me to stay with you here tonight?" she asked, not minding if she had to miss the show.

"No, go to work, I don't want to stop you," he said, leaning his head on his arms.

"Sweetie, if you're really not feeling well, I don't mind staying with you, I really don't."

He took her arms off of him and turned around, "You're going to work."

"Wow, someone's bossy, you got a secret girlfriend coming over or something?" she joked.

"Yeah, I'm actually with Torrie Wilson."

She stuck her tongue out, "Yeah right. But if you're really ok, I guess I'll go to work."

"Now are you just offering to stay with me because you don't want to go to work, or is it because you want to stay with me?" he asked.

She frowned a little. She was slightly apprehensive about going to work tonight. She didn't know what was in store for her when she got back. Her father has sent A-Train to go after her, and she had been hurt. She didn't want to know what else her father was capable of doing to her. Not only did it hurt physically, it hurt emotionally as well, and she could feel herself start to break under the strain.

"I'm just a little worried," she said quietly, so quietly that Jericho had to strain to hear her words.

"You have nothing to worry about," Jericho said, caressing her cheek slowly and reassuringly.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you have people there who will make sure that you are safe."

"Kurt's not going tonight," she said bluntly.

"What? Why not?" he asked, concern sparking in his eyes, Kurt had always been their first line of defense.

"He's not feeling too well after that attack he suffered," she said to him.

"Oh..........then I'm not sure you should go tonight," he said uneasily.

"Oh, so if there's someone there to protect little 'ol me, then you have no problem sending me off to work, but at the prospect that I might actually have to work by myself, do something by myself, you balk at the idea? God, what do you think I am? Some kind of pansy-ass little girl, who needs a big, strong man to take care of me, well damn you Chris Jericho, I'm going to go to that show and show you and everyone else who's there, who the fuck is the boss? And it sure as hell isn't my father!"

Jericho took a step back, yikes, that was not the response that he had been expecting. He knew Stephanie was strong-willed, but obviously she thought that she was capable of handling anything that was thrown at her. And while for the most part that was true, sometimes, she needed someone's help, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

"Stephanie, baby, I'm not saying you can't handle yourself, that's not what I'm saying at all, I'm simply saying that sometimes you're put in situations where the odds are against you," he said delicately, not wanting to upset her further.

She looked down, "I'm sick of feeling sorry for myself Chris, I'm sick of other people feeling sorry for me, I'm sick of having to rely on people to help me for everything little thing. I'm just sick of it!"

Jericho looked a bit bowled over, "So do you not need me?"

Stephanie's head shot up and she immediately pulled herself to Jericho and hugged him tightly, "I will always need you, no matter what."

"Ok," he said relief pouring to him, "Well, let's get you to the arena so you can show how capable you are."

He led her out of the hotel room, darting to the elevator, lest they be seen by anyone. They got to their car and started towards the arena. Jericho drove up to the entrance, not the full entrance, because that's where all of the wrestler's parked, but on the other side of it.

"Ok, I'll call you when I'm done tonight ok?" she said, looking over at him.

"That's fine," he said.

"Now, I want you to go back to the hotel and get some rest alright?" she said sternly.

"Yes mother," he kidded.

"Shut up," she said, kissing his cheek.

She got out of the car and grabbed her bag. She blew Jericho a kiss as he drove off and walked the distance of the parking lot to the arena. She saw some fans waiting at the entrance and feeling in a pretty good mood considering, she stopped and signed a few autographs and took some pictures.

When she was through with that, she walked inside the arena and asked one of the crew where her office was located for the evening. She got pointed in the right direction and walked down the long hallways towards where it was supposed to be. She smiled as she saw her name on the door and walked in, her smile instantly fading.

"Get out of my chair," Stephanie snapped.

"Oh Stephanie, you're here, I didn't know if you would be considering you've been hiding out for the past two weeks."

"I haven't been hiding out Sable."

"Oh, so you were just too scared to come to work then."

"No, I was recovering from injuries thank you," she said, setting her bag down hard on the top of the desk, "Now get out of my chair, or I will forcibly remove from it."

"Now Stephanie, we don't want an ugly incident like we had at Vengeance do we?" Sable said, giving her a mock sympathetic look.

"Look, I don't care what you're trying to pull here, I just want to do my job, so get out!" she yelled, losing her patience.

"Fine, no need to get testy," Sable said, lifting herself out of her chair.

"Finally, though I may need to wipe down the chair now, you never know what kind of nasty germs you might have," Stephanie snarked.

"Oh, Stephanie, where do you get that sense of humor?"

"Just get out of my office Sable, I have a lot of catching up to do. It's a wonder that this show didn't fall apart when it was just my father running things."

"Well you know, he's been running things long before you came along," Sable said.

"Yeah, but who's going to be taking over once he's gone?" Stephanie shot back.

"Watch your back Stephanie," Sable warned before she left.

"Yeah, I'm so scared," Stephanie mumbled as she sat down.

She went over some of the paperwork that was sitting on her desk, wondering if anything had been taken care of while she was gone. It didn't look like it had. Her father had probably been too busy doing things with Sable to notice if the show was going to shit or not. Typical.

She was working and watching the television when she saw her father come out. Just what she needed to start off the bat, her father coming to talk to everyone and she was sure that she'd be mentioned in his little speech. Sure enough she was, and sure enough it wasn't in the sparkling light that a father should see his daughter.

She sometimes wondered, as she walked out of her office and down to the ring, what it felt like to have a father that you knew adored you and would support you no matter what you did. Her father was never like that, even when she was a little girl. Oh, yeah, he was around enough, but she never felt like she knew him. She just knew what he wanted to be happy, and she wanted to make him happy, because it was the only time he would really pay attention to her.

She wondered briefly what Jericho's father was like. He had told her all about them, his parents, and how fun they had been to be around. He said his dad wasn't around much during hockey season, but during the off-season he had always been a blast. And unlike her own father, Jericho's parents supported him in everything he did. That must be something special. Hopefully she could be integrated into that family.

She made her way to the ring and climbed inside, prepared for the battle. She told her dad what she thought of him, candidly of course. She had nothing to lose after all, her father had lost all semblance of respect for her anyways. She just didn't care about him anymore.

With Brock out there, she was a little scared, and they were actually well-founded. He grabbed her arm and she tried to wrench her arm away from her strong grip. He was squeezing her arm so tightly that she thought he would break it without getting a sweat. She was so much smaller than he was it was insane for her to try and fight him. Then her father did something horrible, she made a match with her and A-Train. She gave him a look of shock.

She couldn't fight by herself, was he crazy? Obviously, if he didn't even bat an eyelash putting her into a match like that. She slowly left the ring, still holding onto her arm, that was definitely going to leave a bruise, another one suffered directly at the hands of her father. Physical abuse, indeed, the heartless bastard, putting his own little girl in a match against a huge man like A-Train.

She didn't know how she made it back to her office, but she did. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, but she didn't want to give into them. Hadn't she cried enough for a lifetime, when did her chance at being happy come to play? The past month or so, or had it been longer, barring her and Jericho had been horrible. Her father, turned against her, her power over her roster crumbling, and she felt like she was just losing control, and she had no way of getting it back.

She knew this was a downward spiral and she didn't want to get caught up in that. But how could she stop it? She hadn't felt this low in such a long time, and she was just trying to claw her way back up. Damn her father, damn him to hell for making her feel like this.

"Now Stephanie, don't look so afraid."

She looked up and tried to keep her emotions in check, "Go away Vince."

"That's no way to talk to your father."

"You aren't my father, no father would put his daughter through what you are putting me through," she spat.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't been such a disappointment, I wouldn't have to teach you a lesson."

"Go away ok? Let me get ready for my match!" she said.

"Good luck," Vince smirked, leaving the room.

She put her arms on her desk and just rested her head on them. Why did she have to be put through this torture? She hated it, hated it with a passion. She looked up slowly and grabbed her bag. Then she took out her wrestling outfit and quickly changed into it. Might as well get ready for her fate.

She thought a nice walk might clear her thoughts, might help her gain some perspective on everything. She walked around and tried to get the nervous look off her face, but she knew that it was still there. She was nervous. She didn't have anyone to help her, nobody. She was alone in this match and with Kurt gone, she had no one to protect her. She was in so much trouble.

As she was walking she came upon A-Train and he backed her up against the wall. She tried to remain calm and placid, but it was difficult; she just wanted to get away. She felt him grab her hand and run it up and down his chest. She was disgusted, but tried not to show it. Finally, mercifully he left and she stared at him go, until he was gone from her eyesight.

Then she let the tears go. She couldn't hold them in anymore. She was so tired, so tired of being brave, of being the sane one, of being calm. She was just drained and let them out through her tears. She wanted Jericho here so bad, she wanted him on SmackDown, he would never allow this to happen. He would save her, protect her, do everything he had to do to make sure nothing ever happened to her. She was so tired.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but she knew that it was a while. She couldn't gather the strength to get up and make that walk. Just as she thought she couldn't go anymore, she saw someone's hand in front of her, offering her a hand. She looked up gratefully.

"You don't look too well," John Cena said.

"That didn't rhyme," she said giving a small laugh.

"I don't rhyme all the time," he said, not realizing he had just rhymed, "But keep it a secret."

"Ok," she sniffled.

"I just thought you might need someone to talk to or something. I may act like an ass most of the time, but what you're dad is doing to you, it just ain't cool you know?"

"Well, at least someone realizes it."

"Yeah, hey, I wasn't lying when I said that I thought about you," he winked.

She giggled, "Thanks, I'm taken though."

"Damn," he said, giving her a genuine smile, "And I was so hoping that I could take you out."

"My boyfriend would probably kill you," she said as he walked her to the gorilla.

"Nah, I'm sure I could take him."

She laughed as she thought that there was no way that he could beat up Jericho, "No, he could take you. He's a strong guy."

"Well, I'll keep my distance from you then," he said, taking a step back for comical purposes.

"Thanks John," she said gratefully as she ascended the steps to the ramp.

"Hey, you ever need anyone to talk to, don't forget our little secret."

"I won't."

She walked out into the arena, trying not to focus on Sable and Vince who she knew were mentally berating and insulting her. She just had to go out there and make the best of a bad situation. She was capable. She'd just have to fight him off as long as she possibly could, which she feared wasn't that long at all.

A-Train came down and into the ring and before she could blink, she was backed into a corner. She tried slapping him twice, to hardly any reaction and she knew she was in trouble. She couldn't fight anymore so she resigned herself to her fate. As she was preparing to be demolished, suddenly she saw someone come out to save her.

It was the same man who had told off her dad about what he had done to her at Vengeance. She had never been so happy to see the Undertaker in her life. While he was getting beaten, nobody was paying attention, so she tried to remain inconspicuous and escape injury.

She wasn't so lucky as she felt herself get pummeled and then to her worst fear, the full weight of A-Train landed on her. The pain was great and incessant. She clutched her stomach, fearing that she was injured again. It hurt, it hurt so bad. But it didn't hurt nearly as much as the mocking her father gave her after, as she lay there, broken and beaten. The bastard was making out with his girlfriend as she cried and struggled to breathe. The asshole she thought as the pain kept coming in waves and she thought she'd pass out.

She felt herself getting helped out of the ring and to the back to get checked over. She wanted to go home, she wanted Jericho, she wanted to forget her life and everything that went along with it, with a few exceptions. This was beginning to get to be too much and she didn't know how much more she could take.

She brushed off the trainers who said that she would recover soon enough and then went to her dressing room, clutching her ribs. She grabbed her phone and dialed Jericho's number, hoping his reaction wasn't too bad.

"Hello?" came his sleepy voice.

"Chris?" she said softly.

"Steph, what's the matter?"

"Did you catch the show?"

"I'm sorry sweetie, I fell asleep, I just woke up to the phone, did something happen."

"Chris, please come get me," she begged, "Please."

"Steph, what's the--"

She hung up before she could get into it. She just wanted him here so she could leave, so she could forget for a little while the fact that her father hated her, that he put her in matches hoping and cheering when she got hurt. She wanted away from it all.

She slowly walked out back, searching in desperation every car that passed, hoping the next one would be Jericho's. Finally it was and she tentatively climbed in. Jericho looked at her and immediately knew something was amiss with her. And she looked bad, not to mention she was holding her ribs.

"Stephanie, what happened?"

"Take me away from here Chris," she said, looking down.

He started driving, but kept persisting with his questions. She didn't want to tell him yet. He'd fly off the handle and she'd have to calm him down and she wasn't sure she had the strength to do that right now. But then again, he'd make her feel better.

"Daddy put me in a match with A-Train. I lost, he gave me a vaderbomb. He laughed at me and then mocked me," she said, tears making her eyes blurry so she couldn't see Jericho's reaction.

Jericho gripped the steering wheel, trying not to lose it for Stephanie's sake, "He did, did he? Are you ok baby?"

"No Chris," she said honestly, "I'm not ok."

"Do you want to go to the hospital?" he said, reaching over and running his hand gently over her midsection.

"No, I don't need the hospital."

"Then what do you need, ask and I'll give it to you."

"I'm not ok Chris. I feel like I'm slowly crumbling, like nothing is worth it anymore. I try to put on this brave front, but that's all it is, a front and I have a feeling I'm not fooling anyone."

"Sweetie, you are strong, no matter what happens to the contrary."

"I don't think I'm strong, I think you're all just seeing something in me that doesn't exist."

"No," he said resolutely, "You ARE strong and capable. I was wrong earlier when I said that you shouldn't go tonight. Because you went out there, regardless if you were scared or whatever, and you did what you had to do. And I'm proud of you."

"I'm not proud of myself," she whispered.

He took her hand and kissed it, "I'll be proud for the both of us."

"Even John Cena saw me break down. He offered to help me," she said sullenly.

"Good, get some people on your side," Jericho said, just wanting her to feel safe when she was at work.

"What does it matter? What does anything matter?"

"Steph, you're starting to scare me here," Jericho said.

She looked over at him and saw the fear and worry in his eyes. She hadn't meant to frighten him, "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" he said, glancing over at her in trepidation.

"I suppose." 

"See, it's that indecision that worries me. Promise me you won't do anything rash Stephanie."

"Chris, I want to do something rash."

"Huh?"

"I want to do something for myself, something that will make me happy, regardless of what's going on. I want something that will give me something back, make me feel like something instead of nothing."

"What is it? What do you want to do?"

"I want to get married."


	123. Yay, Chris Kept His Hair, August 18, 200...

"So she said she wanted to get married."

"When!?!"

"Last Thursday, after the show. I picked her up and she was so sad. It was breaking my heart. And it was scaring me man, seriously."

"I saw what happened to her. You know, I can't believe her father would put her through that."

"He's scum. You didn't see her though, in that car. It was like she wasn't even Stephanie."

"And she asked you to marry her?" Christian asked as they sat out on the balcony of Christian and Trish's room.

"Yeah, talk about surprises, she said that she felt empty and wanted to do something rash, something she wanted to do for once, and then she sprung it on me."

"Dude, she meant like soon right, like within the next month?" Christian said.

Jericho shook his head, "She wanted to fly to Vegas on Friday and get married Friday night."

"Holy shit, what'd you do?"

Jericho sat there and looked out into the distance. Stephanie had been scaring him on Thursday night. When she sprang her little wedding idea on him, he hadn't known what to do. She was asking him for all the wrong reasons, but he'd be a fool if part of him didn't want to agree with her and go get married, wouldn't that be a nice surprise. He chuckled at the thought.

"I thought about it," Jericho said nonchalantly.

"You mean, you actually thought about it?"

"Dude, of course I did, do you think I'm crazy? I mean, I've been with Stephanie for a year now, I think that marriage is in the cards considering."

"So what happened next?"

Jericho held up his left hand, which Christian only just noticed had a thick gold band on it. Christian's eyes widened, looking from the ring to Jericho, back to the ring, then back to Jericho again. Christian tried to open his mouth to speak, but no words were coming forth.

Finally, he found his voice, "You got married!?!"

"What do you think?"

"You got married!" Christian exclaimed, "Oh my God, you got married!"

Jericho laughed, "We didn't get married."

"What?" Christian said, looking up at him, another look of shock on his face.

"We didn't get married," he repeated.

"Then what's with the ring?"

"We ALMOST got married, I'm talking almost down the altar married."

"Dude, what the hell happened?"

"Well, we flew to Vegas, I mean, I would be crazy not to marry her, you know. We got there, we went to a fancy jewelry store, picked out matching wedding bands, well, hers have a bunch of diamonds on them, then we picked a place to get married. We got there, took one look at each other, and knew it wasn't the right time," Jericho explained.

"Well, that's a lot of work to not get married."

"I couldn't do it, even if she still wanted to. She just wanted to get married because it would make her feel better, and that's not the right reason. But you know, it's no biggie."

"So why are you wearing the ring?"

"To freak you out, and you know, makes us that much more official."

"You know Trish is probably freaking out by this news."

"Yeah, I know."

"And we both want all our family and friends to be there."

"Yeah, she's already had one shitty wedding," Christian said, nodding his head as he thought about her other wedding.

Jericho reflected for a moment, "Yeah, and I don't want her to regret our nuptials."

"Good idea, why don't you say we go down to where the ladies are and get Trish so we can go to the show," Christian suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Jericho said, getting up.

The two men left the room and went up three floors to where Jericho and Stephanie's suite was. They disembarked from the elevator and walked over to the room. They could hear the giggling all the way from the outside.

"How is Steph by the way?" Christian asked as Jericho searched for the key.

"She's better, she talked to her mom and Shane and she's much better. It helps they know what she's going through."

"Yeah, that's good, I didn't want her to still be down in the dumps."

"After the weekend we had," Jericho winked at his friend, "Her mood changed."

"Dude, spare me ok?" Christian said, fake gagging.

Jericho laughed and opened the door. Trish and Stephanie were sitting on one of the large, leather couches and Trish was examining Stephanie's wedding band. They looked up as they saw the door open and Stephanie gave Jericho a huge grin as Trish ran over to Christian, throwing her arms around him.

"Did you see what Stephanie and Chris got?" she asked.

"Sure did."

Jericho walked over to sit next to Stephanie, "Christian was shocked about the ring, what about Trish?"

"I'm surprised you didn't hear the scream from your room," Stephanie laughed.

"Well, you don't just spring that on someone," Trish said, turning to the two of them, her arms still around Christian's waist, "I mean, that could give someone a heart attack."

Jericho shook his head, "Just don't tell anyone, we want to give them the kind of surprise we gave you."

"We won't," they said.

"You ready to go though," Christian said.

"Yeah," Jericho said, then turned to Stephanie, "I'll see you later."

"Hey you two," she said to Christian and Trish, "Can you give us a second?"

"Of course," Trish said, already pulling Christian out of the room, "We'll be in the lobby."

"Ok, thanks," Stephanie said as they closed the door, then she turned to Chris, a serious expression on her face, "Please, please be careful tonight."

"I will, don't worry, I've got it covered."

"I know, but please, just wrestle your heart out," she said, running her hand through his hair, it might be the last time she got to do that.

"I will, ok, I will win, I keep saying it and you never believe me."

"I know, and I should, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Well, I will, you'll win, but in case you need help," she said, then went to her bag. She rooted through a few things before pulling something out, she looked at it a second then brought it back over to where Jericho was waiting, "Take these."

Jericho looked down at them a moment, then looked up at her, "Brass knuckles."

"I don't want you losing a single hair on that head, do you hear me Chris Jericho," she said sternly, her hands on her hips.

"I hear you," he saluted, and put the knuckles in his pocket, "And if need be, I'll use them to win."

"Good and remember, it's not cheating if you don't get caught."

He kissed her deeply, running a hand down her cheek, "I'll remember."

She smiled as he got off the couch and grabbed his things. He gave her another little salute, then left the room. He went down to the lobby to meet with his friends and then head to the arena. He met up with them in the lobby and they all walked out to their cars. Jericho climbed in his and drove to the arena.

It was some time later, and Jericho was sitting in his dressing room, wondering why the hell Shawn Michaels was his guest on the Highlight Reel. He supposed it was because of the last Elimination Chamber, but didn't they realize he was being put in a hair vs. hair match and needed time to prepare, and God forbid, bid a fond farewell to his golden locks.

He tried to think of ways to get out of the Highlight Reel, but all his ideas were coming up fruitless. How could he get out of his own show? They couldn't cancel the segment, that would leave the production team in a lurch. Luckily his answer came a few moments later when Evolution barged into his dressing room. Annoyed at first, he glared up at Hunter.

"Don't you ever knock?" he asked, perturbed by the intrusion.

"Do we need to?" Hunter said.

"When it's my dressing room, yeah," Jericho said.

"I wanted to talk to you Jericho."

"So talk," Jericho shrugged, preparing to tune the man out as soon as the words hit his lips.

"Close the door Randy," Hunter said. Randy obediently closed it, "I want to talk about your girlfriend."

Jericho looked down, stupid asshole, "What about her?"

"You still with her?"

"Yes," Jericho said, annoyed now.

"I like her. If you're willing to give her up, I'll make it very worth your while. Like the championship."

"You, YOU of all people would be willing to throw a match. For a woman?" Jericho asked incredulously.

"Not just a woman. You're woman, she's amazing, hot, sexy, and I know she wants me," Hunter said, trying to act smooth.

Jericho laughed out loud. No, this was not happening. Hunter was an idiot, a huge idiot. Did he have no inkling whatsoever that the woman that came with him last week was Stephanie? He couldn't believe how out of his way he was willing to go for this girl he met for like five minutes.

"What makes you think I would even consider it."

"The gold Jericho, the gold."

"You think that I would give up the woman that I love, the woman that I care about, for a big gold belt?" Jericho asked, wondering if Hunter was actually serious.

"Come on, this, this is power," Hunter said, patting the belt.

"But I love my girlfriend," Jericho thought for a moment, thinking about what he still had on his finger, "Wait, silly me, she's not my girlfriend, she's my wife. That takes a while to get used to."

"Your wife," Hunter said, his jaw almost dropping to the ground.

"Yeah."

Jericho held up his hand, which still had the band on it. He had just beat Hunter at this lame game and it felt pretty good if you asked him. The look on Hunter's face was priceless enough. He could almost imagine the day when he got to tell Hunter that that girl, well, it was Stephanie. The look on his face then, well that was sure to be worth waiting for.

"Sorry," Jericho said, grinning, "We got married on Friday. Spur of the moment thing, you understand."

"Yeah," Hunter said, trying to save face.

"Yeah, so you can keep your gold all you want. Here, as a consolation, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," he said, an idea forming in his brain, "You can host the Highlight Reel tonight."

"Why would we want to do that?" Hunter asked.

"Well, Michael's is my guest."

"So?" Randy piped in.

"Think of it this way.........if Shawn comes in, Nash is sure to follow, which means Goldberg will want to come down and you can beat on your opponents this Sunday," Jericho explained, making the plan sound enticing.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Hunter said, "I like it, I think we'll take you up on that."

"Fine, just give me like five minutes at the top of the show and then I'll bring you out."

"What are you getting out of this Jericho?" Flair asked suspiciously.

"Nothing at all," Jericho shook his head.

"Fine, we'll see you in a while," Hunter said, getting up.

Jericho watched them go and just looked at the door after they left. Hunter thought he was the best, but sometimes he could be so dense it was unbelievable. Did he really think that he was inviting Evolution on his show because he was nice? At least Flair had the smarts to ask if he was up to something. Hunter was too trusting, much too trusting.

He got ready for the show and combed his hair out, making it look just right. He was about to walk out when he remember he was still wearing his wedding band, well, kind of wedding band. He took it off and put it in his wallet for safe-keeping before walking out to the ring.

He started off the show talking about how he wasn't losing his hair tonight, which he didn't plan to do. Then it was time to delve into a more serious subject, the championship. He discussed how much he wanted it, which was true, to a certain extent, but he had to set up HBK in some fashion. Finally he had spent enough time introducing HBK, so he brought him out.

He talked for a few more minutes before deciding to take his leave. He introduced Evolution and as they were walking down the ramp he made his quick escape. Time to go see if his little plan worked. He stayed by the monitors wanting to see the action as it happened.

And happen it did. Just like he had wanted it to. All those idiots fighting in the ring and him backstage safe as can be, this was how it should be. God, none of them figured out he was setting them up for this. He smirked in good fortune and walked down the hallway to prepare for his match. Tonight was going well, he only hoped he could ride this momentum into his match with Nash.

"Hey Chris," Molly said as she walked up to him, "I wanted to wish you luck in your match tonight."

"Thanks," he smiled, "Anything to keep the hair."

She laughed, "I heard a rumor about you just now."

"Really? A rumor?" he said, a bit perplexed as to what she could be talking about. He hadn't done anything had he? If he did he must not remember what it was.

"Yeah, so I guess I should give you a congratulations," she said happily.

"What for?"

"Your marriage!" she said as if it were the most obvious answer of all.

"What!"

"Yeah, it's been going around."

He couldn't believe what blabbermouths Evolution were. They couldn't keep their mouths shut for two seconds. He shook his head, now everyone was going to think he married this Burke character. Now how was he going to explain Stephanie when the time came? He was always getting into messes like this. He had to decide quickly what he wanted to do.

"Yeah," he said, just going with the flow, "We eloped."

"I'm happy for you," she smiled.

"Thanks Mol, good luck in your title defense. Trish is tough."

"Yeah, I know, but I plan to keep the title," she said, grinning at him, "You should bring your wife to the shows sometime, I'd love to meet her."

"I'll have to ask her.........Um I have to go call my.........wife."

"Kay, bye Chris."

"Bye."

He walked down the hallway to Christian's locker room and let himself inside, "Everyone thinks I'm married!"

"Huh?"

"Hunter wanted me to swap 'Burke' for the title, I had to come up with something!" he exclaimed.

"So you said you were married!?!" Christian cried, almost falling out of his chair.

"Yeah, this is great."

"What are you planning on doing?"

"I don't know, go with the flow," Jericho shrugged.

"I guess man," Christian said, equally confused.

"Damn, I gotta go do damage control. I have a huge match!"

Jericho left and walked to his own locker room, getting stopped by nearly everyone. They were all giving their congratulations and happy wishes to him on his marriage. In a strange way, this felt pretty good. Being married was kind of fun. Even the people who hated him, were congratulating him. He let himself bask in it for a moment.

He went back to his locker room and huge grin on his face. He could get used to this marriage stuff. He sat down and tried to mentally prepare himself for his match, but his mind kept going back to getting married. Maybe they should've gotten married. Nah, he thought, it wasn't the right time at all.

It was finally time for his match and he could feel the butterflies fluttering around his stomach. He had never really had short hair, it had all been spent growing his long hair. He couldn't bear to part with it. It was only now that he realized what a mistake this cold be for him. He really was an idiot. He packed the brass knuckles in his tights in case he needed them, he hoped he wouldn't, but you never know.

He walked out for his match, hoping that this would end up ok. Nash came down and the match was on. Jericho wasn't fighting for just him, he was fighting for his image. He put up a valiant fight as the match went back and forth. At times he was sure he was going to lose, but he managed to get that shoulder up before the third count. He had to keep going.

He kept wrestling, trying to gain an advantage, even when he had the distinct height disadvantage. He had to win and a couple times he thought he had, but damn it, he didn't. That's when he knew he had to do it, he couldn't do this for much longer. He had to make sure he won. With a low-blow Nash was on the ground. Jericho reached deep and produced the brass knuckles that Stephanie had given him. One punch later, he was home-free.

He was so relieved it was over, he stood there a moment, before rushing out of the ring to grab some scissors. He went at Nash's hair like a madman, cutting every strand he could see. He wanted to make sure Nash knew who won. He was so damn relieved he wasn't thinking straight.

When he was done, he ran out of the ring, Nash's hair still in his hand. He was in such relief that he just went crazy as he went up the ramp, kissing the hair, playing with it, acting like a dope. He ran backstage, jumping up and down. He ran past everyone and to his dressing room, collapsing against the couch in happiness.

He lay there for a long time before he decided to take a shower, seeing as how the show was almost over. He took a nice, long shower, washing his hair out, glad he still had it to wash. He got out, drying it and changing into some street clothes. He saw the screen and decided now would be a good time to go out there.

He ran out there, decimating whomever he saw. It ended up being him alone on the ramp, and he grabbed the belt. He wanted it, he wanted it bad. Even more so though, he wanted the title that was on SmackDown, but that would come later. Riding his high all the way into the night he went backstage, grabbed his things and headed back to the hotel.

"Steph!" he called out happily as he arrived.

She didn't answer him.

"Stephy!" he called again.

She came in from the dining area, her face ashen. Jericho immediately sensed something was amiss with her, and walked over. He feared it was something like last Thursday and took her in his arms.

"Bischoff forced a kiss on my mom," she said, disgust permeating every word.

"He what? But your mom is at your parent's house."

"I know, he went there and forced a kiss on her. Shane.........so angry," she said in disjointed words, "It was awful."

"Oh, that bastard!" Jericho muttered.

"I know, Shane, he's crazy, I called him, he's pissed," she said, looking up at him, "I don't blame him."

"I didn't even see Shane tonight," Jericho said.

"Yeah, he ran off, I think he's going home," she said, sitting down, "But forget about that, you won!"

Jericho was glad to see her mood change, "I did!"

"I'm so relieved."

"Me too, but guess what else happened tonight?"

"What?" she asked anxiously.

"Everyone thinks I'm married to Burke."

She laughed loudly, "But why? Oh, the ring."

"Yeah, the ring," he said, "And Hunter's big mouth."

"Hunter?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to trade Burke for the belt--"

"You're kidding me?" she said, her jaw dropping.

"No, so I had to tell him I was married, and he spread it around, so now they all think I'm married," he chuckled.

"What do people think?"

"I got tons of congratulations."

"You did?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, kissing her, "It was kind of fun."

"I'm sure it was."

"I'm glad we didn't though," he told her, "When I marry you I want it to be for the right reasons, not because you're upset."

"I want that too," she smiled.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure it'll happen soon enough."


	124. Got No Title, August 21, 2003

"So you're not coming tonight?"

"No, Chris and I decided to take a little vacation, I mean we deserve one, don't you think?"

"Yeah, if anyone deserves a vacation it's you guys," Kurt said, "But how are you going to get the night off."

"I just called and said I was injured. I figure it's a valid enough excuse to use. I mean, if I can do it, why not right?"

"Yeah, you're right, of course."

She laughed, "You know I'm always right."

"So where are you calling me from? Some exotic locale?"

"No, we just made a trip out to California, soaking up some southern California sun over here. And it's just a hop, skip and a jump over to Arizona for the Pay-per-view. Not to mention, it's about as far away as we could get from my stupid father and my stupid family issues," Stephanie said, practically spitting out her words.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea to get away," Kurt quieted for a moment, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there last week, I know I've apologized like a million times--"

"Which was like a million times too many," Stephanie cut him off.

"Yeah, but I mean, you got hurt."

"Everyone gets hurt at some point Kurt, and last week was just my turn I guess," she said to him, "I mean, you can't be my bodyguard all the time."

"Yeah, but you could've gotten really hurt and I didn't want that to happen. I was supposed to be the one who watched out for you at shows."

"And you do," she reassured him, "Last week you just weren't there, it happens, shit happens."

"But you've gone through too much it seems."

"But look at me, I'm still here, I'm still going strong. I think I have you and Chris, and all our friends to thank for that. You guys keep me strong. You're my best friend Kurt," she said seriously, "You would never let me hurt if you could have the chance to make that true."

"You're right. So Edge told me that you were pretty upset after the show last week."

"I was, you could say I was bordering on crazy," she said, sighing a bit as she remembered how upset she had been. Upset to the point where she was starting to scare Jericho.

"I don't blame you."

"Chris and I almost did something stupid," she told him.

"What? Don't tell me you were going to reveal to the world and your father in particular that you two were serious about each other," Kurt chuckled.

"Worse," she said.

"Worse than that? God, what, you were going to Hunter's house to tell him personally then make out with Chris in front of him," Kurt said, still chuckling.

"We almost got married," Stephanie said blandly.

Kurt almost dropped the phone in surprise. Of all the things she could've said that were pretty crazy, marriage was not one of the things he thought about. Married, the two of them..........on short notice. That would never fly and they would both regret that to the very end of their days.

"You're kidding me right?" Kurt said, thinking this was a joke, it had to be.

"No, we weren't. We went to Vegas, got the rings, then came to our fucking senses," she laughed.

"You two are crazy, seriously out of your mind crazy," Kurt said.

"But we didn't, so it's all good," Stephanie said, "Besides, we'd want you all there for when we do get hitched."

"I better be there or you'll be sorry."

"Oh really, why is that? Because you'd miss the wedding of your two bestest friends in the whole wide world?" she asked sweetly.

"No, weddings are always the best places to meet chicks."

She laughed on the other end. Kurt checked his watch. The show would be starting in a short while and he wanted to make sure he was on the top of the show. He had a little discussing to do with McMahon and Brock Lesnar. If they thought he was going to put up with their shit, they were dead wrong.

"I think you're father has it out for me because I would give up the information I had about you," Kurt said to her.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was the exact reason. He's always been one to hold a grudge for stupid reasons."

"I don't regret not telling him, even if means that I got my ass kicked."

"You did the right thing."

"Well, I'm going to go do the right thing right now and go talk about my former friend," Kurt said, getting up from his place.

"Good luck Kurt."

"You have fun with Chris."

He hung up and adjusted his jacket. Loosening up a little bit he thought about what he wanted to say when he got out there. There was so much he wanted to say, and not enough time to do it in. He never should've thought that Brock was really his friend. When there was something as important as the belt in the picture, it could never end well, that was just common sense.

He left his locker room and walked resolutely down to the ring. He was ready to tell Brock and Vince just what he thought of them, consequences be damned. He could handle anything they wanted to throw at him. He was better than everyone here and he knew it. He was better than Brock, he knew that for sure, Brock didn't have any gold medals did he? No, he didn't think so.

He went out there and told Brock what he thought of him, and what he thought about the situation. He tried not to leave anything out, but not show just how angry he was. It would be no use to show how irate he really was. It would only fuel up Brock and Vince, thinking they could get to him. He wasn't going to let that happen.

Of course, that plan was soon decimated as Vince himself made his way out. He looked at him with contempt, not just for himself, but as a sort of representative for the entire McMahon family. He figured they were all pretty upset with the patriarch of the McMahon family, with good reason of course.

Kurt argued with Vince for a while, hating the man. Hating him even more when he threatened to strip the title from him and suspending him, and even firing him. Typical of him to wuss out when he was faced with some sort of challenge. He took the pussy way out, threatening to take away something Kurt had worked very, very hard for. Oh, how he would love to get his hands on Vince McMahon. Just for a few minutes, just enough for Vince to get a taste of his own medicine.

Kurt finally gave up at trying to get at the owner of the company and his newest lackey. He'd get his hands on Brock this Sunday and he was sure that he would come out the victor. Of course, he had bigger worries later on tonight, literally. He was going to be facing Big Show. Too bad he didn't want a match. He wanted to kick someone's ass. He went after Big Show and managed to get him down before he was pulled away from him. He struggled to get free, but was eventually escorted backstage by some of the referees.

Finally struggling free he walked away, disgust and anger boiling up inside him. He was so angry at Vince, for so many different reasons. For getting Brock to turn on him, for getting revenge because he would reveal information on Stephanie, for having Stephanie get hurt, for so many things that he did in the past that he got no comeuppance for.

Kurt stalked around backstage, trying to calm down. It did him no good to be harboring these feelings of ill-will. It would only consume him and then he might do something he regretted. Much like Stephanie had done when she wanted to whisk away and get married to Jericho on a whim.

"Hey Kurt."

Kurt looked up and saw John Cena, and said irritated, "What?"

"You're friends with Stephanie right?" the young man said, coming up to him.

"Yeah, I am," Kurt said, wondering why John Cena, of all people, was asking him these questions.

"I wanted to know how she was," Cena said, "I mean, after last week when I found her, and then she got attacked and beaten by A-Train, I was hoping that she'd be here tonight so I could ask her how she was."

"She'll be ok," Kurt said, "What happened last week with you two?"

"Oh, not much," he shrugged, "I just saw her all upset and shit and tried to help her out ya know, be a good human being or something."

"Oh," Kurt said, feeling another pang of guilt that he hadn't been with Stephanie last week and she had to resort to getting comfort from people who she barely knew, "Well, she's ok, she's still a little injured and taking a few days off."

"Cool, cool," Cena nodded, "I just wanted to make sure she was good you know, not hurt or nothin'."

Kurt looked at the other man. He had a feeling it was a bit more complicated than that, at least on Cena's end. It seemed that he had a crush or something on Stephanie. He certainly didn't blame him, since he himself had had a crush on her once upon a time, even trying to win her away from her husband. He knew Stephanie never realized he wanted, really wanted to be more than friends with her, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been attracted to her.

"Is that the only reason you wanted to ask how she was?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Well, I mean, I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't too upset after her father treated her like shit, you know, I mean, she's a good kid and all that."

"She's older than you," Kurt pointed out, not getting that Cena was speaking in a general sense.

"Yeah, I know man, I was just sayin, you know, she seemed pretty upset last week. When I saw her that is."

"She was, this whole thing has her pretty upset, but she'll pull through, she's a really strong person."

Cena just nodded.

"You have a crush on her don't you?" Kurt said, smirking at him.

"What?" Cena said quickly, "No, no, just a concerned citizen."

"No, I think you have a crush on her," Kurt insisted.

Cena shrugged his shoulders and looked away, totally giving it away to Kurt that he did. He found it kind of funny actually. Stephanie did seem to have this thing about her. It might be that element of surprise that she had about her. She could do one thing one moment and then turn around and do something completely different. She kept you on your toes.

"I don't blame you if you do," Kurt said.

"She's taken, I wouldn't have a chance with her," Cena shrugged.

"Yeah, she's really into her boyfriend," Kurt said, not wanting the young man to get his hopes up. Stephanie and Jericho were joined at the hip most of the time.

"So they're serious, I really didn't get the specs on it," Cena said, and Kurt could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah, they're like two minutes away from getting engaged."

"Cool, well, I don't know, maybe she could use a friend."

"Yeah, you know, she can never have too many of those."

"Yeah, well see ya, tell her I said to feel better."

"I will, don't worry," Kurt said.

Cena walked away and Kurt held in his laughter. Wait until Stephanie heard this one. She'd never believe that John Cena had a crush on her. It was almost preposterous, what with all the differences between the two of them. But then he figured Jericho and Stephanie were different too.

He went back to his locker room, not wanting to run into Brock or Vince in the hallway, they would only provoke him and he was much too unstable right now to refrain from wasting their asses. And he was so amused by Cena that he might as well try to keep the good mood for a short while.

He contemplated calling Stephanie. He thought it might be funny to let her know what had been going down on the show. He knew that the west coast wouldn't be getting the show for a few hours. She might want to know what was up. He dialed her cell phone and hoped that she was there to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Jericho?"

"Yeah, this is Chris."

"Um, what are you doing answering Stephanie's cell phone?"

"I saw your name on display, what's up?"

"Oh, is Stephanie there?"

"No, she's actually down on the beach, I just came up to grab a couple of things, you're lucky you caught me, anything you wanted?"

"No, not much, I just wanted to let her know how the show was going."

"Oh, anything in particular I should tell her?"

"Um, I'm in a street fight with Big Show and her dad is an asshole."

"So not so much," Jericho laughed.

"No, not much, just tell her I said hi and hope she's having fun..........Oh, and John Cena told me to tell her to feel better," Kurt said, awaiting Jericho's reaction.

"Oh, really, well, I'll tell her then, see ya," Jericho said, without batting an eyelash.

Kurt was pretty surprised by Jericho's reaction. Stephanie must've told him that Cena had helped her last week. He shrugged and got up to get dressed. Then maybe he'd take another walk around to help him mentally prepare for his match.

His walk was pretty uneventful until he saw someone from the Raw roster walking out of what appeared to be Chris Benoit's locker room. He walked over nonchalantly, surprised by the new face roaming the hallways. It was so rare when he saw a face he hadn't seen a million times before.

"Hey, you're not on this show," Kurt said, walking up to her.

"No, but I came to visit Chris, I met him a while ago," she explained.

"That's nice, it's just so unusual when we see a new face around here," he told her.

"I hope I'm not breaking any rules, I don't exactly know how this brand split situation works," she laughed.

Kurt found himself laughing as well, "Neither do most of us, it's like, can we associate with the other side or are they dubbed the 'enemy' or something?"

"I don't see anything wrong with it, I mean, ultimately we all work for the same company right?" she said, as Kurt saw they were walking down the hallway, destination unknown.

"Yeah, I don't believe we've actually met, I'm Kurt Angle," he said, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

"Of course I know who you are," she told him, shaking his hand firmly, "You're only the WWE champion. I'm Gail Kim."

"Nice to meet you Gail. You've been pretty impressive in the women's division. Winning the title in your first match, that's gotta be a good boost to your ego."

"Well, it was nice to come in and make an impact. Of course when you lose it all you want is to get it back.........."

"And it's so frustrating when you can't," he finished, smiling at her.

"Exactly, but you must know what I mean, being a multiple winner like you are."

"Yeah, but it's not that easy when you have the title, cause then you have to defend it with your life."

She laughed and Kurt thought about how much he liked it. It was kind of bubbly, but not so much so that it became annoying. This was the first time he had ever met her, but he really felt at ease with her, like they were just a couple of old friends shooting the breeze if you will.

"So how is it over there on Raw, everyone treating you nicely?" Kurt asked.

"For the most part I guess. I mean, I haven't really gotten to socialize all that much, but from what I can tell, most everyone is friendly."

"Yeah, I have friends over there, they like it," Kurt told her.

"Oh, like who?" she asked, looking over at him.

"Chris Jericho and Christian," Kurt answered.

"They seem like really arrogant guys. I met Chris a while back, a long time ago actually, but now they seem like jerks."

"Nah, it's just how they like to come across," Kurt explained, "There nice, you should hang out with them. Of course, Christian is dating Trish so you might now want to hang out with him if she's there, I mean, with the rivalry and all that," he said, trailing off, feeling like he was making a fool out of himself.

"Might be good to get some friends over there instead of being a loner. But do you have any friends on this show or are you all alone?"

"Yeah, I have friends, well, pretty much Stephanie McMahon," he laughed, "She's about it of the current active roster."

"I always thought you guys were dating," she told him, "I always got that impression from watching you two."

"Oh, no way!" he exclaimed, not sure why he had to assert that so much, "We're just best friends."

"Oh," she said, a small smile creeping up on her face, "That's nice."

"She's very much taken...........not by me!"

She laughed again, and Kurt still had not heard enough of it, it still made him smile uncontrollably. They chit-chatted for a little while about wrestling moves before he wondered about the time and she looked at her watch to check. He hadn't realized it, but they had been walking for about a half an hour and it was now time for his match. He couldn't believe that he had spent so much time talking to her.

"I've got a match to go to," he said hurriedly.

"I must've been taking up all your time," she said apologetically.

"No, it was nice, I didn't have anyone else to talk to tonight," he assured her.

"Well good luck in your match," she smiled.

"Yeah," he said, wanting to ask for her number or something but his match really was like right that second, "Bye!"

He raced away towards the gorilla, glancing back at her once before getting there. He raced out in time for his music to hit and made his way down to the ring, still on a high after talking to the Raw diva. He and the Big Show got started immediately when they were both down there.

At first Big Show had the obvious upper-hand and things looked bleak for him. But he managed to fight his way back and get the offensive. For the most part the match went back and forth between them and that was the best Kurt could've hoped for against Big Show. The man was huge and therefore hard to get a move on, but Kurt just had to suck it up and finish out the match.

He thought he had it won on several occasions, especially when he locked on the anklelock on the outside of the ring, but must to his dismay he didn't get the Big Show to tap. So he trudged on, and fought his way to the victory. He knew he could do it, it was just a matter of wearing down his opponent.

AS he got up he heard Brock's music playing and he turned to the ramp, seeing the man come out from the back. He stared at him from the ring, shooting daggers at him, daring him to come down and fight him. The coward didn't take the bait, but Kurt just kept staring at him. This Sunday, he was going to kick Brock Lesnar's ass and he was going to have a grand 'ole time doing it.

He grabbed his belt and went backstage, not using the ramp, but going the longer way. As he walked backstage he looked at the floor, not wanting to grab anyone's attention right now, lest he go into an angry rage that could not end up good for anyone involved. He tried to focus on happy things, things that would calm him down.

He just had to be patient to get his revenge. This fight was personal now. It went beyond the belt, he had been betrayed and lied to, and he wasn't going to tolerate that. He just had to wait for SummerSlam and then he'd right the wrongs that had been presented to him. He just had to calm down and wait long enough for that to happen. Think happy thoughts. For some reason the first thought that popped into his head was the image of a laughing Gail Kim.

A big grin appeared on his face.


	125. Ha, H in Bike Shorts, SummerSlam, August...

A/N: Thank you guys who still review the fic, I'm so glad so many of you still read this fic and I hope that you will continue to in the future. :)

* * *

"Someone has a crush on you," he said teasingly.

"Who?" she asked.

"I don't think I'm at liberty to say," Kurt said, pretending to zip up his mouth.

Stephanie turned her head towards him, a curious look on her face. He gave her a knowing look, one filled with arrogance and it bugged her to no end. She hated being in the dark about things, especially things concerning her. She put down her hair brush and leisurely leaned on the tabletop, folding her arms, her face in a tell-tale scowl. She wasn't happy he was concealing information from her.

"Tell me," she demanded.

"Now Stephy dear, don't get all pushy with me," Kurt joked.

She looked at him sternly, "Tell me please."

"That's it? A simple please?"

"With a cherry on top," she said sweetly.

"Hmm..........I'll think about it."

She pouted at him pathetically, "Come on Kurt. I'm not going to offer you my body or anything, so you might as well tell me."

"I guess, but only because you are my best friend," he told her, giving her a coy smile.

She rolled her eyes at his attempt to be cute, "Funny Kurt, now dish."

Kurt took his sweet time, first looking down at his belt that he had in his lap, then looking around the room, his eyes settling on the clock in the corner, looking to see how much time they had before the show started. They had plenty of time before it started, so Kurt was going to let her stew a little more before he told her the information he was able to pry away from John Cena at last week's SmackDown.

Then he looked over at Stephanie and knew he better give up the information soon or that look she was giving him, he would drop dead in about two minutes. He didn't know why, but Stephanie's looks could melt glaciers they were so full of hate and passion. And this time, they were directed at him. He gulped audibly.

"Ok, ok, I'll tell you," he paused, "John Cena."

"Well, duh, I knew that," Stephanie said, disappointed this wasn't the juicy bit of gossip she had hoped for.

"Wait," Kurt said surprised, "You KNOW he has a crush on you?"

"Yes, I know, he told me he thought about me and would've liked to have taken me out if I weren't taken already," she said nonchalantly, turning back to her mirror to apply some makeup.

"And what does boyfriend/almost husband think about this?" Kurt asked, "Or does he not know?"

"What are you implying?" she asked, looking at him through the mirror.

"As I recall, he broke up with you because you withheld information about a certain Charlie Haas."

She stuck her tongue out at him, "He knows, I told him. He doesn't really care. And why should he? It's not like I'm going to leave him for Cena or anything."

"Just making sure," he said, rolling his eyes, "I'm starting to wonder why I ever agreed to share a locker room with you."

"Because 1. you wanted to protect me from anyone and 2. because there aren't enough locker rooms for everyone."

"And why is that?"

She smiled, "You know why, because it's a joint show."

"Is that a smile I detect on fair Stephanie's face?" he said, taking in the way she was trying to hide her smile, though she was not doing a great job of hiding it.

"Go away Kurt," she kidded, "Better yet, I'm going to go, I'm gonna go sneak in to see Chris."

"Ok, how's he taking this match tonight?"

"I think he's been too worried about me to care about it," she shrugged.

She smiled at him before exiting the room. She wandered down the hallway, reveling in the feel of knowing that Jericho was in the building and he was allowed to be there. It had been much, much too long since they had been on the same show. She rounded the corner and almost threw up at the sight that greeted her.

She looked on in disgust as her father made out with Sable against the wall of the hallway. If this had been a week ago, her eyes would've welled up in tears, but she had way too many things to be thankful for to let something like this get to her. She walked past them, with her head down, hoping they wouldn't notice her. Unfortunately, they did.

"Stephanie, so lovely to see you," Sable said in a sugary sweet voice that hid the snake underneath.

Stephanie continued walking, not wanting to listen to the two of them anymore, or ever again. Just a few more feet and they'd be out of earshot.

"It's nice to see you aren't seriously injured," Sable said in that voice again.

Stephanie whirled around, fire in her eyes, "No thanks to you two. You'd rather see me pummeled, laying in a pool of my own blood!"

"Now that's a sight," Sable said, looking at Vince wickedly.

"You make me sick."

"Oh poor Stephanie, she's getting all worked up because I've bested her twice now. You hear that Vince, she's just upset that she's not Daddy's little girl anymore."

"I don't care about that!" she practically yelled, "I don't care about him anymore, he means nothing to me."

Vince stared at her, "If that's the way you feel, so be it, maybe you'd like to be written out of the will."

"Like I care," she spat, "Like I wouldn't be able to go on without you or your money, I can make it without you Father."

"I'd like to see you try," he shot back.

She felt the anger rising up inside her. She wanted to rear her hand back and not just slap Vince, but punch him straight on, show him what pain really was. She had been hurt physically and emotionally by him and he got no comeuppance in return, nothing.

"You're a sorry old man," Stephanie said, her voice low with fury, "You are going to end up alone. Nobody is going to care about you, nobody is going to love you and you will be alone. And nobody will care Dad, nobody will care because you alienated everyone who ever loved you. I hope you wake up one morning and realize all the things you lost, and I hope that when that day comes I'm there to see it so I can laugh in your filthy face."

She could see her father's eyes teeming with rage. She had hit him where it hurt, she had said the truth and as the old saying always went, the truth hurt. And she hoped every single word she said came true. It would serve the old bastard right.

Vince stalked over to her and stood in front of her. She wanted to step back, but didn't back down. She couldn't back down now. She was a McMahon, and McMahon's never backed down, never.

"Am I interrupting something?" a cold voice said from the right of her.

Vince looked up, "Jericho, nice to see you again."

Stephanie looked over at him and saw that indeed Jericho had wandered upon the scene, and he was not happy in the slightest. She could tell by his set jaw and his fists, which were clenched so tight his nails were probably digging into his skin. She knew he was about two seconds away from going to town on her father.

"Vince," Jericho said curtly, but still in his cocky mode, "What's this little scene I've happened to come upon?"

"I was just chatting with my daughter," Vince said flippantly.

"Well, don't let me interrupt then, unless Stephanie has something to add to that, her side of the story perhaps?"

"I," she paused, looking at him, "He's right Chris, we were just chatting."

He looked at her, his eyes piercing hers. He knew that was not what he had walked in on, but he knew that she was trying to appease him and curb his anger. She could read him like a book. He took a deep, calming breath and broke their intense stare.

"That's all I needed to know, I guess I'll leave you three."

"I heard you got married last week," Vince said as Jericho had turned to leave.

Jericho turned around, "Seems that rumors been going around."

"Congratulations," Vince said, "I'd love to meet her sometime."

"Yeah, well, she's at home, not here," Jericho said, "Stephanie, I think I heard that Kurt was looking for you."

"Oh, you did?" Stephanie said.

"Yeah, something about wanting to discuss something with you, I don't know, I just got the word to tell you he wants to talk to you if I saw you."

"Oh, well, I better go find him," she said, then turned to her father, "I guess I'll go. Oh and Daddy, you know how nobody in our family likes you anymore? Well, I hope it stays that way forever."

She walked off, past Jericho, down the hallway. As she was about to turn the corner, she turned around, giving her father a wilting glare, "Oh and Daddy?"

Vince glared at her, but didn't answer.

"Happy Birthday," she said snottily before disappearing around the corner.

Jericho turned to Vince, "What crawled up her ass and died?"

"She's just bitter because Daddy doesn't love her anymore," Sable said, laughing haughtily.

"Well, Vince, if the plan was to get her to hate you, I think you succeeded."

"Maybe that was the plan," Vince said secretively.

"You know, she has a boyfriend," Jericho said smoothly, noting Vince's reaction. It was a mix of shock and regret. Yeah, Jericho had a hard time believing Vince didn't care about Stephanie.

"Like he cares," Sable answered for him.

"Oh, I would be, I heard he's a mean guy, would beat people up in a heartbeat.........if they're not careful," Jericho said, "See ya."

Jericho walked down the hallway self-satisfied with how he handled that situation. He went down the same way Stephanie had, giving one last look to Vince and Sable. Vince was back to making out with Sable. How quaint of him. He went down to his locker room, letting himself inside. He wasn't surprised to see Stephanie there, and he sat down on the opposite end of the couch from her, not speaking, just looking at her.

It wasn't long before she laid down on the couch, letting her head falls on Jericho's wrestling tight clad thighs. She sighed as she felt him stroke her hair comfortingly. She wasn't going to cry. She had shed too many tears for one lifetime.

"The show started," she said absently, looking up at the screen which they currently had on mute.

"I know," he said, just as vacantly as she had.

"I'm tired of thinking about him," she said.

"I know," he repeated.

"I don't know why I came tonight, I'm just going to be miserable for the rest of the show," she told him.

"Make an impact."

"How?" she asked.

"You'll think of something," he told her.

"I guess."

He sat there stroking her hair gently for a while as both their eyes were glued to the television screen. They were both tired of talking about Vince, of talking about how he had hurt Stephanie. If it was any and at all possible, she just wanted to forget she was ever in her family.

"Thank you for saving me back there," she whispered.

"My pleasure."

"I wish I wasn't sad all the time." 

"Think happy thoughts."

"Like what?" she asked, turning herself so she was on her back staring up at her face.

"It was a night, much like this one. A balmy California evening," he said soothingly, "There was a show and I was facing none other than the man beast Rhyno.........."

Stephanie smiled as she realized where he was going with this story. She grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers as she listened to his soft voice, which was such a contrast from the voice he used in the ring or in his promos. This one was so comforting, it lulled her to sleep some nights.

"And who should be with him, why the thorn in my side, the woman I despised, the skanky Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley," he shuddered at the last word, "She had been making my life hell for weeks and there she was again, trying to cost me the win. But I'll be damned if I didn't get a concussion. I guess that's what made my true feelings come out--"

"Oh, so a head injury made you find me attractive," she giggled.

"Well, I wasn't in my right mind, I know that much. Well, I see the Princess trying to interfere just as I had the match won and I couldn't very well have that. So what did I do?"

"You kissed the girl, totally shocking her in the process," she supplied.

"Yes, except the girl didn't really resist, which I found interesting, especially when I felt her tongue in my mouth," he joked.

She hit him lightly, "Hey, it had been a long time since I had seen any action."

He laughed, "But damn could that girl kiss!"

She sat up and kissed him fully on the mouth, pulling him closer by placing her hand on the back of his neck. She wound her fingers in his silky blonde hair as he did the same to her. They stayed that way a few moments before breaking apart.

"Well, would you look at that?" she said, "My mood is completely turned around."

"And a good thing too, because look," he said, nodding towards the television.

She looked at the television to see Sable ringside for the Albert and Undertaker match. She watched silently as Undertaker was being somewhat seduced by Sable. Stephanie made a face as she watched and then saw Undertaker grab Sable by the neck. She raised an eyebrow, biting her lip a little. Yes, she was right to call Undertaker earlier and tell him what she had planned.

"Where you going?" Jericho asked.

She turned to him, a wicked look on her face, "Making an impact."

"Did you plan this Steph?" he asked.

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you're talking about."

She grinned evilly at him before leaving, letting him know she knew exactly what she was doing. Walking determinedly down the hallway, she didn't give anyone a second glance as she walked out to the ring, a smile still plastered on her face. She got in the ring and speared Sable to the ground and started punching her as Sable was being dragged out. She was having too much fun to let her go right now. She smiled at Undertaker, glad he had let her come out here. That had definitely made her night.

She walked out of the ring and to the back. Yes, that had been fun. She saw Kurt standing by the monitor, looking around curiously. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around a big smile on his face until he saw it was Stephanie and the smile went down a little.

"What's wrong Kurt?"

"Oh, nothing, just thought you were someone else."

"Oh," she said, a bit confused.

"Steph, do you know if any of the divas are at the show tonight?"

"I know Trish is here with Christian," she said, "And I think some of the Raw divas are here, I think they just came to hang out."

"Um, do you know which ones?" he asked nonchalantly, but Stephanie could sense a little anxiousness in his voice.

"Um, Molly," she said, with a bit of disdain in her voice, "Terri's here, Victoria, um, Gail Kim is here I think, Ivory--"

"Thanks, that's all I needed to know," he said quickly, too quickly.

"Kurt, what's up?" Stephanie asked.

Kurt was about to open his mouth to lie to her when he saw Gail walking around, talking with Trish about something. A grin appeared on his face and Stephanie looked interestedly in the direction he was smiling at. He only saw Trish and Gail talking and wondered why Kurt would be smiling like that at Trish. Unless, it dawned on her, it wasn't Trish he was smiling about.

"Oh, I think I get it now," Stephanie nodded slyly.

"Get what?" Kurt said, looking innocent.

"Why don't you go over there?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Over where?" he said, still acting cool.

"To Gail," Stephanie said, grinning and giggling at her friend's embarrassment.

Kurt was about to come up with some lie to tell her when Gail turned her head and saw Kurt. She gave him a smile and a wave and Kurt thought he would swoon right there. He could faintly hear Stephanie giggling at him over the string quartet that was suddenly playing in his head. He saw Gail nod her head at Trish and then start walking over to him. Suddenly it was like slow motion and he stood there, not being able to move.

"Kurt, hi," Gail said brightly.

"Um.........."

"Hi, I'm Stephanie," Stephanie said, sticking her hand out to Gail to try and cover up for Kurt's almost drooling at her.

"Hi, Gail, it's really nice to meet you," she said, shaking Stephanie's hand.

"You two, I've been impressed by your work."

"Oh, thanks," she smiled.

"How do you know Kurt?" Stephanie asked.

"We met on Thursday at SmackDown, I was visiting Chris and he was there and I wanted to say hi," she explained.

"Chris Benoit?"

"Yeah, we're old friends."

"Oh, well thanks for telling me Kurt," Stephanie said, elbowing him, trying to get him out of his trance.

"Oh, um, yeah," Kurt muttered, trying to remember his name, "Hey Gail."

"Hey, I'm excited about seeing you later, I can't wait to see you in action," she said, grinning at him.

Stephanie wondered just what kind of action Gail really wanted to see, "Well, I'll leave you two alone, I've got..........to go talk to Shane, good luck in your match Kurt."

Kurt was too busy staring at Gail to answer Stephanie. She laughed to herself as she walked away. She had never seen Kurt so ga-ga over a girl before, it was truly a sight to be seen. She glanced back at them. Wait until Jericho heard this one, she jogged back to his locker room.

"So Gail, no match?" Kurt managed to say.

"No, bummer huh?" she said, "Oh well, it's just cool to be here you know?"

"Yeah."

"My first big show," she said excitedly.

"It's even better when you're on the card. It's like this adrenaline rush."

"Oh my God, I can only imagine," she told him, "I don't know how you go out there without being nervous. I mean, Brock, I've seen him, he's scary."

"I can take him," Kurt said, finally breaking out a smile.

"Oh, I'm sure you can," she said, patting his arm lightly, "I'm sure you'll win."

Kurt wanted nothing more than to ask her out. She was so pretty and nice and smart and they seemed like they had a lot in common. He wanted to just ask her, but his words weren't tumbling out like they were supposed to.

"Hey Gail, I was wonde--"

"Gail," Trish called out, coming back over, "Christian is done bitching to Chris, you wanna go?"

"Yeah, ok," Gail said.

"Oh hey Kurt," Trish said, giving him a hug which he returned reluctantly, sorry for the intrusion, but knowing Trish had no way of knowing what he was trying to do, "How are you?"

"Fine," he said, even though he wasn't.

"Bye Kurt," Gail said, "It was great talking to you again."

"Yeah," he said wistfully as she and Trish walked away, talking to each other again. Gail looked back at him one last time, smiling at him before walking away.

He cursed his bad luck and went stalking off to Jericho's dressing room. He needed to vent really bad, and they were the only logical people to go to, even if he knew he'd be getting made fun of at their hands for having such a boyish crush. He barged into their dressing room where Linda was sitting in a chair and they were all watching Shane's match.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt a family thing," Kurt said, going to back up.

"It's not a family thing," Stephanie said, looking up at him, "Chris isn't family."

"Though these two scared me when I heard a rumor that Chris had gotten married," Linda admonished them as Jericho and Stephanie looked down sheepishly.

"I didn't know it would get so out of control," Jericho said, giving a small laugh, "But come join us Kurt, you can tell us all about your crush," he teased.

"Kurt's in luuuuuuvvvvv," Stephanie said, drawing out the word, then giggling.

"Shut up," he said blushing.

"Did ya ask her out?" Jericho said.

"I couldn't and you want to know why?" he said, sitting down next to Jericho on the couch.

"Why?" Stephanie said, taking her eyes off the television for a moment to look at Kurt.

"Because Trish came and interrupted. I mean, I love the girl and everything, but of all the moments to interrupt," he said, sighing and putting his head in his hands, "All because Christian was done bitching to you about not having a match."

"Dude, if I had known, you know I would've stalled," Jericho told him, "But there's only so much I can take of Christian's whining. It was giving me a headache."

"Me too," Stephanie confessed.

"It's ok, I don't know when I'm ever going to see her again, but it's ok," he said sullenly, "I don't even know if she'd be interested in me, but whatever, as if I stood a chance anyways."

Stephanie looked over at Jericho and had a conversation with their eyes. Stephanie was trying to get him to talk to Kurt and Jericho finally gave in and kissed her cheek, letting her know she had won.

"Kurt, do you want me to talk to her for you, or at least get the dirt on her?" Jericho asked.

"You would do that?"

"Hey, you protect my girlfriend, it's the least I can do," Jericho shrugged.

"Oh man I would love you forever!" Kurt said, pulling Jericho into a hug.

"Hey Kurt, stop trying to get with my man," Stephanie said, pulling Jericho out of the embrace, the both of them laughing.

"Sorry, got carried away," he said, joining in on their laughter, "But if she would go out with me, I can't just go to the arena where Raw is, I wouldn't have an excuse."

"You've got me, you've got Christian, you've got Shane," Jericho said, "You have plenty of reasons."

"That's true," he nodded, "Well, I guess you could let me know how it goes right?"

"Yeah, now don't you have a match you should be getting ready for?" Jericho said, looking at him pointedly.

"Oh shit," Kurt said, "I should get ready for that."

He rushed out of the locker room and the three other occupants went back to watching Shane get beat on by Coach of all people. Eventually Shane got the upper-hand and went into crazy Shane-O mode. Stephanie and Linda were on the edge of their seats as he climbed the turnbuckle and gasped as he made the jump. The match ended soon after that and Linda got up quickly.

"I have to go make sure he's ok," she said, rushing out of the room.

"Did you want to go with her?" Jericho asked.

"No, I can talk to Shane later," she told him, "I'd rather stay here with you before your match."

"I'm not that nervous," he answered.

"I know, but I just want to stay with you. If that's ok with you of course."

He gave her a look, "Do you even have to ask?" 

"I guess not," she quieted for a moment, "I was thinking........."

"Bout what?" he asked, kissing her temple.

"What if we were to help Kurt get Gail?" 

"Stephanie, no interfering," he sighed.

"Why not? After everything Kurt has ever done for us, don't you think that we owe him this one little thing?" she asked, giving her innocent look, batting her eyelashes.

"I'm not caving baby," he said.

"If you loved me you'd do it," she prodded.

"I DO love you and you know it, but I'm not interfering in other people's lives. If it's supposed to happen let it happen." 

"And why can't we just nudge it along?" she asked, standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

"Nobody interfered on our behalf when we first got together, nobody was prodding us or putting us in situations where we would have to be together," he correctly stated.

"Well-well...........they shoulda!"

"Oh really, why?"

"Because, we would've been together longer," she argued.

"Stephanie, I hated your guts," he said, "No amount of prodding would've changed that."

She looked a little taken aback, "You hated me?"

"Stephanie," he scolded, "You knew that already."

"When was this? When did you hate me?" 

"You know when, when you were with Hunter," he shrugged.

Her eyes teared up and they escaped like a waterfall as she clutched herself. Jericho looked up at her in tears and rushed over to her, taking her in his arms. She cried into his chest and he just wrapped his arm around her, holding her tightly. She sobbed her heart out and he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"You know I can see right through you," he told her.

She pushed him away laughing guiltily, "Damn it, how do you do that?!?"

"Baby, I know you can fake cry and I know that you will do anything to get your way. You forget sometimes I know you better than anyone else in the world."

"Hunter always fell for it."

"Hunter is an asshole and he wouldn't know real feelings if they smacked him upside that big ass nose of his," Jericho retorted.

She laughed, "Fine, we'll let them work this out by themselves, but if they don't get together, I'm holding it over your head." 

"Fine, let's just watch the show."

They sat back down and watched the show together, sometimes pausing to make out a little during a boring moment. They were happy to see Kurt retain despite the interference by her father. Stephanie scowled as she looked at him, hoping Kurt would get back at him. And that he did, giving him and Angleslam onto a chair. Stephanie grinned as she saw it.

"Damn I would love to do that," Jericho muttered quietly.

They watched the Kane and RVD match with a slight disinterest, until the very end and they saw Bischoff, all beat up after his match. Stephanie cackled as she saw him, proud that her brother had done that to him. And her and Jericho both gasped in surprise as Linda slapped Bischoff.

"Like mother like daughter," Jericho laughed.

She elbowed him in the ribs, "Not funny."

"Oww," was his only response.

"You should leave sweetie," Stephanie said, "Your match is up next."

"Yeah, unfortunately," he sighed, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," she said, kissing him softly, "Bring me back some gold."

"I'll try, I love you."

"I love you more."

He kissed her again, before getting up. Straightening his hair he kissed her head one last time and walked out. He mentally got himself ready for the match, trying not to remember the brutality the last one had offered him. He made it through that one though and he could make it through this one as well. He walked to the gorilla and found out he would be one of the first two men fighting. That was great, all the more men to have to go through, and he would be the first one tired.

He waited for everyone to enter before the countdown went off and he went down the ramp. It was him and HBK to start and they started brawling as if this were a normal match and there wasn't a whole lot at stake. The third guy came all too soon in the form of Randy Orton and Jericho went after him, not caring that they should team up against HBK. It was every man for himself.

The three men fought, with none of them getting the clear upper-hand, which he supposed was good, but he wanted to get rid of someone as soon as possible. He kept fighting mainly Orton, sometimes getting a few shots in on HBK, but for the most part focusing on the young talent.

The next guy in was Kevin Nash and to no surprise to Jericho, he went after him first. Seems someone was still bitter about getting his hair cut. Jericho lay on the cold steel and then felt himself get smashed up against the chain link fence walls. Yeah, he was cut up really good. God knew Stephanie was probably worrying about him. He lay there for a while, trying to get his bearings back. He had a feeling this match wouldn't end with him kissing Stephanie. Oh well, he could still get some gold.

Nash was going after him again, but after a superkick from HBK, Jericho was able to get the pin on Nash. Well, one guy down, four more to go. That wasn't too bad right? Yeah, he wasn't even fooling himself with that one. As he struggled to get up, Hunter was revealed as the next guy, but as soon as he stepped out in his stupid little bicycle shorts, he was superkicked right back in again. Before he could process that, he was attacked by Nash and was once again on the ground. Just his luck, he just wanted to stay there for the rest of the match.

He felt HBK trying to pin him and without the strength to actually kick out, he placed his foot on the rope. HBK left him alone after that, and Jericho got up, feeling the warm drip of blood down his forehead, tasting it on his lips. He could barely stand up but managed to by holding the ropes. Now Goldberg was in and he was hit a couple of times before Goldberg focused his attention on Orton, body pressing him.

Jericho saw an opportunity and went after Goldberg from behind. He was soon joined by HBK, which surprised him. They were working together, how.........odd. It was short lived as they found themselves on their backs. Jericho got out of the ring where it was relatively safe. Oh look, he thought, Hunter had yet to step foot out here, how typical.

He climbed the ropes and did a missile dropkick to Goldberg and tried to pin him, to no avail. Instead he was body pressed and thrown out of the ring to the steel. Yeah, that hurt, he was going to have to put some ice on that when he got back to the hotel, maybe a nice massage from Stephanie would help.

He got up, unaware he was being set up for the spear. He turned around and was promptly speared through one of the chambers. He lost consciousness for a moment, his head slamming back against the plexi-glass. He didn't think he had a concussion, but you never knew. He could still remember where he was so that was a good sign.

He lay there, not even moving. He then crawled out of the wreckage of the chamber and crawled to the ring. Yeah, he was stupid trying to get up, but he had to, this was a match. He felt himself get speared again and then he got the jackhammer and knew it was over. He was in the final three again and couldn't cut it, damn.

He vaguely remembered that he was pushed out of the ring and slowly got out. He just wanted to go back to his hotel room and lay down. Maybe for a week, yeah, that sounded good right now. He walked at a snail's pace back to the locker room and trudged inside. Stephanie had a concerned look on her face.

"Everyone else already left," she explained.

"Good to know they wanted to watch my match," he chuckled, then coughed as pain seized him.

She got up quickly and went over to him, helping him inside, "Are you ok sweetie?" 

"I think I'll be ok."

"Do you want to take a shower, you're all bloody."

"It might be nice," he said, leaning down painfully to get his things before Stephanie grabbed his bag for him.

"Don't strain yourself, are you sure you can shower by yourself?" she asked, concern the only thing on her face.

"Why, would you like to join me?" he asked seductively.

She shook her head, "Hurt and he's still trying to hit on me."

"Hey, I haven't had to hit on you in a long time," he countered.

"Come on Superman, let's get you cleaned up," she said, helping him to the shower, "I'm sorry you lost."

"It's ok, you know me, taking it graciously and all that," he said, shaking his head, sad as it was, he was used to losing. It happened and sometimes there was nothing you could do about it, no matter how hard you tried, "I won the hair match and that was more important."

"You can say that again," she laughed.

"I don't know about your ex though, he has like, luck of the evil or something," Jericho said, shaking his head.

"I know, it's how he got me," she said, turning on the water.

"Oh, is that how, I had been wondering," Jericho said, getting undressed and stepping gingerly into the shower.

"I'm going to go wait for you out there ok?" she told him, turning to leave.

He pulled her into the shower, "Where do you think you're going?"

"You're hurt," she told him, shaking her head as she tried to get out of the spray of the shower.

"You may be able to fake cry Steph, but I can fake injury."

Her mouth dropped open, "You set me up! You weren't even hurt at all!"

"No, not so much," he said, as he kissed her and started taking her jumpsuit off.

"Sometimes Jericho, sometimes," she said, shaking her head.

She leaned up to kiss him as the room filled with steam.


	126. Where Was Steph? August 25, 2003

A/N: I couldn't have been the only one expecting Stephanie to show up during the Highlight Reel, could I? ;)

* * *

Stephanie crawled up over Jericho who was laying sprawled on their bed. She kissed him softly, trying to wake him up from his nap. He was still a little beat after his match last night so he thought a nap would keep him refreshed for the show later. Stephanie had worked on her laptop next to him, once in a while looking at the clock, making sure that Jericho wouldn't be late.

He stirred as her lips touched his and then turned his head away, still sleeping soundly. She kissed his cheek, but he still didn't wake up. Poor guy, she must've given him quite the work out last night. She giggled softly to herself before she leaned over his ear.

"Chris, it's time to wake up."

He mumbled then remained silent.

She leaned a little closer to him, "Chris, you're going to be late."

He didn't move and she was about to gently shake him when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her on top of him as he tickled her sides. She laughed and tried to push him away to stop him from tickling her. He finally let go when he saw she was out of breath.

"You have to go," she said.

"I know," he said, sitting up and getting off the bed.

"You will be careful right?" she asked, kneeling on the bed as she watched him pack up his things.

"Of course I'll be careful, you worry too much. I don't know where you get this notion that I can't take care of myself."

"I know you can take care of yourself," she protested, "I guess it's just something you say to the person you love and care about."

He grinned at her, "Well, that's sweet of you to say."

"Yeah, I know."

"So your brother and mom will probably be there."

"I know, tell them I said hello ok?" she told him, laying back on the bed.

"I will. Did you tell them what happened last night with your dad?"

"No, I don't want to burden them. They both have their own problems, my mom and Bischoff and then my brother with all the things he's doing. They don't need to worry about me. That's what I have you for."

"Nice to know I'm needed," he said, grabbing his bag, "And on that note I'm off."

She hopped off the bed and skipped over to him, kissing him lightly, "Don't forget to talk to Gail, you promised Kurt."

"I know, I remember and I'll be sure to do that," he said, kissing her forehead.

The drive to the arena was short and he arrived at the arena, prepared to find out what he'd be doing for the show. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was having Linda on his show tonight. He'd always figured, or hoped at least, that Stephanie would be the first McMahon to make an appearance on his show. Oh well, he guessed Linda was the next best thing.

He walked down to his dressing room, planning to get dressed for the show then go visit Gail, or someone else, depending on who he happened on first. He grabbed his trusty checkered pants and checkered shirt. He liked the outfit, it gave him personality, not that he didn't have enough to spare, but well, nobody could have too much personality right?

He walked out, intending to locate the whereabouts of the women's locker room, where he figured Gail would most likely be. Turned out that the first people he would come across would be Trish and Christian who were sitting side by side on a huge trunk, with Christian's arm loosely wrapped around Trish's waist. He sauntered up to him, figuring they might know where Gail was.

"If it isn't my favorite couple," Jericho said jovially as he walked up to them.

"Hey Chris, what's going on?" Trish asked.

"Well, I'm trying to locate Gail Kim, would you two happen to know where I could find her?" he asked politely.

"Why are you looking for Gail, Chris, you looking to get lucky with someone other than Stephanie," Christian teased.

"Don't give him ideas," Trish scolded him, butting her head into his shoulder.

"Ha ha," Jericho said, mock pouting, "I'm not inquiring for myself, but rather for a guy we all know and love."

"Who?" Trish asked, furrowing her brow, trying to think on who's behalf Jericho would be speaking.

"A certain Olympic Gold medallist," Jericho told them.

"No!" Trish said, actually surprised, "Kurt likes Gail!"

"Seems so," Jericho answered, "And he was going to ask her out last night before someone interrupted them."

It took Trish a moment to realize who he was talking about, "Oh my God, he was going to.........and I.........oh God, I didn't mean to, if I had known."

"It's ok," Jericho dismissed her, "He's cool, he knows you didn't mean to."

"Oh, I feel like such an idiot," Trish admonished herself, "I swear, if I had known........."

"Trish, don't knock yourself down, he's really ok with it. I just need to know where she is."

"Probably the women's locker room. I can't think of anywhere else she would be."

"Ok, thanks, I was headed over there anyways."

"Hope you find her," Christian called out.

"Thanks."

He walked down the hallway some more, realizing he had no idea where the hell the women's locker room was. He was pretty sure there was a sign on it, warning people, guys really, not to go in. He laughed about guys just wandering in, that would be funny to see. He didn't know how he did it, but he managed to find himself in front of the women's locker room. He guessed he was just drawn to it, he let himself have another laugh before lifting his hand to knock.

Molly was the one to answer and Jericho gave her a smile, "Hey Mol."

"Chris, hey," she said in a chipper voice.

"I was wondering if Gail was here?" he asked nicely.

"Yeah, she is, we were just discussing something," she said, then turned around, "Gail, there's someone here to see you."

"What were you talking about?" he asked as they waited for Gail to come over.

"Oh, just a plan we had for what to do about the women's division, reminds me I need to talk to Trish about it," Molly said.

"Oh, well if you want her, I saw her down the hallway with Christian."

"Great, I'll go see her right now," Molly said, leaving once Gail showed up at the door.

"Hey Gail, I don't think you know me too well--"

"Chris Jericho, I'm well aware of who you are," she told him.

"Yeah, good, well, I was talking to my friend Kurt last night and he mentioned he was talking to you, and said you were really fun to be around, so I thought I'd try to make you welcome on Raw," he said brightly, hoping that explanation sufficed.

"Oh, that's so nice of Kurt to say I was nice to be around," she told him, "He's such a nice guy, don't you think."

"Yeah, he is, really great and funny too," Jericho said, talking Kurt up, "Did you maybe want to go on a walk?"

"Sure, I haven't anything better to do before my match," she said, leaving the locker room, closing the door behind her.

She and Jericho walked down the hallways, making small talk about their show and their matches and backgrounds. Jericho found out she really was intelligent and not just a pretty face. One point for Kurt. She was also bright and bubbly, not a real downer like some girls were.

"So are you dating anyone?" Jericho asked offhandedly, trying not to make it sound like that's the real reason he wanted to talk to her.

"No, I'm not," she said, turning to him, "Any reason why you're asking?"

"I was just wondering," Jericho shrugged.

"Is this your way of asking me out?" she asked, giving him a tiny smile.

Oh, this was just great, Jericho thought. He tried to do a nice deed for his friend and ended up having a girl think that he was interested in her. Wasn't that just his luck? He thought of a way to steer the conversation back to Kurt and away from him.

"No, I didn't mean to give you that impression," he said quickly.

"It's ok, if you wanted to ask me out, I wouldn't be against the idea," she said flirtatiously.

Jericho wanted to slam his head against the wall repeatedly. He didn't want Gail to find out outright that Kurt liked her, he wasn't too sure that Kurt would appreciate that kind of interference. But he couldn't accept a date with her, he shuddered at how many ways Stephanie would torture him if he did.

"Actually," he started.

She ran her hand down his arm, "So Kurt told you that I was nice and fun to hang around, was he trying to set us up on a date?"

"I don't think so," Jericho said, shaking his head, "Actually I have--"

"You don't have to say anything," she said, giving him a slight smile.

"Chris, I was wondering if we could discuss the Highlight Reel this evening," Linda said, seemingly showing up out of nowhere.

Jericho looked like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes wide as he saw his girlfriend's mother standing not four feet away from him. Oh shit, she was going to think that he was doing something with Gail, and then Stephanie would kill him and he'd be all alone. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Linda, how nice to see you again," he said in a strained voice.

"Chris, nice to see you, if you wanted to discuss your show, I'm available right now, if you are that is. I hate to think I was interrupting something."

"Um, no."

"Hi," Gail said, "I don't believe we've met, I'm Gail Kim, I'm so happy to be working in the company."

Linda shook Gail's hand, "Nice to meet you, you've made quite an impression so far."

Gail grinned widely, "Thank you."

"Gail, um, I was wondering, I'm actually taken, but you know, Kurt isn't and I think you two would make a cute couple," Jericho said.

"Oh my God," she said, covering her mouth in surprise, "Oh, I just made a fool out of myself. I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, I just saw you and Kurt and you looked like there could be something there."

"Oh, well, I barely know Kurt, but from what I do know, he's a nice guy, I wouldn't mind going out I guess," she said.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that," Jericho said, "Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Of course, tell Kurt I said hello," she said, walking off.

Jericho smirked as she walked away. He was sure that Kurt would appreciate hearing that Gail wouldn't be adverse to going out with him. He had a feeling that Kurt would be jumping in joy at the news. If anyone was the smitten kitten it was Kurt. He laughed before he realized Linda was still standing there. Gulping audibly, he turned to her.

"Linda, what you saw wasn't what it--"

"I know Chris," she said giving him a motherly smile, "I was there when Kurt came to talk to you remember?"

"Oh yeah," he looked around, seeing if anyone was nearby and if he could discuss Stephanie freely, "Your daughter wanted to interfere, but I told her that talking was enough."

"I'm surprised you didn't give in to her, it's a strong man that says no to Stephanie."

"Don't I know it," he laughed, "So, the Highlight Reel, I was wondering why you were my guest."

"Well, I feel that my side of the story needs to be aired out in public and what better way than on the hottest show within a show."

"Well, I'm honored."

"Besides, it's the least I can do for my future son-in-law," she smiled.

"That just sounds so weird," he said, shaking his head. No matter how many times he thought about it, being part of the McMahon family was going to be weird to say the least.

"What sounds weird?" Shane asked, coming up to them.

"The fact I'm going to be a part of the McMahons. Does this mean that I have to be dysfunctional and at every moment I must hate one of my family members."

"That's pretty much how you get in the club right Mom?" Shane laughed.

"It does seem to be so," Linda said, shaking her head sadly, "Unfortunately."

"It's all Dad's fault, he's the one who's always being an asshole," Shane muttered.

"Oh, and that whole Invasion thing, you and Stephanie were just the two innocent parties right Shane O?" Jericho said smirking.

"One mistake, it was one mistake."

"I have a feeling you'll fit right in with us Chris."

"Oh, look what I've stumbled on," a booming voice said from a distance.

"Oh great," Shane grumbled, "He always has to ruin everything."

Vince came swaggering over, just like he always did. Jericho looked over at the two other McMahons and wasn't surprised to see looks of disgust on their faces. Maybe it was because he was an outsider, but he felt so incredibly sad for all of them. He didn't know what it was, but they never could be a real family it seemed, they were always at each other's throats. And lucky him was soon to be thrown into it.

"What's with the meeting?" Vince asked, looking at all three of them.

Jericho didn't know how to cover up, but it didn't seem he'd have to as Linda told Vince she was meeting with Jericho to discuss the Highlight Reel. Well, seems that all of the McMahons were decent liars, fancy that.

"And why is Shane here then, huh Linda?" Vince asked.

"He is my son Vince," Linda said, an edge to her voice as she regarded Vince.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Vince said.

Shane shot him a withering glare, "It's not like I had a choice."

"You seem buddy-buddy with my son Jericho, and here I thought you were on my side," Vince told him.

"When did I ever say that Vince?" Jericho said, knowing he had never ever said that he was on Vince's side, and if he ever had said it, it would only to get back at him because of Stephanie.

"I was under the impression, considering you gave me information that my little Princess," he said the words bitterly, "Was dating someone."

Shane and Linda's heads both whipped to look at Jericho. They couldn't believe that Jericho would voluntarily give up that information. The look was intercepted by Vince, though he didn't know why they would look at him like that. Did they know something he didn't, the identity of Stephanie's mystery boyfriend perhaps? 

"I just informed you that she was dating someone I didn't tell you who," Jericho said, hoping to get those looks off of Shane and Linda's faces.

"Well, it seems that my darling wife and son know who it is, don't you?" Vince said, turning to them, "Don't think I didn't catch the looks you two were giving each other at the mention of Stephanie."

"We don't know anything," Shane told him firmly.

"Is that right?" Vince said.

"Yes Vince, this is the first I've heard of Stephanie having a boyfriend," Linda said seriously. Man, they were great liars, they didn't even bat an eyelash, Jericho noted.

"Oh, so she's keeping secrets from her family," Vince said, "Interesting, or everyone's keeping a secret from me? Like maybe something involving the three of you?"

Jericho knew they were in deep shit if Vince found out the truth. He wouldn't take to kindly to all of them lying to his face. Jericho looked at Shane and Linda, hoping they would come up with something, but their faces were pretty much a blank, probably the same as his was.

"I'm married," Jericho blurted out, "So if you're implying that Stephanie is with me or something, it's not true!"

"Yes, of course, you're married Jericho, I completely forgot. I guess it's just the two of you I have to worry about," he said, looking at Shane and Linda, "If you are keeping something, I will find out."

Vince walked away and Jericho held his breath until the man was around the corner. Shane motioned for the two of them to follow him into a deserted locker room. Closing and locking the door he looked around for video cameras.

Seeing the coast was clear he turned to Jericho and Linda, "Ok, we have got to do some damage control!"

"He doesn't think it's me," Jericho said, "He thinks I'm married to someone named Burke."

"Yes, but he could figure out that Burke was Stephanie. Burke was the freaking name of her imaginary friend when she was little," Shane told him.

Jericho couldn't help but laugh, "It was?"

"Yes, she used to run around yelling that Burke and her were going to rule the world," Linda smiled as she thought of Stephanie as a child.

"That must've been something."

"Ok, back to topic," Shane said exasperated, "We can't let Dad figure this out, he will ruin you and Stephanie Chris."

"Stephanie and I are strong, he couldn't break us."

"He would try, and trust me, he would try his damnedest."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Jericho asked. 

"We have to throw him off the scent."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he knows we pretty chummy, we have to make it like were are the biggest enemies in the world. Make it seem like we would never associate with each other ever," Shane explained.

"But he saw us together?" Jericho said.

"Doesn't matter, we'll make it seem like it was fluke that he saw us together."

"Ok, so how do we do that?"

"I'll go out on the Highlight Reel as planned," Linda said, "But Chris, you need to talk to Vince and convince him that he should be on the Highlight Reel as your special guest. I'm sure he'd love to come out and somehow berate me."

"Ok," Jericho nodded, "And I can act chummy with him."

"Good idea, ham it up with him, then I can come out, defend you Mom, and then Jericho we can insult each other or something and then you attack me and go off with my dad," Shane ended.

"Sounds good," Jericho said, "But I'm going to have to go talk to him now."

"Great, go do that," Shane said, "We'll see you in a while. Good luck."

"Thanks." 

Jericho left and went off to talk to Vince. He was surprised they were able to think of something so quickly. He guessed that it ran in the family or something. He didn't want to have to talk to Vince, but he figured it was better than getting found out. He saw Vince's room and knocked quickly.

"Jericho," Vince nodded, letting him in.

"Sorry about that back there Vince, I wasn't trying to cause trouble, Shane just came up and I didn't want to start a fight in the hall," Jericho said in his cocky tone, going over to lean against the back of the couch.

"I know you would never join the side of good Jericho," Vince said, "Now, do you really not know who my daughter is dating."

"I don't," he lied, "But why do you want to know so badly."

"My daughter is nothing but a thorn in my side, maybe this man can take her away from me so I never have to see her disgusting face again."

Jericho bit the inside of his lip. He tried to keep his anger in check, it wouldn't look too good if he punched his boss in the face. It was getting harder and harder to control his anger around here, everyone insulting the woman he loved. It sucked.........a lot.

"Have you ever thought, now I'm being completely objective here, that maybe she deserves happiness because she's your daughter?"

"I don't have time to worry about her."

"Oh," Jericho said, "Well, I just came here to say I wanted you to come out during the Highlight Reel, it would be such an honor," he said fakely.

"Hmm, I'm liking that idea," Vince said, tapping his chin, "This is why I hired you Chris, you're an asset to me."

"Thank you Vince," Jericho said, not really caring what he thought of him.

Vince clapped him on the back, "If only you were my son, I'd be proud to have you."

Jericho laughed, well, he wondered what Vince would think if he knew that eventually he would be his son. He had a feeling Vince wouldn't be too pleased about it, considering it was the apparent "thorn in his side" that he was madly in love with.

"Thanks."

"You know, if you weren't married, and my daughter wasn't a bitch, I'd try to set you up."

"That's nice, I've got to go out for my show now, see you soon."

Jericho couldn't get out of there fast enough. He was so tired of Vince's antics and how they affected people he loved and people he cared about. It almost made him regret that he had gotten involved in this mess, that he had gotten involved with Stephanie in the first place. But he loved her so much, that he regretted nothing when it came to her.

He walked down the ramp, just in time for his show. He walked out and made his speech about what had happened last week. He knew what had happened last week at Vince and Linda's house, but he made like he didn't. It almost made him sick to his stomach to have to pretend that Bischoff was in the right in all of this. He shuddered inwardly at the thought.

Finally he introduced Linda, who came out, trying to suppress a smile. Jericho could tell that she really wanted to break off this pretense of disliking each other. Jericho complimented her, meaning it, he had always admired Linda, and besides, she gave him the best thing in his life. He asked Linda the "burning question," to which she gave the truth. He could see Linda laughing as he hammed it up, trying valiantly to keep a straight face, so was he for that matter, it was all pretty ridiculous. Jericho pretended to act surprised and let her continue, standing there listening to her speak.

As she was about to say something, Vince's music hit and here he came down the ring. Time to act like an asshole, Jericho thought to himself. And he had been having such a pleasant time with Linda too. Vince got in the ring and proceeded to insult Linda, while Jericho could do nothing but stand back and watch. Then Vince had to go and mention Stephanie again, saying that she was the cause of all of his problems. Jericho stood there, thinking about a happy place, any place where he didn't have to nod and pretend like he hated Stephanie again. That time of hating her had passed long ago. Because if he thought about what Vince was saying, about how he was the victim in all of this, he was sure to crack and spear Vince to the ground before kicking his ass for daring to make himself out to be the good guy.

Then "Here Comes the Money" hit and Jericho saw Shane coming down to the ring. It was actually funny, here they all were, if you had thrown Stephanie, it would have been the McMahon family reunion and hell, he was almost, practically part of the family, it really would've been complete. Damn, why couldn't she have been there and come out with the family, then he could've sent her longing glances across the ring. He realized he had stopped paying attention to his guests and went back to listening to them.

He interrupted Shane at an appropriate moment and he hurled some insults at the eldest McMahon child. Shane was a lot better than his mother at pretending to be pissed. If Jericho hadn't been informed of the plan than he might actually believe that Shane was pissed at him. Shane shot back at him and then went to stare down Vince before Jericho attacked Shane. Shane let him beat him up, as Jericho didn't hit him hard at all before Vince pulled him out of the ring.

He pretended to be pissed as he was pulled up the ramp. Vince stopped him and then took a microphone. What was Vince going to pull? He went on to make a match between him and Shane. Oh, this was going to be fun, fun indeed. He went backstage where he parted ways with Vince and waited for Shane to walk backstage.

"Looks like I got a match with you pretty boy," Jericho said.

"Seems like it," Shane answered.

"I look forward to seeing you in the ring."

"Likewise."

Shane gave him a smirk in jest as he walked away. This was just going so well. He could "prove" that he wasn't friends with Shane and than Vince wouldn't suspect anything. He didn't know how he and Shane were going to fare. They had to actually wrestle and make it not look totally fake. But if anyone could pull it off, they could.

Linda came backstage and gently nodded in Jericho's direction, sending him a secret smile. Yeah, it had all gone according to plan, maybe it had gone a little too well, but those were the breaks. He sighed and went back to his locker room and changed for his match. He did some warm-ups, trying to loosen up. He hadn't expected to wrestle tonight, after having been in the Elimination Chamber last night, but here he was, a bandage still on his forehead and he was wrestling one of his best friends. Oh, how life could throw you a fast one.

He went down to catering to grab a bottle of water and wait for his match to come up. He didn't feel like wrestling tonight. Why was he always so unlucky? Well, at least he had the main event, that was something at least. He sighed again and got up when it was time to go down for his match.

He saw Shane in the ring and shook his head in disbelief. This match was going to be interesting. The match started with Shane muttering to him not to hold back, to pretend he really was the enemy. Jericho was having a hard time doing that until he told himself to picture Vince across the ring from him. It was then that the demon inside of him was unleashed.

He and Shane fought back forth, making it look like they really did hate each other. Jericho had a feeling Shane was picturing he was Vince too, that way they could really get into the match. He and Shane fought over to the timekeeper's table and he felt himself get propped up on it. Shit, what was Shane going to do? He didn't have a chance to find out as Kane's music hit, but there was no Kane. Clever trick, Jericho thought, as he went for Shane from behind.

They kept fighting until Kane really showed up and out of instinct, Jericho hightailed it out of the ring, leaving Shane. Kane beat on Shane, then left, but Shane, like the daredevil that he was went after Kane. Jericho didn't know what was running through his mind, but he didn't have to wait long to find out as he went backstage, figuring the match was over. He watched in shock and disbelief as Shane and Kane fought and then the fire made its appearance. Jericho gasped as he thought Shane was going to be pitched into that pit, but Shane somehow got control and sent Kane flying. Jericho had to hand it to Shane.

Figuring that Shane would be ok, Jericho got his things from his locker room and went back to the hotel. He would be sure to call Shane later and ask if he was ok, it was the least he could do. He got into his room and saw Stephanie sitting on the couch, the only light coming from the television.

"Hey Steph."

"Why Chris? Why'd you do it?" she said, her voice wavering.

"Do what baby?" he asked, confused as he put his things down.

"How could you attack my brother!?!" she screamed getting and getting in his face, "How could you defend my dad like that!?!"

"Steph, whoa, hold up," he said, "It's not what you think."

"You fought with Shane, he's your friend, you fought with him!"

"I know I did, but Steph, we planned it, well, not the match, but the segment, we planned that, with your mom," he said, coaxing her to sit down.

"Planned?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Your dad, he was getting suspicious, he caught me and your mom and brother together and we panicked, he was asking too many questions."

"Oh," she said, feeling like an idiot for not trusting Jericho's intentions, "I didn't know, it's just you didn't seem to care."

"Did you actually here me say that I agreed with him when he was insulting you?"

"No," she said quietly.

"Because I didn't. The only reason I got through that match was because I pictured your father and not Shane."

"Really?"

"Of course, I hated it as much as you did, but it was a necessary evil."

"You looked good up there," she said.

"Looked good up where?" he asked.

"With my family..........you looked like you belonged," she said, kissing him, "Like you were one of us."

"Is that a good thing?" he asked, kissing her back.

"Very good, all you needed was me there and it would've been complete."

"That's what I was thinking," he laughed.

"Yeah, I wish I could've been there, can you imagine, you and me together, in front of my father," she giggled.

"But we wouldn't have done anything to reveal us."

"Yeah, but I could've pretended. That would've been something, me and you, my parents, my brother, the ruling family of the WWE."

"I think I like the sound of that."

"The McMahon-Jericho Era," she laughed.

"Nah, I don't want that, too Hunter-ish, how about the McMahon-Jericho Establishment?" She laughed and nodded her head.

"Sounds like we have ourselves a name."


	127. Short Skirt, Huh Steph, August 28, 2003

A/N: I'm going away for the long weekend and I'll be returning on Monday, but I'm not sure what time, it may be late at night so the Raw chapter might not be posted on Monday evening, and if that should be the case it will be up sometime Tuesday evening. Just giving you a heads up. :)

And a lot of people have asked why I chose Gail Kim as Kurt's "love interest." It was merely a process of deduction, but I'm kind of warming up to the thought of them together. ;)

* * *

"You know, you and Chris are the hardest people to get a hold of."

"What are you talking about Kurt?"

"I mean, you and Chris are like impossible to reach. I've been trying to talk to you guys for the past two days," Kurt said, getting a bit frustrated.

Stephanie gave him a pout, "Sorry Kurt, I guess we were just busy when you called or something. We didn't mean to avoid you."

"I know, I've just been anxious about you know," he said, implying Gail.

"Oh yeah, that, well, I thought that you could wait until the show today, I didn't mean to keep it from you, have a seat and I'll tell you all about it."

Kurt came in from the doorway and sat down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. She turned her swivel desk chair towards him, her hands steepled under her chin. She gave him a sly smirk, knowing that he was awaiting this news. And she was happy to deliver it.

"Well, at first she thought that Chris was the one hitting on her and the one who wanted to go out with her," Stephanie said, giving a small laugh, ignoring a small pang of jealousy ringing through her.

"What?" Kurt asked, somewhat confused, and a bit down-hearted thinking that Gail actually would've gone out with Jericho.

"She thought that you had told Chris about her and that he wanted to ask her out," she explained succinctly.

"Oh, um, that was way off base from what he wanted," Kurt said, not even knowing if he was making sense anymore.

"It was, and then my mom walked up to them, Chris said that he was so scared that she would think that he was hitting on Gail, but he realized after that Mom had been there when you wanted Chris to talk to her."

"Ok, yeah, funny, now can we get to the good stuff, you know the stuff about me and all that," Kurt said, trying to hurry her along.

"Ok, geez, I was just trying to tell you a funny story and you're getting all anal about it."

"Steph, come on."

"Ok, she said she would go out with you."

Kurt felt like jumping up and down. He didn't know what it was about her exactly. He just felt this attraction to her and he couldn't get her out of his mind. He had been thinking about her almost constantly since they had first met. It was a nice thought thinking that she may like him back.

"That's great," he said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"She gave Chris her phone number, so," she reached into her purse and dug through it for a few minutes before producing a small slip of paper, "here you go."

He took the piece of paper from her outstretched hand and looked down on it. God, she even had beautiful penmanship. Stephanie smiled to herself after looking at Kurt's face. She was glad that he had found someone he liked. Ever since she had found love, real love, she wanted everyone else to find it too. Everyone deserved to be happy, well, not everyone, she had a deep dark space in hell reserved for her father.

"Thanks," he said simply, still looking down at the slip of paper.

"You're very welcome, use that wisely."

He laughed briefly, "I most definitely will. Definitely."

"Good, and who knows, maybe you and I can double date sometime," she said, raising an eyebrow playfully.

"I want to date her, not scare her away when she meets my friends," he joked.

"Funny Kurt, very funny," she said dryly.

"So," he said, putting the number in his pocket, "How come the lovely Stephanie wasn't at the McMahon family reunion on Monday? I was so sure when I saw Chris and Shane and Linda, and even Vince out there that you were sure to make an appearance."

"Yeah, I probably would've had I not you know, been at the hotel snuggled up in my bed watching the show."

"I would've freaked out if you had shown up, just for the sheer shock of seeing you and Chris in the ring together."

"We've been in the ring together before," Stephanie said, "Plenty of times in fact."

"Yeah, but never as a couple," he countered.

"Well, the week after we got together I did ask him if he was happy on SmackDown, and we were together then and seen together."

"Yes, but nobody knew about that."

"Whatever. I've got a show to run."

"Oh really, I never would've guessed," Kurt told her, "You wanna walk me to my dressing room."

"Why?"

"Just because I'd love to be escorted by such a lovely lady," he said, giving her his most charming smile.

She shook her head, "Fine let's go."

She got up and pulled down her very short skirt. Kurt wondered how she got out of the hotel room looking like that. He was sure that Jericho would've launched some sort of protest to her wearing such risqué clothing. He shrugged it off as they walked down to his locker room. Kurt liked walking places with Stephanie, she always commanded attention and it was nice when people would look at him.

They got to his dressing room and Stephanie gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek goodbye, telling him to not forget to call Gail and that she would talk to him about it later. She walked back down the hallway, heading for the gorilla to tell the production table that her father was not here tonight and that all executive decisions would be made by her alone.

When she got there she informed them of her position on tonight's show, which they agreed upon quickly, probably because she was a much better and nicer boss than that scum she happened to be related to. She had to agree with what Shane said on Monday, Vince was an asshole who just happened to be her father. She stood by the monitors a moment, thinking about that and watching the show simultaneously. She didn't notice that Eddy Guerrero's and John Cena's promo had ended and Cena was walking up behind her.

It was hard to take her mind off of her problems, most nights she could conveniently immerse herself in her and Jericho, but on Mondays and Thursdays it was like getting sucked back in again. She hated airing her dirty laundry on television, but with her family that's how it always happened. They couldn't just fight, they had to fight in front of millions of people. What was normal for her would be considered outrageous for everyone else.

She was just happy that she lived far away from her family in Connecticut. She could only imagine what Shane had to go through living up there, knowing that the tension could be felt all across Greenwich. She only called home every now and again to check her messages. She didn't bother being up there where she knew her father would be and she didn't want to run into him or anything. She was happy in Florida with Jericho and their friends, far away from all her family problems.

She jumped when she felt someone tap her shoulder. Putting her hand over her heart in surprise she turned around, half expecting it to be Sable. God knew where she was tonight. She saw Cena standing there looking at her tentatively. How long had she just been standing there? She didn't know.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

"It's ok, I was just zoned out."

"Yeah, I could tell, I wanted to ask you if everything was ok."

"Yeah, everything's fine," she answered, sending him one of her winning smiles. She didn't want him to have to worry about her. There were already so many people who were doing that for her.

"You sure, I mean, you were just standing there, I thought something might have been the matter."

"No, nothing's the matter, I was just thinking."

"Oh, bout your family?" he asked.

"I guess you can say that. Though it doesn't really feel like a family, ya know, it's more like my mom, Shane and I against my dad. It's like a feud or something," she sighed.

"Yeah, that must be so rough on you," he said sympathetically, not really knowing how to answer, given he had never been in this kind of situation.

"I'm tough, I can handle it," she said, smiling at him, "It's the first thing you learn as a McMahon..........nothing ever brings you down. You bring everything else down."

"Well, if you gotta learn a lesson, I guess that's the one you wanna learn," he chuckled.

"Yeah."

"So where is your old man?" 

"God knows where, probably off fucking his whore, who knows? I sure as hell don't care where the hell he decided to go. The longer I don't have to see his face the better."

"I'm really sorry."

"Don't be John. It's just life. And it doesn't really matter anyways. I've got my mom, my brother, my boyfriend, and all my friends. My life is anything but empty. My dad could never take any of those things from me. And if he even tried, so man people would be kicking his ass it wouldn't be funny."

Cena took a step back, "Remind me never to mess with a McMahon."

"Words to live by right there," she laughed.

"Ain't that the truth," he laughed as well, "But I gots me some business I gotsta take care of, I'll talk to you later."

"I'm sure you will," she told him, smiling as he jogged down the hallway.

It was nice having someone other than Kurt to talk to and confide in at the shows. It was then that she realized how much she missed Edge. It was nice having Kurt around of course, and she knew that it was horrible when he wasn't around, but she missed the fun the three of them used to have while they were on the shows, the banter that went on between Kurt and Edge. She might have to go give him a call.

She walked back to her locker room and headed straight for her cell phone. Getting Edge's number from her list she dialed and waited for him to pick up. She hoped he was home, it had been a little while since she had talked to him, every night they had been at home he had been on a date, he had said with him being out on the injury it gave him a lot of time to "check out the ladies" as he put it.

"This is Edge, what can I do for you," Edge answered, his voice smooth as silk.

"Hello Edge," Stephanie said in her most seductive voice.

"Hey Cyndi is that you, didn't you get enough of me last night?" Edge said huskily.

"Eww, Edge, way too much information," Stephanie said, pretending to gag violently at his words.

"Stephanie?"

"Yes, you big dork-chop," she laughed, using one of his old insults.

"Oops, I didn't know it was you."

"Obviously or you wouldn't have just told me too much about you and your little trysts you've been having."

"Can't help it the ladies love a man with an injury. They love to try and make me feel better if you know what I mean."

"I know and I don't want to hear about it anymore, you hear me?" she said trying to act like she was serious.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your voice?"

"I was just thinking about you and how much I miss you at the shows," she told him.

"I miss you too," he responded, his calm voice belying his sadness at not being able to be on the show, "It sucks having to sit at home and watch while everyone wrestles, hell, even you got to wrestle."

"Yeah," she laughed, "But you'll be back soon enough."

"Not soon enough for me, if I could be out there right now I would be so happy. It gets boring having to stay here, I miss the traveling and the adrenaline and the crowds and going out there for a match. I don't know how normal people do it."

"I don't know either, when I was banned from the company I thought I was going to rip my hair out from boredom. I practically had to beg Vince to let me come back."

"I think that the only guy who doesn't know what we've been through is Chris, the guy is like an machine, he's always there, always ready to go, I envy him."

"Hey, it's not that fun, we never get to go anywhere. We could really use you on the show. You were a crowd favorite."

"I know, but like you said, I will be back, and I'll be better than I ever have before."

"Is that a promise?" she asked kindly.

"You bet it is."

She watched the television only to see that Kurt was making fun of Brock from the backstage area. She had to laugh at Kurt calling Brock a big fat baby. She hated to say it, but it was true, Brock was acting all whiny. And she did not think that solely based on the fact that Brock had sided with Vince. Ok, it had a little to do with it, but just a little.

"Would you get a load of them?" Edge said, "Brock is being a sore loser. He just can't admit that Kurt was the better man."

"Pride and the male ego," Stephanie said, "The two go hand in hand." 

"I should resent that, but in the face of pure evidence I don't think that I can."

"Nope, oh and look at what we have here..........," her voice trailing off as she saw Undertaker make his way down the ramp, "I'm going to have to go break this up soon if it gets any worse."

"Oh, don't let me keep you from your job."

"You're not."

"I know, but I've got to go anyways, someone's coming over later," he told her.

"Oh, well then, see you Edge."

"See you, stop by this weekend and we'll hang out ok?"

"Ok," she said before they said their goodbyes.

She went back to watching this little segment. And here came the Big Show. All her big men, no pun intended, were coming out to the ring now, all of them wanting to get a title shot. Yeah, and wasn't it just so nice how Hunter had called Kurt a paper champion on Raw. Well, if Kurt was such a paper champion then why were all these guys fighting over a paper championship. Just goes to show what Hunter knew, and that was pretty much nothing. If anyone was a paper champ it was him.

Oh, and here came the so-called "paper champion" now. She could feel the tension from all of them even from backstage. This might get ugly and she didn't want any of her superstars, especially the big ones to get hurt so she got up and went down to the gorilla to make sure that this little belt fight got out of hand. She decided to intervene when they started arguing over who would be next to go after the title. This was right up her alley, making matches.

Walking out there, confidence on her face, she got in the ring to make her announcement. If all three men wanted the opportunity to face Kurt, she would give them all a chance. She didn't think it was a fair deal to say so-and-so would the next contender. She'd make them earn it. Isn't that what getting the belt was all about, earning it?

She went on to make her announcement, saying it was her decision. She knew being in charge had some perks. Before she could make her announcement of the triple threat match she planned to have later she heard Brock mumble something about being unfair. Well, of course he would say something like that. It was too bad he wasn't sucking up to her instead of her father, then he might've gotten what he wanted, but as it went, no way. She called him on his unhappiness and his tapping out and he advanced towards her, causing her to take a step back.

She didn't want to go out there and cause trouble or get hurt. She was grateful when she felt Kurt's hand on her arm and saw him stepping in front of her slightly as if to create a barricade between her and Brock. He was such a good friend and she sent him a smile in his direction. One he caught out of the corner of his eye and smiled back at. She went on to announce the triple threat match for the shot at the title and then left, letting the news sink in for all of them. They wanted to act like little boys, she'd treat them like little boys. It seemed only fair.

She walked backstage triumphantly, she felt as if she had just seized her show back from the grip of her father. She hadn't seen Sable this evening and had a pretty good idea that wherever her father was, that Sable was sure to follow, just like the obedient little sheep that she was. But hey, if it meant that she didn't have to deal with either of them, she was in pure heaven.

"Thanks for stopping whatever that was out there," Kurt said, strolling up beside her.

"I didn't want things to get out of hand, might give my father a reason to fire me and then where would I be."

"You could always ask your mom to give you your job back of that happened."

"Yeah, probably, but I have a feeling that my father keeps me around here just so that he can make my life a living hell."

"Bastard," Kurt muttered under his breath.

"You're such a good friend you know that right?"

"I know," he beamed.

"I don't tell you often enough, but everything you do for me, everything you've ever done for me, I appreciate it," she said, turning to him so he could see how serious she was being.

"You don't have to thank me Stephanie, it's just called being a good friend."

"Yeah, but so many times you've gone above and beyond. And I just thought that it deserved some thanks."

He hugged her to him, "Don't thank me, I'm lucky to have you."

"Likewise," she mumbled, hugging him back.

"Now that we've had enough mushiness, what are you going to do with yourself for the rest of the evening?"

"I've got a bit of work to do, I'll watch the show, then probably go back to the hotel, spend some quality time with Chris, fall asleep, fly home to Florida, spend a nice relaxing weekend at home, then go to Raw on Monday..........."

"Oh, I asked for the rest of the evening, not for the rest of your life."

"I'm just saying, I'm not doing too much for the rest of the night."

"Yeah, I pretty much got that in that little speech you were giving."

"You know, you were right when you called Brock a baby, and when you said it I was thinking--"

"How much you would like a baby?" Kurt supplied, grinning impishly.

She swatted his arm, "No!"

"But I'm sure that thought has crossed your mind."

"One or twice, but as I was saying," she said, changing the topic back to what she had been thinking before, "I thought of how you used to be the exact same way, but then you said it and I was like, sometimes we're so on the same wavelength."

Kurt laughed, "I wouldn't doubt it Steph. But I know I used to be just as bad, or maybe worse than Brock was tonight."

"Worse, most definitely worse," she kidded.

"Go back to your work," he said, shoving her lightly in the direction of her office. She stumbled slightly before regaining her balance.

"Hey, don't shove a girl in high heels," she called out to him as she walked to her locker room.

She sat down again, turning on her television and grabbing some files from her bag. She looked over things, once in a while glancing at the television, wondering what was going down. She finished up right before the triple threat match and eagerly tuned in to watch it, wondering which of the three would muscle their way to the top.

She smiled as she listened to Kurt on commentary. He and Jericho were always entertaining on the microphone. She laughed as she imagined them as a future announcing team, that would actually be a good idea when they both retired. But by that time, Jericho was sure to be running the company with her and Shane, but hell, that didn't mean that he couldn't be an announcer. After all, her father had done it.

She watched the three men duke it out with each other, wondering how any of them could distract one of the others to get the pin on the remaining man. She didn't have to wait too long to see as she saw Undertaker defeat Brock and Big Show. She had to hand it to him, he was by far the oldest man in that ring, but he still managed to get the victory. So it was going to be Undertaker versus Kurt, that would be an interesting match. She thought back to when they faced each other at Fully Loaded 2000, the same show where her then husband had faced her now boyfriend. Hunter had been so sure that Kurt had been the one sending her all those flowers, but had been shocked to find out that it had been Jericho.

She should've known it wasn't Kurt, he had been having troubles with the Undertaker for a while there, even spilling milk all over his coveted bike. But she too had been surprised to find that the flowers were from Jericho. She knew it was all a mind game that he was trying to play, to psych out Hunter before their match, but deep down, she had been so flattered that he had sent her such beautiful flowers.

She didn't realize she had been smiling through that whole trip down memory lane and with that smile she had gotten up and gotten all of her things together. It was like she was on auto-pilot or something, every instinct telling her it was time to go home, to Jericho. She left her office, turning off the light and went outside to the awaiting limo.

The driver was too slow for her liking, but she always hated urging people to hurry up, they were just doing their job, unlike her father who wanted to get everywhere as fast as possible. She enjoyed the passing scenery, then arriving at the hotel and getting out into the warm Texas evening. Tipping her limo driver she took her things and went upstairs, thinking again at how funny Kurt had been while calling Brock a baby.

"Hey beautiful," Jericho said, as he lay on the couch, book in one hand, beer in the other.

"Well, looks like you were having a good time," she commented, setting her things on the table.

"I was just waiting for you to get here."

She took off her shoes and went into the bathroom to grab one of Jericho's hair ties, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She came back out and went over to the couch, laying herself on top of Jericho, resting her head in the space between his chin and his chest. She felt him put his hands on her ass, and she giggled.

"This skirt covers absolutely nothing," he said to her.

"Is that such a problem?"

"No, I mean, I like it well enough, but this is so short, I wonder what everyone else thought about it."

"I'm sure they loved it."

He kissed her head, "You been shopping at the Baby Gap again with this skirt, geez Steph, no wonder you zipped out of here without so much as a goodbye, you didn't want me to see this thing."

"It was not from Baby Gap," she said, pushing his hands up and around her waist.

"Hey, I was comfortable with where my hands were!"

"Yeah, on my ass."

"Yeah," he said, grinning lecherously.

"Chris, what if I said I was pregnant?" she asked out of the blue, not knowing where it came from and not being able to stop it from coming out. It was just Kurt mentioning Brock being a baby, Jericho mentioning Baby Gap. It was a recurring theme throughout her evening and she kind of wondered what Jericho would do if he found out she was having a baby.

He remained silent and she wondered what he was doing. She lifter her head to look at him and saw that his face was completely ashen and his eyes glassy like he was in a coma or something. She looked at him weird.

"Chris.........."

"You-you're pregnant?" he squeaked.

"I said, what if I said I was?" she clarified.

"Are you?!?" he asked, his pitch getting so high she was sure pretty soon only dogs would be able to hear him.

"No," she admitted, "I was just wondering what you would think, but judging from your reaction, I guess it wouldn't be a happy response," she finished, starting to get up, a bit dismayed by the outcome of this little game.

"Hey, come back here," he said, pulling her back onto him, "Nobody ever said anything about not being happy."

"Well, you looking like you're going to throw up isn't the response I was hoping for."

"I would be happy if you were having our baby, I would just be in total shock."

"Why?"

"Um, because your family would kill me, and I value my life."

"Kill you?" she said skeptically, "They wouldn't kill you."

"Um, if I wasn't married to you and I knocked you up, your father would kill me, whether he's mad at you or not. Do you think that he'd like it if he found out that I was sleeping with you and got you pregnant?"

"No, I guess not. I don't know, the word baby kept showing up tonight and I just wanted to know."

"You could've just asked me instead of almost scaring me to death."

"I'm sorry," she said, kissing him, "I'm glad you'd be happy about it though."

"Why wouldn't I be? Our kids would be awesome, can you just imagine? I mean, with our genes, that kid would turn out perfect," he said, smirking. 

"Hey, don't get any ideas, I'm only 26 after all, plenty of time for kids..........later."

"You're the one that brought it up."

"Actually no, Kurt did, with all his baby talk he was spouting with Brock. Just got me thinking."

"Ok, well next time, make sure you don't spring that on me."

"I won't, just wondered if you'd be for or against the idea."

"For, Stephy, definitely for."

"Good, Kurt is excited about Gail."

"I'm sure he is."

"He deserves to be happy."

Meanwhile, Kurt stared down at the piece of paper, trying to get up the courage to call her. It should be easy, but it was so difficult. He had picked up the phone five time as it was and he hadn't gotten up the nerve to dial once. This is it, he kept telling himself. He grabbed the phone quickly and dialed the number, almost hoping that she didn't answer.

"Hello?" No such luck.

"Um, is Gail there?" he croaked out. Great job, he said, wanting to hit his head against the headboard.

"This is her, who's calling?"

"This is Kurt, Kurt Angle."

"Oh Kurt!" she said, excitedly, that was a good sign, "How are you?" 

"I'm great," he told her, loosening up a little.

"Yeah, I saw the show tonight, you were great on commentary."

"Thanks."

"So why'd you call?"

"Well, I was wondering, if, maybe you'd wanna, um, I don't know, go out or something, with me, sometime."

"Sure Kurt, I told Chris Jericho I wouldn't mind going out with you. Did you have a date in mind?"

"Um, well, I could probably go to Raw on Monday and go out with you then, if you're not busy or anything, we could go to lunch before the show so you're not too tired."

"I like that idea," she told him, "So why don't you call me when you figure out where you're staying."

"Ok," he smiled.

"Do you have my cell phone number?"

"Yeah."

"Great, I'll talk to you soon, ok Kurt?"

"Yeah, bye Gail."

"Bye," she said cheerfully. 

Kurt hung up and grinned to himself. He let out a yell of happiness and got up and jumped around a little bit. He fell back on the bed on his back and looked up at the ceiling. He had the championship, he had great friends, and he had a date with a beautiful woman.

Life was good for Kurt Angle.


	128. Mmm, Jericho in Vinyl, September 1, 2003

"Kurt, what are you doing here, you look bummed out."

Kurt came into the room, his shoulders down and a disappointed expression on his face. Stephanie led him over to the overstuffed couch and let him sit down before she sat down herself. She looked over at Kurt waiting for him to speak. She knew that he was here because he had a date with Gail later.

"You wanna talk about it Kurt?" Stephanie asked after several moments of silence.

"Where's Chris?" Kurt asked, avoiding the subject at hand.

"Oh, he went shopping today and he's putting on one of his outfits for me," she said, rolling her eyes a little, "It's supposed to be a big surprise for me or something."

"Oh," Kurt said sullenly.

"Come on Kurt, it's not like you to be sad, you're my happy-go-lucky friend," Stephanie said, giving him a little punch in the arm.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," he shrugged.

"Don't give me that, I know perfectly well that something IS wrong, so you should just spill before I have to pound it out of you," she said, trying to remain cheery.

"Gail just canceled our date," Kurt said, frowning as he thought about her call earlier.

"Oh Kurt," she said, coming over to hug him.

"It's ok, she said we could reschedule, I'm just bummed that she can't go out tonight, I've been looking forward to it all weekend."

"Oh, well, do you know why she canceled on you?" Stephanie asked, pulling away to look at him.

"Well, she found out she had a match tonight and said she'd probably be exhausted afterwards. I mean, I understand where she's coming from, because I get that way too after my matches, I was just so anticipating it."

"I know you were, I'm sorry, but at least she didn't call you and tell you that she hated you," she joked.

"Oh thank Stephanie, I'm glad that you're getting kicks out of this," he deadpanned.

"I'm just trying to cheer you up," she thought for a moment, "Here, this is what we'll do. We're in freaking New Orleans, let's go out and just get wasted or something."

"I don't know," he said, unsure of himself. He didn't know if he felt like going out, and the thought of getting drunk wasn't that appealing to him.

"Come on, we don't have to get stinking drunk, just enough to have fun."

"And what will Chris have to say about this?"

"He doesn't control me, and he'll probably join us after the show," she said, pulling on Kurt's arm, trying to get him to comply.

"Fine, fine," he gave in. She was so hard to resist sometimes, "Let me go get ready."

She clapped her hands happily and grinned at him. He simply gave her a bemused look and stood up. He left the room to go get ready and Stephanie stood up to get herself ready, wondering if Jericho was going to leave for the show soon or not, he had been in the bathroom for an awful long time.

She walked into the bedroom, seeing the door still closed. She shrugged to herself and went over to her suitcase to find something suitable for her to wear out tonight. She figured there would be plenty of people out on account of it being a holiday. She grabbed a sexy, little black dress and started to undress. She heard the bathroom door open and looked to Chris.

She almost dropped down to the ground in a dead faint. She wanted to get down on her knees and proclaim him her sex god. He was looking absolutely delicious in his vinyl pants and a bit oversized vinyl jacket. She dress fell from her hands as she stood there, unable to tear her eyes away from him.

"Well, I'm guessing you like the outfit or else you're standing there in your underwear for another reason," Jericho said, smirking at her.

"Wow," she told him, "Wow, wow, wow!"

"I knew you'd like it," he said, coming over to her, "You and vinyl."

"I love it," she told him, "I'm in awe."

"Good, but unfortunately I have to go work."

"Oh, do you have to?" she said, whimpering.

"Yeah, if I could stay I would, I mean, you look great in that outfit," he said, giving her the once over as she stood there in her matching bra and panties.

"Shut up," she said, getting her bearings back enough that she bent down to pick up her dress from the ground.

"Wow, Stephanie, I know you want me, but offering yourself to me like this........." he kidded.

"I hate you so much," she said, "I'm getting ready because I'm taking Kurt out on the town."

"But doesn't he have a date with Gail?" Jericho said as he pulled his hair back into a ponytail.

"Yeah, but she had to cancel, so I'm taking him out instead."

"Cool, just don't get piss drunk, I don't want to go having to search for you and find you face down in some gutter," he told her, kissing her cheek.

"Oh, you're just so funny," she said coldly, giving him a dirty look.

"I love you too, bye baby."

She kissed him goodbye and he went over to pick up his things for the evening. He had gotten dressed at the hotel room so that he could just go to the arena right before it started. He hated having to sit around doing nothing for long periods of time. He went to the arena and immediately went to see what he was doing tonight.

Finding out he didn't have a match and only had to do the Highlight Reel, he thought it would be a good idea if he went out and met up with Stephanie and Kurt later. Maybe he'd get Christian and Trish to go with him, he saw Trish had a match, but that Christian didn't. It would be perfect since Trish's match was fairly early on.

He dumped off his stuff at his locker room before going to Christian and Trish's locker room to see if they wanted to go out with him. He saw a lot of the women giving him double takes. He didn't know what it was about the vinyl, but it was like a girl magnet, he was always getting stared at. He laughed to himself as he thought about how many women wanted him. Yeah, he was being vain, but it was allowed, he was a sexy beast.

He found that Christian and Trish's door was open and they were inside eating stuff from catering. Christian was reviewing Trish's match from last week and giving her pointers as to what she could've done better. Trish nodded as she ate, listening to him intently.

"Hey guys, you busy?" Jericho asked from the door.

Trish looked up and then paused the video, "Oh, no, we were just looking over some of my moves. I feel that I'm getting a bit sloppy and I wanted Christian to let me know what I was doing wrong."

"Oh," Jericho said, coming in a bit more, "Is he helping or do you need a former World champion like myself to help you out?"

"I think he can handle it," she answered, kissing Christian's temple.

"So what're you doing tonight man?" Christian asked.

"Highlight Reel."

"May I add you are looking hot in that outfit?" Trish said to him. He just laughed, yup, definitely a girl magnet.

"Hey, what about me?" Christian said.

"You're always hot," Trish reassured, "So did you just come here to hang out with us?"

"No, as fun as that is, and trust me, it's oh so much fun, I wanted to know if you guys were doing anything after the show?"

"Not that we know of," Christian answered, "You going out?"

"Yeah, with my girl and Kurt."

"I thought Kurt had a date," Trish said, her eyebrow creasing in thought.

"She had to cancel on him."

"Oh, that sucks," Christian said, "But yeah, we can go out, that's cool."

"Great," Jericho said, noticing the show had started, "I better go, my show is the second segment, gotta get ready to go out there."

"See ya," Christian called out, his eyes already back to the video of Trish.

Jericho laughed to himself and headed down to the gorilla before realizing he still had his street shoes on. He wanted to change into his wrestling boots. He didn't know what it was, but he just liked to wear his wrestling boots when he was at a show, even if he wasn't wrestling. It made him feel like he was in his character, the King of Bling Bling, the Living Legend. He ran back to his locker room and grabbed his boots, lacing them up.

He finished up with them and walked nonchalantly down to the gorilla, anticipating his cue. He wasn't paying attention and when he looked over at the monitors to his left his jaw dropped, he was horrified at what he saw. Austin was tearing up the ring, tearing up HIS set. He couldn't believe his eyes, disbelieving it for a moment. He actually had to rub his eyes to make sure what he saw was real. He looked frightfully at the Jeritron 5000 and was at least a little bit relieved that it was safe from whatever had possessed Austin to destroy his ring.

He finally got his wits about him and stormed out to the ring, trying to pick up the damaged pieces to his poor set. Finding it a lost cause he got in the ring and yelled at Austin. Just because he was in some position of power didn't give him the right to ruin his set. Oh, if Austin only knew that he was dating Stephanie McMahon, he wouldn't be pulling this kind of shit. He didn't even have time to think that this was really the first time he thought of using Stephanie's name to gain power. That was a strange thing for him to do, and he wasn't sure if he liked using her for his own personal gain.

He kept yelling at Austin until Christian came out. Jericho could always count on his friend to help him out. Christian came down and they both started complaining to Austin. Jericho looked at his tattered set as Christian was talking and thought about how if he were on SmackDown the General Manager would never destroy his set, unless they were........he smirked to himself as he thought about it.

Austin then said he was making a match for them tonight. Jericho thought it'd be a walk in the park, he and Christian were such a great tag team, they could beat anything thrown at them. Then Austin dropped the bomb, they'd be fighting against each other, and not only that, but for the Intercontinental Championship. He and Christian looked at each other in disbelief. They were friends, they couldn't fight each other, he wasn't even in his ring attire. This was just great, oh well, sometimes you just had to do what you had to do.

Jericho took off his jacket and set it on the outside, making sure he kept it for safe-keeping, knowing Stephanie would love to see him in it later. He and Christian stared at each other from across the ring, neither one knowing how this was going to go down. They finally locked up and the match began, each one a little tentative with each other. The match really got going after the awkwardness was over. They were just fighting each other, this didn't mean they weren't friends anymore. But Jericho would be damned if he threw the match just because he was facing his friend, despite him being friends with Christian, he wanted that title, and he tried to win it.

This didn't sit well with Christian who got angry when he saw Jericho trying to cheat to win. They argued for a bit, Christian saying they were friends and friends didn't do that to friends. Jericho argued back and was greeted with a hard shove to his chest. There was no need for that and before he could stop himself he shoved Christian back. Christian retaliated with a slap and this went back and forth for a while before they started fighting like little boys. Jericho was actually pissed at Christian now. Didn't Christian realize how competitive he was, and would do everything in his power to win? Obviously not as they kept fighting.

The match went on, mostly with the two of them trying to out-cheat the other. It was all about winning now, not about the title, not about being friends, just getting that W by their name. Jericho fought, or cheated rather, valiantly, but in the end he was outwitted by Christian, who grabbed the rope during the count. Jericho was incensed at losing and stared at Christian in disbelief as he walked up the ramp. Jericho swore to himself before getting out of the ring and grabbing his jacket and going up the ramp to the back. He was angry with Christian for winning and angry at himself for letting his competitiveness get in the way of his friendship.

"Hey man," he heard Christian say as he reached the back. Jericho looked up and saw an apologetic look on his face.

"Hey," Jericho said quietly.

"I don't know what got into me out there."

"Same here."

"I'm sorry," Christian said, holding his hand out.

Jericho sneered a little before shaking Christian's hand companionably, "Yeah, so am I, we were being like two little boys out there."

"Yeah, we were, it was a little embarrassing," Christian chuckled.

"Well, we did put on a hell of a match," Jericho shrugged.

"Well, we are the two best wrestlers on Raw."

"Ain't that the truth."

"So are we still invited tonight?"

"Of course you are," Jericho said, "Now, I'm going to go take a shower and get ready."

"Sounds good, see ya after Trish's match."

Christian went one way while Jericho went the other, making his way to his dressing room. Wrestling in vinyl pants wasn't the best idea ever and it was sticking to him more than ever. A nice shower would help him out with that. He was almost to his dressing room when he saw Shane pacing back and forth.

"Hey Shane," Jericho called out.

Shane turned around, "Oh hey Chris, did you just have the Highlight Reel?"

"No, a match against Christian."

"But you're not in your gear," Shane observed.

"Long story, but what are you doing here tonight?"

"To be honest, I don't know, maybe I'm crazy--"

"Maybe?" Jericho said, giving him a look.

"Ok, I am crazy, but everyone keeps warning me to not go out there, to just leave because I shouldn't be here, I don't know what the hell is in store, but I don't back down from anyone or anything."

"What is with you McMahon's and that phrase, is that your family motto or something, 'We never back down,' that's all I hear out of your mouths."

"Maybe it is, but you know, whatever is going to happen, let it happen," he shrugged, "So," he looked around, "Where's my dear sister?"

"Probably indulging in a martini or two right now," Jericho answered.

"Huh? You let her go out there drinking by herself, are you an idiot, any guy can try to take advantage of her!" Shane said, his voice raising.

"Shane, dude, calm down," Jericho said, "She's with Kurt."

"Oh," Shane said, putting a hand over his heart in relief, "That's good to hear, but wait, didn't Kurt have a date--"

"She cancelled."

"Oh, so are you meeting her soon or something?"

"Yeah, did you wanna come?"

"Nah, I've got business to take care of."

"Oh ok, well, I better go get ready so I can leave, good luck tonight ok, don't get yourself killed."

Shane chuckled, "I'll try not to."

"That's all I ask, I don't need to have to worry about two McMahons."

Jericho walked into his dressing room, grabbed his shower stuff, and immediately went into the shower. He took his shower, getting nice and clean and then got out of the shower to change. He hesitated to put on the vinyl pants, seeing as how he had just worn them, but then he recalled that these were the only clothes he had, since he hadn't anticipated having a match tonight. Slipping his pants and jacket back on, he went to Trish and Christian's locker room, waiting with Christian until Trish's match was over.

They saw Trish get beaten down and Christian resisted the urge to go out there, it wouldn't have helped anyways. About ten minutes after the match ended Trish hobbled her way through the door, leaning heavily on Ivory. Christian got up and took over Ivory's position, letting Trish lean on him.

"I brought her back here, she wasn't in any condition to walk by herself, I mean, I can't believe Molly and Gail, a couple of bitches if you ask me, I mean, I don't know what's up with them right now, but whatever, just wanted to bring her back."

"Thanks Ivory," Christian said, finally getting a word in over the brunette.

"You're welcome, bye Trish."

"Yeah, bye," Trish mumbled.

"You ok Trish?" Jericho asked.

"Yeah, I think they just got a bit carried away."

"Obviously," Christian said, leading her over to the couch, and helping her sit down, "Are you gonna be ok to go out?"

"I don't think so, I just want to lie down right now," she said, closing her eyes.

"Ok, sorry Chris," Christian said to him, "You don't mind do you?"

"No, I'll leave you guys alone," he said, getting up, "Feel better Trish."

"Thanks."

Jericho left and walked out of the arena into the cool night air. He got to his rental car and got inside. He started driving towards the French Quarter, where he knew they would be, from there he would call her and find out where they were. He drove along the highway when his cell phone went off. He fumbled for the phone, trying to keep his eyes on the road. He managed to grab it and picked it up.

"Jericho here."

"Chris."

"Baby, I was just about to call you," he said brightly, "Where are you and Kurt?"

"We're at the hospital," she answered.

"Stephanie, are you alright?" Jericho asked frantically, "Did something happen to you? Did anyone touch you?"

"No, it's not me sweetie," she said, smiling a bit at his concern, "It's Shane."

"Oh shit, what happened?"

"He got attacked by Kane," she explained, "It was horrible, he chained him to the ring post and God, it was just, it was awful Chris."

"Shit, where are you?"

Stephanie told him where they were and he immediately changed directions to get there. He drove as fast as the law would allow and got there as quickly as possible. He went inside and asked which room Shane McMahon was in. Once he got the information he headed on up there. He saw Shane lying on the bed, obviously in pain and Stephanie sitting by his bedside while Kurt leaned against the wall.

"At least I didn't get myself killed," Shane said as he saw Jericho.

"Dude, what the fuck happened?"

"You don't wanna know," Shane said to him.

Jericho looked at Stephanie who just shook her head, rolling her eyes heavenward in an attempt to contain her composure. He went over and stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him gratefully.

"Well, I mean, it must've been bad to land you here," Jericho said, gesturing with his arms around the hospital room.

"I was, um, shell shocked so to speak," Shane said, a red blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Can you elaborate?"

"He got shocked Chris," Stephanie said.

"Oh, that sucks, bad?"

"No, just a little, but enough to land him here," Stephanie said.

"How did you get shocked?"

"Jumper cables," Kurt said, containing his grin.

"Go ahead and laugh Kurt, you know you want to," Shane said, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm not laughing," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"It's not funny Kurt," Stephanie scolded, "He could've been seriously hurt, you know."

"I feel like I'm missing something," Jericho said, "What almost got shocked."

"The jumpers were connected to my crotch, do the math Chris," Shane said.

Jericho thought for a moment about what he was saying then it dawned on him. His eyes widened as he looked down at Shane, it all making sense now. He gave Shane a sympathetic look before looking over at Kurt who looked back at him. They both had that "ouch" look on their faces.

"Damn man, that sucks."

"Yeah, but I'll be ok, and so will the merchandise."

"Eww," Stephanie said, "That's way too much information right there."

"Where's my son!?!" a voice bellowed from down the hallway.

Stephanie gasped as she recognized it. She looked panicked as she looked at Jericho and Kurt. They all stood frozen, not knowing what to do. If Vince caught them in here, they would be in such deep shit. Stephanie could see everything they worked for going down the drain.

"The bathroom, you guys," Shane hissed.

The three other occupants raced for the bathroom, closing the door behind them. Stephanie realized she had left her purse out there, and ran out to retrieve it. She ran back into the bathroom and just as she closed the door, Vince walked in.

"Shane."

"What is it Pops? You come here to tell 'I told you so?' Because if you did, then you can leave."

"I wanted to check up on you."

"I'll be fine."

"You looked to be in pretty bad shape when you got stretchered out of the ring. I wanted to check up on you."

Stephanie, Jericho and Kurt listened intently as Vince and Shane conversed. They could tell Shane was trying his best to get Vince out of the room. They stood there in the dark, not daring to breathe, lest Vince hear them. Jericho reached out to wrap an arm around Stephanie.

"Hey, who's touching my ass?" Kurt whispered.

"Not me," Stephanie whispered back.

"Oh shit," Jericho said, pulling his hand back, "Thought you were Steph."

"I like you Chris, but not that way," Kurt said.

"Shh," Stephanie shushed them.

"You looked sexy tonight," Jericho whispered into Stephanie's ear.

"You think?" she whispered to him.

"Yeah, I wish we were alone."

"Oh do you? Well, with all that vinyl and the way your jacket just goes over your hands a bit, you look like a sexy beast," she told him seductively.

"I know you can't resist the vinyl, it's why I bought it."

"You're so right, I've always had a soft spot for it, makes me wanna just rip it off--"

"Oh dear God, Shane, get your father out of here, I can't take it anymore," Kurt whispered, "They're gonna have sex in here."

"Sorry Kurt," Stephanie said, "We can't help it."

"You guys can come out now," Shane called out, "I got rid of him."

Kurt practically flew out of the bathroom, shoving Stephanie and Jericho out of the way. They strolled out together, Jericho looking down Stephanie's dress, while she ran her hand up his jacket and shirt and on his bare side.

"Have fun in there?" Shane joked.

"They were going to do it!" Kurt said, pointing and accusatory finger towards the couple.

"No we weren't," Jericho said, "But we were definitely thinking about it."

"Ok, visiting time is over," the nurse said as she walked in, "Everyone out."

"Bye Shane," Stephanie said, hugging her brother.

"Bye man," Jericho said, patting Shane on the shoulder.

"Feel better," Kurt said.

"Bye you guys," he said as they walked out.

Kurt walked behind Jericho and Stephanie as they made goo-goo eyes at each other and kissed every now and then. He realized he'd have to drive back to the hotel with them and that was going to be one interesting ride. He looked skyward in prayer.

"Lord help me, just don't let them do it in the car."


	129. Not Have Much To Say, September 4, 2003

"So how's Shane?"

"He'll live."

"Well, I didn't doubt that, but I mean, it was polite to ask," Kurt chuckled.

"All he has is a bruised ego."

"I'm not surprised. It's not everyday you get handcuffed to a pole and then almost get your nether regions electrocuted."

Stephanie giggled, "God Kurt, don't make me laugh, I'm supposed to be all sympathetic for him."

"Oh come on, doesn't it make you laugh just a tiny bit? Especially knowing that he'll be ok?" he asked.

She laughed out loud, "Yeah, you're right, I do find it a little bit funny. I mean, I know that it was a serious situation, but the logistics of it........."

He laughed with her, "Yeah, exactly. But he'll be ok right?"

"Of course."

"And how's the boy toy?"

"He's fine too, he's at the hotel."

"That's good."

"And how about you, have you talked to your crush lately, since she had to cancel on you and everything on Monday?"

Kurt sulked a bit, crossing his arms. He had been hoping that Gail would call him after she had canceled, but despite the fact that he hadn't left his phone since Monday, she hadn't called. It kind of depressed him. Maybe she had never wanted to go out with him in the first place, but couldn't say no to his face.

"No, she hasn't called," he said, downtrodden.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kurt," she said, coming over to sit next to him on her couch.

"Don't be, I'm getting the feeling she didn't like me anyways."

"Now who could not like you?" she said, acting as if that were the most preposterous idea in the world. And in some ways it was. Kurt was a nice, decent, and good-looking guy, and any girl should be lucky to have her. And she'd never tell Jericho this, but Kurt was a pretty good kisser to boot.

"Please Stephanie. I'm not the kind of guy girls want."

"Oh my God, who are you? Kurt, you are gorgeous, inside and out. And any girl who wouldn't want you is out of their mind."

"You don't want me," he joked, trying to get the subject off of himself.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure for a while there I had you," she winked.

He shook his head, "Yes, it's true, I was so far gone for you Stephanie. Unfortunately, you were faithful to your ass of a husband."

"Doesn't mean that for a little while I wouldn't have gotten with you," she said, "Because you are great. Now get out of the dumps, maybe you should go find some other girl, go out to Bourbon Street and have some fun."

"Like who?"

"I don't know, whoever you can find," she laughed, "I've got work to do."

"So you're throwing me out that's it?"

"No, you need to go get ready for your match later. You don't want to lose your title do you?"

"Of course not," he said, patting the title which he kept on him at all times, "Bye Steph."

"Bye."

Kurt walked out and Stephanie went back to her work. She sighed as she looked through her papers, truth be told, she didn't want to be here tonight. She knew her father would probably be here and she didn't want to see him. It had been a close call on Monday with Shane at the hospital, but that's not why she didn't want to see him.

She remembered seeing Shane and Vince, seeing her father trying to gain Shane's forgiveness. Why did he have to go and do that? She had been more wronged than Shane had and still she got nothing but coldness from him. But when she really thought about it, she knew that her father respected Shane more. It had been that way for years. She had just been the one he spoiled, never to be taken more seriously than her brother. Even after everything she had proven, she was still looked down upon by her father.

She sat back and ran her hands through her hair. What would it take to gain recognition in his eyes? Maybe she should just go out and do something crazy to gain her father's attention. Nothing else seemed to work. She knew her father adored Jericho, thinking that Jericho sided with him all the time. Maybe revealing she was with him would gain his praise. But she didn't want to leech onto something, she wanted him to realize that she by herself was a good person, a strong, smart person. He still saw her as the little girl. It was a little easier to accept than the thorn in his side.

She turned on her television, putting the show on, like she did every week. It was her show after all, and she had spent long hours making it what it was. She had made so many sacrifices, professionally and personally to make this show work. Only to have her father swoop in, claim it as his and practically oust her out of her duties. All while squiring around a known whore, it made her oh so proud.

Speak of the devil she thought as she saw her father and his whore arriving at the arena. Sable looked so pompous on the arm of her father, knowing she was the highest of whores. Stephanie wanted to spit in her face, if it weren't for her, Stephanie was pretty positive that she wouldn't hate her father with the hatred of a thousand burning suns. He might even be proud of her. She looked down at the thought, then looked up again when she heard Brock's voice. There was another person who betrayed people they supposedly cared about.

She knew Kurt had been more hurt than he let on when Brock had turned on him. He figured that Kurt and Brock related to each other because of their similar backgrounds. He was someone that understood Kurt's passion, and then he goes and turns on him, doesn't make you feel really good. She knew that first hand.

"Hey Steph," Cena said, walking into her room.

"John," she said, trying to sound bright, "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing, just came to say hi, see what you were up to?"

"Not much, just working."

"That all you do?" he asked, "You're always working, do you ever have fun?"

"As crazy as this may sound, I don't work all the time," she laughed.

"Well, just making sure, I mean, it's all I seem to see you do. You're always working on something around here, making sure something is going right when everything else is going wrong."

"I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult?" she joked.

"Take it as a compliment. Just hope you don't work too hard."

"Me..........never. Besides, my boyfriend would never be able to stand it if I worked all the time. He's one of those party people, always wants some new adventure to go on."

"Doesn't sound like the type of guy you belong with," Cena told her.

Stephanie found herself a little offended by that comment. Why couldn't she be with someone like that, was she that serious? "What kind of guy do you see me with?"

"I don't know, a real driven guy, you know what I mean? Like businessman type, white-collared, good background."

"Like my ex-husband kind of," she supplied.

"Not necessarily, but yeah, that's kinda the point I was goin for."

"The guy I'm with can be serious when he wants to be, but he can also be totally out there. He keeps me on my toes," she said, smiling slightly.

"Sound like a good guy. He got a name?"

"Yes, of course he does."

"Mind sharin'?"

Stephanie didn't know if she wanted to go there. If she told him Jericho's name, he might get suspicious, but then again, she was sure there were millions upon millions of Chris's in the world, and he couldn't gleam onto the fact that she was with Chris Jericho just by saying his name.

"Keith," she said, giving Jericho's middle name.

"Cool, well, tell Keith he's a lucky guy, and I'd give my right arm to get with a chick like you."

Stephanie blushed slightly, "Thanks John, but trust me, the last thing you want is a girl like me."

"I doubt that's the truth," he said, walking to the door, "Now if you'll excuse me, I got business that needs taking care of."

"Bye."

He left and she was once again alone. She wondered exactly what he had to do. She felt weird admitting this, but she really like Cena. He was a good guy once you got that "I'm so cool" attitude that he seemed to have. He was one of those people who you make a judgment on the first impression, but then find out they were nothing like you thought they were going to be. It was a pleasant surprise.

She didn't have to wait long to see what he was up to as he drove out in one of Eddy's prized cars. She saw the subsequent beat-down and then saw Cena race off with the car. She had to hand it to him, she knew where to hit Eddy where it hurt. She went back to her papers when Eddy stormed into her office, speaking in Spanish.

She got up from her desk and went to stand in front of it, trying to calm him down. She couldn't get a word in edge-wise as he kept speaking half in Spanish and half in English. She was getting all befuddled trying to keep up with what he said. She decided to do the only fair thing she could, despite the fact that Cena was at least someone she liked talking to. She made a match for them next week. It was the right thing to do anyways. Eddy thanked her once he had calmed down enough to speak in normal tones and then left her office. She stared at him go. Well, at least tonight wasn't boring, and if everything went smoothly, maybe she would duck out of here early. That'd be great, and maybe she wouldn't run into her father, that would be even better.

She was about to go back to work when a timid knock sounded on her door. Well, that was actually odd, hardly anyone knocked around these parts, instead just barging in on her. Just another perk of her father totally making her seem inferior to everyone. She wondered who was knocking and went to investigate. She opened the door, and almost let out a small gasp. This was quite the development.

"Hey, can I help you?" Stephanie said politely.

"Um, yeah, I know you're the General Manager, and I figured if anyone knew where something was, that you would be it," she said rambling.

"Of course, what did you need?"

"I was looking for Kurt's dressing room?" she asked nicely.

"Oh, here, I'll take you to it."

"Thanks so much," Gail said gratefully.

Stephanie walked out of her office, closing the door behind her. She walked out ahead of Gail towards Kurt's dressing room. She glanced back to make sure Gail was following her and gave a little smirk as she turned around. Boy, was Kurt going to be surprised about this one, she giggled inwardly.

"So, what're you doing here on SmackDown?" Stephanie asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well, I had to cancel on Kurt on Monday, and I felt bad about it, so I stuck around town and decided to come see if he was available to go out tonight, you know as a raincheck to our other date," she explained.

"Oh, cool," Stephanie answered.

"So you're good friends with Kurt?" Gail asked.

"The best of, he's always been there for me when I needed him, he's a really great guy," Stephanie said, talking Kurt up.

"Yeah, he really seems like it. I mean, I haven't talked to him all that much, but he really seems like a genuinely good guy, it's sometimes hard to find that in this business."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Oh yeah, cause you were married to Triple H," Gail nodded, remembering. Stephanie winced a little at the thought of her broken marriage, "Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up!" Gail said apologizing profusely.

"Oh no, it's ok, I'd just rather try to forget that time in my life," Stephanie nodded.

"Oh, I don't blame you, I've had some past relationships that went bad."

"Yeah, it sucks, but then you find someone out there that's 5000 times better and you know that all the past stuff was worth it just to make it to this point."

"I take it you have someone," Gail smiled knowingly.

"Yes, and he's the perfect guy," Stephanie said dreamily.

"Lucky," Gail said good-naturedly.

Stephanie laughed as they reached Kurt's locker room. She seemed good enough for Kurt. She was nice at least, so that was good thing. She might have to become good friends with Gail if this thing between her and Kurt worked out. But as of right now, Gail seemed like a good person. She knocked on Kurt's door and heard him say to come in. She opened the door and stuck her head in.

"Kurtie," she said teasingly.

Kurt rolled his eyes at her pet name for him, she usually said that when she wanted to tease him or torment him, "What is it Stephy?"

"I've got a surprise for you," she said, grinning like an idiot.

"What kind of surprise?" he asked, looking up from where he was lacing up his boots.

"A good one."

"How good?"

"Very, very good," she taunted.

"What is it? Is it something that has to do with you and Ch--"

"Shhhh," she hissed, giving him a look that meant a sure death if he finished that sentence. Kurt was confused as to why he couldn't say Jericho's name. Usually when they were alone he could throw Jericho's name around as much as he wanted. What was going on?

"What are you up to Steph?"

"You have a visitor," she said simply, before ducking out of the room.

"Visitor?" Kurt muttered as he got up to investigate. It was probably Jericho or something like that.

When he opened the door they last thing he expected to find was Gail on the other side of it. She gave him a small smile as Stephanie stood next to her with a sneaky little look on her face. She stuck her tongue out at Kurt before discreetly creeping back down the hallway, leaving the two of them alone.

"Gail!" Kurt said, genuinely surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I felt bad about Monday, so I'm here to make it up to you."

"Make it up to me?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we could go out after your through with your match," she shrugged, "If you want to of course."

"Do I want to?" he said, almost a little too giddily, "Of course I want to!"

She laughed at his enthusiasm, "That's good to hear. Is your match soon?"

"Yeah, really soon actually," then he realized that he was standing in the doorway, "Oh, God, I'm so rude, come in."

He took a step back and let her into his dressing room. She stepped inside and looked around at the pretty nicely furnished dressing room. Stephanie really took care of the people that she liked. He smiled secretly to himself at the thought of having Gail here, it was turning out to be a great night.

"This is nice," she said, looking around.

"Yeah, there are some perks to being best friend's with the boss," he said, taking a seat on the couch, "You can sit if you want."

She sat down and smiled at him, "I can watch your match from here?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. The remote is right here," he said, grabbing it and handing it to her. As their hands touched, Kurt felt a little electricity pass between them and he smiled up at her as she smiled back at him, taking the remote.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"No problem, I better get down to the gorilla now," he said, feeling an unwanted blush coming up to his cheeks.

"Ok," she said, ducking her head down embarrassed.

He left the room and let out a child-like giggle of glee. His luck was turning out better and better. Now he would go out there and retain the title and he'd go out with Gail and everything would be great. He practically skipped to the gorilla, a grin plastered on his face, bewildering everyone he passed.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was not happy to see her father standing outside her office. What the hell was he doing there? And why was Big Show standing in front of the door? She went up to him to try to get into her office, but found herself denied access. This was so typical of her father, commandeering everything, belittling her authority once again. She didn't care if her father was actually the boss or not. She should be treated professionally as the boss.

She stalked off, hating to have any sort of confrontation with her father. It still stung from Monday when she had seen Vince trying to extend the olive branch to Shane. She bit her lip in anger, tasting the coppery blood on her lip from her teeth digging into her lip. She turned around in anger walking back over to her father.

"Let me in my office," she said, very seriously.

"No, we're taking care of things," her father said.

"Let me in!" she demanded.

"Stephanie, go do something else, we'll be gone in a little while," he said condescendingly.

"First you treat me like dirt, now you treat me like a child, I am not a child! I am an adult now, but you can't seem to get that!" she yelled petulantly.

"I'm not treating you like a child," he said, in that voice she hated, like he was trying to soothe her temper tantrum.

"I don't know why I try with you," she said, "I don't know why I even try to see things the way you do. You come in here, rule everything and act as if I'm nothing. Need I remind you that you were the one who hired me?"

"And need I remind you, that you were a disappointment in your position."

The words wounded her, but she'd be damned if she let him see it. She took it gracefully, trying to salvage any remaining dignity after her father insist that he take her down a peg each and every time. She couldn't let his words sink in, they had to bounce off her. It was a wonder she hadn't broken yet, hadn't felt lower than low by his words. She wouldn't let that happen, not while she had McMahon blood flowing through her veins. That was the best thing her father could've given her, the strength and will to carry on.

"Fine, think that way, think what you will. I don't care, I've done my best, and you need look no further than the show. That's about all you can do, and you saying one thing does not make me feel differently. I hope that you will be out of my office shortly as I have work that needs to be done. Of course, you wouldn't know about work since you're too busy with your skank," she said as calmly as possibly, hoping her words hurt as much as his did.

She walked away, retaining her calm demeanor. But inside a storm was brewing and she knew she needed to get out of this arena, away from her father. She couldn't stay here, she felt constricted by him, and she didn't like that feeling one bit. She would simply wait for them to leave and then go back to the hotel, lay down and go to sleep in Jericho's arms. Then she would go into the weekend thinking about anything but her father and all the trouble he had caused. That seemed like the best plan of attack.

Kurt walked down the ramp cockily, feeling like he was as Jericho would say, the King of the World. He was prepared for this battle with Undertaker and was sure he would come out the winner. He got into the ring, staring down his opponent before going to work on him. It was time to retain his title.

The match was going well, but Kurt was unable to capitalize on any of his offensive moves. He knew Undertaker would be a formidable opponent, having faced him before. But this time he was older, wiser, and much stronger. He knew he could pull this off. But Undertaker was tough and wouldn't give in to any of his signature moves. Kurt just kept trying and trying to beat him.

Kurt felt himself lifted and given the Last Ride and could feel Undertaker about to pin him. But something else happened, Brock came out and started attacking Undertaker. Then he himself was attacked and Brock was being relentless. He tried to fight back, but found his attempts futile and took his beating, knowing that Brock was going after his back. Finally it was over and all Kurt could feel was the pain shooting from his back.

He was helped backstage and taken to the trainers who went to work putting ice all over his sore back. He winced at the cold, but knew it was the only way. As he lay there, he wondered where Gail was. Stephanie came into the room, concern on her face.

"Kurt, are you alright?" she asked, sitting in front of him.

"I will be, once my back stops aching."

"I can't believe he did that to you," she said, shaking her head.

"All in a day's work," Kurt laughed, then stopped as his back started to hurt from the movement.

"I have to get out of here," she whispered to him, getting in close.

"What happened?"

"My dad," she said, looking away from him at the wall, "Need I continue?"

"No, you don't," he said, reaching up to brush her hair back, "Why don't you go."

"I am," she said, "I can't be here, can't be around him, it makes me crazy."

He sighed, hating to see her like this, "Go have fun or something, we're in N'awlins for goodness sakes."

She laughed, "Chris hates seeing me drunk."

"Oh, but it's ok for him?" Kurt laughed, remembering all the times Jericho had gotten drunk.

"He says I'm much prettier when I'm coherent," she smiled, then saw Gail standing in the doorway, "But I guess I better go."

"Ok."

Stephanie winked at him playfully before getting up off the chair and leaving, giving a smile to Gail. Kurt had yet to see her and turned his head, seeing her standing tentatively in the doorway. He smiled and waved her in. She came to sit in the same chair that Stephanie had just occupied.

"Well, this wasn't how I wanted to start our date," he joked.

"Are you ok?" she asked, worry obviously in her face.

"Yeah, as soon as I'm done here we'll go hit the town."

"Are you sure you're still up for it. I don't want you to overexert yourself, if you're sore we can always reschedule," she offered.

"No way," he shook his head, "I cannot wait any longer to go out with you."

She giggled girlishly, "Well then, hurry up and get iced."

Stephanie sighed heavily as she tried to juggle all her things in her arms while trying to open her hotel room door. Just as she managed to get the door open, all her files and things decided to fall from her arms into a mess on the floor. She cursed to herself and went down to pick it all up.

"Fuck, all my work," she muttered, trying to gather it all up quickly.

It wasn't long before another pair of hands were helping her with her task. They gathered all the papers and her hands were actually trembling in anger. Jericho gently took the files from her hands and took his and lay them on the carpet. He took her trembling hands in his and kissed the palms.

She didn't dare look up at him, knowing he would sense something very wrong in her eyes. Hadn't she worried him enough for one lifetime? Sometimes she got afraid that he would leave her because she was too screwed up, that her family was too screwed up and he didn't want that. She wouldn't blame him if he did. Every time she was down, he was the one to pick up the pieces. This went so far back too. He was the one who helped her when Hunter had dumped her. And he hadn't even really liked her then, despite the fact he said he did. She knew that during their partnership he had been apprehensive.

Jericho noticed her looking down and being very quiet, her trembling having quieted down, leaving only her, hunched over the carpet, her hair hiding her face. He helped her up gently by the hands, trying to get a good look at her face, but she wasn't fixing her hair.

"You know you can always tell me if something's wrong," he told her quietly.

"I know," she mumbled, "But you've probably heard enough of my problems for three lifetimes."

"Nah, only half a lifetime, I've got plenty more room," he told her.

She finally looked up at him, "It's nothing really, just stress."

"Stress huh?" he said, knowing that was only one part of the bigger picture. But he knew what the bigger picture was and it still bugged him. Stephanie, despite being strong, was still a fragile, young woman, and someone who needed a real family, not some disjointed shell of a family.

"Yeah, just stress. I'm beginning to regret taking the GM job."

"Now don't say that," he said, wrapping her up in a hug.

"Why?"

"Because how else would we have gotten together?"

She hadn't thought about that. Somehow all the bad washed away with that one good thing. Her problems seemed miniscule when she knew she had Jericho by her side to fight the good fight with her. He was so much stronger than she was, though he would never agree to that.

"You're right," she said, "But now, I just want to forget about that. Move on to happier things."

"Like?"

"Like how funny Kurt's face was when he saw that Gail was at the show tonight," she said playfully, pulling him into the bedroom to tell him all about it.

Gail and Kurt laughed it up as they sat at the bar of one of the local clubs. She was so easy to talk to and they had a lot in common. It was fun to have someone like her to talk to and Kurt had never felt more at ease. They sipped their drinks, making small talk and laughing at the dancers making fools of themselves on the dance floor.

Kurt was initially surprised when she pulled him out there. He wasn't the best dancer in the world. Ok, he wasn't even a great dancer, but here he was in the middle of the floor, looking around, knowing he was so out of place.

"Come on Kurt," Gail said, doing some sort of dance that Kurt found himself mesmerized by.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly.

"Just move," she instructed.

"I'm not that good."

"Go for it," she said, grabbing his waist and dancing against him.

Kurt laughed and just let loose, not caring what he looked like. They danced and laughed as Kurt tried not to appear too stupid. He was actually having a great time. Who knew that he, Kurt Angle, would be so open to doing something crazy like dancing at a seedy little club? It was kind of exhilarating.

Later on, after they were both spent and a little tipsy from the drinks, he walked her back to her hotel room. They walked down the hallway, her small hand clasped in his much bigger one. Upon reaching the door, they turned to face each other. Kurt didn't know what to expect. Surely she wouldn't kiss him, not on the first date? But to his surprise, she gave him a little peck on the lips, leaving him frozen in shock.

"I had so much fun Kurt, tonight was a blast," she gushed, "Call me and we'll do something soon ok?"

"Kay," he said, still a little dazed.

"And we'll work on your dancing," she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek before going into her hotel room. Kurt stood there for a moment, processing the evening in his mind. He grinned as he walked down the hallway, giving a slight yell in happiness.

He walked down to Jericho and Stephanie's room and knocked on the door, not even bothering to check the time, which was well after 1 o'clock in the morning. He waited there, a dopey grin on his face as her heard stumbling towards the door. Moments later, a groggy Jericho opened the door, his hair a mess and only in a pair of wrinkled, faded boxers. He squinted at Kurt, the hallway light too bright for his eyes.

"Kurt?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah!" Kurt said happily.

"Dude, it's late, what are you doing here?"

"Just got back from my date," he said, still grinning like an idiot.

"Oh, great," Jericho said yawning.

"Chris," Stephanie whined, "Who was it?"

"Kurt!" Jericho called out.

Kurt let himself in, noting Jericho's tiredness. He walked into the bedroom, went over to the bed and collapsed on it on his back. Stephanie turned on the light, expecting it to be Jericho and let out a little squeal when she saw Kurt. She pulled up the blankets, wondering what the hell was going on. What had woken her from her deep slumber.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Jericho asked, coming into the bedroom and climbing into bed.

"It was great!" he said giddily.

"That's nice," Stephanie said, lying down on Jericho, "You're lucky we're not naked."

"She's so perfect," Kurt said, dreamily, not even hearing Stephanie.

"Kurt, we get it, tell us tomorrow," Jericho said, yawning and closing his eyes, wrapping an arm around Stephanie.

"We danced, I danced," he laughed, still not paying attention to anyone.

"That's nice," they mumbled in unison.

"I like her so much," Kurt said. Stephanie turned to Jericho, then looked to Kurt, then Jericho again. He just gave her a look.

"Yeah, it's official, Kurt's gone crazy."


	130. Shane Didn't Change, September 8, 2003

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they really keep me motivated. So please, please, please keep them coming! I love them! Hee! :D

* * *

"So is Kurt totally jealous of me?"

"Would you be quiet, I'm on the phone."

"Be quiet," he muttered, mocking her before going into the bedroom to change for the show.

Stephanie was too busy talking on the phone to Kurt to talk to him. Not that it was that big a deal, she did see him all the time, but he hated when she shushed him like he didn't deserve her attention. He grabbed his wrist tape from his suitcase and stuffed it in his bag, didn't want to forget that.

Stephanie giggled could be heard from the other room, and he wondered what they were talking about. It wasn't like there was any new information to be had since last Thursday. Kurt hadn't let either of them sleep until he had told them about his date in excruciating detail. Kurt didn't even leave their room until 3:30 in the morning.

He zipped up his bag and walked into the other room, where Stephanie's phone call had ended and she was laid out on the couch reading a magazine of some sort. He walked over and banged the magazine from the back. He laughed as she flipped him off.

"How's Kurt?"

"He's great, so says he," she said, rolling her eyes, "But I don't mind hearing about it when it doesn't keep me up til all hours of the freaking night."

"And what did he have to say about her?"

"Oh this and that, and more of this, and oh she's so great and she's so wonderful," she said, giving him a look, "I'm glad he's happy, but God, does he have to rub it in?"

"Rub it in? You're acting as if you're a single woman."

"Oh, was I? Oops, I guess I just kind of wish that a guy would gush about me like that," she told him, giving him an innocent look.

"How do you know I don't?" he asked, giving her a look of his own.

"I don't know," she admitted, "For all you know, I'm singing your praises at every possible opportunity."

"Now that's what I like to hear," she grinned.

He came over and kissed her, glad that she was in a better mood. As long as the subject of her father or her show weren't in the conversation, she was fine. Those were the red flag topics, only to be talked about if you had a box of tissues handy. He pulled away and smiled at her.

"I knew you would."

"Sweetie, what do you think about Gail?"

"She seems nice," he shrugged.

"Do you really think so?"

"I guess, I've only talked to her that once. I may have met her a long time ago, but I don't think so."

"Oh," she said, nodding her head, deep in thought.

"Why, do you not like her?"

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed a bit too quickly, "I just get this feeling, I don't know, in the pit of my stomach that Kurt is setting himself up for a fall."

"I don't know, but if that's the case, we have to let it happen."

"I guess," she said, glancing over his shoulder at the clock, "You better go though, you're going to be late."

"Oh yeah," he said, kissing her quickly before grabbing his stuff and jogging out of the room and down the stairs.

He wasn't doing anything tonight. He went up to production and he wasn't doing anything tonight. That was so odd, usually he had something planned, a Highlight Reel or a match, or something, but tonight, nothing. And yet when he asked if that meant he was free to go, they told him to stick around.

He was confused as he walked to his locker room. He must've been in someone's plans somewhere. Maybe he was going to have a spur-of-the-moment match, like he had with Christian last week. That would make sense. Or maybe he was being planned for something and he just didn't know yet. Either way, he found himself sitting there alone.

He sighed to himself and looked around. The accommodations were ok, they could've been better, but he wasn't complaining. He didn't even have anything to do tonight so it wasn't like he was going to be put into some sort of suite or something. No, that was just reserved for people like Hunter, who thought way too highly of themselves.

He got up and left the room, tired of being by himself. Maybe he'd go fine trouble or something to that extent. He walked up and down the hallways aimlessly, stopping to chat with a few people and sign autographs for some other people. He guessed he was still popular enough for people to want him to sign things. He wandered his way to Christian and Trish's locker room and was about to walk in when he heard his name. Now, he wasn't the type to usually do this, but he stood outside the door to listen.

"I should get a show," Christian said.

"I know," Trish answered.

"I mean, come on, you think I'm entertaining right?"

"Definitely."

"And I'm good-looking?"

"You are gorgeous."

"And I'm the Intercontinental Champion," he said.

"You are, and the gold looks fabulous on you," she replied.

"So I should get my own show. I mean, what does Chris have that I don't have."

"Nothing," she told him, "You have everything!"

"I know. He's my friend and everything, but come on, you know I've got more charisma and I'm a much better interviewer than he is."

"Uh huh," Trish said, though she sounded a bit disinterested.

"Trish, are you listening to me?"

"Oh of course baby," she said, her voice suddenly perking up considerably.

"I mean, the Highlight Reel, it's good, but it's not great. It's a bit stale if you ask me."

Jericho was a little bit shocked by what he heard coming out of what he thought was one of his best friends. Christian thought his show was stale. Well, he'd show him what was stale! He was about to make his presence known when Christian kept talking.

"I mean, the guy's already going to be part of the McMahon family, does he need a show, no, he's going to run the freaking company!"

"Christian, baby, would you calm down. You're awfully bitter," Trish said, her voice calm, "He's good at what he does."

"Oh, so are you taking his side."

"What sides? Who's sides? There isn't any fight going on here."

"I'm just saying I should get airtime, I'm the Intercontinental Champion after all!"

"I know you are," she said soothingly, "But this jealousy thing has got to stop. You're going to get wrinkles."

Jericho laughed silently, Trish, ever the voice of reason. At least he knew that she was a good friend. Christian, on the other hand, he had been acting strangely for the past couple weeks. Jericho thought it had just been boredom or something, but it seemed Christian really had a stick up his ass.

"I heard his show's getting cancelled anyways, that's why Austin is addressing everyone tonight."

Jericho was stunned. Could that possibly be the explanation as to why he wasn't having a show tonight? Was he getting the rug pulled out from under him, figuratively and literally speaking? All the puzzle pieces fit together too perfectly and he was aghast as he realized that was probably the reason for him having to stay here despite not doing anything. He punched the wall next to him and stormed off, tired of hearing the conversation.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" a low voice came from next to him.

Jericho looked over, "What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing, you've just got this look on your face that says you're pissed."

"And why would you care?" Jericho asked.

Hunter pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and stood in front of Jericho, blocking his pathway. Jericho rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. This guy was here simply to annoy him. He swore every time he was in a pissy mood, there Hunter was to make him that much more miserable.

"Don't roll your eyes at me Jericho."

"Oh, are you upset that I rolled my eyes at you?" Jericho said in a baby voice, knowing the only way out of this situation was to get on Hunter's bad side.

"I need to speak to you."

"Don't you have cronies to do this for you?" he said, looking over Hunter's shoulders for anyone.

"Not for the important stuff."

"Oh, and where are the girls who follow you everywhere? I don't see them anywhere, I thought you had girls hanging on your coattails everywhere you went," Jericho said, pretending to be shocked that Hunter was alone.

"Very funny wise guy," Hunter said, "We can't all be tied down to a whore for the rest of our lives like you are."

Jericho got a dangerous glint in his eye. One more crack like that, and Hunter's head would be rammed into the concrete wall. He steeled his gaze at the taller man, his jaw set. He was already pissed off enough with the Austin shit, he didn't need this pansy ass going around insulting the woman he loved.

"Jealous are we?" Jericho said smugly, "At least I can keep a woman for an extended period of time."

"Why would I want to be tied down when I can have any woman I want?" Hunter said, also smugly.

"That's true. I mean, last time you were tied down, the woman had to fake a pregnancy just to get away from you. Damn, she must've been desperate."

"Yeah, but guess who got my sloppy seconds?" Hunter said, eyeing him.

"What are you insinuating?" Jericho asked.

He knew where this conversation was headed. It was going straight down Stephanie Boulevard. It seemed she always came up when the two of them butted heads. But could you really blame them? They both had storied pasts with the beautiful daughter of the McMahon household.

"That she spread her slutty whore legs for you," Hunter said bluntly.

"Why? Cause she wouldn't spread them for you?" Jericho shot back.

Hunter's eyes flashed with anger. He was close to losing it, Jericho could tell. He almost wanted to get to Hunter, wanted to provoke him so he'd get so angry he'd lose that damn title he'd been holding for it seemed like five years. That'd serve the son of a bitch right, Jericho laughed inwardly.

"You know nothing about what went down with me and her!"

"Oh don't I? You don't think we talked when we were business partners? You don't think she confided in me about her broken marriage?" Jericho smirked.

"She's a liar," he said simply.

"I don't think she is. I don't think she'd have any reason to lie. And may I ask why you're so hung up on it, I don't know, how longs it been? Two and half years? And you still haven't gotten over it? Pathetic if you ask me," Jericho said, rubbing it in.

"You have no idea about our past."

"I think I do. You aren't getting her back," Jericho said, giving just enough information to be true, but not revealing.

"If I wanted the bitch back I could have her back," Hunter growled.

Jericho scoffed, "Yeah right Hunter, you couldn't get her back in a million years."

"You wanna make a bet on that?" he challenged.

"You know, I would, but I don't want to take your money," Jericho retorted, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got places I need to be, and they're not here."

Jericho tried to walk past him, but Hunter blocked his way. Jericho tried going the other way, but once again Hunter blocked his way. Jericho knew what game he was playing and it pissed him off to no end. He thought about punching his big nose to the ground, but knew that would solve nothing.

"What the hell did you stop me for anyways?" Jericho asked calmly, though his fists were clenched.

"You might be my mystery partner tonight."

"Doubtful."

"You never know, we've been paired together before."

"And if we are?"

"I just want to make sure we're on the same page IF we are tagging tonight."

"And what pray tell is the same page?" Jericho asked overdramatically. Everything with Hunter had to be some sort of production.

"We beat Goldberg down."

"Ok, fine, I don't care, I don't even think I'm going to be your partner tonight."

"Doesn't matter, just so you know," Hunter said, than graciously stepped out of Jericho's way, "And Jericho, I could get Stephanie if I wanted."

Jericho swore under his breath as he finally got away from him. Now his mood was infinitely worse. He went back to his locker room and laid down on the couch. Trying to calm himself down was proving to be a hard task. He turned the television on to break the silence of the room. He was just about calm when he heard Stone Cold talking. He turned to the television to find out what he had to say.

It was nothing out of the ordinary at first, just Austin spouting off about beer and all that other junk. Then Christian's music sounded and Jericho wondered if he was going out there to get his own show since his was getting freaking cancelled. Turned out he was right as Christian started about his show. Jericho had had enough of this and got up. It was time for him to put his two cents into this.

He went down to the ring and Christian immediately tried to butter him up. Well, of course he did, after trying to undermine him not a few minutes before. He beat down Christian, not even feeling bad about it. If he went so far as to try to get his own show when his best friend's was being cancelled that was not cool.

As soon as Christian was taken care of, he turned his sights to Austin, intending to tell him just what he felt about him. He let loose a string of insults, getting in Austin's face, demanding to know why his show was getting taken off the air. It wasn't fair, he was the best thing about Raw, by far.

When Austin told him he had no plans of canceling the show. Jericho felt his stomach drop. He had just made a complete fool of himself. He went about trying to rectify the situation a tiny bit. When Austin offered him a beer he knew that this was a trick. But he also knew that Austin couldn't attack him unless he was provoked. So he took the beer and took a sip.

He didn't even realize that he had patted Austin on the shoulder until it was too late and he had been stunnered onto the ground. He mentally kicked his own ass as he watched Austin saunter up the ramp. He grabbed his jaw and just stared at him before getting up and going backstage. There, Christian was waiting for him.

Jericho attempted to walk past him, not in the mood to talk, but Christian grabbed his arm, "I'm sorry about that out there man."

"Whatever Christian, I gotta go," Jericho said, not wanting to deal with it right now.

"I was just saying those things to get respect."

"Yeah, sure you were," Jericho said testily.

"Are you saying I'm lying?"

"No, I'm just not in the mood to talk about it ok?" Jericho answered, exasperated.

"Whatever," Christian said, walking away.

Jericho walked away as well, starting for his locker room when he remembered that he had left his shirt lying on a table by the gorilla. He jogged back there to go grab it and slipped it back on. As he was walking back he saw Gail look around the hallway, then slip into a room. As he walked past he saw it was Bischoff's room. He shrugged, thinking nothing of it until he walked back into his locker room and saw the television.

Gail was sitting on Bischoff's lap and looking at him in that predatory manner like she was going to sleep with him or something. He sat down, hoping, praying that Kurt did not see that. It would only make him feel terrible and God he knew how much Kurt liked Gail. Of course maybe he was jumping to conclusions. That had to be it, jumping to conclusions. Gail would probably just be nice to him, flirt a little and get what she wanted out of him.

He went over to his things, getting a new shirt and putting it on. The one he was wearing earlier wasn't that good to wear out into the cold night. He buttoned up his shirt, glancing up at the television as he saw Shane giving an interview. Good to see he was ok at least, after almost getting his nuts burnt to a crisp. Jericho laughed to himself as he put his things away and prepared to leave. He hadn't received word that he'd be Hunter's surprise partner so he figured he could leave.

He was about to turn off the television when he saw Gail go talk to Molly. His jaw almost dropped when he heard what she had to say. Oh man, now he WAS ready to drop down to his knees and pray that Kurt was somewhere, anywhere else but in front of his television. Or else there'd be so much damage control to do. It was weird, Molly sure had changed since they had stopped dating. He hoped it had nothing to do with him.

He left quickly hoping to get back to Stephanie to see what was what. This had the potential to really hurt Kurt and that was the last thing they wanted. Kurt was a nice guy and didn't deserve to be put through this. He got back to the hotel and saw Stephanie sitting there, her arms folded a worried look on her face. Jericho returned her look with one of his own.

"He hasn't called me," she said, looking down.

"Did you try calling him?"

"Yeah, I did, and he hasn't returned my call," she said, worry in her voice.

Jericho sat heavily across from her on the couch, "So you saw?"

"I don't know what to think," she said, "Kurt made her out to be so great and he really liked her, but I knew it! I KNEW it! I had this horrible feeling."

"I know, God, this night sucks."

"I know."

She crawled over to him and laid her head down on his lap. He played with her hair as they sat there waiting for the phone to ring. Or not wait for it, hoped it would come. Stephanie looked up at him, running her finger down his cheek to his chin.

"Something else is bothering you," she said, knowing him so well.

"Yeah, there is actually."

"What?"

"Christian," he said simply.

"About what he said?"

"Yeah. He's been so strange towards me, I don't know what's up with him."

"Maybe you should go out with him over the weekend square things off with you two?" she suggested.

He leaned down and kissed her, "You have the best ideas."

"Anything else bothering you that I can quickly solve with my superior skills?"

"How about your ex-husband? He too has a stick up his ass, but his seems like a permanent condition. He goes and insults you and then acts like I was fucking you when we were partners and all this shit like he could get you blah blah blah."

"Ignore him, I did," she laughed.

"I try to so hard to, but then he's always like bringing you up and saying shit," Jericho said shaking his head.

"Ignore him," she said firmly, rubbing his chest comfortingly, "Damn that Gail Kim!"

Jericho just sat there, wondering what kind of things were going through Kurt's mind right now. He had been where Kurt was, God, almost a year ago. Halloween night, knowing that Stephanie's lips had touched Bischoff's. He shuddered unconsciously at the thought. But this went beyond that. Gail could've.........slept with him. And that, by far, was worse.

"I wish he would just call or something," Jericho muttered.

"Me too," Stephanie said, "God, just to know if he's ok."

They stayed by the phone most of the night, hoping to hear from Kurt. Stephanie fell asleep in Jericho's lap as his head fell back against the couch. They ended up staying in those positions the entire night, not having heard the phone once.

Kurt never called.


	131. She's NOT a Wrestler, September 11, 2003

"I don't know what's going on to be honest. It's like, I want to believe that she was only doing it for business, but it still hurts you know."

"Of course."

"She won't answer my calls or anything."

"Well, maybe she's scared your opinion of her has changed," Stephanie said.

Kurt sighed on his end of the phone, "I don't know, maybe it has."

"Kurt, maybe she was coerced into the decision, maybe she had no choice."

"But of course she had a choice, you always have a choice," he protested.

She sighed inwardly. She didn't know what to tell Kurt to make him feel better. She had never really been in his position and she didn't know what kind of advice to offer him. She knew he really liked Gail, but after Monday, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be with her. She didn't blame Kurt, if Gail had slept with Bischoff, she would be hard to look at after that. She shuddered at the thought of ever being with Bischoff. Just having her lips touch his was disgusting enough.

"Well," Stephanie started, pausing for a long moment, "Maybe Molly had something to do with this, I wouldn't put it past her."

Kurt had to laugh, "Your really don't like her do you?"

"She dated my man!" Stephanie exclaimed, "Of course I don't like her."

"She might've had something to do with it. I mean, Gail did go to her after the fact," Kurt reasoned.

"See, I say you try to keep calling her and try to figure this out, the worst she could do is say she did."

"Yeah, and leave me with a broken heart."

"Kurt, you only went out with her once, better now than later if you guys had started dating seriously."

"You're right. So I guess I'll see you in a little while? Are you already at the arena?"

"Yeah, but you don't have to come tonight," she told him.

"I don't? But there's a show and I'm the champion," he said, confused.

Stephanie felt for him. He had been through a rough couple of days. Her and Jericho had been really scared when he hadn't returned their calls on Monday night, but later found out he had went to his mother's, since he hadn't wanted to be by himself. She didn't want to burden him with work right now.

"You can take the night off," she told him.

"What? But Steph, I can't let you do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll have to fill the spots without me."

"It won't be a problem," she told him kindly.

"But I can't take advantage of you, it wouldn't be fair to use our friendship to get me the night off."

"Don't worry about it Kurt, you don't have to come, go find Chris and have a night on the town or something."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, go out with Chris, get yourselves drunk or something, have some manly bonding time together. Just don't go to a strip club or anything."

"You do keep Jericho on a short leash don't you?"

"The shortest," she laughed, "But seriously, go out, have fun, I can take care of things around here."

"Ok, I think it might do me good. And nobody is better than taking your mind off things than Chris is. He's like a little kid, you have to watch him at all times or he's climbing over stuff."

"You're telling me, you don't have to live with him," she laughed, "We're at the Hilton, room 1256."

"Ok, I'll tell him you said hi."

"But I didn't."

"Yeah, but you know you were going to tell me to," he grinned.

"Bye Kurt, have fun," she said to him.

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up and put her cell phone back in her bag. She went to pick out some files to go over when she felt someone else's presence in the room. She looked towards the door to see Sable standing in it, her arms folded over her chest, giving Stephanie a condescending look. Stephanie frowned and looked at her.

"What do you want?"

"Came to see my very favorite General Manager," Sable said, entering the room.

"Can't you see I have work to do?" Stephanie said, irritated by the blonde's presence.

"Oh, the little Princess at work, it's all so inspiring. Trying to break free of her little girl image by trying to run her very own show," Sable said clapping, "It just such a vision."

"Let's cut to the chase Sable, what are you doing here?"

"No reason, just wanted to come and see you, is that a problem?"

"It's a huge problem, so leave," Stephanie said.

"You shouldn't get on my bad side Stephanie, I do have your father wrapped around my little finger you know," she said, holding up her pinkie.

"I know, and I find it absolutely sad and pathetic."

"Oh, you're just bitter because you aren't the one who gets all of Daddy's attention," Sable said mockingly, "And if I have my way Stephanie, I'll make sure you never get it again."

"I don't know why my father can't see through you."

"Maybe because of what I'm willing to give to him," Sable smirked.

"You will never get your dirty little hands on the company," Stephanie said dangerously, "Not as long and my brother and I live and breathe."

"We'll see, won't we Stephanie?" Sable said, turning on her heel and going to the door, "And if I get what I want, you and Shane won't even have a company, you'll be living out of paper boxes."

"You know nothing about us," Stephanie said, smirking evilly, "You have no idea what we are capable of. And Sable?"

Sable focused on her and gave her a superior look. Stephanie stared her down, giving her own look to the blonde whore. They stared at each other, Sable waiting for the answer, and Stephanie pausing for dramatic effect, letting an evil grin form on her face.

"You never mess with a McMahon," Stephanie told her, "Because you never know what they have up their sleeves. And you never know who we've got on our side."

Sable laughed out loud, "Have people on your side? Who Stephanie? Kurt? That's about the only friend you have isn't it, poor little girl?"

Stephanie merely smiled, "You don't even want to know."

With that, Stephanie got up, rounded her desk, went up to Sable and literally shoved her out the door, closing it with a slam. She dusted off her hands and went back to her desk to get some more work done. She was going to make SmackDown the best show she could, despite the fact that her father butted in all the time, trying to take over what was hers.

She turned on the television to watch the show. She leaned back in her chair, watching the first match. She was happy tonight, for the first time. She didn't know why exactly, she guessed that maybe she was tired of playing the victim. Her father wasn't tough, she knew that. It was the people he surrounded himself with that were tough. If it came down to her and her father, she knew she could beat him.

Maybe her better mood also had to do with the fact that Kurt had problems, and she felt like she wasn't the only one. And then with Jericho and Christian having all these differences. She was no longer the one with all these problems, everyone had them, they may be different, but they could all get through them.

She broke out of her reverie and saw her father on the phone ordering flowers for Gowen. Oh, that was rich, her father trying to be noble. Feeling oddly confident for the first time in forever, she stood up and left the room, going straight for her father's office. She walked inside and eyed Sable, who cuddled a bit closer to Vince. Her father saw her and stood up.

Furious at him, she told him just what she thought of what Brock had done to Gowen last week. It was reprehensible of him to do that to a kid who's only leg was broken. Her father was a cruel man and he needed to know that. It had all been a set-up she knew that, but her father couldn't think farther than his pants most of the time. She started going off about Brock and then felt that feeling that she couldn't ignore.

She turned around slightly, coming face to face with the monster himself. Brock looked at her and practically growled. She should've backed down, should've, but wouldn't. She brought up the fact that he had tapped out and that sent him into a frenzy. A frenzy that somehow led to her having a match with him tonight or quitting. For a moment, she had thought her father would do the right thing, when he had reminded Brock of who she was, his daughter. But it was soon gone as her father approved the match and gave her an ultimatum. She looked at her father, not believing he would make her choose. Just when she thought he had hit rock bottom, he always seemed to find a shovel.

She looked at him, hoping to find the same amnesty that he had given to Shane the other week. He had warned Shane, tried to make amends with Shane the other week. And yet he wouldn't do the same with her. Just goes to show how much regard her father had for her over her brother, which was so very little. She just stared at him, before leaving, shaking her head as she went. How was she going to get out of this one?

"Your father is an asshole," a gruff voice said from in front of her.

"I know," she said, looking up at Benoit, "I think I know more than anyone."

"If you ever need help with him, you can come to me," Benoit said seriously, as usual.

"Wow, thanks," she said, not expecting him to say that, "I don't know what to say."

"Well, I know you've got Kurt and stuff, but if you ever need anyone, don't hesitate to ask."

"You're surprisingly nice Chris," she said, "I never would've guessed."

"Well, I did promise Jer--"he started, but quickly ended his sentence, his face turning pale.

Stephanie was taken aback, it sounded like he was about to say Jericho, but that couldn't be right could it? What would Benoit and Jericho have to talk about, especially about her? It had to be a mistake. She eyed him, carefully trying to weigh her words on what she would ask next.

"What were you going to say?" she finally asked.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.

"No, it sounded like you were going to say Jericho," she told him, "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"If I tell you, you keep it to yourself, ok?" Benoit said, taking a quick look around.

"Of course," she said, wanting, needing to know what he was going to say.

"A long time ago, around the time that Jericho left your show, he asked me to look out for you, just make sure that you weren't ever hurt real badly and stuff," he said.

"Why would he ask that?" she said, genuinely confused.

"I don't really know," he shrugged, "I always figured he had a crush on you and wanted to make sure you were taken care of while he was gone."

"But he left my show," she said, playing dumb.

"I only know what he told me. And I've never really had to make good on that promise since Kurt is always there for you, but I know he's not here, and if you want, I got your back. I don't go back on a promise, especially not one I make to Jericho."

She smiled softly, "Thanks for telling me."

"Good luck," he said, walking away, "I've got a match."

"Thanks, good luck to you too," she said distractedly, leaning on a nearby crate.

Jericho could be so incredibly sweet sometimes. She wondered if there was anyone else he had asked the same promise of. It felt weird to know that she had back-up just in case she was ever threatened or hurt. It was like the Secret Service or something. She kept thinking about her boyfriend when she was bothered once again by the blonde bimbo.

Stephanie only half-listened to what Sable had to say, her mind elsewhere. She did have many things to think about, but every time she came to same decision. She wasn't going to quit. She wasn't going to give her father the satisfaction of knowing he had run her out. She was going to stand her ground, plain and simple.

Now she had to get ready for her match. Luckily she always brought a bag with her. It was always there, just in case she came across circumstances like these. She went to her office, grabbing her wrestling outfit and slipping it on. It always brought a smiled to her face when she thought of when she had first worn this outfit. With Jericho by her side.

She laced up her boots before grabbing her cell phone, seeing she had a message. She pushed in the correct code and proceeded to listen to the message. She knew it was either Jericho or Shane, she had a feeling. It was the former.

"Hey baby, just wondering how the show is going. Kurt is actually doing karaoke right now, it's fucking hilarious, he's singing some stupid love song. He's had a few drinks, but I think this has nothing to do with being tipsy. Hope everything is good over there. I'm actually asking the bartender to tune in to the show soon so I can see my baby's beautiful face, if you're on of course. Well, gotta go, they're doing a heavy metal song for me next. Might as well have a HUGE rock star perform right? Love you baby!"

She had to laugh at his message. They were doing karaoke. She wondered who talked whom into that. And of course Jericho would be doing a heavy metal song. It had taken her forever to get used to him playing that at all hours of the day. She was actually glad he hadn't seen her father's ultimatum, she knew he would be outraged, but she didn't want him to get angry, she wanted to just get it over with.

She started to stretch out a bit, knowing the least she could do was limber up for the ass-kicking she was sure to take. She loosened up and then went to brush out her hair in the mirror. Might as well go out looking like a million bucks. She was a lamb being led to slaughter and she knew it, but damn it, she was going to go out with a fucking bang!

Finally the moment arrived and she walked stoically down to the gorilla, not batting an eyelash as she eyed her father going down the ramp. She wasn't backing down, she wasn't a quitter. She knew her father was actually surprised to see her out there. Hell, she was a little surprised herself, but she was a McMahon, and she went face to face with her father.

He asked if she was going to go through with this, and for a brief moment she saw pride in his eyes, then it was gone. She told him clearly that she wasn't going to quit. She looked at Brock in trepidation. Her father said he didn't like the situation and she thought for one second that he wouldn't let her go through with this because he loved her and he was her daughter.

But no, of course not, she was simply defying him. How she was defying him, she didn't exactly know, but defy him she did, apparently. He said she didn't think he would let Brock touch her, no, she knew he would. She knew her father was capable of atrocious things and he wouldn't hesitate to let Brock decimate her. He crossed the line when he said she deserved it. No, her father deserved it, she didn't. So she did the one thing she knew she could do better than anyone, she slapped her father.

Before she could blink, her back hit the post and she felt the breath knocked out of her. But that wasn't the worst part as she felt Brock's warm hands wrap around her throat. She struggled against release, struggled for breath, but neither one was easy to obtain. Regaining some of her senses, she kicked him in the crotch, causing him to fall over. She saw an escape and tried desperately to get away from there.

She felt her father's hand grab her ankle and she struggled once again, knowing her father would throw her to the wolves given the chance. She squirmed around until she was looking up at him, and did what she had done to Brock. She kicked him in his grapefruits. She hightailed it out of the ring as he fell over in shock and was about to get away when Brock jumped up and grabbed her.

Earlier, Jericho had just finished up his song and went back over to where Kurt was sitting at the bar, drinking a beer. Jericho ordered another one from the bartender, before looking up at the television, seeing Vince in the ring talking about something. He laughed to himself, wondering what the patriarch of the McMahon family was up to this time. He was about to turn away to talk to Vince when he saw Stephanie coming down the ramp in her wrestling attire.

"Shit!" Jericho said.

"What?" Kurt said, looking up at the screen where Jericho's eyes were glued, "Oh dear God!"

"What's she doing?"

They didn't have long to wait to figure out what was up as Brock was standing nearby. Kurt and Jericho took one look at each other before throwing down some money on the bar and leaving quickly. Kurt already had the door unlocked by the time they got to his rental car. They drove as fast as humanly possible, ignoring all speed limits. They made it to the arena in mere minutes and before Kurt could tell Jericho to wait there for him, that he would go get Stephanie, Jericho was already out in front of him, and he could do nothing but follow.

Stephanie could feel Brock choking her. She hated being this close to him, his hands dangerously closed to touching her breasts. She tried to play possum, so he wouldn't hurt her, but she heard him mutter about the rings steps and she knew things were not looking good. She managed to get away and ran backstage, but Brock was right behind her. He grabbed her by the hair and she tried to get away. Benoit came out of nowhere and tried to fight Brock, but he was too weak from his match earlier to be any help. She felt herself lifted in the air.

She prayed that she wouldn't get hurt. She wasn't religious, but she knew Brock could snap her like a twig if he so desired. She knew she was going to get slammed soon, into the ring posts most likely and she steeled herself for the blow. She went to a happy place, picturing Jericho.

Kurt pushed Jericho to stand by the monitors before racing out into the arena itself to save his best friend. He pulled her off Brock and then went to town on Brock himself, hitting him, beating on him for daring to hurt his friend. They were lucky it was him and not Jericho, because the blonde man was ready to kill.

Stephanie stared up at Kurt, once again her savior. How many times had he come through for her? She stayed down until she knew that Brock and her father were gone and started to crawl up the ramp, sore around her throat and her scalp throbbing from where Brock had grabbed her hair. Soon she felt two strong arms lift her up and carry her to the back.

They got backstage and she was about to thank Kurt when she saw her father and Brock standing right there and she instantly turned away from them as Kurt set her down. She was a little wobbly on her feet as she stood up and Kurt wrapped a protective arm around her.

"I'll get you next week!" Brock screamed at Kurt as Vince held him back.

"You bring it next week and I'll do the same thing I did last time, make you tap!"

"Oh, you'll get it Kurt, trust me!" Brock countered.

Stephanie buried herself in Kurt's neck, not wanting to see her father, but as she did, her eyes fell on someone who was standing off the side. She could see fire in his eyes and his fists clenched tightly at his sides. His face held a scowl and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Vince.

She couldn't control herself and blurt out, "Chris!"

Everyone turned their head to the side and could hear some muted whispers as Jericho stepped out from the shadows. His mood had completely changed and she could tell he was putting on his game face, ready to act the part that they had adopted for public. She covered her mouth at her slip-up as her father looked between them confused.

"What's going on?" Vince asked, "Why are you here Jericho?"

"I was out with Kurt," Jericho answered simply, "He wanted to help the Princess and he was my ride."

"Oh, you're friends with the Olympic Zero," Brock said, his eyes roaming over Jericho.

"Easy there Brock," Vince said, putting a placating hand on Brock, "Jericho's a friend."

"That's right there Brocky, Vince and I go way back," Jericho said, putting a smug smile on his face, "Don't we Vinnie?"

"Of course, but I have to say, you can make better friends Jericho," Vince said, gesturing towards Kurt, "More influential friends."

"Hey, Kurt and I were a team once, the Masters of Manipulation, you never go against an old teammate."

"Loyalty, I like that quality in an employee," Vince said, patting his back, "You see this Stephanie, this is the kind of man you need."

Stephanie wrapped her arms tighter around Kurt and spat out, "Why would I want to be with a crony of yours?"

"I didn't say you could get a guy like Jericho," Vince said, "You're not good enough for the likes of him."

"Oh, is that so?" Stephanie said, wanting nothing more than to tell her father where to go and who the hell was on her side.

"That's so, you'd be lucky if he'd even touch you."

"Oh, really," Stephanie said, glaring dangerously at her father, "You think he wouldn't touch me do you?"

"No, I don't," Vince said smugly.

Stephanie let go of Kurt and gave her father a stare down as she walked over to him. She turned at the last moment, facing Jericho. He looked at her strangely and grabbed him by the back of the neck, pressing her lips hard against his. She knew Jericho was in shock and she knew she was crazy, but she would show up her father if it was the last thing she did. She felt him kiss her back briefly before pushing him away roughly.

"How do you like that Daddy? You think I'm a whore now Daddy, well there ya go, your worst suspicions are confirmed."

"You are such a disgrace," Vince muttered.

"The feeling is mutual," Stephanie said, giving her father a dirty look.

She turned on her heel, leaving a stunned Kurt and an even more stunned Jericho in her wake. Her mouth dropped open at the magnitude of what she had just done. She had kissed Jericho, in front of her father! She gave a giddy little laugh as she walked to her locker room. She couldn't believe she had done that.

Kurt finally gained his bearings back, and looked over at Jericho, who had a glassy look on his face, he didn't know any more than he did what Stephanie had just done. Wow, that girl had some guts to pull a stunt like that. He wanted nothing more than to applaud her right now.

"I'm going now, see ya later assholes," Kurt said, eyeing Vince and Brock.

"Um, yeah, I, uh," Jericho stuttered, "He's my ride, I gotta go too."

"Stay with us," Vince said, coming over to put a companionable arm around Jericho, "Be with people who respect you."

"I uh, my wife, I uh, yeah, I just better."

"Oh, she's one of those," Vince said knowingly, "Well, go ahead, I'm sorry my slut of a daughter kissed you. I should fire her just for that."

"Um, no, I, it's fine, I'll, yeah, be fine, I will," he said, walking away.

"He's weird boss," Brock told Vince.

"Yeah, but he's an asset, and used right, we can get tons of information off of him," Vince answered, watching Jericho walk away.

Kurt burst into Stephanie's locker room, "Holy mother fucking shit!"

"I know," she screamed, "I don't know what came over me!"

"I...........holy shit!" Kurt exclaimed.

"I know!" she screamed again, "You wanna go?"

"Yeah, what did you come here in?"

"Limo, but I just cancelled, I'll go back with you," she said.

"You are, amazing, you know that."

"I'm crazy is what I am," she said, getting her things.

He nodded in agreement and then grabbed her things for her. She put her coat on and they walked out to the parking lot where Kurt's car was parked haphazardly in front of the building, since they had bolted out of the car. Jericho was leaning against it, eyes staring forward, a look of sheer incredulity on his face.

She grinned at him before slipping into the backseat. Kurt gently pushed Jericho into the backseat as well before getting in the driver's seat. He started driving away and Stephanie climbed into Jericho's lap, kissing him softly. That broke him out of his trance and he stared at her.

"You're a psycho," he told her.

She laughed, "Liked that little display."

"MY GOD!" he exclaimed, "I wouldn't have the balls to do that, shit, baby you are one of a kind!"

"I know," she giggled, "I don't know what came over me, it was just like, I had to show him who was really running things around here."

"I think I had a freaking out of body experience when you did that," Jericho said, "It was like I saw you kissing me and I was just floored."

"Are you guys kidding me?" Kurt said, "I thought I would faint!"

"Are you ok though?" Jericho asked, giving her the once over.

"I'm fine," she said, "Thanks to Kurt, thank you Kurt."

"My pleasure."

"I'm not the only one who's amazing though," she said, turning back to Jericho, "I know what you did for me."

"Did for you?"

"Benoit told me."

"Benoit?" Kurt asked.

Jericho blushed. He had been found out. He had called Benoit a long time ago, just asking him to take care of Stephanie if she needed it. Benoit didn't know about his feelings for Stephanie, but had agreed to do it anyways, seeming to know that Jericho cared for the brunette.

"You found out?" he said sheepishly.

"Don't be ashamed, it's sweet. You are a wonderful man."

"What about Benoit?" Kurt asked again.

"We'll tell you later Kurt," Stephanie said.

"Fine," Kurt pouted as he kept driving.

"I love you," Jericho said.

"I love you too, even though I could never get a guy like you," she said, imitating her father.

"Yeah, I would never touch a girl like you," he said, sternly, leaning over to kiss her neck chastely.

"Why is my father such a dick?" she pondered.

"I have no idea. I just thank God that my parents aren't like that."

"I'd love to meet your parents," she said idly.

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you," he stopped, "You SHOULD meet them, come to think of it."

"You think so?"

"Well, for the girl that has enough nerve to kiss me in front of her father, knowing that it could cause a lot of problem, I want to tell everyone about you, especially my parents. I'm still in shock."

"I don't know, it was like, 'In your face Daddy.'"

"Well, you sure as hell were in my face," Jericho laughed.

"Well, what my father doesn't know, might just hurt him in the end."


	132. Come What May, September 15, 2003

"I can't believe that she kissed you!"

"Neither could I! I was just standing there and the next thing you know, she's grabbing me by the back of the head and kissing me! I was about to die, seriously."

"Oh, I would've paid good money to see that. Not to mention Vince's face when he saw what she was doing," Trish said, in amazement.

"I don't know, Kurt said it was like a mixture of shock and like acceptance or something. Like finally she was doing something he approved of."

"Well, we all know that he loves you like a son," Trish said, rolling her eyes.

Jericho shook his head, "I know, and it's like, do you think he'd love me if he knew I was actually dating Stephanie?"

"I'm not so sure. Because one, you'd be siding with the enemy, but then he said that you were the kind of person that Stephanie should be with," she reasoned.

"Yeah, but I think he thinks I'm much more vicious than I actually am."

"That's true," she said, "Doesn't he still think you're married?"

"Yeah he does, it gets me out of binds so I figure why the hell not."

She laughed at him. She was still in shock that Stephanie would have the courage to actually kiss Jericho in front of her father. She was a brave woman, that much Trish knew, but to do that. Well, that took more than just guts, that took a certain kind of moxie.

"Yeah."

"And get this, Vince called me this weekend," Jericho told him and Trish's eyes went wide.

"He did? Oh my God, I hope Stephanie didn't answer!"

"Nah, we were out at the time shopping for something or another that Stephanie desperately needed," he said sarcastically, knowing that Stephanie had everything under the sun, "He left a message on my machine."

"But your machine just says you have a girlfriend," Trish said, thinking about the times she had called Jericho and Stephanie's house.

"Yeah, I know, but he just figured that I hadn't changed the message yet. He asked me and my 'wife' to have dinner with him and Sable after SmackDown on Thursday, can you believe that?"

"Whoa, did you call him back?"

"Yeah, last night, told him that I wasn't sure if she was free to go, he said to get back to him by Wednesday morning. I don't know what we're going to do, he's very insistent."

"You should have Stephanie come as Burke," Trish giggled.

"Don't you think Vince would recognize his own daughter, disguise or not?"

"No, not necessarily," Trish said, "This is Vince we're talking about."

Jericho laughed, "You've got a point."

"Hey, question?" Trish said.

"Yeah?"

"If you have the fact that you have a girlfriend on your answering machine, and your parents call you all the time, what do they think about it?"

"Oh, yeah, I told them it's to throw off any girls who might accidentally get my phone number and try to hook up with me."

"Oh," she laughed, "Makes sense."

"So where's Christian?" Jericho asked looking around.

Trish could sense a bit of tension coming off of Jericho. She didn't really blame him, last week even she thought Christian had been out of line. She didn't know exactly what was up with him, and she had been trying to figure it out, but as of right now, she was unsuccessful in her quest.

"I don't know, off complaining somewhere," she said, rolling her eyes, "I couldn't take anymore of his whining."

"What's been up with him lately?"

"I have no idea. I wish I knew, I think the gold is going to his head."

"It's been known to do that," Jericho said.

He remembered when he had won the Undisputed Championship. He had let that go to his head big time. He became this totally cocky, arrogant guy and looking back, sure he liked being the center of attention, but what were they really but two belts. What they signified was huge, but in the end, they were just belts. The best thing to come out of that was him and Stephanie and that had been out of spite for her husband.

"So I can see," she told him, "I'm sorry for what he tried to pull last week."

"Oh, apologizing for me now," Christian asked from the doorway, a peeved look on his face.

"Hey man," Jericho said tentatively.

"Jericho," Christian said stand-offishly.

"Christian, be nice," Trish chastised.

"To the man who attacked me last week?"

"You deserved it," Jericho said simply, "You wanted to usurp me!"

"Boys," Trish interjected, "Can you two just come off it for one night. You're acting like children and some of us have serious problems on our hands."

Jericho instantly felt like such a heel. Of course he had neglected to ask Trish how she was doing after what happened last week. He had at first been preoccupied with Kurt's feelings and had completely forgotten that Trish was the actual target of this assault or whatever they had planned for her.

"Oh God, I forgot, are you ok with all of this?" Jericho asked.

"I don't know, how do you prepare to get slaughtered?" she said, trying to be light, but having trouble.

"You'll be ok," Christian said, walking over to her and sitting behind her, his arms snaking around her waist, "I promise."

"I'm not so sure," she said.

"Listen to the man," Jericho told her, "You will be ok."

"Maybe. So where were you Chrissy?" Trish asked, leaning back against her boyfriend.

"Complaining to Austin."

"About?"

"I don't have a match at Unforgiven, can you believe that, I'm the Intercontinental Champion and I don't have a match at the Pay Per View," Christian complained.

"Well, I don't have a match either," Jericho shrugged, "I mean, sometimes you just don't."

"But doesn't it irk you that Austin has so much power that he could use for us and he doesn't. How hard would it be to give me a damn match?" Christian said, "I don't care who against, I just want a match."

"You know, you're right. We SHOULD have a match at the show on Sunday, we're two of the best."

"Damn straight!" Christian exclaimed.

"Oh great, this can lead to nothing good," Trish muttered as she saw the gleams in the two men's eyes.

"We should picket!" Jericho said.

"Oh great," Trish said under her breath.

"Yeah!" Christian yelled, "And be in the ring so he can't ignore us."

"Definitely, and there's no way he could throw us out because he can't touch us," Jericho smirked mischievously.

"That's right!" Christian said, "Let's go make signs!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh my goodness," Trish said as she watched them scurry off like two little boys, "I don't what Stephanie and I are going to do with them."

Jericho and Christian ran around the arena, trying to find the necessary items for making the pickets signs. They managed to find some poster board, and grabbed a couple of sticks from a huge lumber bin. Going to production for pens they skipped off to catering to get their signs ready.

The two of them laughed like little kids as they tried to think of slogans to put on their signs. They tried to make them as legible as possible, wanting everyone to be able to read them. They discussed when the best time was to go out there and both mutually decided the beginning of the show would be best, no better way to get attention than to go out at the top of the show.

They finished up their picket signs and went to the gorilla, waiting anxiously for the show to start. As soon as they heard the pyro go off, they were out there and ready to protest against Austin. He wasn't fair and they'd be damned if they didn't let the world know about it.

Jericho took the microphones and handed one to Christian, they walked around the ring with their signs, letting everyone see them clearly. Jericho put the microphone up to his mouth and started speaking about how Austin was a horrible General Manager and was using his power for bad and not good and that he should leave. After last week with the stunner, Jericho was especially peeved with him.

Jericho let Christian have the floor and he talked about how Austin abused his power and Christian didn't even have a match for Unforgiven, which really did suck. You'd think a title holder would have a match, but no, he got nothing, what did that say about how things worked around here?

They picketed around the ring until they heard the glass break and suddenly Austin was out here and sauntering his way down to the ring. Jericho scowled as he saw him, still holding his little sign. Austin took a microphone and started spouting off about some nonsense about how they were holding up the show. Jericho just looked at him and shook his head. Austin was such a liar, but he stood there and took his words.

Jericho just stood there, not caring what Austin thought. He'd get his comeuppance someday. Little did he know, but he was going to be a part of the ruling family of the WWE, and then he'd show him who was boss. Austin started talking to Christian and Jericho felt himself zoning out. This scene seemed oddly familiar.

He smirked to himself as he thought about when Stephanie had come to Raw disguised as one of those picketers against HLA. Then she had kicked Bischoff where it hurts the most. That was actually really funny, he'd like to kick Austin where it hurts right now, it'd serve the bastard right for all the trouble he had caused him.

Jericho shook his head of his daydreams and went up to Austin and mouthed some words at them. Austin called them out and Jericho stood up to him, staring him down like nobody's business. The two stared at each other, Austin waiting for the first move, but Jericho wasn't going to get caught in that situation again, so he ordered Christian to do it, hell, he'd help once Christian provoked him.

But Christian refused to do it too. They argued about it until Austin tried to get them to hit him. Jericho reared his fist back, but was too smart to hit him. He wasn't going to touch Austin, that was just what he wanted, and Jericho wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Let him stew, the anger boiling, because Jericho wasn't going to do a damn thing.

Jericho instead asked for a title shot at Unforgiven. Austin agreed, but only if he won the match. Jericho wondered whom he was going to face to get this title shot. Well, whoever it was, he was going to beat them. He deserved a match on Sunday and it if it had to be with one of his best friends, than so be it. He heard a familiar tune and RVD came out on stage and Jericho scowled at him as he made his way down.

RVD got in the ring and as soon as he was done with his little celebratory thing, he attacked Christian and Jericho went for him. They fought back and forth and Jericho ended up on the outside of the ring with Christian. Suddenly RVD was on top of him, and he fell down. It took him a few minutes to gain his bearings back and get into the match at hand.

He and RVD fought back and forth, they always had good matches with each other, despite their styles being a bit different. Neither one could get the pinfall though, as they kept fighting back and forth. Jericho attempted the Lionsault but was met with RVD's knees and then he saw RVD try to climb up the ropes and put his knees up. They both staggered up and before he could react, he felt his face meet cold hard gold. He fell down and could only see stars, until he heard the bell ring.

He thought he had lost and sat up in disbelief, wondering what had happened. He hadn't felt himself get pinned. Then he heard Austin's music and opened his eyes. He listened to Austin and apparently there'd been a double disqualification. Jericho listened some more and realized they'd be having a Triple Threat match. Well, at least he'd have a match on Sunday. Christian cursed to himself before going to help Jericho up.

Jericho staggered backstage and tried to catch his breath, "Well, at least I have a match."

"Yeah, and here's what we're going to do," Christian said as Jericho stood upright.

"What do you mean WE?" Jericho asked.

"Well, if we work together I can retain."

"Um, excuse me?"

"If..........we............work............together," Christian said slowly, thinking Jericho was still out of it from his match and the accidental belt shot.

"There won't be a WE on Sunday man," Jericho said.

"What do you mean? You know I gotta keep my belt and we can double team RVD, and then I can pin you."

"Dude, I'll help you get rid of RVD, but then it's a free-for-all, I'm not going to lay down for you," Jericho said, looking at Christian as if her were crazy.

"But dude, I'm your friend," Christian said confused.

"I know you're my friend, but that doesn't mean I don't want to win."

"But we're friends!" Christian protested.

"Yeah, but I can't do that, that wouldn't be right and you know it," Jericho said, shaking his head, "I'm not going to do it. Every man for himself."

"Fine, if you want to be that way," Christian said huffily.

"I'm not being any way! I'm telling you the truth!"

"Yeah, that you don't want to help me!"

"If I were the champ, you know you wouldn't help me!" Jericho argued.

"Whatever," Christian said, walking away unhappily.

Jericho sighed, there was definitely something up with him. He was being edgy all the time and Jericho nor anyone could figure out why. Jericho sighed to himself. He'd have to get to the bottom of this. He didn't like seeing his friend like this, it seemed everyone had problems nowadays. It was kind of sad, he needed a vacation, that was for sure.

He walked back to his locker room to take a shower and put on his street clothes. He had to get to the bottom of this Christian thing. How come it always seemed like he was the one taking care of everyone else's problems? Maybe cause he didn't have any serious problems, nothing that made him break down or anything. He had learned to stay strong for Stephanie, and he'd just have to be the strong one for his other friends too.

He got out of the shower and changed his clothes. As he was pulling his hair back someone knocked softly on his door. He tied his hair back quickly and went to the door, answering it. Trish was on the other side and her eyes were red from crying.

"Trish, what's the matter?" he asked, letting her into the room.

"Christian, he's so," she sobbed and Jericho let her sit down and hugged her.

"So what?"

"He left, I don't know why, he just left, he was so angry, I don't know what's wrong with him," she told him, pulling away to wipe her eyes.

"I know," he sighed, "I don't know what it is, I was hoping you did."

"He won't talk to me, just insists everything is fine."

"Where is he?"

"He left me, told me to get my own ride."

"He left you alone? When you have that big match?" he said, anger rising up. How dare he leave her that vulnerable? He sighed again, "You can stay here with me and I'll take you back to your hotel after you're done ok?"

She nodded mutely. Jericho wanted to punch Christian right about now. He was beyond weird, there was definitely something fishy going on around here and Jericho wanted to find it out. His friend's happiness was at stake and he wouldn't let them fall apart. They had helped him and Stephanie and it was time to repay the favor.

"Why don't you go get your things and put them in here?"

"Ok," she said, trying to smile.

"Good," he smiled comfortingly.

She got up and left and he sat back, not knowing what to think about anything. Sighing in defeat, he turned on the television to just watch the show. The matches were pretty boring and he could barely keep his eyes open. This show needed more of him, that would spice things up a little.

Trish came back in, her bags in hand, and her mood seemed brighter. She smiled at him and threw her bags down arbitrarily on the ground. Jericho wondered if maybe Christian had apologized, but then why would she still be in here with him? She sat down next to him and glanced at the television before turning to him.

"I'm not as worried about my match," she told him.

"Why?"

"I've got someone on my side," she told him.

"Who?" he chuckled, "There's not many woman wrestlers around here who like you babe."

"Shut up, she's an old friend," Trish divulged, hoping Jericho would guess.

"Stephanie," he joked.

"Yeah right, it's Lita!" she exclaimed.

"Oh," Jericho said, surprised, "She's back?"

"Yeah, and she said if they try to pull anything on me, she'll come out to help me! Isn't that great."

"Yeah, you're not alone anymore."

"I know, I'm pretty excited now. I wonder what the crowd will think if she comes out."

"They'll be shocked."

"Is she still dating Matt?" Jericho asked, knowing Matt had changed a lot in the past year or so.

"I have no idea," she said, then saw Molly and Gail entering the arena together, "Oh, look who it is."

"Hey, don't let them get to you."

"Molly changed, I think I have you to blame," she kidded.

"Oh, because I broke up with her and she suddenly went into a downward spiral that caused her to become evil and vindictive?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it, now that I think of it. You broke her poor, little heart," Trish mock pouted.

"Well, I'd love to sit and make fun of them, but I need to talk to Gail."

"Why?"

"She hurt my friend, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do," he winked at her.

He went out into the hallway and went down to where the wrestlers entered the arena. He intercepted Gail and Molly just as they entered the actual building. Molly gave him a once over and stood there. Jericho couldn't believe he had dated this girl.

"What's up Chris?" Molly said, and Jericho dared say she was being flirty.

"Um, I needed to talk to Gail," he answered.

"Oh, too good to talk to me?" she asked, running a finger down his arm. Who was this girl?

"Um, no, but I really need to talk to Gail," Jericho said, ripping his arm away from her.

"It's cool Mol, I'll catch up," Gail said. Molly nodded, gave Jericho a lingering glance, then walked away from the two of them, "What did you want?"

"Well, for one, an explanation," Jericho said.

"Since when do I owe you anything?" Gail said sarcastically.

"No, but maybe you owe Kurt something."

Gail's expression softened for a millisecond, before disappearing, "What about him?"

"Well, seeing as how he asked you out and obviously liked you, and then you go and apparently sleep with Bischoff, I think he's a little hurt."

"I'm sorry, but business is business," Gail informed him, "I did what I had to do."

"You don't even want to apologize?"

"We went out once. We had a little bit of fun. It's not like I'm committed to him for the rest of my life am I? I can sleep with whoever I please."

Jericho scoffed, "You know, I had a bad feeling about you, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but I should've just listened to my feeling."

"I guess you should've," she said, brushing past him. She looked down for a moment and then turned around, "Tell him I'm sorry ok. I'm not his type. I never will be."

She turned back around quickly and walked away in the direction Molly had gone in earlier. Well that was a trip, Jericho thought to himself. First Christian hurting Trish, now Gail hurting Kurt, so much drama and angst. He made a mental note to never ever get in a fight with Stephanie. He didn't need his life turning into a complete soap opera.

He was about to walk inside when he noticed Christian sitting out on some crates, his belt in his lap and his head down. Jericho decided to see if he could rectify the situation with him. He slowly walked over and sat down next to his friend. Christian didn't physically acknowledge his presence, but Jericho knew he knew he was there.

"What is going on with you man?" Jericho asked.

"Shit," Christian muttered.

"If this is about the match and the belt--"

"It's not," Christian interrupted, "It's bigger than that."

"You know you can tell me whatever it is, or if not me, your brother," Jericho told him.

"Yeah, I know, but I have to figure things out for myself first," Christian said, looking over at him.

"Well, Trish's match is coming up and she found out Lita is here to back her up if the case may be," Jericho informed him, "I'm sure that she would love it if when she came back from the match you were there waiting for her."

"She's probably pissed at me."

"Nah, she was too upset to be mad."

"I didn't want to upset her."

"I'm sure you didn't, so go wait for her."

"I guess," Christian gave in.

They both got off the crates and walked back to Jericho's locker room. Jericho could definitely sense something was amiss with Christian, but didn't want to pry if Christian didn't want to give up the information. Christian sat down to watch Trish's match and Jericho gathered up his stuff. He clapped Christian on the back, wished him luck and then left.

He went back to the hotel, thinking as he drove. He felt the urge to solve everyone's problems. He knew that was impossible, but in theory it sounded pretty good. He was tired of the strife and the turmoil, why couldn't life just be all peaches and cream all the time. Wake up Jericho, he thought, you live in the real world.

He arrived at the hotel, and went up to his room, dumping his stuff by the door, "Life is too hard!"

"Oh, what are you complaining about?" Stephanie laughed, "You hardly have any problems."

"Yeah, but I'm stuck in the middle of other people's problems," he said, pretending to collapse onto the floor.

Stephanie stood over him, "How was work?"

"Horrible," he said, "It would seem a lot less horrible if you were wearing a skirt right now," he joked, looking up at her from the ground.

"Pervert," she scolded, "Why was it horrible? You have a match on Sunday, you should be happy!"

"Yeah, maybe if everyone's lives weren't screwed up I might be."

"Is that a dig towards me," she said, crossing her arm and giving him a stern look.

"No, dude, you are the least of my problems, you can take care of your own problems, Miss Kiss Me in Front of your Father."

"Still on that sweetie?"

"I'll tell you when the shock wears off."

"So what IS wrong then?"

"Well, Gail's a bitch for one," he told her.

"No surprise there, I knew she would be. Not good enough for Kurt."

"Steph, you think nobody is good enough for Kurt," he said, sticking his tongue out.

"I can't help it if he chooses bad women."

"He wanted you."

"Oh shut up," she said, stomping her foot on his stomach lightly.

He grabbed her ankle, "Don't make me knock you over."

"You don't have the guts," she said, taunting him.

"Oh don't I?" he shot back.

"I'll land on you."

"Ooh, don't want that," he said, letting go of her, "Too much weight landing on me will hurt me."

Her jaw dropped, "Are you saying I'm fat?!?"

"Who? Me? Never!"

"I'll sit on you, idiot," she said, shaking her head, "Any other problems?"

"There's something wrong with Christian. He blew up at me, he blew up at Trish and he's acting weird."

"Did you try talking to him?" she suggested.

"Yeah, but all he said was that he needed to work things out with himself first," Jericho shrugged.

"Sounds suspicious," she said then yelled loudly.

Jericho had grabbed her ankle and she had toppled over and fallen on top of him. Jericho let out a breath of air as she landed on top of him. She hit his chest as she sat up and looked down at him. He gave her a charming smile that he knew she couldn't resist.

"Why'd you do that?" she said indignantly.

"You were too high, I couldn't hear you," he said, knowing she would never believe that.

"Sure."

"I'm worried about our friends," Jericho said, looking at her seriously.

"Well, there's only one thing we can do," she said.

"What?"

"We have to help them."

"Oh Steph, I don't know if you should get involved," he said, fearing her reaction.

"Explain," she said, crossing her arms in a huff.

"You go all out with these things, I mean, pretty soon we're going to be rooting through dumpsters trying to dig up information."

"Yeah right, just bear with me on this one. Our friends have helped us time and time again, right?"

"I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"They have," he conceded.

"It's time to return the favor."

"And what do you propose we do."

"Well, for Kurt, find him someone new, and for Christian, figure out what the hell is wrong with him and help him through it."

"You make it sound simple, but you know it's going to be hard."

"I know, but I've got just the person in mind to take Kurt's mind off his troubles," she said, smirking.

"Who?"

"You just wait and see."


	133. This Could Be Good, September 18, 2003

A/N: My condolences go out to the Angle family and friends for their loss.

* * *

"So aren't you going to tell me who you have in mind for Kurt?"

"Nope."

"Why do you do this to me, you know I hate it."

"Yeah, I know, that's why I do it," she said.

Jericho tackled Stephanie onto the bed and started wrestling with her. She squealed and tried to get the upper-hand, but he was a professional wrestler and she stood no chance whatsoever. She tried to push him off, but he had her pinned down. She pouted up in his face.

"Tell me who it is."

"Let me go," she said struggling against him.

"Tell me," he said, giving her a look.

"No, you'll have to wait," she giggled, "Now let me go."

"Hmm," he said, pretending to think, "Should I let Stephanie, my beautiful girlfriend and woman that I love go, while she's lying underneath me, completely at my mercy?"

"At your mercy?" she asked skeptically, "When have I ever been at your mercy?"

"Well," he said, leaning down to kiss her neck softly, "I don't know, when have you?"

Stephanie swallowed hard, his feathery kisses getting to her. She could smell the scent of kiwi from his shampoo, some special shampoo that he would never let her use because it was so expensive. She tried to focus on the things she wanted to do while at the show, keeping her mind of his skillful lips, but as his kisses moved to her collarbone, she was losing resolve and fast.

"Chris, stop," she whispered.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I'm getting all worked up here and I have to leave soon and just stop or else I'm going to throw you down on this bed and have you at MY mercy," she said, seductively.

"Then tell me who you want to set up Kurt with?" he said, pulling away to look at her face.

"Chris, get off me," she said, using her strength to push him off her.

Jericho wasn't expecting that and fell off the bed onto the floor. Stephanie laughed and looked over the bed. She gave Jericho a funny face and he just gave her a dirty look and got up, dusting off his ass. She lay on her stomach and watched him.

"What are you staring at?" he said, when he turned around.

"That nice ass of yours," she said appreciatively.

"Don't you have to work or something?" said, looking down at her.

She rolled onto her back, "There's like nothing going on at the show tonight, I don't wanna go."

"You have a freaking Iron Man match between your two biggest superstars!" Jericho said, "Since when is that nothing."

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess."

"So maybe you should get going then, ya think?"

"Make me."

"Make you what? Go to work?"

"Yeah, make me go to work," she said, sprawling out on the bed.

"I swear, you make my life difficult."

"Oh, like you don't love me with the burning passion of a thousand suns," she scoffed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Nothing, make me go to work," she said again.

"What? You want me to drag your ass to work?"

"Sure," she said, daring him with her tone of voice.

Jericho shrugged and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She screamed and tried to get down, but his arm was around her legs and his grip was tight. He walked over and picked up her bag and walked to the door, opening it with the hand with the bag. He set the squirming Stephanie down on the ground and handed her, her bag with a smile. She snatched it and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Idiot," she snarled, trying to fix her hair with one hand.

He just grinned at her, "Good luck."

"Hate you," she told him.

"Love you too, beautiful," he said, slapping her ass as she walked away.

Stephanie jumped as he slapped her and turned around to give him the finger. He blew her a kiss and closed the door. She laughed to herself and went down to the elevators. She made it to the ground floor where the limo was waiting for her. The driver opened the door for her and she glided inside.

She stared out the window as the driver took her to the arena. The show tonight was going to be interesting. Having Kurt and Brock perform for an hour was something not readily done. She hoped they would be able to hold the viewers for such a long bout, but knowing that two of her biggest stars were participating, she was confident they wouldn't want to change the channel. She just hoped that Kurt would come out the winner.

They arrived and the driver parked the car, then let her out. She thanked him and walked inside. She went down to her office and set her things down, then went to see production and make sure any kinks in the schedule would be ironed out. She wanted this to run smoothly. Finding that everything seemed to be in order, she went to look for Kurt and talk to him before his match.

She was walking towards his locker room when she was intercepted by Chavo, "Hey Chavo, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Miss Stephanie, I was just wondering if Eddy and I, Los Guerreros, could get a match against the Tag Team Champions."

"Tonight?" 

"Yes, since Los Guerreros are back together, we thought it would be a great chance to get some gold," he told her.

"Well, we're running on a tight schedule, but I could give you the match tonight."

"Thank you Stephanie, you won't regret it, Los Guerreros are going to kick so Tag Team ass," Chavo said, smiling as he walked away.

Stephanie smiled. That would be a decent match up right there, tonight's show was looking better and better. She got to Kurt's locker room and saw the door was slightly ajar. She knocked on the door before opening it slightly. Kurt was sitting there, and looked to be deep in thought.

Stephanie didn't know if he had heard her knock, but walked in the room anyways. She sat down next to him and he still hadn't acknowledged her presence. She wondered what was on his mind, maybe it was the match tonight, maybe it was even that bitch Gail. She tapped his shoulder, causing him to jump in the air. She laughed guiltily as he looked over at her.

"Steph! When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago, you seemed to be pretty far into the atmosphere."

"Yeah, I was, sorry, did you want something?" he said, smiling at her.

"No, just wanted to talk to you, wondered how you were doing with the match tonight and everything."

"I'm nervous, I mean, an hour long match, it's a marathon, you really got to prepare for it. Especially since I'm the champ."

"You're going to do great," she encouraged.

"I guess as long as I put up a good fight I should be happy with whatever comes."

"That's a nice, positive way of thinking about it," she said, "So how are you on the Gail front."

He shook his head and looked down, "Don't get me started with that one. I don't know what to do with that. I really liked her."

"I know. Chris talked to her on Monday," she offered.

"He did? What'd she say?" he asked anxiously, hoping for good news.

Stephanie didn't want to get his hopes up on this one and seeing his face, she knew that he would take the news hard. She hated to see the disappointed look on his face, but he deserved to know. She had always been critical of the women that he dated; he was her best friend, she only wanted the best for him.

"It wasn't good Kurt," she said gently.

"Oh," he said, that sad look coming back to his face.

"Chris did say that she said she was sorry, but that she's not your type and she never will be."

"How would she know she isn't my type!" he said, shooting out of his seat, "She was perfect, funny, nice, beautiful, I thought she was perfect."

"Kurt, it's not your fault for not seeing, you were blinded by her," Stephanie said, getting up and going to his side.

"Can I be alone for a little while Steph?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," she told him, knowing that she herself had to go talk to someone.

She walked out of the room, closing the door silently behind her. She looked both ways before making her way down to the diva's locker room. She knew of someone who had had a crush on Kurt for a while, and who would jump at the opportunity to go out with him. It was good to know everyone's secrets around here. She used to use them for the powers of evil, but now for the powers of good.

She went up to the diva's locker room and walked inside, scanning the room for the person she was looking for. She spotted her sitting with a couple of other divas and walked over to the group. They all looked up and smiled at the General Manager, wondering why she had come into their locker room.

She turned to one of them, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," she replied.

"Thanks."

The other two divas got up and left the room, knowing that Stephanie wanted to have a private conversation. The diva stood up and crossed her arms, wondering what Stephanie could possibly want with her, it's not like they were close or anything. She hoped that she wasn't in trouble.

"This isn't bad or anything," Stephanie reassured, "But I've been hearing a couple things about you and I was wondering if they were true." 

"Ok," she said, a bit confused.

"If they're not true or whatever, I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"It's fine," she said, tossing her hair back.

"I heard you had a crush on Kurt Angle."

The diva blanched just a tiny bit. Stephanie could tell it was the truth the moment her words had left her mouth. She just wanted her to admit so that she could go about playing matchmaker. Stephanie knew that underneath some of the bad things she presented about herself, the diva was a good person, and maybe even good for Kurt.

"Um, Kurt's a really nice guy," she answered.

"Yeah, he is isn't he?"

"If you and him are together, I mean that's fine, and all that, I didn't mean to come off like I was going to take him away from you or something."

"Oh, no, no, no," Stephanie said, "Kurt and I are NOT together!"

She hadn't meant that to sound so definitive, but she had to make it perfectly clear that she had no romantic claim on Kurt Angle. And it was so absurd to her that everyone thought that. Maybe it was because she knew and she knew Kurt knew that she was taken. But so many people misconstrued their friendship as something sexual. Oh, how wrong they all were.

"Oh, I didn't mean to assume, but since he's always rescuing you and all that, I mean, I don't know," she shrugged.

Stephanie smiled kindly, "That's just my best friend Kurt. He helps me when I need it, and with my father being a complete asshole most of the time, I need it a lot."

"Yeah, that has to be tough."

"Sometimes, but you make it through. And I have no designs on Kurt, I'm very happy with my current boyfriend."

"Oh, you have a boyfriend," she said relieved.

"Yeah, he's great, but that's not what I'm here about. I was wondering, maybe, if you would want to go to out with Kurt sometime."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Well, I mean, I think that I could set the two of you up or something, but only if you wanted to."

"Of course!"

Stephanie laughed, she knew that she would jump at the chance to go out with Kurt. Now, she just had to get Kurt's permission and everything would be all set. Hopefully that lying, backstabbing Gail Kim would be out of Kurt's mind forever, and Stephanie could rest a little bit easier at night.

"Great, I'm going to go talk to Kurt, and just wait at the gorilla after his match and we'll see what happens."

"Ok," she smiled.

"Nice talking to you," Stephanie said, smiling as she left.

"Bye."

Stephanie went back down to her office, smiling at her scheming. Now that she was done with that, she thought about what else she had to do. Coming up with absolutely nothing, she just decided to watch the show. She went to the television in her office and turned it on. She went back and sat on top of her desk, gazing at the television. She felt herself sitting on something and pulled out a magazine from her desk.

She looked it over and it was some poster book. She looked through it and came across a poster of Sable. Stephanie ripped it out and looked at it. Skank, she thought to herself, and was about to rip it up, but decided to have a little fun with it before she tore it up. She took out a pen, and started drawing all over it. She laughed to herself as her cell phone rang and picked it up.

"Hello gorgeous."

"Who's this?" Stephanie said.

"Your secret admirer."

"Is that so?"

"Yup."

"Does my boyfriend know this?" she said, while drawing.

"No, but does he need to? This can be our little secret Stephy-baby."

"Hey Edge," she replied.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Not much, the show is pretty much all Kurt and Brock tonight and nothing for me to do."

"So what are you doing?"

"Improving a picture of Sable," Stephanie answered.

Edge chuckled, "Seems about right. So I heard that something is up with my brother."

"Oh, good, you got my message," she told him.

"Yeah, so what's up?"

"I don't know exactly Edge, he's.........distant and gets irritated all the time. Trish said that they fought and he left her for a while on Monday. And he's been acting up towards Chris, we're all worried about him," she explained.

"I don't know, I haven't talked to him, which is odd, usually we're talking all the time or he's over, but he isn't. I wonder what could be wrong," Edge pondered.

"Yeah, Chris and I are worried about him, Chris tried talking to him, but he wouldn't give up any information."

"This sounds suspicious, dude, we're going to have to do one of those intervention things on him."

"I hope not. Can you try talking to him this weekend Edge, if he's going to open up to anyone, it's going to be you."

"I can try, but I don't know if he'll talk."

"Yeah, but you can try and that's what we need right now, we can think about the rest later."

"Yeah, you're right. So how does the match look later?"

Stephanie answered him and then felt other people's presences and looked up to see her father, Sable and Big Show looking down at her. She sat up and looked at them. Her father did not look pleased to see what she was doing and she quickly ended her conversation with Edge.

She stood up and her father decided to get in another round of berating her. She stood there and took it, took every unkind word he had to say at her. She wasn't going to quit, she didn't care if anyone intimidated her, she didn't care if they hurt her or worse, she wasn't quitting. Her father didn't raise her to be a quitter, and that was probably coming back now to kick him in the ass.

Even Big Show grabbing her arm didn't deter her. She wasn't going to back down. Her father could say that he'd have her begging to quit when he was done with her, but she wasn't going anywhere. Not because of what her father said. She could stand up to them and she didn't care what they thought anymore.

"Stephanie, you should know by now your father is the most powerful man in the company and he can make you pay," Sable said, when the cameras left.

"That supposed to frighten me, are your little cronies supposed to frighten me?"

She saw Big Show looming over her out of the corner of her eye, but she was secure in her knowledge that her father wouldn't let him hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her just yet, there was time for that. She knew that her father wanted to humiliate her.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, where did I go wrong?" Vince said.

"Look in the mirror Dad, you'll see the answer right in front of your face because I'm not the problem, you are."

Vince grabbed her hand and looked at the ring on her right hand, the ring from Jericho, "Pretty ring you have here Stephanie, where'd you get it?"

Stephanie froze a moment, but remained steadfast, damn her for forgetting to take it off, "Mom gave it to me."

"I've never seen it before."

"She gave it to me as an early birthday present, what's it to you Dad?" she said, glad that she had come up with a lie so quickly.

"Oh, I completely forgot, my little girl's birthday is coming up soon, isn't that the best news," Vince said, turning to Sable and Show, "She's going to be twenty-seven, such a grown-up."

Stephanie pulled her hand back, "Like you care."

"So what are you hoping for, for your birthday Stephanie," Sable said, "More guys you can just up and kiss like you did to Chris Jericho last week?"

Her father must've told Sable, Stephanie realized. She wanted to just slap the taste out of Sable's mouth, but knew if she did, she'd be in a world of trouble. She was outnumbered right now and Stephanie was no dummy, she knew the odds were against her.

"Well, maybe, but I think that's what you really want Sable, to kiss a guy who actually has good looks. But it must be hard getting young men, considering you're close to your 60's now isn't it?" Stephanie said, her voice dripping with kindness.

"Oh, you're so funny Steph," Sable answered, clapping shortly.

"I know, but who's to say I couldn't have Jericho if I wanted?" she shot back.

"Because he's married," Vince said.

"How do you know he's not married to me?" she said, giving him a look.

"Please, he has taste," Vince said, "And I've heard his wife is beautiful, so it couldn't possibly be you. But rest assured Princess, Chris will be telling me all about my precious little girl very soon."

"Why is that Father?"

"Because I've asked him to go to dinner with me next week and he accepted my invitation and he may even bring his wife along."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll all have a barrel of laughs."

Stephanie already knew about this. Her father had been pestering Jericho to go out for sometime now. So he agreed. They didn't know what they were going to do about the Stephanie thing, but she was beginning to think her father would never figure out if she was in a disguise, he didn't care enough to actually know anything about her.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Stephanie said, "I've got an Iron Man match to go watch."

She got up went down to the gorilla to watch the match. She pulled up a chair at the production table located next to the monitors and sat down to watch the fight. The match was going to be brutal she knew that already, she just hoped it could be clean as well. She didn't want her father or anyone interfering. That would discredit the match and she'd be damned if she let that happen.

It was about half-way into the match when she noticed someone walking down the hallway. She looked over and was glad to see Kurt's hopefully new girl to take his mind off of Gail. Stephanie smiled and waved her over and she came to sit down and watch the rest of the match.

Stephanie was rooting for Kurt all the way. God, she thought to herself, nobody was better at countering a move than Kurt. It seemed that for every move his opponent gave, he somehow had a way to get out of it. It was amazing really and she knew that Brock would have a lot more pinfalls than he did if Kurt didn't know how to counter everything.

It was beginning to get down to the wire and Kurt was still down. She started cheering him on, hoping that he'd pull out a comeback for the win. She knew that if anyone could do it, it would be Kurt. He was just that amazing. Locking in the anklelock with time running out, she prayed that Lesnar would tap, but he didn't and Kurt lost.

She cursed to herself, knowing that the belt was back in the hands of her father. No, not Brock, it was her father's belt, and that pissed her off to no end. She saw Kurt looking disappointed and she didn't blame him, he was so close. It had been an amazing match, but in the end, Brock just stuck it out. If only it had gone on for a few seconds longer.

Kurt walked backstage, upset at the outcome. It had been a fair, clean win, and that hurt even more. There was nobody to blame but himself. He saw Stephanie waiting for him and he gave her the best smile he could give at the moment. He came over to her and she patted his sweaty shoulder.

"Go take a quick shower and get dressed, then come back here," she whispered to him.

"Why?" he asked. 

"Just do it."

Kurt nodded, wondering what Stephanie was cooking up. He went back to his locker room, missing the weight of the belt on his shoulder already. He got his stuff and took a quick shower, still thinking of ways to win that match, to just get one more pin. God, hindsight was a bitch. He got out and got dressed, grabbing his things and going back down to where Stephanie was waiting.

"Now what's up Stephanie? I did all the things you asked."

"I wanted to try to get your mind off of Gail," she said.

"How? Am I going to go out with you and--"

She put her finger on his lips, quieting him, "No, I was thinking that maybe you could go out with someone to take your mind off of her."

"Who?" Kurt said, just going with the flow.

"Someone."

"You? You want to go out and get me drunk and then have your way with me," Kurt suggested.

"Mmm, as much as I'd love to.........no," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"Than who?" Kurt said, crossing his arms, hating when Stephanie played games.

"Hi Kurt," a female voice came from behind him.

Kurt whirled around, "Hi, what's up?"

"Kurt, I thought maybe you'd like to go out tonight," Stephanie said, linking her arm through Kurt's.

"Thanks," Kurt said, "I guess I wouldn't mind going out to get a drink."

"I knew you wouldn't," Stephanie giggled, "Now go," she said, pushing him towards her.

Kurt walked up to her and smiled. She smiled back and he grabbed her bag. She smiled gratefully, thanking him, and he nodded, saying it was nothing. Stephanie watched as they walked down the hallway. Yeah, he thought they'd make a cute couple. Her cell phone rang in her pocket and she answered it.

"Come baaaaaaack," a whiny voice said.

"I'm coming back soon," she said, still watching Kurt.

"Why are you still there? It's late," Jericho said.

"I had to do something."

"With the mystery woman and Kurt?" he asked.

"Uh huh."

"So you're alone in there, is your dad still there," he asked, his voice tinged with worry.

"I don't know."

"Come back here then, so I can make sure you're ok."

"I'm ok."

"You forgot to take your ring off earlier."

"Yeah, I know," she said, as she saw Kurt open the exit door for the girl and then walked out after her. Before he closed the door, he threw a look back at Stephanie and she saw him wink at her. She laughed and waved.

"Do you think Kurt and whoever the girl is hit it off?"

"Yeah, I think they might've."

"Good. Still don't know who she is," Jericho said, sarcastically.

"How do you think Kurt and Dawn Marie sounds?"

"Ahh, and the truth is revealed."

"I guess."

"So you're master plan is working. So I assume Christian is next."

"One guy down, one guy to go."


	134. Who's Worse, H or G'berg? Unforgiven, Se...

A/N: I didn't see the show, so if anything's inaccurate or whatever, sorry. :)

* * *

"So tonight, hopefully we'll figure out what's wrong with Christian." 

"Yeah, hopefully, if he'd open up to us," Jericho said.

"I don't know, Edge said that he wouldn't even talk to him," Stephanie sighed, "But he could definitely tell that he was holding something back."

"Dude, I hate this mystery," Jericho told her.

"I'm not dude," she said, sitting on his lap, "But don't' worry about it too much ok, because you have a match that you have to worry about."

"Yeah, but Christian is in that match, so if I screw things up, he'll be out for my blood."

"He better not be," she protested, "Or he'll get one of my patented bitch slaps."

"Uh oh, we do NOT want that to happen."

"Just play it cool," she said.

"Is that the same advice you'll be telling your brother?"

"Oh, don't get me started with that," she said, "He's absolutely nuts and I don't know why he's going so crazy."

"Because of your dad, and what happened with your mom."

"Oh yeah, I think I've tried to distance myself away from the rest of them, or at least from my father. But he keeps trying to control me and he won't stop until he dictates my every move."

"He won't, you're stronger than him."

"I suppose," she said.

"Oh, don't give me that," he said, rolling his eyes, "You and your injured beauty queen routine."

She hit his shoulder with her own, "Well how about you and your little routine about how Austin is out to get you."

"And how do you know he's not?" he countered.

"Why would he be out to get you of all people?"

"Jealousy," Jericho said bluntly.

"Oh sweetie, he has power, you don't have any outright power right now. I think you're jealous of him." 

"Ok, change of subject."

"Oh, you poor thing," she said, pretending to be sympathetic to him.

"I better get going though," he told her.

"Ok, good luck," she said, "I kinda wish that we still had joint shows, that way I could be there with you."

"So do I, but we'll just have to make do with what we have."

"I love you," she said, kissing him.

"Mmm, love you too."

She got off his lap and he got up, getting his bag. He pulled her to him with an arm and kissed her passionately. She smiled and went to the television with the special hook-up they had gotten specially for the room so Stephanie could watch the show. She turned it on, signaling that she would be watching and he winked at her and left.

He went down the hall to one of the other suite to pick up Shane. They were going to be going to the show together. They figured since they knew Vince wouldn't be there that it'd be ok if they traveled together. Jericho knocked on his door and Shane answered, and Jericho could already see that crazy glint in his eye.

"Oh great, you're going to do something crazy tonight aren't you?" Jericho said as Shane closed his door.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're Shane McMahon."

"I may have a few tricks up my sleeve for tonight." 

"God, you dumped the guy into a dumpster, and you're still out to come out on top," Jericho said, shaking his head as they exited the elevator.

They got to Jericho's rental car and they got inside, talking about who they thought would win the other matches for the evening. Shane told Jericho that he hoped he won the Intercontinental title. Jericho kind of hoped he won it too, even though he still felt that he should be going for the big title, the big gold belt.

Upon arrival at the arena they got their things and walked inside, going their separate ways to their respective locker rooms. Jericho went into his locker room and changed. He knew it was still way early, but he liked to be prepared and that way he could get comfortable in the tights he was wearing, break them in so to speak.

He decided to go talk to Christian, see if he could find out what the problem was. If he found out early, he would have time to think about it what he could do to rectify the situation, or at least help his friend. He didn't like the way that Christian had been acting, he wanted his old friend back, the guy who liked to joke around, not go around being a pompous ass.

He went down to the door he had spied earlier as belonging to Trish and Christian and he knocked on the door. He was surprised moments later as Lita answered the door. Well, she was a sight for sore eyes. A long, long time ago, he had been friends with Lita, even helping her when she was getting hassled by Dean Malenko. Things changed rapidly around here, he hadn't talked to her in over a year.

"Hey Lita," Jericho said, trying to sound friendly.

"Hey, it's been a while," she said.

"Yeah it has, how's the neck?"

"It's ok, all better," Lita said.

"Good, is Christian here?" he asked.

"No, let me ask Trish where he is?" Lita said, then turned to face the locker room, "Trish where's your boyfriend?"

Trish came to the door, "Oh hey Chris."

"Hey, you look nice," he said, looking at her.

"Thanks, at least someone thinks so," she said bitterly.

"What happened?"

"Oh, just more of my jerk boyfriend acting like an asshole to everyone around here," she answered.

"He's still acting up."

"Yeah, and it's starting to bug me, seriously, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's that damn belt, you know, it's giving him a big head. Win it off his ass tonight for me Chris, that way I won't have to deal with Mr. Ego," she said.

"I'll try," he chuckled, "So where is he?"

"I don't know, staring in a mirror somewhere," she suggested.

He chuckled more, "Ok, I'll go check all the bathrooms, I just wanted to discuss the match tonight."

"Ok, good luck with him."

Jericho walked away. Seemed that everyone was becoming annoyed by Christian's childish behavior. He wondered what could be so bad as to make Christian treat the people he loved and cared about like this. Even when he was at his worst, he never treated Trish horribly. He saw Christian down the hallway and jogged to catch up with him.

"Hey man," Jericho said.

"Hey."

"Everything ok," Jericho said as he looked at his friend.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Jericho just gave him a stern look, and Christian apologized for the belt shot on Monday. Well, it was something at least. He said it was ok, and decided to just talk about safe territory, their match that evening. He suggested that they double-team on RVD and that way they could just have the match for themselves.

Christian seemed to think that this was a good idea and they made a pact for the match later. At least there was still a bit of camaraderie between them. He was afraid Christian would still be jerky towards him and was glad that he wasn't. But that still didn't change the fact that something was wrong.

As they were talking about the pact they just made, Molly and Gail came up to the two of them. He gave Gail the once over and rolled his eyes. Kurt had said that he and Dawn Marie had had some fun on Thursday, but he was still smarting from the whole Gail Kim situation.

"Hey Chris, Christian," Molly said.

"Hey Molly," Jericho said to her.

"Good luck in your match later guys," Molly told them, "It's really too bad I'll have to destroy your girlfriend Christian."

"I'm sure she'll kick your ass," Christian told her, giving her a sarcastic smile.

"We'll see," Molly said, walking away, but Gail stayed.

"Hey, um, how's Kurt?" Gail asked, looking at Jericho.

"Oh, so now you care?" he sneered.

"I just wanted to ask how he was," she said testily.

"He's fine, actually, he went out with Dawn Marie last Thursday, said they had a great time."

"Oh," she said, looking down, "I'm happy for him, he deserves someone nice."

"Well, I guess anyone's better than you," Jericho said, giving her a dirty look.

"Hey! You think I wanted to hurt him?" she exclaimed, "I didn't ok! But in this business you gotta work hard for what you want!"

"And that's sleeping with Bischoff." 

"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," she said with a toss of her hair.

She stomped away and Jericho turned to watch her. He didn't even want to speculate. He turned back to Christian and rolled his eyes, communicating how stupid that whole conversation was, but Christian was staring off into space. He snapped his fingers in front of Christian's face, getting his attention.

"What?" Christian asked.

"You were zoning out."

"Oh, was I?" he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, so what had you so enamored?" Jericho asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the match later."

"Sure, like I believe that. What's really on your mind?" 

"None of your business," Christian snapped, then stalked away.

Jericho just stared at him as he went. He was so confused by this entire situation. What was going on around here? When did Stephanie and him become the normal ones in their little group? It seemed that everyone was going crazy with problems. Kurt had this thing with Gail and Dawn Marie that was just weird. Christian was snapping at everyone, even Trish, causing their relationship to become odder than Jericho and Stephanie's. And Shane, well, Shane was just crazy. He felt like he was in the middle of a hurricane.

He went back to his locker room, maybe if he just played innocent he could forget everyone else's problems. He wasn't good at this whole solving problems thing. It was more Stephanie's line of work. He couldn't do the kind of things she did. He wasn't that conniving.

Not to mention he had his own problems to worry about, professionally and personally. But they had to take a backseat to everyone else's problems. First off, he had this whole thing with Austin. He just bugged him so much. If he could get Austin fired, then maybe he could get Bischoff fired, then maybe they'd hire Stephanie. He laughed at the thought.

Then there was Stephanie's birthday, which was coming up. He had no clue what to do for her birthday, or even what to give her. He knew that she would love whatever he gave her, but he wanted to give her something nice. He'd have to really think about that one, either that or ask Trish to help him our.

And then lastly, this dinner with Vince. Jericho knew the driving force behind it was Vince thinking that Jericho had some sort of connection with his kids and would give up the dirt on them. While he did have a strong connection with them bother he was not about to divulge anything to Vince. And then with him wanting to me Jericho's "wife," well that was going to be a trip. Him and Stephanie had contemplated getting one of their non-wrestling friends to pretend, but Stephanie, ever the daredevil, said she wanted to fool her father and go in disguise. If they got caught it would surely be the end of them, or end of him at least once Vince killed him.

He had been daydreaming so much that when he checked his watch to see if the show had started he realized they were more than an hour into it. Shit, how long had he been daydreaming. He saw that the women's match had just ended. Geez, he had actually missed a lot of the show. Well, thinking about Stephanie usually got him lost in his thoughts. He smirked to himself and was about to start daydreaming again when he saw Shane walking out.

He braced himself for the match. He had been in a Last Man Standing match and they were all kinds of tough. It was not the kind of match that could be taken lightly and he knew Shane would go all out. He just hoped he didn't get hurt in the process. If you tried to sprint through and Iron Man you would be sure to lose. You had to pace yourself, or you'd run out of energy.

He had also lost his Last Man Standing match, so he was hoping that Shane would pull out the victory with this one. He hated thinking back to that match, thought it was one of his best. He had lost by mere seconds, and he had been doing so well. Not to mention the fact that it was against Hunter and he had Stephanie by his side. He closed his eyes and could still picture the look of concern she had thrown in his direction. That moment had been etched in his mind forever.

He cleared his head of his girlfriend and went back to watching her brother. He was actually doing pretty well, fighting back and actually getting offense in. Nice to see it wasn't a total and complete squash. He sat on the edge of his seat as Shane tried and then successfully did a Van Terminator. Man, that had been nicely executed.

The match was pretty much in Shane's hands, but then Kane started coming back. They fought up to the stage and Jericho knew Shane was going to go crazy. He knew he was going to do the daredevil stunt and cringed as Shane ascended the stage. Jericho was literally on the edge of his seat. And then it happened. Damn it, he cursed Shane for being stupid and watched as Kane won the match. Damn, that wasn't going to make Stephanie happy.

He rushed out to the gorilla, where Shane was being taken back by a stretcher. He went over and Shane gave him a smile. Jericho just shook his head and told him he was crazy. If only Kane hadn't been provoked by Austin, Shane would be ok right now. He had had it up to here with Austin and went down to his office.

He barged into the room and Austin looked at him. Jericho went into a rant about all the bad things that Austin had contributed to the show. Half the time he didn't know what he was saying, just saying whatever came to his mind at that given moment. He probably made no sense at all. Austin wanted him to hit him, but Jericho was going to do that, and then get hit back. No, he'd crack Austin, he'd just have to be careful about it.

He walked out and down to the gorilla again, but this time before he knew that his match was coming up very soon. He saw Christian, who gave him a nod, confirming their little plan. Jericho gave a wink to him and then Christian went out first. Jericho knew he had to get his head into the match, but whatever was bugging Christian, was bugging him, because he didn't know what it was.

He went out when he heard the countdown go off and waited for RVD to go down. He and Christian started off the match and RVD stepped in moments later. He could feel that his heart wasn't into this match as much, other problems getting the better of him, but he tried to put up a fight the best he could, going after RVD like they had planned to. Jericho tried to get the pin, but didn't get the win. Somehow this ended up in a shoving match between him and Christian. They soon wised up and started double-teaming RVD, before Christian was knocked on the floor.

He fought back and forth with RVD, each of them getting a pin attempt. He could hear no crowd noise and that bothered him, so he did his cocky pin, everyone loved the cocky pin. He managed to get the Walls on RVD and was screaming at Austin, since he had told Austin to watch the match. Christian finally came back in and Jericho wondered what took him so long.

The three fought pretty hard, bringing moves into the match. It was really anyone's belt for the taking. Jericho felt his knee twist a little at one point, but knew that it was nothing, and continued on. He went with his chair for RVD, and kept fighting. But eventually Christian got the pin and retained. Damn it, so much for showing Austin up.

He walked with a slight limp backstage, wanting to do the gracious thing and congratulate Christian, but when he got backstage he found that Christian was already gone. That was weird. But he had other things to think about. He wanted to make an impression on Austin. As he saw Al Snow and Coach preparing for their match a devious idea came to his mind.

He stayed by the monitors, watching the match, yawning every once in a while, well this sure as hell wasn't a good match. It sucked, big time, he almost didn't want to have to go out there, for fear he'd fall asleep before reaching the ring. But well, the match needed a star to come in and save it, and that's just what he was about to do. He came down to the ring and beat on Austin's bestest friend in the whole wide world, and just seriously kicked J.R.'s and cost him the win.

After the match, Lloyd asked him what was up, and he told it straight out. He just got his crack at Austin. He walked backstage pompously, knowing that would irk Austin. He'd probably have some sort of showdown tomorrow, but right now, he had the upper-hand. Advantage: Jericho.

Now to go talk to Christian. He'd shower and stuff afterwards, he wanted to catch Christian before he and Trish left. He went down to their locker room and again knocked on the door. This time it was Trish that answered.

"Hey, where's Christian?" Jericho asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Trish said, "Haven't seen him since before his match. I figure he's at catering."

"Ok, I'll go find him then, see ya," Jericho said.

He walked down the hallway to catering, but heard his name being called from one of the empty hallways. He turned his head and saw that Christian was sitting on some crates, alone. Jericho went over to him and sat down next to him, getting his unruly hair out of his face. They sat in silence for a few moments and Jericho looked over at him. 

"Congratulations on your win," he commented.

"Thanks." 

"You deserved it."

"I guess."

"So what are you doing sitting in the dark?"

"Celebrating, what do you think?"

"Wow, you sure know how to throw a party," Jericho said, looking around, "I mean, sitting in a dark hallway, that's all the rage."

"Whatever."

"You hightailed it out of the ring pretty quickly after the match."

"Just felt like going backstage, you know, didn't want you mad at me cause I won. I knew you wanted to win."

"Yeah, but I'll get over it, I've got bigger things on my mind. You know, the dinner with Vince, Steph's birthday is coming up, gotta think of something to buy her. Don't want to look like an absolute fool or anything around her right."

"I'm sure whatever you come up with she'll love. She loves you."

"Yeah, I know."

"You're lucky you found her, you know," Christian commented idly.

"You think I don't know that. I know that a million times over," Jericho laughed, trying to lighten the mood, "But you have Trish, she's great, she even puts up with your little whining."

"Yeah, she does, she's wonderful."

"Look at us, gushing about our girlfriends, we're so totally whipped," Jericho said.

"Well, I know she has you wrapped around her little finger."

"Yeah, but like I can help it."

"No, you can't."

"So what's been up with you man?" Jericho finally asked, tired of beating around the bush.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit."

Jericho knew something was wrong, he knew it and it was eating his friend alive. Maybe he really did need to get that belt away from him, maybe it was causing too much trouble for his friend, being a burden instead of a trophy. He looked at Christian who was staring at the wall in front of him.

"If something's wrong, I'll listen."

"Nothing's wrong, I swear."

"Maybe it's the belt, do you want the belt?" Jericho asked.

"I love being the champ, it gives me an identity. See, you have an identity without it, you have a show, you have all this charisma, and people always notice you. You don't need a belt to be recognized. Me, it's something that gives me attention."

"No it doesn't, you're good without it, is that was this is all about?" Jericho said, believing that it was.

"Is what what's all about?"

"You and how testy you've been lately, is it because you don't want to lose the belt?"

"Nah."

"So Trish won tonight, that's great," Jericho said, changing the subject, "I wonder why Molly has it so out for her."

"Yeah," Christian said, his mood darkening.

Jericho looked over at him, seeing his mood change for the worse. Could he be worried about Trish, is that was this was about? So many questions and so few answers it seemed. Maybe Christian felt like he couldn't protect Trish and other guys could.

"Are you upset about Trish?"

"No, she's great as usual."

"But she's really vulnerable right now. Maybe you're upset about that?"

"Who says I'm upset?" he shrugged.

"Are you fucking kidding me man? We all know you're not yourself, me, Steph, Edge, even Trish, we all know and we want to know what the fuck is wrong with you. So why don't you just tell me. I can help!"

Christian remained silent for a moment and Jericho could see he was mulling over something. Jericho encouraged him to tell him what was wrong. If he knew than he could help him out of it, if he was in trouble.

"If I tell you, please don't run off and tell anyone. I know I can't stop you from telling Steph, because God knows that woman will pry it out of you with physical violence, but everyone else."

"I promise," Jericho said, raising his hand, "And I speak for both me and my girl."

"I was so stupid Chris, so fucking stupid," Christian said softly.

"Dude, what happened?"

"I cheated on Trish."


	135. Love Chris's Vinyl Jacket, September 22,...

"I still can believe he would do something like this!"

"And you think I can?" Jericho answered.

"Well, you know him better than I do," Stephanie said, facing him as they sat at their dining table in their hotel room.

"Yeah, well, I never expected him to be the kind of guy who would cheat on his girlfriend," Jericho said, "That's not something you can just guess about someone."

"Well, I mean, what did he tell you again, exactly," she said, tucking her hands under her chin.

"Just that he had cheated on Trish. He said he hadn't actually slept with this woman, but that it got pretty heated," he said, thinking back to last night.

Jericho had no idea how to react to the news that Christian had dropped on him last night. He had sat in stunned silence for what seemed like hours. He never expected Christian to ever tell him that. He had been so sure that it had something to do with the belt, but he was dead wrong, it was far more serious.

And Christian had been right. As soon as Jericho had stepped in the door, Stephanie was all over him for news about what had happened. And of course, he couldn't keep it to himself, so he told her, and then Stephanie had sat in stunned silence for what seemed like hours. That seemed to be the popular reaction.

"And he wouldn't tell you who it was?" she said, her brow furrowing.

"No, he said that he was so ashamed of what he had done that he didn't want to speak about it anymore, or even speak her name."

"Now did you get the impression that he knew this girl or that she was just some girl he picked up somewhere?"

"I don't know, he said that he had had a few drinks," he scoffed, "Much like all cheating stories start out, with two drunk people because being drunk means that you are just allowed to go cheat on someone."

"I know," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes.

"But I guess I did get the impression he knew her."

"I wonder if she's in the company?" Stephanie asked, musing more to herself than asking Jericho.

"Yeah, I was trying to pry it out of him, but he wouldn't budge."

Stephanie shook her head. She felt so bad for Trish right now; she had no idea what her boyfriend had done and she was practically living in the dark. All she knew was that her boyfriend had been testy and indifferent towards her lately. She knew the news would crush Trish, and she didn't want to see her friend get hurt.

She looked over at Jericho who was currently staring out the window. She vaguely wondered if he would ever do the same thing to her. Despite their infinite problems and horrible marriage, Hunter, she knew for a fact, had never cheat on her. Of all the vows to keep, he kept the one to be faithful. Would Jericho ever do what Christian had done? She wasn't sure, and it scared her a little bit.

"I wouldn't," Jericho said, turning to look at her.

"What?" she said, broken out of her reverie and finding herself staring into Jericho's gorgeous baby blues.

"I wouldn't ever cheat on you," he said with determination in his voice and she knew that he meant business.

"But how did you--"

"I have my ways," he winked.

"Trish is going to be heartbroken," she sighed.

"I know, but who knows if Christian will ever tell her."

"He has to!" she said, "How can he go on living a lie like this, it's not healthy."

"Baby, we can't interfere with this, as much as you want to, and as much as I want to. We can only hope that Christian will make the right decision."

"I guess," she said, disappointed that it had come to this.

"How's your brother? Have you talked to him today?" Jericho asked, changing the subject, tired of talking about Christian's love life.

"Yeah, he's doing ok, he's still in the hospital, observation and all that crap, but he'll be fine."

"Good, he looked pretty bad when they wheeled him away last night," Jericho said, picturing Shane's pale face being stretchered away. 

"I know, but it's nobody's fault but his own. He knows better than to jump from things. If he can't learn from the past than it's his fault he's hurt," she said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Remind me to never repeat a stupid mistake around you," he said, pretending to look scared.

"Oh funny wise guy. Why don't you get to the show and talk to Christian, you know push him in the right direction," she encouraged, getting up from her chair and going over to his to pull him up.

"I'm not even dressed yet," he said, looking down at his boxers.

"So?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he said, looking at her.

"Yes, I am, I am trying to get rid of you because I can't stand to look at you anymore. I want you to talk to your friend!" she scolded.

"Ok, geez," he said, going over to his suitcase and grabbing an outfit, "But if I'm getting dressed, than so are you."

"Why? I'm staying in all night," she said, looking down at her attire, which consisted of a black bra and a pair of Jericho's boxers rolled up a little.

"Because knowing you look that sexy and me not being here is going to kill me."

"Oh God," she said, charging over to him and pushing him, "Get your ass dressed."

"Fine, if you won't change, I'll be forced to take action," he said, going over to his suitcase and grabbing a different outfit.

"Ooh, bring it on," she said, going to sit in one of the overstuffed armchairs in the room with a book.

"Oh I will beautiful, trust me."

She shook her head as he went into the bathroom and closed the door. She looked down and began reading her book, even though she knew that she had work that she should probably be doing. A few minutes later, Jericho emerged from the bathroom, and Stephanie almost fell off her chair. He was wearing what she had deemed "The Outfit." It contained the delicious vinyl pants he used to wear that drove her crazy when they were enemies, and then that sexy vinyl jacket. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out for him to stay and just have his way with her all night.

"Oh, you're wearing The Outfit," she said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Uh huh," he nodded, grabbing his gym bag, "I felt like wearing it."

"Oh," she said, barely containing her composure.

He went over to her and kissed her lightly, so lightly she could barely feel his lips on hers. He pulled away and kissed her chin. She watched as he went, gripping the sides of her chair tightly, her knuckles almost turning white. He went to the door, gave a little salute and was off. It was only then Stephanie let out her breath.

Jericho got to the arena and wondered if Christian was already there. He didn't know if he would look at his friend the same again. Everything had changed last night, including his views on his friend. It was very sobering when you found out that your friend had lied to just about everyone.

He saw Austin down the corridor and shook his head. That man just got on his nerves. He didn't know what it was exactly, maybe it was a combination of things, but he bugged him to no end. Jericho decided to avoid a confrontation for now and walked down the other way.

"Chris!"

Jericho recognized the voice and cringed. He didn't want to talk to her right now, he might let something slip and that was the last thing he needed to happen right now. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, in fact he didn't want to know anymore. Maybe if he pretended not to hear her he could just walk away. He continued walking down the hallway, pretending not to hear her call. Suddenly her arm reached out to grab his shoulder.

"Hey there, can you hear me?" she joked. 

Jericho put on his best smile and turned around, "Hey."

"Did you not hear me?" she asked, a little out of breath after having to catch her.

"Were you calling me?" he asked, pretending to be dumb about the whole thing.

"Yeah," she laughed, "I guess you were too into yourself or something."

"That must be it," he shrugged.

"I just wanted to say hey."

"Well hey," he answered quickly, "There, gotta go, see ya."

She grabbed his arm, "Hey, where's the fire Chris? Are you trying to avoid me or something?"

"Of course not," he laughed nervously. She just studied him and gave him a weird look. Jericho tried to remain light and not at all like a weight was firmly on his shoulders and he couldn't unburden himself to her.

"Oh, I know what's the matter," she said, nodding.

"You do?" he gulped and his voice went up really high.

"It's cause I'm friends with Lita isn't it?" she said.

Jericho looked at her confused, "Why would I care about that?"

"Because you don't like her."

"Well, I don't hate her or anything," he said.

"Oh, well, then is something wrong."

"Nope, I just don't know if I'm doing anything tonight."

"You should do something, dressed like that," she said, dusting off some invisible lint from his shoulder, "Because you're hot. But don't worry, I'm not hitting on you, I have a boyfriend."

Jericho gave a sympathetic laugh to that. If only she knew what her boyfriend had done. Then maybe she might have a different opinion on everything. But he just couldn't tell her. It was Christian's job and his alone to work out with her.

"Yeah, I'm well aware," he said, trying to give her a smile, "What are you doing on the show tonight?"

"Repeat of last night. You know, I don't know why Molly had got such a vendetta against me," Trish said, "You know, I thought we were friends once, I mean, not friend friends, like me and Lita or Stephanie, but like you know got along, especially since you dated her for a while. It's like all of a sudden she's different. Or at least she has been for like the past month or so........." Trish trailed off as she saw Jericho staring off into space.

He had an epiphany. It all made sense now. He didn't know if he wanted it to make sense, but it all made a whole lot of sense now. Molly hating Trish, the way she had been acting around him lately, around Christian. Jericho looked at Trish and saw that she was looking at him strangely.

"Sorry Trish, I gotta go do something." 

"Ok," she said, giving him a weird look, "It's been nice talking to you."

Jericho ran off in search of Christian. He had to find out if it were true, he just had to. He passed by a monitor and saw Bischoff getting speared by Goldberg and Austin and him laughing it up. That stopped Jericho in his tracks, finding another thing he wanted to accomplish last night. 

"Chris," Christian said, happening on Jericho as he stood at the monitor.

Jericho turned, "Dude I've been looking all over the place for you." 

"You have?" Christian asked with apprehension.

"Yeah, I need to ask--"

"Dude, I gotta go for my match," Christian said, rushing out to the stage.

Jericho rolled his eyes; he was being avoided. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. He stood by the monitors, intending to wait for Christian's match to finish and then to talk to him. There were things that needed to be discussed. As he stood there a good idea came to him. A good way to get back at Austin and his sudden buddy Goldberg. He smirked to himself as he saw Christian retain. He was about to stay but then decided to talk to Bischoff immediately.

He tracked him down to the trainer's room and went inside, saying how big a travesty it was that he had gotten hurt. Inside though, he was laughing to himself. If Bischoff hadn't expected that spear he was an idiot. He asked for a title shot and since he had been such a good employee last night, he got it. Smiling and satisfied with himself, Jericho left Bischoff to tend to his "wounds." God, Bischoff was such a wuss.

He decided now would be a good time to actually go talk to Christian. He knew Christian had time since his match was over, and since Trish's match hadn't happened yet and he was waiting for her since they had come together. He walked down the hallways, searching for Christian.

"What're you looking for?"

"None of your business," Jericho said, trying to ignore Molly.

"You must be looking for something."

"Nope, just walking around." He suddenly had no urge to talk to her. He thought Molly had been virtuous and a caring person, but turns out he was wrong.

"Whatever," Molly said.

Jericho kept on walking before seeing Christian down the hallway. Jericho ran to catch up with him and as soon as Christian saw him, he started walking away quickly as well. Jericho ran to catch up, but Christian just sped up. It was like a wild goose chase for a while until Jericho and Christian were at full-on runs. Everyone looked at them funny as they passed by. Finally Jericho caught up to him.

"Dude, wait up," Jericho said, grabbing Christian by the shoulder and turning him around, "What the hell is up with you?"

"I just don't feel like talking," Christian said.

"Well, you're gonna talk and that's final."

"Dude, who are you my dad?"

"Dude you know I AM 3 years older than you, so that means I'm more mature and you have to listen to me," Jericho said smugly.

"Look, I don't need a lecture ok?" Christian said irritably.

"I'm not going to lecture you," Jericho said.

"Than what are you here to do? Look, you found out my dirty little secret, so let's just forget about it."

"You know you can't forget about it."

"I'd like to start trying."

"And you're going to start acting all mad and shit when the guilt gets to you," Jericho said, "And then you'll lose Trish."

"I'll lose her anyways. You don't think if I tell her that she'll just say that it's peachy keen and she'll forget about it."

"Dude, do you remember when she kissed Jeff?"

"Yeah, and I broke up with her!" Christian said.

"Yeah, but you got back together because you worked things out. If you tell her that you fooled around with Molly--"

"Wait, how the hell did you know it was Molly!?!" Christian exclaimed, "Oh my God, did she say something to you!?!"

"No."

"Then how did you know?" 

"Well, I was talking to Trish--"

"Trish knows!" he yelled.

"NO!" Jericho said, shaking Christian's shoulders, "Let me finish!"

"Ok," Christian said, trying to calm down.

"She asked why Molly was mad at Trish, why she held a grudge and I put two and two together."

"Oh," Christian said, "Molly, I don't know, I didn't mean to! It just happened."

"You know, if I didn't have my girlfriend, I might be mad that you did stuff with my ex-girlfriend."

"Oh, thanks for making light of a very serious situation." 

"I'm not being mean."

"I think she thinks it was more than it was," Christian sighed, "I think that's why she wants to take Trish out. To get to me."

"Dude, that's rough," Jericho said sympathetically, "But you have to tell Trish."

"I know and it's like, I want to, but I'm scared."

"You shouldn't be."

"I know, but I love--"

Jericho interrupted, "Dude here she comes with Lita, act natural."

Trish and Lita walked by and Jericho and Christian pretended to be checking them out. Well, Jericho pretended, Christian was probably checking Trish out. Trish walked by and looked back at him smiling and blowing him a kiss. Jericho rolled his eyes and said it was "sweet," sickeningly sweet that is.

Just as he was about to discuss the topic at hand, Austin decided to join them. Jericho gave him a dirty look and Austin proceeded to rip on both him and Christian. Seemed that was Austin's new favorite past-time. Well, that was fine, Jericho would make him crack and then he'd laugh at his good fortune. All he needed was time.

Speaking of time, he had a match that he had to get ready for. But he really wanted to talk to Christian. As he watched Austin walk away he turned back to talk to Christian, only to find him gone. Damn, if he couldn't get Christian to listen than that was Christian's fault. If everything blew up in Christian's face, at least Jericho could say that he tried to help.

As he was walking back to his locker room to get ready he had a deliciously evil idea. If he was going to get back at Austin tonight, he might as well kill two birds with one stone and get Bischoff as well. He didn't like Bischoff any more than he liked Austin, but you had to make certain alliances to make it in this business and until he could assert himself as Stephanie's boyfriend, he had to take what he could get. Not that he'd use Stephanie, but well, by default, he'd have a lot more proxy around there.

If he could convince Bischoff to come out and be the ref, he was sure that he would get hurt somehow. And that was all Jericho wanted to see, Bischoff getting hurt. It would make Stephanie happy too, and since he was lacking a birthday present for her and her birthday coming up on Wednesday, he could say this one of her birthday surprises.

He went into Bischoff's locker room and presented him with the idea of being the guest referee. He was unconvinced at first, but with the right amount of charm and logic, he was able to break Bischoff pretty easily. He left the office, pleased with himself, and what he planned to do. If Bischoff was out there, it'd be an easy target for Goldberg. He chuckled to himself as he walked into his locker room.

He went to grab his ring gear and put his tights on, getting ready for his match. He wasn't really all that interested in the title. Ok, he was lying, he would LOVE to win it, but there were other things he wanted more. He wanted to bring Austin down, and maybe in the process of bringing Austin down, he could secretly overtake Bischoff as well. Damn he loved to be crafty.

He warmed up for a while until it was time to go down to the gorilla and go out for his match. He knew that Goldberg was going to be a fierce competitor. He got into the ring, doing his usual routine and waited for Goldberg's long, drawn out entrance. Jericho almost yawned waiting for him. He finally got there and the match started.

Jericho and Goldberg somehow ended up on the outside and Jericho went after Goldberg, but at the last second decided to make it fun and deliberately collided with Bischoff. He made it look like an accident while hiding the smirk from his face. They got back into the ring and fought back and forth with each other, each getting key moves. Jericho tried to get the Walls, but Goldberg got out of it and then gave a body press slam to Jericho. He felt himself getting pinned, but then the count stopped.

He turned to the side and saw Bischoff had pulled the ref out. Goldberg grabbed Bischoff by the hair and so as to not look suspicious, Jericho low-blowed Goldberg. Hey, he did kind of want to win the match after all. Jericho went for the Lionsault and tried to go for the pin but was kicked out of it. He saw Austin come down and spear Bischoff. Heh, there was discourse among the general managers.

And like the puppet master he was, everything was just as he foresaw it. Austin attacked Bischoff to save the integrity of the match. In return, Bischoff got hurt, just like he wanted it. And better than that, Austin had broken the rules. He yelled at Austin, knowing that he knew what had happened. God, it was really easy to play people around here. Unfortunately as a result he lost the match, but he had already gained two small victories and he could deal with this one.

He went backstage after his match and to his dressing room to take his shower and change back into his vinyl outfit. All in all, he had had a good night, it hadn't been great, that would've been if he had won the title, but it was still pretty good for what it was worth. He took his shower and changed and was on the road again.

He entered his hotel room and was instantly mauled as Stephanie came running up to him. He dropped his bag quickly so he could catch her and she leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he held her up by her ass. She started kissing him all over his face as she shut the door with her hand.

"What's going on?" Jericho asked, wondering what he did to deserve all this attention.

"I love you so much."

"Well.........thanks," he said, walking further into the room with her, "Any reason in particular." 

"Well, I know what you did with Bischoff and Austin. I saw right through your little act. You asked Bischoff to do it because you knew he'd get hurt."

"He deserved it, I figured if I'm going to get Austin might as well bring Bischoff down with him."

"I love you for it," she said, kissing him again.

"I talked to Christian," he said as he carried them into the bedroom and set her down on the ground, "He wasn't too happy with what I had to say."

"Well that's too bad because it had to be said," she replied, "Whether he wants to hear it or not."

"I know, I told him that he needs to get it over with, but he's stubborn."

She nodded, thinking, "We'll have to work on that."

"I know who he cheated on Trish with," he said.

He saw her eyes light up by this new piece of information. She begged with her eyes to tell him. He simply pointed to his mouth and she gave him a very deep kiss, almost making him forget his own name, let alone who Christian had almost done it with. She pulled away and put her hands on her hips, demanding her award.

"Molly," Jericho said simply.

She pushed him, "Get out of here!"

"No, that's why Molly has it out for Trish," Jericho said knowingly as Stephanie's jaw dropped.

"I never would've guessed that little virgin had it in her," Stephanie said crossly, mentally adding another reason to hate Molly, "I knew that girl wasn't what she appeared to be."

"You just hate her because she dated me."

"I do not," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"Sure, but yeah, so that's the whole tangled web."

"Man, when did we become the normal couple around here?" she asked.

"That's actually very sad when we have the best relationship out of all our friends," Jericho laughed, "Who would've ever thought us of all people would have the prototype of the perfect relationship?"

"Well, we're not perfect," she reasoned, "We're just good together." 

"Yeah, I guess. Saw what happened to Shane."

"My stupid brother," she muttered, "He should've stayed somewhere more private."

"It's not his fault," Jericho said.

"Yeah, whatever, I'd rather not discuss that right now, there are more important things to worry about."

"Like?"

"Well, it's three-fold," she explained.

"Ok."

"One, this dinner with my father. I'm kind of nervous," she admitted.

"I know, so am I, but if we could fool Christian and Trish, we can fool your father. And we'll have a quick get away plan."

"Ok," she nodded, "Sounds decent."

"Two?"

"Two, what are we doing for my birthday?" she asked excitedly.

"Haven't decided yet," Jericho declared, "I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do."

"Well, we'll think of something won't we?" she giggled.

"Yeah, we're good at that aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"Three?"

"Well, three is really the most important," she said seriously, "There's something that's been weighing on my mind all night and I'm afraid if I keep it under wraps any longer I might burst."

Jericho looked at her oddly, "Ok, you can tell me anything, you know that?"

"Well, I've been thinking all night.........."

Suddenly before Jericho could react, Stephanie tackled him to the bed. Shocked he fell onto it, with him facing up at her. She looked down at him adoringly, gazing down his chiseled chest to his pants and back up again.

"That every time I see you in vinyl it makes me wanna do very bad things to you."

"Yeah, we're just your normal, average couple."


	136. Steph vs Vince, YUCK, September 25, 2003

"You look great."

"So do you baby, that tan really suits you," Jericho told her.

"Yeah, I can't believe you surprised me with that trip," she said, lacing her arms around his waist.

"Well, we deserved a break don't you think? It's hard work being the normal ones around here."

"I know."

"So do you have your wig and everything," he asked, looking around the room.

"Yeah, I do," she said, gesturing towards her bag, "Got an entire outfit picked out too. Luckily I can look like a skank."

"Except you're not one."

"Well thanks, you're too kind," she laughed.

For Stephanie's birthday the day before, Jericho had whisked the two of them off to Hawaii on Tuesday morning to spend a couple days alone, just the two of them. She loved his spontaneity, especially because it was a trait that she was lacking. So they had spent her birthday just lounging on the beautiful beaches. It was great that their jobs afforded them with days off where they could just go anywhere their hearts desired.

But now it was back to reality and they had a lot they had to do for tonight. Stephanie had to go to the show, and she was actually excited and in a good mood for once. And that was because she knew that Jericho was going to be there. He had been invited to go backstage for the show as Vince's special guest. As long as he didn't show up on television he'd be ok.

Jericho was just finishing up tying his hair when there was a knock at the door. He looked over at Stephanie and she shrugged not knowing who it could be. Jericho went over to the door and looked through the keyhole to see Vince.

He raced back into the bedroom where Stephanie was still getting ready. He grabbed her by the arm and shoved her into the adjoining room, for show purposes only. She looked at him in confusion as he hissed her father's name. She quickly closed the door to the rooms and he went to answer the door.

"Vince!" Jericho said jovially.

"Chris, I thought that you could accompany Sable and I to the arena, by limousine of course."

"Sure, whatever, let me just go get my glasses," he said, walking back into his room.

"Is your wife in?"

"Nah," Jericho covered, "She went shopping, said she needed the perfect outfit for tonight or something."

"Wives," Vince said shaking his head.

Jericho rolled his eyes. What would Vince know about wives? It wasn't like he was ever with his. Which boggled his mind, Linda was such a nice person. He didn't know why Vince was always having some mid-life crisis and having to go pick up on much younger chicks.

"Yeah," Jericho said, "But I'm still a newlywed so I don't have that much experience."

"You'll get used to it," Vince chuckled.

Jericho picked up his glasses and slipped them on. He hadn't felt like putting in his contacts tonight and Stephanie told him he looked more dignified this way. Might as well play tonight's part to the tee. He closed the bedroom door momentarily and went over to the adjoining room opening the door.

"Bye baby," he whispered, kissing the crown of her head as she applied her makeup.

"I thought that we were leaving at the same time," she said, looking at him through the mirror.

"Your dad and Sable are in the next room, apparently I'm getting a limo escort."

She shook her head, "Good luck."

"I'll survive," he laughed, "I'll see you at the show then."

"You will," she said, smiling at him.

Jericho kissed her head again and then went back into the other room, discreetly closing the door behind him. He exited the bedroom to find Vince and Sable making googly eyes at each other. He cleared his throat and they got up, looking at each other guiltily. Jericho cringed inwardly, hoping this didn't continue in the limo.

Stephanie finished up her makeup and walked out of the room, her things in hand. Tonight was going to be interesting, especially with Jericho backstage. She went to the elevator and stepped in, waiting to go downstairs. As she was going down, the doors opened and Kurt stepped into the elevator. He saw her and his eyes lit up. She threw her arms around him in a hug.

"Where have you been missy?" he asked as they pulled apart.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I left like five birthday messages for you yesterday, and not once did I get a call back," he said, pouting.

"Oh Kurt, you're so sweet!" she exclaimed, hugging him again.

"Not just me, Christian and Trish called, and so did Edge and I'm sure your brother and mom called, but nobody could figure out where you were."

"Chris and I took a surprise trip to Hawaii, that was his birthday present."

"Well, that explains that. It's good you two got to get away for a little while."

"Yeah, we needed it," she said, as she leaned against the back of the elevator, "So how are you and Dawn Marie?"

"We're fine."

"And do you like her," she teased, poking him in the ribs.

He pushed her hands away, "She's nice."

"That's it! She's nice!?!"

"I don't know, she's a nice person, much nicer than I thought she'd be, but you know, I don't know," he said as they walked out of the elevator.

"Well, try at least."

"I know you just want me to get over Gail," Kurt said, walking Stephanie to her car.

"I know you know, but Kurt, I just want what's best for you. And know for a fact that Dawn likes you, and I think that you could grow to like her."

"We'll see Stephanie," he said, opening her car door for her.

"Fine," she complied, getting in her car.

She waved to Kurt before pulling out of the spot. She drove to the arena, preparing for tonight. She knew that her father probably wouldn't recognize her. He didn't even care about her, there would be no way that he'd care enough to actually look at her and memorize her features. He'd much rather spend his time staring at Sable's features. She arrived at the arena, and grabbed her things for later. She walked into the arena, a smile on her face. She knew Jericho was here, and that fact alone made her night infinitely better.

She walked down to her office and dumped her things on the ground, she wondered where Jericho was right now. She hoped that he wasn't going crazy with her father and Sable. She also hoped that Sable didn't do anything like hit on him or anything, not that Jericho would do that, but just thinking about that skank's hands on her man made her shudder in disgust.

"So this is where you'll be for the evening," Vince said as he opened the door to the VIP box.

"Sweet," Jericho said looking around at the spacious, lavishly decorated room. These were some nice accommodations. And this way if a certain brunette was going to come to visit him, they would be in virtual privacy. Unless Vince and Sable planned to stay with him all night, which he was hoping would not be the case. The limo ride over had been enough for one lifetime.

"Will you and Sable be joining me?" Jericho asked, hoping they would say no.

"No, we've got..........things to discuss."

Yeah, things, that was the biggest lie he'd ever heard. If they were discussing anything it would a place where they could have sex. Jericho rolled his eyes and went to sit on the couch that overlooked the rest of the arena. Vince told him to order up whatever he so desired and to put it on his tab. After telling him that, he left with Sable hanging onto him as usual.

Stephanie grabbed her cell phone and dialed Jericho's cell phone number, wanting to know his whereabouts for the evening. She waited for him to pick up. Jericho heard his phone vibrating in his pocket and grabbed it, seeing it was Stephanie.

"Where are you?" he answered.

"Where are YOU?" she countered.

"I'm in the VIP box," he answered.

"Ooh, did your sugar Daddy get you the nice digs," she said mockingly.

"Hey, I'll take what I can get, when I can get it."

She laughed, "What do you want?"

"You, but isn't that always the answer," he said huskily.

Stephanie laughed and blushed. She looked up to see the Undertaker standing in front of her desk. She gasped a little not expecting anyone, and how had he managed to sneak in here so quietly. As she looked up at him, she realized that maybe she just didn't want to know.

"I'll get back to you later ok?" she said professionally.

"Ok," he said, "Love you."

"Me too, bye," she said, hanging up then looking up at the smirking man.

"Boyfriend?" Taker asked.

"I guess you could say that if you wanted to," she said, looking down as she felt her cheeks getting redder by the second.

He laughed, a rumbling laugh that frightened her a bit, "Well, I came here to talk to you about something."

"What can I do for you?" she said, going into General Manager mode.

"Brock has something I want."

"The belt," she answered knowingly.

"You got it."

"I can do that for you," she said, "As long as you are willing to put up one hell of a fight."

"Stephanie, how long have you known me?" he said smirking.

"God, since I was like twelve years old," she said laughing.

"And have I ever not put up a fight?"

"Can't say that you haven't. So you'll get your title shot at No Mercy."

"And your father, he'll think what about this?"

"Screw him," she said, "I'm the General Manager of this show and if I want to make a title match, I'll do as I damn well please."

"You got moxie Stephanie," Taker said, smiling at her before leaving as quietly as he entered.

She knew her father was not going to like this little arrangement, but she could care less what her father thought. She was in charge around here and if he didn't like that well too fucking bad. She noticed she had quite the bad ass attitude tonight. Maybe it was because Jericho was in the building and he offered her such strength. Or maybe her true bitchiness was coming out again. She missed being the bitch, but part of her was still that person she was a long time ago. It's just this time the fans enjoyed it.

Stephanie propped her feet up on her desk before turning on the television to catch the show. She saw her father and Kurt arguing over something. She couldn't help but hope that Kurt would knock her father out. Pretty soon, Cena came out and practically attacked Kurt. As nice as Cena had been to her, she knew there was no love-lost between the two of them. She saw Kurt chase him backstage and pretty soon she could hear shouting from down the hallway. She wanted to go out there and stop them, but knew it was pretty futile to try to stop two men, bigger than her, who wanted to fight, so she simply watched everything unfold on the television in front of her.

She saw Kurt take her father's limo and she had to laugh at that. Jericho had been in that not too long ago and now Kurt was running off in it. How fitting. Now her father was stranded. Well, until he called for another limo, but she just enjoyed the moment and laughed her head off.

"What's so funny?" Sable said opening the door.

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie said, taking her feet off her desk and glaring at Sable.

"Your father wants you out of here, he and I have........important business to discuss," Sable said rubbing it in.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's important, when my father wants his whore, he can't be kept waiting."

"Oh, you're such a laugh riot Stephanie, don't ever lose that sense of humor, even when you lose your job."

"Whatever Sable, you know you're just a passing fancy. My father will dump you like he's dumped every younger woman he's been with."

"We'll see."

"Oh, I'm sure we will," she said, grabbing her bag and things and getting the hell out of there.

She couldn't even stand to be around that woman. She didn't know how she was going to survive later. She might just suddenly reach across the table and strangle Sable for being such a gigantic whore. She walked calmly to another dressing room and dumped her things off before going off to search for Jericho.

She went up the level where the private boxes were and saw that someone was taking a glass of champagne to one of the rooms. She wondered if it was going to Jericho's room. Stephanie went up to the employee and asked who had ordered the beverage. Seeing that this was Stephanie McMahon, the woman immediately confirmed that it was Chris Jericho who had ordered it. She smiled and gave the woman a tip before taking the champagne glass and getting directed to Jericho's private box.

She opened the door quietly and saw Jericho had his back to her and was watching a match down below. She closed the door silently and walked up slowly behind him, careful not to make any noise. As she got to the back of his chair, she kneeled behind it and leaned up really close to his ear so he could feel her breath on his neck. She brought the wine glass in front of his face.

"Somebody order a champagne," she whispered seductively.

"Someone did," he responded in a low voice.

"Mind sharing?" she asked.

"Only if you pour it all over me and lick it up," he joked.

She giggled and came around to sit on his lap, "How's the show?"

"Looking good. Aren't you afraid that your dad or Sable or someone can come in here at any given moment?"

"Nah, my dad is off with Sable," she said, rolling her eyes and then taking a sip of the champagne.

"Oh, so they'll be gone til the end of the show."

"End of the show?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, they showed something on-screen, they're giving Brock his ceremony."

"Well, I hope he doesn't get too comfortable with that belt, since he might be losing it in less than a month."

"And why is that exactly?" he said, drinking some of the champagne himself.

"Because I gave Undertaker a title shot."

"Ooh, good one baby," he said, leaning up to kiss her.

"Mmm, I wanna watch the show from up here."

"Mmm," he sighed against her lips, "So do I."

She laughed and laid her head on his head as they watched the show unfold before them. It felt weird to actually be here at a show, with the two of them, as themselves together. It was a new and different feeling for the two of them. Luckily nobody could see them without the use of some binoculars or something.

After most of the show had finished, Stephanie looked at her boyfriend, "I better go back down."

"Why?" he whined, "You're keeping me warm."

"Because I have to go back down to my locker room and get ready."

"Oh, ok," he said, kissing her softly, "You go do that."

"I was planning on it," she laughed.

He pushed her off his lap and had she not been steady on her feet she would've landed on her ass on the ground. She shoved him and walked out of the box. She went down to her office to check on things when she caught the show on the monitor. She saw her father and Sable out in the ring with Brock and the Undertaker had just arrived. Intrigued by what was going on, she stood there and watched.

She smiled as Taker told them that he would have a title shot and then heard her father ask who had made the match. Stephanie saw an opening and walked quickly down to the gorilla, telling production to cue up her music. She walked out, a little out of breath because she had had to practically run to get out here.

She climbed in the ring, declining Taker's offer of holding her the ropes. As much as she appreciated it, she was her own woman and could conquer getting into the ring by herself. She went up to her father and told him that she had made the match. He was livid, it was plainly written across his now red face.

He started spouting off on her and she stood there, taking it all. She was tired of running away in tears from her father and she wasn't going to be part of the pity party any longer. She stood there as her father told her to change her mind, to quit. Didn't he get that she was a McMahon, his fucking flesh and blood and the first thing you learned as a McMahon was that quitting was NOT an option.

She told her father she wasn't overturning her decision. He was furious and his backlash came in the form of a match. A match against her father! She looked at him like he was insane, he had to be. An "I Quit" match against her father, she didn't stand a chance! But again, she didn't back down.

She quickly got out of the ring as chaos erupted and she stood outside looking at the damage being done. She tried to process what her father had said. She couldn't lose. She loved her job too much. She walked backstage in a daze, thinking about her future, or lack thereof, with the company. It was a scary thought having to go away again. What if what happened last time happened this time?

Jericho scowled as he went down to the backstage area. Putting Stephanie in a match, he hated the idea. HATED it! But he couldn't stop it, it wasn't in his place to stop it. He was going to go visit Stephanie when he was intercepted by Vince.

"So what'd you think of the show?"

"Do you think it's a good idea to put Stephanie in a match?" he asked, trying to get Vince to rationalize his decision.

"Of course, if it gets her out."

Jericho was very close to doing something rash and he knew it. Sometimes, ok, all the time, it was hard to step back and let Stephanie go through these things alone. He just wanted to be able to protect her sometimes. Something he hadn't been able to do in forever, not since WrestleMania X-8.

Jericho told Vince that he had to go pick up his wife and Vince said that they could have another limo that had been waiting and it would take him back to the hotel to pick up his wife. Jericho smiled gratefully, knowing that he would exactly need it. He just explained to Vince that he had called a taxi and they were picking him up and would take him back to the hotel. Little did he know that he was just going to meet Stephanie in the parking lot and then drive to the restaurant. Ignorant fool, Jericho thought.

He walked down the hallway and slipped quietly into an empty locker room. Except it wasn't so empty as he saw Stephanie straightening her wig. He walked over and gave her the once over. She really had done a number on herself. Her blond wig looked so real, had he not known it was fake, he would've thought she'd dyed her hair. And she had gotten contacts to make her normal blue eyes a glittering green, even though it was going to be hidden behind sunglasses. Her makeup was more ostentatious as well.

But the outfit, Jericho was looking appreciatively at the outfit. She was wearing a deep blue one shouldered top that clung to her every curve, and a pair of leather pants that made his mouth water at the sight of her. It really didn't look like her at all. She looked very rock star-ish, and he always liked that.

"You look fabulous."

"Thanks doll," she said in her Burke voice.

"You ready?"

"Do I look ready?" she said, turning to him in her full garb.

"Definitely. But before we go, about this match with your father.........." His voice trailed off as he tried to figure out what to say.

She looked down and sighed, "What about it?"

"Steph, I don't think you should do it, what if you lose?"

"Then I guess I can be like a stay at home girlfriend," she laughed bitterly.

He kissed her cheek, "Well, if that happens, you're welcome to be my stay at home girlfriend."

"I was counting on that. I don't want to think about it right now, can we just get this dinner over with?"

"Let's go."

They linked arms and he escorted her out of the building quickly. They reached the rental car and climbed in. As Jericho drove to the restaurant a wave of nervousness came over him. What if they couldn't pull this off? This entire night could end in disaster, or worse his death.

"You know the escape plan right?" Jericho asked.

"Yes sweetie, I call Kurt and he calls your cell phone saying there's an emergency and we have to go," she answered.

"Ok," he nodded, "And you have your wedding ring?"

"Yeah, the one you bought for me," she said, holding her left hand up.

"Ok," he said as he drove into the restaurant parking lot, "We're here."

"Let's do this."

Jericho took Stephanie's hand in his as they walked into the restaurant. They asked the hostess where the McMahon table was and they were led there. Stephanie gave a lingering look to Jericho, never feeling more nervous in his life. He leaned over and kissed her cheek in reassurance.

"Chris, there you are!" Vince's voice boomed as he saw them, "And this must be your wife."

"Yeah, this is Burke," Jericho said, smiling at her as Vince came over.

"Burke, what a lovely name," Vince said, shaking her hand.

"That's what they tell me," Stephanie said, going into Burke mode, "You must be the great Vince McMahon."

"The one and only."

"Nice," she said, disinterestedly, "So where's the food?"

"Come, let's sit down," Vince said, leading them over to the table where Sable was sitting, "Oh, this is Sable, Sable, this is Burke."

"Nice to meet you," Sable said, and Stephanie could tell she was being completely disingenuous.

Jericho pulled out Stephanie's chair for her and she sat down. Jericho then sat down himself and he couldn't believe where he was sitting. He looked over at Stephanie, who was looking at the menu and then at Vince. Well, maybe this was as close to having dinner with him, Stephanie and Vince at the same time.

The waiter came shortly and took their orders and Jericho was surprised by how much Stephanie ordered. She looked at him, and he laughed. He knew that she was just ordering all that to gouge her father. He grabbed her hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.

"Burke, why don't you take your sunglasses off?" Vince said as they were chit-chatting.

"I don't," she said simply.

"Oh," he said, "That's a unique thing."

"Well, that's me.........unique."

"How'd you two meet?" Sable said.

"Well, I met my honeybunch at a concert," Stephanie cooed, leaning against Jericho, "And it was like love at first sight. Not to mention twenty minutes after he met me he had his tongue shoved down my throat."

Jericho laughed out loud and looked at her as she just smiled and chewed loudly on her gum. Vince and Sable were looking at them like they were crazy. Jericho felt Stephanie kiss him very deeply and he returned the kiss, showing her off to her father. When he pulled away he realized he had Stephanie's gum, and he chomped on it noisily to make sure Vince saw he now had it.

"How..........romantic," Vince said, trying to keep things light.

"We like to think so don't we honeybunch?" Stephanie said.

"Yeah, it was all very cool," he nodded.

"And how long have you been together?"

"Forever it seems," Jericho said, looking at her as she stuck her tongue out, "But in reality, it's only been a little more than a year, but I could not go any longer without having her by my side."

"Isn't he just the cutest thing," Stephanie giggled, "He's the best husband in the entire world!"

"So Burke, do you work or anything?" Vince asked.

"Maybe not for long," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Oh, it's no big deal," she said, taking a long sip of her martini.

"Oh, we'd love to hear about it," Sable said with false enthusiasm.

Geez, even with someone she didn't know, Sable acted like a bitch. Stephanie threw her blonde hair back and caught Sable giving her a sneer. Seemed she didn't like to be upstaged. Well Stephanie would just have to lay it on thicker. She scooted closer to Jericho in the booth and wrapped both her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"My boss is just a huge, conniving bastard who wants me out," Stephanie said, looking directly at her father.

"Now who would want a beautiful woman out of their employment?"

"A huge idiot who thinks he's the shit, but he isn't," Stephanie said as Jericho sputtered on the water he had just drank.

"You should come work for us," Vince said happily.

Stephanie looked at Jericho and his eyes told her to abort mission, to switch subjects. Stephanie just smiled smoothly and intertwined her fingers with Jericho's. She looked at her father and shook her head coyly.

"I don't think that's the best idea. It'd be no fun at all if I worked with my Chrissy-baby," Stephanie said, giggling.

"Why not?"

"Because it'd ruin the relationship if I saw him all the time. If we spend a little time apart and then he comes back home, we always have fun," she said, nibbling on Jericho's ear.

Jericho could tell Vince was getting a bit uncomfortable by all the contact that was going on between Jericho and his "wife." Served the bastard right to be uncomfortable, seeing as how he made everyone else uncomfortable all the time with his antics. Stephanie was now rubbing his chest.

"Well, you two seem like the perfect couple," Vince said.

"That's cause we are, aren't we Chrissy?" Stephanie said, kissing his neck.

"You remind me of someone," Vince said, looking at her.

"I remind a lot of people of someone they know," she said cryptically.

"You just seem so familiar."

"Well, maybe we've passed on the street or something," she floundered.

Jericho could sense her anxiety. If Vince kept thinking like this, he was bound to find out about who Burke really was. He coughed loudly, causing everyone at the table to turn their attention to him. He quickly decided that he needed to change the subject.

"So Vince, why exactly did you want to have dinner with us?" Jericho asked as Stephanie continued her assault on his neck.

"You were friends with my daughter at one point weren't you?"

Stephanie stopped with her kissing and looked up, suddenly interested in the conversation. She could see her father's arm link through Sable's and Sable pulled Vince's hand into her lap and started caressing one of her breasts with the back of his hand. Stephanie grabbed Jericho's hand and squeezed it hard as she saw what her father was doing. Jericho bit his lip at her grip as he tried to speak to Vince.

"Yeah, I was, I guess," Jericho said nonchalantly.

"I don't like her," Vince said simply.

Jericho looked quickly over to Stephanie as she tried to keep her composure. He could tell it was hard for her. He pulled her closer with an arm and though he knew it wasn't real, he ran his hands through her hair, trying to comfort her.

"Why?" Stephanie asked, "She's your daughter, aren't you supposed to like, love her or something."

"You don't know my daughter," Vince said, "She's always trying to undermine my power."

"Maybe she's trying to do what's best," Stephanie argued.

"I don't think so," Vince said, than turned back to Jericho, "Now tell me what you know about her."

"What's in it for me?" Jericho asked.

"I'll make sure you're taken care of."

"I cared about Stephanie once upon a time. In fact, I think that I still care for her, on some level. She stuck by me even when I lost the titles," he said, smiling wistfully.

Stephanie looked down a little and smiled to herself. She licked her lips and smiled at Jericho. She ran her hands along his neck and kissed him soundly on the mouth. He kissed her back and he could tell that she was happy with what she head said to her father.

"I want to bring her down, as you figured out by tonight," Vince said, "I want you to be my in."

"You want me to what?" Jericho asked.

"I asked your wife here because I want her approval for what I want to do," Vince said.

"What do you want him to do Mr. McMahon?" Stephanie asked.

"Call me Vince," he said kindly.

"Fine..........Vince, what in the hell do you want my husband to do and why in fuck's name do you need my approval?"

"Your wife sure does cut to the chase," Sable interjected.

"If that's wrong, then I don't wanna be right," Stephanie said, looking at Sable, "Don't you think you're a little too young for him."

"Excuse me?" Sable said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're going on 64 now aren't you?" Stephanie said sweetly.

"Excuse me," Sable said disgusted, "I'm only 36."

"Oh, wow, you didn't age well," Stephanie told her.

Jericho burst out laughing before pulling Stephanie to him, "I'm sorry, she's a spitfire."

Vince chuckled, "It's ok, we understand."

"We do?" Sable said testily.

"Yes, we do," Vince said firmly.

"So Vince, what do you have planned for the little Princess?"

"With your permission Burke, I want Chris to seduce Stephanie."

Stephanie and Jericho's jaws both dropped simultaneously. They both thought they were hearing wrong. Had Vince just asked him, Chris Jericho to seduce Stephanie, as in Stephanie McMahon? It almost seemed too good to be true. I mean, that would mean he could be with Stephanie out in the open, for everyone to see. But also for no one to see. This was all so complicated.

"For what purpose?"

"To get her secrets, to wear her down. If I know what's going on in her head, then I can manipulate her to my advantage."

"What makes you think I would do that?"

"Chris, you've proven over and over what kind of man you are. You have a chance to show how loyal you are. It would only be until No Mercy, by that time, I'll know so much that she'll be begging to be fired."

"Don't you think you're presuming too much?" Stephanie said, "What if she doesn't like him?"

"My daughter, not liking someone. She'll jump on the first man who shows her a little kindness."

"I think she's smarter than that. She has been through a lot," Jericho replied, trying to calm down Stephanie by rubbing her back.

"But you and her have history, and while you didn't part on the best terms, I think that she'll be receptive to you. We'll of course keep things hush-hush, so nobody else gets hurt in this situation."

"But what if she knows Chrissy is married?" Stephanie asked.

"She wouldn't hesitate to have an affair," Vince said quickly.

Stephanie couldn't believe that this was how her father perceived her. He really did think she was a slut, and all those other horrible things. Well, if that wasn't a slap in the face, she didn't know what was. She looked over at Jericho, having a silent conversation with their eyes. They knew if they did this then they'd be able to have some semblance of a relationship, and a chance for them to play around with her father. Jericho smiled at Vince.

"I'm in."


	137. Can Chris Get a Good Feud, September 29,...

"So you know what to do right?"

"Yes, I just pretend to act like your girlfriend," she said, brushing out her hair.

"Yeah.........wait, that sounds weird, you have to PRETEND to be my girlfriend, you ARE my girlfriend."

She laughed, "So I'm your girlfriend who's pretending to be your wife and who is pretending to be your girlfriend, even though I really am your girlfriend."

"Yeah," he said, then looked at her, "This makes no sense at all."

She stood up and kissed him, "That's not the point, the point is for the next month, I get to go with you everywhere, because you are supposed to be seducing me."

"I like this plan already," he said, kissing her back.

At the behest of Vince, Jericho had "called" Stephanie this weekend and had already set up a "date" for them this Monday. Vince was going to keep tabs on them, and so he had told Jericho to make it as realistic as possible. Jericho was all for that, he could make being with Stephanie as realistic as he wanted it to be. After all, it wasn't like he was going to do anything different than he already did.

They both found this whole thing extremely funny. They had to pretend to be together, even though they were together. It was a strange situation to say the least. She was a little afraid of what everyone's response would be when they saw the two of them together tonight. She especially wondered what Hunter would think of it. She smirked at the thought.

"What's the smirk for?" he asked.

"Just hoping that Hunter can see us together."

"Ooh, revenge, I like," he said, smirking himself.

"I've been waiting for this."

"Well, are you ready then, so we can get this show on the road?" he asked, eyeing her.

"I guess so. What if someone brings up that you're "married?" she asked as they left their hotel room.

"Well, I'll just say that I got a quickie divorce or something," he shrugged, "Nobody has to know that I'm trying to play you."

"Ok, cause I wouldn't want to do something that could upset Burke, that dear, sweet girl," she said, acting innocent.

"You mean that bitch I'm married to," he said, chuckling as he saw the dirty look on her face.

They got to their rental car and got in before heading on down to the arena. Stephanie looked out her window, wondering what tonight would bring. They had never really gotten to do this before, being together in front of their colleagues. She figured there would be lots of snickering tonight in their direction. That and a lot of whispered words behind their backs.

She was broken from her daydream as Jericho parked their car at the arena. He got out and rushed over to her side and opened the door for her. She smiled gratefully at him before he grabbed his bag from the backseat. He extended his hand to her as they walked to the arena, both taking a deep breath before they walked inside.

The feeling was already different, they could tell. There was something in the air that night that they could both feel. Stephanie was brought back to when her and Jericho had been business partners and he had said that wherever they went there was a buzz. She was definitely feel the buzz now.

They walked down the hallway and all she could hear were gasps. She tried to keep her focus forward and felt Jericho squeeze her hand in support. He knew that this was going to shock a lot of people. But technically, he was only doing a job that he was assigned to. They were walking down the hallway and saw Maven and Lita talking to each other, both stopping their chatter as they saw Jericho and Stephanie holding hands.

"What're you staring at?" Jericho asked point blank, pulling Stephanie closer to him.

"Well, for one, the strangest thing my eyes have ever beheld," Lita said, looking at the two of them like they were crazy.

"But you know Jeff, so I'm sure this isn't too far a stretch into the abnormal," Jericho said.

"Touché," she answered, "But I never thought I'd see the day........."

"I don't think any of us did," Maven added.

"Well, then that's your problem," Jericho said, kissing Stephanie's cheek before they continued walking down the hallway.

"You're crazy," Stephanie whispered when they were out of earshot.

"Hey, I'm not going to stand for people staring at us like we're part of some freak show or something," he told her.

She smiled at him as they got to his dressing room. He set his things down before suddenly picking her up and spinning her around. It felt good to have her here, to let her get to see him in action, just as herself, not in disguise, not as an simple bystander, but as his girlfriend. He kissed her as he set her down.

"Mmm, what was that for?" he asked.

"I'm just happy you're here."

"Me too. I just, I don't know, feel like a normal person again," she laughed.

"So what the hell was I dating for a year?" he joked.

"Oh, I don't know, you tell me."

"I have to go find out what I'm doing on the show tonight."

"Ooh, lemme come," she said.

"Of course you can come."

She grinned widely at him and took his hand again. They walked out of the locker room and Stephanie playfully pulled Jericho's sunglasses down from his forehead so he was wearing them. He looked over at her and made a funny face, loving to see her giggle in happiness.

"Chris Jericho," a voice interrupted their teasing.

They both looked up and saw Eric Bischoff with his jaw down to the floor and his eyes wide. Stephanie smiled demurely and snuggled up closer to Jericho, causing Bischoff to almost flip out. Jericho wrapped his arm around Stephanie and smiled at Bischoff.

"Hello Eric," Stephanie said.

"What the hell is going on here?" Bischoff half asked, half demanded.

"I brought Stephanie, you know, my date," Jericho said, smiling smugly.

"I was under the impression you were married."

"Quick divorce," Jericho shrugged, "Got me a much better woman, don't you think?"

"Well, considering I did kiss her," Bischoff leered, "And she didn't pull away."

Jericho took a step forward, he was ready to unleash a barrage of insults on Eric Bischoff. God knew he had waited long enough, "Excuse me, did you dare to insult my girlfriend?"

"Just telling the truth."

"Listen here Bischoff," Jericho said angrily, "You need me on your side. You need me because you can't take care of your sorry ass by yourself. So I suggest that you start treating the woman with respect or else not only do you lose me as your friend, you'll lose a couple thousand brain cells when I bash your brains in."

Bischoff stood back, a bit intimidated by the blonde, "Ok, got it Chris."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jericho said, going back over to Stephanie.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm coming out with you for your Highlight Reel," Bischoff said, acting timid suddenly. Stephanie blushed and looked down, Jericho's words had been so sweet.

"Ok, who's my guest?"

"J.R."

Jericho scoffed, "Ok, that's fine, got anything else on tap?"

"No."

"Good," Jericho said, "Wouldn't want to spend a lot of time away from my girl."

"Of course not, I'll see you later," Bischoff said, then quickly running away.

"That was great," Stephanie exclaimed looking up at him.

"Oh, he only got a little dose of what I really wanted to say to him, he's lucky I didn't start kicking his ass on a whim," he said.

"Well, even that little bit was great," she said, looking up at him adoringly.

He leaned down and kissed her deeply, a giddy rush filling him as he realized he was kissing Stephanie, at Raw, in the middle of the hallway. It was a total and complete adrenaline rush. He pulled her tightly against him as they kissed with reckless abandon. She reached up and ran her hands though the hair that wasn't in the ponytail at the back of his head.

"Holy shit!"

Jericho and Stephanie broke apart and turned their heads to see Christian and Trish, both looking like they were going to have heart attacks right there. Jericho and Stephanie grinned at each other before looking back at Christian and Trish. Trish had her arm gripping Christian's in downright shock.

"Hey guys," Stephanie said, wiping her mouth a little.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Christian hissed.

"Kissing," Jericho said as if he were just shooting the breeze.

"You two are KISSING in front of people," Trish exclaimed.

"We know," Stephanie said.

"Are you fucking crazy!?!" Christian said.

"Let us explain somewhere else," Stephanie said.

Christian and Trish just nodded as Jericho and Stephanie led them back to Jericho's room. They all went inside and Jericho and Stephanie stood there, waiting for Christian and Trish to sit down.

"You know that dinner we had with Vince?" Jericho said.

"Uh huh," Trish nodded.

"Well, Daddy made Chris an interesting offer," Stephanie replied, "He said that he wanted Chris to seduce me, so that he could get all the dirt he could get for our match at No Mercy."

"So Chris is supposed to be seducing you?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, pretty much, just spend all my time with her," he said, smiling over at Stephanie.

"Oh my God, so I get to hang out with you at Raws!" Trish said, standing up and hugging Stephanie.

"Well, we were kind of happy because we get to be a normal couple for a while," Jericho said, "But that's another good reason."

"I'm sorry," Trish laughed, "It's just I never get to see her!"

"You see her all the time on weekends," Christian interjected.

"That's not enough time to talk about you boys," she said, sending a look to Christian, "Come on Steph, we have to talk!"

Stephanie just shrugged and let Trish drag her out of the room, presumably to go chat or have girl-talk. Jericho smiled to himself at their enthusiasm and then looked over at his friend and saw the smile that had just occupied his face disappear. Jericho sighed and sat down on the couch next to him.

"How're you holding up?" Jericho asked.

"I know I have to tell her, but it's just so damn hard, you know."

"No, I don't, but I can imagine what it's like," Jericho said quietly, "You should tell her soon though. You don't want Molly to blab her mouth to her."

"God, I hope not. That's what I'm so afraid of, you know, that Molly will just blurt it out one night. I mean, she's already shown how weird she can be about things."

"So is this why she has the grudge against Trish. I mean, I know that she says Trish gets all the attention. Maybe it's all the attention from you that she wants."

"I don't know, I'm afraid to talk to her."

"Five minutes Mr. Jericho," a production person called from behind the closed door.

"Thanks," Jericho called out then turned back to Christian, "Dude, I think you need to figure all this out soon. If you don't, you're definitely going to lose Trish. But maybe if you come clean she won't completely kill you."

"She IS going to kill me isn't she?"

"Probably," Jericho said bluntly, knowing that mincing words and saying lies was not going to help his friend right now.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"I have to go out there, but I'll talk to you later about all of this, and don't hesitate to talk to me," Jericho said, slapping Christian's back as he stood up.

He left Christian behind as he went out to the gorilla. Bischoff was standing there and Jericho could sense that he was still a little tense from the confrontation earlier. He laughed inwardly. How funny was Bischoff being all scared of him? He went and stood next to Bischoff.

"You know, I'm not really with Stephanie," Jericho told him. Might as well let him in on the "secret."

"What?" Bischoff asked, looking at him.

"It's a favor for Vince, to get inside Stephanie's head," Jericho said.

"Well, that explains so much," Bischoff said, laughing in that mean, little way of his, "I knew you wouldn't be slumming with Stephanie McMahon."

Jericho fake laughed, "Yeah, I just had to keep up appearances."

"This is great," Bischoff said, as Jericho's music hit.

Jericho walked out there with Bischoff, ready to do the Highlight Reel. He hoped Stephanie was watching from backstage. He got in the ring and started talking about Austin and how he had been suspended. Served the bastard right to be suspended. He had hit someone while provoked and broken the rules. Jericho laughed at this, knowing that Austin and Bischoff for that matter, had been mere puppets in his plan.

Jericho then brought out his actual guest for the show, J.R. He yawned as he walked down to the ring. Why couldn't he have someone interesting on the show tonight? Whenever he had boring guests on, he'd end up spacing out and daydreaming. And he knew this time would be no exception.

When J.R. finally got down to the ring, Bischoff started in on the former announcer. Jericho stood back and watched disinterestedly. He wondered what Christian was going to do about the Trish thing? It hadn't been too long ago that Trish had been kissing Jeff, so she should at least be a trifle lenient with him, but then again, he knew that what Christian had done went a little farther than just a mere kiss.

Jericho saw an opening for him to cut in and made fun of J.R.'s burns on his back. He wasn't a cruel person by any means, but that scene had been hilarious. God, he was definitely going to hell for that one. Jericho went out to say that while Bischoff couldn't hit the employees, he sure as hell could and proceeded to put J.R. in the Walls. It was more as a defiant act towards Austin than anything else. As soon as Jericho heard that glass shatter he was high-tailing it out of the ring.

He and Bischoff managed to get to the outside as Austin started chucking chairs and Jericho got angry, did he not realize how expensive those chairs were? Jericho yelled at Austin from the outside as Bischoff got security to come down and take Austin away. But as soon as they touched him, Jericho knew that it was over and just screamed at Austin the entire time, still angry about him ruining his set. What gave him the damn right?

He finally went backstage, having enough of this entire thing. Stephanie was waiting right there and he went over to her, hugging her. She hugged him back and Jericho saw Bischoff smirking behind her, and giving Jericho a thumbs up before walking away. He pulled away from Stephanie.

"You were great out there," she told him.

"No I wasn't," he told her, "I was just doing a job. I don't even mind J.R. but if it means I can get under Austin's skin, then so be it."

"You know, if you get too unruly, they're going to fire you."

"Like I don't have a back-up place to go," he said, as he led them back to his locker room, "I'm not worried."

"Of course you aren't, you're like the son my father always wanted," she scoffed, "God forbid he actually be grateful for what he has."

"You know I'm not like that, I just play a part," he said.

"I know, but he still makes me mad, just like Austin makes you mad, it's inexplicable really, you just know it to be true."

"Yeah, that's how I feel I guess," he said somberly, not really knowing why Austin bugged him so much, but then wanting to change the subject, he said, "So what did you talk to Trish about?"

"Oh, just Molly," Stephanie said idly.

"Just Molly? What about Molly?"

"Just why Trish thinks that Molly is out to get her," Stephanie said, "I didn't say anything else."

"Good, we don't want her to find out if it's not from Christian, otherwise she'll be more pissed than we already know that she's gonna be."

"She just thinks Molly is jealous because she's one of the top divas," she said, "I just agreed with her."

"Good, Christian said that he would tell her soon."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that," she said, "On another bad note, Hunter isn't here tonight, he's making some sort of announcement though."

"That's too bad," he said, "I was so looking forward to that."

"Dude, can't you do better."

Jericho looked behind him and sighed, "What do you want?"

"So you got Hunter's sloppy seconds," Randy smirked, "Can't say that I blame ya, I know I'd hit that."

Stephanie spun around, "Excuse me?"

"Hunter told me all about you," Randy said, raising an eyebrow lewdly.

"What exactly did he tell you?" Stephanie asked.

"Everything, and I must say Stephanie...........kudos."

"Well, she's a lot better than any of the skanks that you pick up with your two Evolution buddies," Jericho said.

"Maybe, who knows, Stephanie's got money."

"I'm right here!" she said.

"I know, I see you," Randy said, winking, "When you get tired of Jericho, my bed is ALWAYS open to you. I'd like to give you a go."

"I would NEVER sleep with you, you hang around Hunter, who knows what diseases you may have."

"Wait til Hunter hears about this one though," Randy said, ignoring Stephanie "He's going to flip. I gotta hand it to you Jericho, you sure do know where to go when you want the good stuff."

"You make no sense," Stephanie told him, "Let's go Chris!"

"Ok," he said simply.

"Feisty one isn't she?" Randy called out.

"Damn him!" Stephanie said as she stormed into Jericho's dressing room, "Hunter has totally rubbed off on him!"

"Don't let him get to you, he's like that with all the divas," Jericho shrugged, "I be the only way he gets girls is to get them drunk."

"Hunter is such a bad influence," she said distastefully.

"I agree with that," he said, nodding his head.

"Was that a crack at me?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Um, where did you get that idea?"

"Well, I wasn't the nicest person when I was with him and you didn't like me. Are you trying to say that I was a bad person?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't your fault," he told her.

"Great, I was a bad person," she said, sitting down heavily.

Jericho started massaging her shoulders, trying to ease her tension, "Hey, you're not a bad person anymore, you're a good, decent person. Although I'd love to see the bitch in you more when you're onscreen."

"I try, but it seems so inappropriate."

A knock came to Jericho's door and he got up to answer it, finding Bischoff on the other side. Stephanie stood up and went to the door, wrapping her arms around Jericho's waist, showing off in front of Bischoff. He just sent her a dirty look before turning back to Jericho.

"What can I do for you Eric?" Jericho said.

"I was wondering if you would like to do commentary for the announcer's match tonight?"

"Sure, why not?" Jericho shrugged.

"Great, it's coming up in a few minutes," Bischoff smiled smarmily.

"Great," Jericho said, "Now we were kind of busy."

"Oh of course," Bischoff nodded, giving Jericho a knowing look. Jericho just about slammed the door in his face.

"Well, I guess I'm stuck here for a little while longer," Jericho sighed.

"I guess so," she said, then turned to the television, "Well if it isn't my asshole ex-husband now."

They both turned to the television and watched as Hunter put a bounty on Goldberg's head. They watched silently as he seemed so incredibly serious. When he started smelling the money, Jericho and Stephanie simply turned to each other and almost fell to the floor in laughter.

"So I guess that's some of the money you didn't manage to squeeze out of him after the divorce?" Jericho said, as his laughter subsided.

"I guess so," she laughed.

"Damn it," he said, "I've got to go out there. I'll see you in a bit ok."

"Ok," she said, smiling at him.

He kissed her and then walked out of the locker room, going out to the announcer's table. He put the headphones on and joined Al Snow on commentary. Might as well jazz the match up a little with his incredible announcing skills. He sat there and talked about the match, while pretending not to be bored out of his skull.

Stephanie walked down to the gorilla and saw the production desks where some people were spouting things for Jericho and Al to say about the match, feeding them crucial information. She walked up to one of the desks and to the person who was on Jericho's headset and offered them a bribe to take over their position. They obliged and she sat down putting the microphone on.

Jericho sat there, calling the match to the best of his ability when suddenly Stephanie's voice filled his ears. She was talking to him through his headphones he realize and he laughed as he tried to keep a straight face. She was telling him some naughty things and he had to resist from going backstage right in the middle of the match to ravage her.

She kept talking to him as the match ended as soon as he possibly could, he ran backstage to where she was sitting. She laughed at him as he took the headset off her head and practically pulled her down the hallway. She knew that he wanted to put the words she had told him into action right now.

Christian and Trish were just walking down the hallway when they saw Jericho and Stephanie giggling and running down the hallway, obviously in a rush. They just looked at each other and shrugged. Those two were difficult to figure out sometimes. They passed by Molly and Gail's locker room and Molly happened to be standing in front of the door. She gave a lingering gaze to Christian and he averted his eyes quickly.

"I hate her," Trish muttered as she walked by Molly.

"Yeah, me too," Christian said, resisting the urge to look back and give Molly a dirty look. He knew that she had information that could be used against him and he had to tell Trish in his own time.

"Let's go see Lita," Trish said, pulling him to the monitors.

They stood there watching, holding hands until Trish saw Molly and Gail running out there to attack Lita. Without a second thought, Trish ran down there to help her friend. Christian watched as Trish got attacked herself as Victoria entered the fray. The odds were against his girlfriend in this one and he knew it.

Lita and Trish hobbled backstage, both sore from the attack they had just received. Trish informed him that he and Lita were going to get some ice because they were sore. He nodded his head and told her he would go see how she was before his match. She leaned up to kiss him, but they didn't notice someone lurking in the shadows. As soon as Trish was gone, Molly came up to Christian.

"Like that little beatdown on Trish?" she asked smugly.

"Not particularly."

"Well get used to because there's plenty more where that came from."

"Trish is tough, she can handle it."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure Christian. And when I eliminate Trish, be sure that I," she ran her finger down his bare chest, "Get in touch with you."

He walked away in disgust. Not that much with Molly, but more with himself. He had gotten himself into this mess. He could blame the drinks that he had had, but in the end, he made the decision to do stuff with Molly, and now he was, but more so Trish, was paying the consequences.

He wandered up and down the hallways, thinking about how he could possibly tell Trish about this before everything blew up in his face. He didn't realize he had his match until he heard someone yelling frantically for him. He walked down the hallway and saw Trish and Lita icing their injuries. He blew Trish a little kiss before walking down the hallway and then realizing he was going to the wrong way and turning around as Trish laughed at him.

He finally found his way out there and tried to prepare for the match, but you really couldn't prepare for a ladder match, you just had to go out and do it. And that's what he did, to the best of his ability. And while he and Edge had been the masters of the TLC matches, which included ladders, he was no match for RVD, who took risks that nobody else would take. And because of that he lost the match.

Later on, as he walked up the ramp, he knew he had to tell Trish. He couldn't live like this anymore. The guilt and shame were starting to eat him up. He resolved himself to tell her everything as soon as he got backstage. He went into his dressing room and saw her there.

"I'm so sorry you lost Chrissy," she said sympathetically.

"Trish, it doesn't even matter right now, there's something I have to tell you," he said, seriously.

"Ok," she said, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him.

As he looked back at her, with her blue eyes staring back at him, he couldn't look her in the eyes at all. He felt her hand intertwine with his, despite him being all sweaty. He looked back at her as she smiled at him, letting him know without words that he could tell her anything. And it was that moment he realized he couldn't do it, he just couldn't tell her.

"As long as I have you, I don't need the belt."

She hugged him tightly and he felt the guilt rise to dangerous levels.


	138. Steph's Busting Out, October 2, 2003

A/N: Hope everyone is still enjoying this fic, and if you don't, or you want to bitch at me for something, leave a review. Reviews help Nina write more effectively. ;)

* * *

"I'm glad you asked me to come with you to the arena."

"Yeah, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if you wanted to travel with me, I mean we were at the same hotel and everything."

Dawn smiled at him as they had they're arms linked, walking into the arena. Kurt smiled down at her. He had decided to take Stephanie's advice and see where things could lead with Dawn. He enjoyed her company, and he figured as long as things with Gail seemed to be over, he might as well see what could happen with Dawn.

"Yeah, I'm happy you did, you're a really great guy to be around Kurt," she said.

"Well, thanks, I don't get to hear that too often from a pretty girl."

She giggled and looked down, "Thanks."

"Oh, would you look at those two," a voice said from ahead of them.

Kurt looked up and he just about died. There was Stephanie and Jericho, standing there, him with his arm wrapped casually around her waist. He had to do a double take to make sure that he wasn't suddenly in a dream or something. Maybe everything was a dream and he wasn't actually here with Dawn, but in his hotel room, taking a nap or something of that nature.

"Stephanie, hi," Dawn said cheerfully, "I didn't know you were with Chris Jericho?"

Stephanie gave Jericho a look, "It's a fairly new development."

"When she kissed me a couple weeks ago, I was just so enamored by her, I thought to myself about how I couldn't stand not to be with her," Jericho said, squeezing Stephanie closer to him, "Hey Kurt, what's up man?"

"Ifnjoiwad," Kurt mumbled.

"Kurt, are you ok?" Stephanie asked, laughing.

"I, um," he paused, trying to form coherent words, "You guys!"

"Yes, us guys," Stephanie said.

"Wow, well, you're both my friends, so...........yeah!" he exclaimed.

Suddenly her charged towards them and hugged them both into his arms. Jericho and Stephanie laughed as Kurt hugged them tighter. Dawn just looked on, wondering if Kurt had suddenly gone crazy. Stephanie patted Kurt on the back, hoping he didn't suddenly start jumping up and down.

"Wow, um, you were happier than we were," Jericho said, trying to eradicate himself from Kurt's grip.

"I have GOT to talk to you two later!" he cried when he finally let them go.

"Yeah, you do," Stephanie said as she took Jericho's hand.

"I do," he repeated, looking between the both of them, "I really, really do."

"Kurt, did you want to walk me to the women's locker room?" Dawn asked, grabbing Kurt's hand and bringing him back to her side.

"Oh, yeah, that's what I wanted to do yeah," he said, looking over at Dawn.

"Ok," she said, "I'll see you guys later, hey, maybe we could all go out sometime."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Stephanie replied, "Wouldn't you like that too Chris?"

"Oh, most definitely, Kurt?"

"Um............uh huh," he said.

Dawn laughed and started pulling him so they were actually making forward progress towards the dressing room. Kurt went with her, but kept looking behind him to where Jericho and Stephanie were talking quietly to each other, their heads together. They turned a corner and finally Kurt turned his attention back to Dawn.

"Well, I never thought I'd see those two get their act together," Dawn commented.

"Act together?"

"Yeah, everyone knew it was inevitable. I think they've been trying to get in each other's pants forever now."

Kurt laughed, "You know, I think you're right."

"I was sure it was going to happen when she came back to be the General Manager, I mean the way he tried to get all nice for her and wanted to hug her. It was so obvious," she said as they kept walking.

"Yeah, I mean, they were business partners."

"Yeah, just a cover for their real feelings I suppose," Dawn said.

"You have no idea."

They reached the women's locker room and Kurt and Dawn stopped in front of it. Dawn turned so that she was facing Kurt. She smiled up at him, waiting expectantly. Kurt just stood there, still thinking about Jericho and Stephanie. Suddenly he was shaken from his reverie as Dawn's lips surprised him by pressing against his own. Before he could fully react, it was over and she pulled away. He looked down at her as she grinned at him.

"Good luck in your match later tonight," she said, pressing her lips together to savor the taste of his lips.

"Thanks."

"Just in case I don't see you from now until then," she said, hinting that she wanted to see Kurt later.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," he said, kissing her cheek and then opening the locker room door for her.

"Ok," she said, searching his face, "Bye."

"Bye," he smiled.

She walked inside and he closed the door. Now it was time to get answers. He ran down to the hallway where he had seen the two of them before, but they were gone. He started frantically searching locker room to locker room, wondering where the hell Stephanie's office was and why the hell he couldn't find it. Finally, after much searching he saw the door with the little sign that said "SmackDown General Manager" on it and raced towards it. He flung it open and suddenly wished he hadn't.

"Oh geez, I'm so sorry," Kurt said, turning around quickly.

Jericho and Stephanie laughed. Jericho was sitting in Stephanie's huge leather chair as Stephanie straddled his lap. The only article of clothing that was off was Jericho's shirt. Stephanie got up from Jericho's lap and stood next to the chair.

"It's ok Kurt, we're decent," she giggled.

"Oh, sorry again," Kurt told them, turning around, "I didn't expect to, um, see that."

"We didn't expect anyone to barge in like that," Jericho said, "You know, usually people show a bit of decorum and you know, knock."

"Well, sorry," Kurt said, "It's not everyday you walk into work and see two people who you NEVER thought you'd see at work together, walking around like nothing was going on."

"We wanted to keep it a surprise," Stephanie said, laughing as she looked at Jericho's disheveled hair.

"What's going on you two?" Kurt asked seriously, "I mean, really."

"Long story short, Vince asked me to date Stephanie so he could take her down at No Mercy," Jericho explained.

"And you said yes?!?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah?"

"But you'll be taking down your own girlfriend!"

"He's not really going to take me out," Stephanie said, "We just saw an opportunity to be together, like normal people and we took it. Look, the only people who think this is fake are Vince and Sable, nobody else thinks so, and we're playing the parts very convincingly."

"But you're really not playing any parts."

"We know, but they don't know we know."

"Oh, well, congratulations, I guess," Kurt said.

"Thanks, we guess," Stephanie laughed, "But what about you and Dawn?"

"Yeah Kurt, are you in love with her yet?" Jericho asked.

"No, Stephanie told me to get to know her, and that's what I did, I got to know her. I don't know, she's cool I guess."

Jericho whispered audibly to Stephanie, "He likes her."

"I did not say that!" he protested.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Stephanie said knowingly.

"You guys are the worst! Why don't you go back into hiding?" Kurt said pouting.

"Aww, Kurt, please don't be mad at us," Stephanie said, "I mean, it's ok, if you're in love with her."

"I am NOT in love with her," he said, "I barely even know her! She was married to an old guy for God's sake!"

Jericho and Stephanie snickered as they thought back to that. Then they looked at each other and started laughing uncontrollably. Kurt stood there stoically, his arms folded, looking at them. Jericho wrapped his arms around Stephanie's waist as he laughed into her shirt. Kurt looked at them and couldn't help a laugh from escaping, before he too, burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was just the situation that was hilarious. After several minutes of continuous laughter, they managed to stop and Jericho wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Wow, that's the best laugh I've had in a while," Jericho said.

"Me too," Stephanie and Kurt answered in unison.

"Man," Kurt said, looking at his watch, "Undertaker is going to kill me, he wanted to go over strategy for our match later tonight."

"Oh, don't let us keep you then," Stephanie said with a smile.

"Bye you two, don't get caught doing something you can't talk your way out of," he warned before leaving.

Stephanie waited until he was gone and then straddled Jericho's lap again. She kissed him as he wrapped his arms around her waist. They were making out for a while, just ignoring the show around them. Hopefully her father wasn't here tonight, but she knew he would be and she was just trying to steel herself for more of his barrage of insults towards her.

"You know, you could've worn a better shirt tonight," he told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're practically popping out of your shirt."

"And you have a problem with that?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not particularly, but I mean, you know, if people see you, they're not going to be talking to your face, not when they've got more than an eyeful of the merchandise."

"Oh, sometimes you just get so jealous."

"I am not!"

"Sure," she said, nudging his arm, "You hate whenever I wear something slightly revealing because you think that every guy on Earth is going to be staring at me."

"Well, I mean, why wouldn't they be, since you're so gorgeous."

"Wow, my father sure picked a charmer to seduce little 'ol me," she said, putting a hand over her heart like she was utterly flattered.

"He only picked the best," he paused, "He called this morning."

"When?"

"When you were in the shower," he answered, "He wanted to have a talk with me sometime during the show, I'm not sure when."

"I'm sure that he wants all the dirt on me that you could get," she said, standing up and running a hand through her hair.

Jericho knew that all of this was tearing Stephanie up inside. She tried not to let it show, but he knew her too well. She was potentially losing her job, one of the things she loved to do most. He knew that she put her whole heart and soul into every show, worked long hours just to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Now she might get that all taken away from her. It was like someone telling him that he couldn't wrestle anymore.

He got up and walked over to stand behind her, rubbing her upper arms, as she had her arms wrapped around herself. He let his hands snake around her waist, and she leaned back into him.

"I don't want to have to leave it again."

"Leave what?" he asked, though he knew.

"I love it here," she said, quietly and Jericho could hear tears clogging her throat.

"I know you do."

"I grew up around here, I grew up seeing my Dad work and I loved it, there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life, except work here," she said, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Shh," he whispered, nuzzling into her neck.

"When I graduated college, Mom told me that I didn't have to work for the company, that I could branch out, do whatever I wanted to do. But this was the only think I've ever wanted to do!"

"I know baby, I know," he whispered comfortingly.

"I don't want to leave it again. Do you know how hard it was the last time, when Hunter got me kicked out?"

"No, I don't. But I know it was hard for you."

"I can't do it again! I can't be alone again!"

He straightened up, his ears pricking at the world "alone." What made her think that she would ever be alone in this? He pulled her tighter against him, making sure that she knew that he was there. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and brought his mouth up to her ear again.

"You will NEVER be alone," he said, firmly.

"You don't know that," she said miserably.

Jericho unwrapped his arms from around her and went to stand in front of her. He took her by the shoulders and crouched down so they were eye-to-eye, "Look at me Stephanie."

She avoided his eyes.

"Stephanie, look at me," he urged.

She looked up into his eyes, "What?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I would suddenly dump you because you lost a fucking match!?! What do you take me for?"

"No, I don't think that!" she said, pushing his arms off of her, "But I'd just be Stephanie, I wouldn't be Stephanie, the General Manager, or Stephanie who works for WWE."

"And you think I love you because you have some fucking job title?" he demanded to know.

"I don't know," she admitted, then shrugged, to make it look like it was no big deal.

"You've got to be joking Stephanie. You can't honestly think that I'm with you because you're a General Manager, or because you work for the company, or even because you're a McMahon!"

"It helps doesn't it?"

"No, because I didn't fall for any of those things, and for you to think I did, makes me question a lot of things."

"I just don't know what to think anymore. Daddy has me going crazy!" she yelled, dragging her hand through her hair.

He pulled her into a hug and let her rest his head against his chest. She wrapped her arms around him, not wanting to let go. He knew she was just under a lot of stress. He needed to do something for her to get her out of this slump that her father had put her in.

"I could serve dinner on your cleavage," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"What?" she asked pulling away and looking at him.

"You've got them so pushed up, I could probably put a plate on there," he said, looking down at her shirt.

She laughed and shoved him, "You're such a jerk, you bought this shirt for me!"

"Well, then I have horrible taste. Obviously I am just a guy who wants to check out his girlfriend's cleavage all the time. Bad Chris Jericho, bad!" he scolded himself.

She laughed and leaned up to kiss him deeply. He let himself get lost in the kiss and pulled her against him again. He loved having her close to him. She fit so perfectly in his arms, and they fit just so well together. How could she ever think that he would leave her? She was the woman that he loved with all his............

"Jericho," a booming voice came from the doorway.

Jericho pulled away from Stephanie and looked to the door, "Vinnie, to what do me and my new girlfriend owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Since when are you dating my daughter!?!?!" he yelled, putting on an act like he was shocked or something.

"Since she kissed me that one time, I was smitten Vince."

"I thought you were on my side Jericho," Vince answered, shaking his head.

"Please, I'm only on my own side, and my side said that I wanted Stephanie, and so here I am," he said smugly.

"I'm very disappointed," Vince said, "But I guess my slut of a daughter manages to get whatever she wants."

Stephanie just stood there, not dignifying her father with a response. He didn't deserve one at the current moment. She felt Jericho give her a supportive kiss on the temple, and while Vince thought she wasn't looking, he winked at Jericho.

"Well, I hope you two are very miserable together, good day," Vince said, storming out.

"Could he be any more obvious?" Stephanie said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, he could've just come out and said, 'Chris, how's that plan where I basically asked you to take my daughter to bed going'?"

She laughed, "You're right of course."

Kurt was lacing up his boots, getting ready early for his match. He had just went and talked to Undertaker about their match and they seemed to have everything pretty much sorted out. He had just finished tying his shoelaces when his cell phone rang. He reached over to his bag and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Um, Kurt?"

"Yeah, this is Kurt."

"It's Gail."

Kurt almost dropped the phone in shock. He had no idea that Gail would even want to talk to him again. Not after everything that had happened with her and Bischoff. This was a complete surprise. But still, Kurt couldn't help those butterflies from suddenly fluttering around his stomach.

"Gail? What are you doing calling me?"

"I was sitting at home, and realized that I had never even given you a call to explain myself."

"Oh," he said.

"I'm sorry, about everything that happened," she said, obviously contrite, "I didn't mean to hurt you, if I did."

"Thanks, that's nice of you to call me."

"Molly has a vendetta against Trish. I don't know what about really? It goes much deeper than sheer attention. I don't know, I just figured that allying myself with the champion might be a good idea. I'm not as bad a person as I make myself out to be."

"I never thought you were. I mean, I just can't believe that you slept with Bischoff."

"It wasn't my finest moment, that's for sure," she scoffed, "But sometimes you have to go to the extreme to get what you want."

"Yeah, that's true," Kurt said, knowing he, himself, had been in that position before.

"I just didn't want you to hate me. I don't need another enemy," she said, laughing, but it sounded hollow.

"Yeah, I figured as much," he said, "It was good talking to you Gail."

"You too Kurt, I hope this isn't the end of the line for us."

Kurt paused to think about what she had just said. Was she actually saying that she wanted to try again with him? Maybe go out on more dates, or talk with each other more? He admittedly, didn't know all that much about Gail, but he wouldn't mind finding out more. But then there was Dawn Marie, who was nice and liked him. But she too had a spotted past. It was a tough decision to make.

"I hope it isn't either."

Stephanie saw her father bad-mouthing her again on the television. She hated this. She could say it, and she did, a million times, but she really, truly hated all of this. She got up and left the room, feeling Jericho's presence following her. She got down to the gorilla and saw her father telling her to come out on the monitor.

She kissed Jericho briefly and walked out and down the familiar ramp. She could almost picture herself walking up it one last time. She couldn't win a fight against her father, she knew that, she wasn't an idiot. She let herself in the ring, knowing this was not going to end well.

And it didn't start off well either, as her father told her to quit, to give up the match. She told him, once again, that she wouldn't. She didn't want to quit, and if need be, they would drag her screaming, writhing body from the arena, like they had done the last time. It was like that poem she had read so long ago, how did it go.........do not go gentle into that good night.

He said that he didn't want to go through with it, and she told him that neither did she, but she wasn't quitting. Somehow this was interpreted as defying her father. He proceeded to tell her about all the things he did for her growing up. She felt herself go back in time, and got a wistful feeling. Things were so much simpler then, or so they seemed. But now she was just his daughter who didn't do anything for him, no sticking up for him so many times were forgotten in the face of this, what appeared to be the ultimate betrayal.

Sable was calming down her father and she watched. That should be her mother, not that whore. She stood there as Sable called her a bitch. She retaliated, telling Sable exactly what she was. A whore, who spent the entire day on her back. Yeah, sure she had been called names once, many moons ago, but those were never met as truth, just to hurt her.

The slap stung when Sable's hand met her face. She had had enough of this little bitch and speared her to the ring as they fought. Suddenly she felt her hair getting roughly pulled. She tried in vain to get it off of her, but she couldn't. Her father stood her up and screamed in her ear, but she couldn't hear, the pain in her scalp overwhelming her. She struggled to break free as she felt her father grab her.

Jericho watched this, biting his lip until he tasted blood. He wanted to go out there, he wanted to go out there so bad. He couldn't of course, or risk getting fired and he couldn't do that, Stephanie would hate him if he did. He gritted his teeth, his breath coming out in small gasps as he saw Vince slam her to the ground. He wanted to kill Vince McMahon............slowly. And most definitely painfully

Stephanie looked up at her father. He had actually pulled a move on her. He had actually hurt her, treated her like scum on the bottom of the shoe. The pain she had felt before when he grabbed her hair was gone this time, because she was numb. He had actually hurt her. She felt tears unwillingly coming to her eyes, as she prepared herself for another move.

It didn't come and she saw Undertaker come to save her. But it was too late for her, she had been hurt, physically, but more severely emotionally. She crawled to the side of the ring and stood up to the best of her ability, staying out of the fray. She just stood there as she saw her father make his escape and cackle at what had happened. She felt the tears slide down her cheeks as the Undertaker came over to see if she was ok.

She shrugged him off and got out of the ring. She walked slowly back to the backstage area, clutching her now sore back. As she walked backstage, the first thing she saw was Jericho, and he looked none too happy. Vince was gloating with Brock when he saw her and sneered.

Stephanie went to Jericho and cried into his shirt. She could hear Brock, Sable and her father taunting her from the other side of the room. She felt Jericho tense as her rubbed her back comfortingly. Suddenly his arms were no longer around her and she opened her eyes.

"You know what!" Jericho yelled, stalking over to Vince and company, "You should be fucking ashamed of yourselves!"

"And why is that Jericho?" Vince asked.

"God, she's your fucking daughter! Can't you see you're hurting her!?!"

"Nothing she doesn't deserve!"

"You don't fucking deserve to have her as a daughter," Jericho said, knowing Vince thought he was acting, but meaning every word, "She has stuck by you more than anyone in your family and just because one time she dares not do something you want, you fucking ostracize her, and beat on her! You are the fucking scum of the Earth! You think that you're going to have someone to care about you when you're fucking on your deathbed? Well, you're not, because you just fucking alienate every Goddamn person who loves you! I feel sorry for you Vince, I feel so sorry for you," he spat.

Jericho walked back over to where Stephanie was looking at him, wide-eyed. She had never, not once, seen him so angry before. He was literally seething with anger. His eyes were shining with anger, it was just emanating from him. He hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head, before leading her back to her office.

"I wanted to kill him," Jericho said, helping her sit down on the couch.

"I wanted you to kill him," she admitted.

"I swear to God Stephanie, sometimes I think you're better off if you never come to this show again."

"I'll be fine sweetie," she said, as pain undulated up her back.

"You ok?"

"Sure," she offered.

"Oh great, that's just the answer I wanted to hear," he deadpanned.

"I'm ok, I'm not too hurt."

"Ok, good."

A knock came on the door and Jericho said he'd go answer it, letting Stephanie rest. He opened it to see Vince, alone, on the other side. Feeling that urge to kill rising up in him again, he gripped the doorknob tighter, feeling like he could rip it out the entire door if he wanted.

"I thought I was finished with you," Jericho said angrily.

"I wanted to talk to you, privately," Vince said.

"Steph, you gonna be ok?"

"Uh huh," she said, not looking at her father.

Jericho nodded and followed Vince to an office. Vince let him inside and he sat down in front of the large desk. Vince sat down on the other side and grinned at Jericho, before applauding him. God, this guy was a jerk.

"Beautiful performance out there," Vince commended him, "You had me believing for a while that you actually hated me."

Jericho just grunted in response.

"How's it been going with Stephanie?" he asked.

"You know Vince, I think she actually cares about me," Jericho said.

"Even better, once she loses the match, she'll lose you too," Vince said, then saw the serious expression on Jericho's face, "Don't tell me you're falling for her? You're married Jericho."

"I know, but Vince, don't you think you went too far with this?" Jericho said.

"No, but if you feel that way, you can leave this plan at any time.........but you yourself said she cares about you. Do you want to break her heart?"

"Well, no but--"

"Good, then we'll go ahead with it."

"I didn't say that," Jericho said, his words getting twisted.

"Just keep up the good work Jericho, we'll have her in the palms of our hands in no time," Vince told him, "You're dismissed."

Jericho sighed and got up, there was no use trying to get through to Vince. He just left and went back to Stephanie's office. Upon walking inside, he saw Kurt and Stephanie talking to each other. He smiled weakly at Stephanie.

"How'd it go?"

"He's a very unreasonable man," Jericho said simply.

"I know."

"Stephanie?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if I can go through with this without wanting to seriously hurt your father."

"I'm sure you'll get that opportunity," Kurt laughed.

"Thanks Kurt."

"Guess what happened to Kurt?" Stephanie said, switching subjects because it just wasn't' that fun anymore, talking about her father.

"What?" Jericho said, coming over to sit behind Stephanie and massage her aching back.

"Gail called him and apologized and said she wanted to talk to him again," Stephanie said, a sing-song tone to her voice.

"Oh my," Jericho said, "Well, looks like our Kurt is in a bit of a quandary."

"Shut up," Kurt said, "It's a legit problem."

"Oh, of course, because no guy would not want two beautiful women to want him."

"Hey, would you want two women to fight over you?" Stephanie asked, tilting her head to look at Jericho.

"Oh, of course not, see, cause I'm taken, and when you're taken, you don't want that stuff anymore," Jericho said, talking his way out of that one.

"Nice Chris, real nice," Kurt said, winking.

"Shut up Kurt, and go back to your women."

"Hey, it's not as easy as you think it is."

"Yup, it's official now Steph, we ARE the most normal ones in this little group."

"What are you talking about?" Kurt asked. Jericho and Stephanie just laughed.

"Nothing Kurt, nothing at all."


	139. Can Chris Be in the Main Event? October ...

"Shane, are you sure coming tonight is the right thing to do?"

"Of course I do, why shouldn't I come?"

"Well, I don't know," Stephanie deadpanned, "Maybe because you have this huge guy gunning for you."

"I'm gunning for him too," Shane replied.

"Yeah, but Shane.........he's bigger than you are."

"So, I've taken down better guys than him," Shane said confidently.

Stephanie looked at him suspiciously. They had been talking about his situation with Kane and Shane was being much too nonchalant about the whole thing. That could only mean one thing and that was that he had something up his sleeve. And she could only imagine what it might be.

"So what're you planning?" she asked, crossing her arms and sitting back against the couch.

"Stephy, my dearest sister, you should know by now that I plan nothing," Shane said, smirking.

Stephanie gave him a look, "Shane, you're pulling something tonight, I can feel it. You're my brother, I know you. Is it bad?"

"Not for me."

"Be careful ok?" she said, "I don't need to worry about you too."

He leaned over and hugged her, "You never have to worry about me, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself you know."

"I know you are, I know you're older and supposedly wiser than me. But you're my brother Shane. You're that guy that has always been there for me. Well, most of the time that is," she laughed.

"Hey! You can't hold those few times against me, I had my reasons."

"Most of them having to do with the person I was with at the time."

"Yeah, but hey, those are reasons."

She shook her head at Shane's crazy logic. Jericho walked in the room and nodded his head to Shane. He had been out with Christian and Trish and was just coming back to pick up Stephanie so they could go to the show. Shane gave a little wave to Jericho as he headed into the bedroom to grab his bag. Stephanie got off the couch, and went to stand by the table.

"We're going to get going Shane. So I just want to tell you to be careful.........in whatever you're doing tonight."

"Don't worry about me baby girl, you just worry about yourself and how far the two of you take this little plan of yours."

"We know what we're doing," she told him.

"I hope you do," he answered, "And before I forget to ask, has the ex seen this new little thing you have going?"

"No, I don't know, he hasn't been at the shows. We're actually waiting to see his response to this. We can only imagine how ballistic he'll go."

"Yeah, so be careful, I don't want him hurting you or something."

She went over to Shane and patted him on the shoulder, "You underestimate us Shane, don't do that."

He got up from his place on the couch and kissed her on the cheek, "You just be careful."

"I'll be careful if you will!" she called out as he went to the door.

She shook her head and stood there, leaning against the bar, waiting for Jericho. He came out of the bedroom moments later, dressed and ready for the show. She smiled as she checked him over. As always, he was looking good.

"So tell me again why we're staying in a hotel and not at your house?" he asked.

"Because do you really want to have to drive back to my house after the show. We're going to be all tired. It's better if we just stay at a hotel tonight," she explained.

"Whatever you say," he said, not even attempting to get what she was saying.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Don't I look it?"

She rolled her eyes and went over to grab his hand. They walked out together into the hallway, closing the door behind them. She wrapped his arm around her waist. It felt really good to be able to just walk and go wherever they wanted together, when they knew that other wrestlers would be around. She was proud to show Jericho off.

"So has Christian told her yet?" Stephanie asked.

"No, he hasn't told her yet. He said to me, privately, that he was about to last week, but when he looked at her, he just couldn't do it. He felt too guilty or something."

"You know, one of these days, Molly is going to let it spill," Stephanie said, as they climbed in their car.

"I know, I keep telling him to not let it get to that point, but he's just so scared of losing her."

"Guilt will do that to you," she said quietly.

Jericho reached out and grabbed her hand, his other hand on the wheel. He knew she was talking about when she had lied to Hunter. He really didn't think she needed to feeling guilty about that one. She had wanted out, and had done it the only way she could. She looked over at him as he kissed her hand.

"Hey, you shouldn't feel guilty about what you did. It led to the greatest partnership in the history of the business."

"It did," she said, definitively.

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Upon getting out of their car, Jericho went to Stephanie's side and again took her hand. He loved "acting" like they were together. Not only could they spend time together, but he loved to show off his girlfriend, arguably the best looking diva in the business.

"So I saw my mom this morning," Stephanie told him as they walked inside.

"Well, of course, I mean, you hardly get to see her since you live with me," he said.

"Yeah, she said that your little thing with Austin was very amusing," she said, turning to see his reaction.

He laughed it off, "Did you tell her I was serious?"

"Yeah, and she said fat chance they're getting rid of him. He's a big draw."

"Yeah, I figured as much, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't stirring up some kind of trouble somewhere."

Stephanie laughed, "She did say, however, that if you had such a problem with Austin you should lobby to get yourself traded."

Jericho looked over at her, as her eyes glittered, "I'm sure you'd love that."

"I'd have one more person to protect me."

"Just my luck, I go over there, and you lose the I Quit match and I'm stuck with Vince and the whore."

"Oh, thanks for bringing that up," Stephanie said, pulling away from him, "Just what I wanted to think about."

"Steph, come on, you can't honestly be mad!" Jericho said, jogging to catch up with her as she walked away.

"I am! You know I don't like to think about that!" she said petulantly.

"Baby, I was joking!"

"Well, it wasn't funny, I'm going to go find Trish," she said.

"So you're mad at me?" he asked as she walked away.

"We'll see."

Jericho shook his head as he watched her go. Sometimes she just had a quick temper with everything. Thank God he was used to it by now. She would go cool down and they'd forgive each other's stupidity. He kept walking until he got to his locker room. Setting his things down, he sat on the couch and leaned against the back of it, just clearing his thoughts.

He wondered if he was going to have a match tonight. It never hurt to mentally prepare for a match. He realized, most of the time, he didn't know he had a match, didn't think he had a match, and then he'd end up with one. On this thought he got up and went into his bag to change into his tights, just in case. He entered the bathroom in case someone walked in.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he saw Christian sitting on the couch, his head tilted back, looking at the ceiling. His hands were covering his midsection, which itself, was taped up. Jericho cleared his throat audibly causing a startled Christian to look up at him. Jericho raised an eyebrow questionably.

"Stephanie and Trish kicked me out," Christian said simply.

"Oh," Jericho laughed, "Well that explains that."

"Yeah, Trish loves having Stephanie here, they get to do all their gossip and everything," Christian said, mimicking a high-pitched, girly voice.

"Well, it's nice, Stephanie doesn't have a lot of girl friends," Jericho said, brushing out his hair.

"Yeah, neither does Trish," Christian said, "Steph said she was mad at you."

"So what else is new?" he shrugged.

"What'd you do?" Christian asked disapprovingly.

"Me!" he balked, "You know how Stephanie is sometimes, it takes nothing to set her off."

"So what was the little thing that set her off?"

"I mentioned her match with her father."

"Nice going, you know how sensitive she is about that!" Christian said, "How is she after last week?"

"She's ok, it's me who's pissed," Jericho said, "I almost tore Vince a new one after what he did. Of course the bastard thinks I was acting."

"Yeah, what a shock it'd be when you did tear him a new one."

"He made Stephanie cry, I hate seeing her cry."

"Yeah, I know, it's awful," Christian said solemnly, "Just seeing those tears in their eyes, knowing that you could've prevented that, but didn't."

"And we're not talking about Stephanie anymore," Jericho said, sitting on a folding chair with his feet up at a table.

"I guess not," Christian said, "I want to tell her man!"

"I know, and I know it's hard."

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"But think about what'll happen if she finds out some other way."

Stephanie and Trish giggled as they discussed some of the backstage happenings of both shows. It was funny how many of their co-workers were just idiots sometimes. Well, as long as it gave them a good laugh, it didn't hurt that their stupidity always seemed to shine through.

"Oh and then Lita said that one of the Resistance guys hit on her," Trish said.

"Really? I don't know, they're kinda smarmy," Stephanie shuddered, "And the whole 'We're French' thing is kinda creepy. Who is THAT proud of their country?"

"Who knows? Well, she turned them down of course. I mean, I wouldn't go out with either one of them," she said, "It makes me so thankful that I have Christian."

"Oh, I know! I mean, I told you John Cena had a thing for me right?" Stephanie said, "If I didn't have Chris, he'd probably still be after me."

"Yeah, it's like, some of the guys here are really nice, but some are just really gross."

"So you're teaming with Maven tonight."

"Yeah," Trish said, "I don't know where that came from, but it's cool, he's a nice kid. At least he doesn't have any weird designs on me."

"Yeah, and it gets you away from Molly and Gail."

"Yeah, don't get me started with those two. They are the weirdest of the weird. I mean, targeting people for no real reason."

Stephanie smiled curtly. She knew there was a reason for Molly's jealousy and she knew that the reason could and would really hurt Trish. She looked down, resisting the urge to tell her the truth. But it just wasn't her truth to tell. But if she only knew Molly's real motivation, she had a feeling Trish would be a thousand times more fierce than she was now.

"Yeah that is weird," Stephanie said, trying to sound sincere.

"I don't know, I'm no psychiatrist, I don't know what's going on in their heads."

"I guess it's not your place."

"No, it's not."

Stephanie looked at the clock, the show was about to start. She figured she had let Jericho have enough time to think about what he had said. Truth be told, she couldn't stay mad at him. Well, in the past she could, but now, not so much. Besides, she wanted to watch the show with him.

"I'm gonna go Trish, I wanna catch the show," Stephanie said, standing up.

"Oh, ok, yeah, I better go talk to Maven about our match later," she said.

They hugged and said their goodbyes, then Stephanie left the room. She was walking down the hallway and turned the corner when she knocked shoulders with someone. Stephanie was thrown back a little and looked to see whom she had bumped into. She scowled when she saw it was Molly.

She hadn't really hated Molly until Molly had decided she liked the man that Stephanie loved. Though she wouldn't admit it, EVER, she had been jealous of Molly while she was dating Jericho, but that was only because Jericho was her man and nobody else's. Ever since then, Molly had rubbed her the wrong way, and it was nice to see that Molly was living up to the reputation of being a bitch.

"Watch where you're going," Molly said, still looking down as she dusted herself off.

"Why don't YOU watch where you're going," Stephanie shot back.

Molly looked up and for the first time saw whom she had run into. Needless to say, she was surprised to see that it was Stephanie, "Aren't you at the wrong show?"

"No, I'm here with my boyfriend," Stephanie said cheerily, already anticipating the next words out of Molly's mouth, and she was ready and willing to share information.

"You're dating someone on Raw?" Molly said, surprised by the news.

"That's right," Stephanie smiled coyly.

"Who? Hunter?"

"Oh no, never him," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, "Chris Jericho actually."

Molly physically took a step back, shock on her face. Stephanie giggled happily, getting the kind of reaction she had hoped to get. She felt much self-satisfaction knowing that Molly was shocked by the news. If only she could tell her that Jericho had loved her all along and had dumped Molly for her.

"I thought he was married," she said dumbly.

"He got a divorce..........just for me," she said, sighing in a very over dramatic way, "Isn't that the most romantic thing you've ever heard?"

"Sure, if you like that kind of sap."

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel bad, you don't have a boyfriend do you?" Stephanie said, acting like she was sympathetic.

"I don't need one," Molly said, smirking.

Stephanie could just guess what she meant by that. She bet that Molly had designs on a lot of girl's boyfriends. She didn't hesitate to go after Trish's. She took a mental note to keep her eye on Molly. She didn't want her getting any ideas with Jericho.

Jericho turned the corner, wanting to find Stephanie. He had just seen Shane practically decimate an entire limo, with Kane inside. It was one of the most insane things he had ever seen. He wanted to know if Stephanie had seen it. He knew she would want to know, she was very protective of her brother.

What he didn't expect to see was Molly and Stephanie staring each other down in the hallway. Stephanie was looking at disdain at Molly, and for once, Jericho didn't blame her. He wanted to do the same thing to Molly, after what she had done with Christian. But he knew that Stephanie was on edge tonight, and hated Molly and that was not a good combination.

"Baby, I've been looking all over for you!" Jericho called out, jogging over to her.

"You were?" Stephanie said, looking over to him to see actual concern on his face.

"Yeah," he said, "Oh, hey Molly."

Jericho decided to play it up for Molly, and he knew Stephanie would love to show up Molly. So he stood behind her and wrapped his arms firmly around her waist, before leaning his chin on her shoulder. Stephanie smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing. She put her arms over his as he kissed her neck.

"Chris," Molly said, obviously ticked off, "Well, I've got to go talk to Gail. See ya."

"Bye Molly," Stephanie called out chirpily.

"You're so bad," Jericho said.

"I know, so why were you looking for me?"

"Oh shit," Jericho said, "I wanted to tell you that you're brother has officially gone insane."

Stephanie turned in Jericho's arms, "What do you mean?"

"Come with me," Jericho said, "They'll be sure to replay it."

Jericho pulled Stephanie and they quickly went back to his dressing room. Sure enough as they walked inside, what Shane had done replayed on the television. Stephanie stood there as she saw her brother put the limo in motion and cringed as it crashed into the tractor-trailer. She saw it again and sat down, her hand covering her mouth.

"Oh my God," she whispered to herself.

"I know," was Jericho's only response.

"Where is he?" she stood up frantically, "Where is Shane?!?"

"I don't know Steph. He just ran away."

"I need to find him!" she yelled, rushing to the door.

"Steph, he's probably gone by now."

"He's so fucking crazy!" Stephanie said, "How could he do that? My God, even Kane, I mean, that's awful."

"Shh," he said, leading her back to the couch, "I know, but you can't feel responsible for what Shane chooses to do."

"But..........this," she said, her voice trailing off.

"I know, but you know Shane, it's balls out on everything."

"Yeah," she nodded, though she was only partly listening. The other part of her was wondering what the hell was going through her brother's mind when he decided to pull such a horrific act. She had told him to be careful, not try to kill someone by crashing their car. There was crazy, and then there was this.

"I'm sure he's already back at his hotel, or even went back home by now."

"You're probably right," she said quietly.

"Why don't you just stay here ok, and I just have to go out to do something really quick, and then after that, we'll go back to the hotel room and you can take a bath and have an entire cheesecake if you want."

"You trying to fatten me up," she said, offering him a half-smile.

"Whatever makes you happy, I don't care."

"I swear I've gained so much weight since I've been with you," she laughed, then turned solemn again, "With Hunter he'd always make comments and stuff about my looks."

"Who cares? You're totally beautiful," he said, kissing her, "And I'm sorry that I made you mad."

"I'm sorry I got so irrational," she said, kissing him again.

"We both can be idiots," he joked.

"Yeah, but at least we're idiots together."

"Damn straight, cause no one would put up with you."

"Put up with me? How about put up with you?"

"Oh, plenty of women would be willing to take the challenge."

She kissed him deeply, "But?"

"But you're the only one who can actually do it."

"That's right," she said, kissing him lightly.

Jericho kissed her again and she pulled half way on top of her. He leaned her against the back of the couch as he kissed her. Things were starting to get heated up and Stephanie ran her fingers through Jericho's soft hair. Jericho ran his hand under her shirt. Jericho was about to lay her fully down on the couch when Christian knocked on the door.

"Hey man, we kind of need you, we got the next spot coming up," Christian called through the closed door.

Jericho opened his eyes and looked down at Stephanie. He sighed and kissed her softly, "We'll finish this later."

"Ok," she said, smiling as she rubbed her lipstick off his lips.

Jericho took his hands off her and pulled down her shirt before going to the door and opening it to see Christian, Lance, and Coach on the other side. Seems Christian rounded up a nice group of people. He blew a kiss to Stephanie and walked out with the three men.

On their way to the ring he discussed what was going to happen when they went out there. It wasn't going to be like a normal Highlight Reel. This one was going to be serious. He wanted people to see Austin for who he was. And if this was the way it had to go down, then it was the way it had to go down, simple as that.

He made his way out when his music knowing the three other guys were soon to follow. He got in the ring and prepared himself for the speech he wanted to make. He began by talking about how they were in Connecticut and this was the home of the WWE headquarters. And he knew that there were people from the board in attendance and this was an appeal to them.

He went on to talk about how Austin was responsible for everything that had happened to Kane, completely taking the blame off of Shane. Austin really was the reason for all of that, if he hadn't antagonized Kane, he would still be that lovable big guy. But no, Kane was now in some hospital, and it was all Austin's fault.

He let Coach talk next about whatever he wanted to talk about. Jericho pretended to be interested, but really wasn't. Same as usual, he just couldn't bring himself to care enough to listen to other people. Next he brought up Christian, who really was in pain due to Austin's match. And he had lost his coveted title. It was such a shame, that Jericho agreed with. The man was put in a brutal match against his will.

Jericho then let Lance talk. He was expecting something about how wrong it was of Austin to call him boring, but was surprised by what Lance actually said. Lance then called him a jackass and Jericho signaled to Christian, who in turn, charged into Lance. Jericho and Christian double-teamed Lance until Austin decided to come out, and then RVD.

Jericho and Christian left the ring, intending to just go backstage, until Austin made a match for them. Jericho was pissed, he wanted to leave. He was even more pissed after Austin announced the match for right then. He wasn't ready for a match. He scowled as he and Christian went down the ring for the match.

Jericho couldn't believe that he had lost. He and Christian were working so well against Lance and RVD, he just couldn't believe he had let Lance get the three-count on him. He grabbed the back of his head, where Lance had struck him. It was throbbing, great, now he'd have a headache to boot. He got out of the ring and slowly walked backstage.

He went back to his locker room and briefly smiled as best he could to show her that she was ok. He didn't want her to have to worry about anyone else tonight. He simply went to take a shower and get dressed before coming back out. Stephanie stood up and grabbed his bag for him, which he promptly grabbed back.

"You're tired, let me carry it," she said, snatching it back.

"I can handle it," he said, taking it back.

"Don't argue with me!" she said, taking it back.

"Don't argue with me!" he said, taking it again and holding it behind his back, "What is the matter with you?"

"What? I can't get my boyfriend's bag while he's tired?"

"No, that's not it, you're being stubborn, what's going on?"

"Nothing! Let's just go back to the hotel."

"Not until I get an explanation," he said.

"There's nothing wrong," she said, again.

"Bullshit."

"It's not bullshit, I just want to go back to the hotel and go to bed."

"No cheesecake."

"I'm not in the mood."

"Ok, so something happened during my match," he deduced, "What was it?"

"Shane just called me," she revealed, "He's on his way back to Greenwich as we speak. I told him he was crazy, and he got all mad at me for not supporting him, especially since Kane tombstoned Mom. I told him that he was being irrational, that there were lots of other ways that he could've gone about this."

"Oh Steph," he said, dropping his bag and going over to her, wrapping her up in a hug, "He had no right to say you weren't supporting him."

"I just don't want him to get hurt or in trouble," she said sadly.

"I know you have the best intentions, but trying to tell Shane what to do, well, that's like trying to tell a hurricane not to come, it's just not going to happen."

"God, what is wrong with my family, we're all self-destructing! Except for Mom, she, as always is like a rock."

"I know," he said, kissing the top of her head, "But when everything cools down, you'll be ok, and you'll look back at this and laugh at how worried you were."

"Yeah, because my brother is off trying to kill people, my dad is off with his skank, and I'm trying valiantly to put up a fight against a multitude of people."

"It's the McMahon blood, it makes you crazy."

"You can say that again," she said, "We're all crazy."

"Yeah, but you're crazy, I find incredibly endearing."

"I guess I'm lucky to be with someone who's just as crazy as I am."

"Yeah, you are."

"Let's get out of here," Stephanie said, "There's a bed with our name on it."

"Ooh, I'm sensing some fun tonight," Jericho kidded.

"Shut up," she said as they left the room.

They walked down the hallway and saw Christian and Trish talking to one another. Stephanie and Jericho waved to the two of them as they passed. Trish gave a wave, while Christian looked wistfully at Trish while she wasn't looking.

"You see those two," Jericho said as they were out of earshot.

"Of course."

"Now they're the ones with problems ahead."


	140. So Tired, October 9, 2003

"Well, look at you, sporting the whole jumpsuit look."

"It's a fashion choice Kurt."

"And a mighty fine one I must say. You're looking radiant tonight."

"Kurt, are you just trying to butter me up to get something?" Stephanie asked.

"Of course not, I just think you look beautiful tonight," Kurt answered.

"Ok, so spill, what happened?" she said, looking at him.

"I've just been talking to Gail again," Kurt said, "You know, just talking and stuff."

Stephanie sighed inwardly. She was so sure that she had gotten rid of Gail. She wasn't good enough for Kurt, she just knew it. Especially after seeing what she had done with Bischoff. It was disgusting, he was disgusting, she knew that first hand. And why anyone would even want to touch him was beyond her. She wanted Kurt to be happy, but with someone who didn't go out and sleep with a guy just to get what she wanted.

"That's nice," Stephanie said in an effort to be supportive.

"And then Stephanie interjected her two cents about each and every girl Kurt likes."

Stephanie looked up at him, "What did you just say?"

"I can see that brain of yours working as we speak. It's trying very hard not to add your own commentary into this little situation."

"No comment," she told him.

"See, I know how you work Stephanie, and you are trying valiantly to bite your tongue, and I do appreciate that, even if it's not really what I want."

"What about Dawn?" she asked.

"I like her too. I'm not dating anyone exclusively Stephanie, it's not like I'm going to get married tomorrow, I do have choices."

"I know that you do, I was just wondering, geez, you ask a simple question, you get someone's guts poured out all over the floor," Stephanie said.

"I was just answering your question!" Kurt protested.

"I didn't ask for the entire story!" she countered.

Kurt just shook his head, "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Talking with Benoit apparently," Stephanie answered, "He figured he'd take this opportunity to talk to guys he hasn't seen in a while."

"That's cool, it's not every day that we have a Raw guy over here, or vice versa for that matter."

"Yeah, sometimes it's just weird you know, being split like this," she said, thinking about it for a moment.

She couldn't imagine what it would've been like if she and Jericho had never gotten together and if he had gone to the other show. She knew that he went to Raw for her, but she wondered if he would've gone anyways. He had said that night long ago that he was happy, ecstatic even, to be on SmackDown, so maybe he'd actually be on his show. But would they be together? What if he hadn't come to talk to her? What if she had accepted his hug?

"Stephanie, you still with me?" Kurt asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

She shook her head of her thoughts and looked at him, smiling, "Sorry, I was just thinking about things."

"The split?"

"Among other things," she said to him, "You know how you just wonder how things would've ended up if things had been done differently."

"Thinking about the situation with your dad?" he asked thoughtfully.

"No, not at all actually...........I think that's a first," she said, laughing shallowly.

"Well, then that's a good thing then. You shouldn't be more stressed out than you have to be."

"I'm not, trust me," she said, "But what about you? Putting more stress on yourself by challenging Cena to, of all things, a rap-off. What in God's name compelled you to do that?"

"Intelligence," he answered proudly, "You just wait and see Steph, I'll come out on top."

"I know you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Nope."

"Knock knock," a voice came from the other side of the half ajar door. Dawn peeked her head in and smile at Kurt.

"Oh, hey Dawn," Kurt said, smiling, "You can come in if you want."

"Thanks," she said, walking in fully, "Hi Stephanie."

"Hey Dawn, I guess I should leave you two alone then," Stephanie said, "I'll just go try and find Chris."

"Have fun," Kurt said teasingly, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do..........."

"Then we won't be doing anything," she teased back.

Kurt just gave her a look as she smiled and patted his shoulder as she stood up. She smiled Dawn as she passed and left the room, closing the door behind her. Kurt stood up and went up to Dawn to give her a hug, one that she gladly returned. He pulled away and kissed her cheek.

"So how are you?" he asked.

"I'm good, now that I've seen you," she said, giving him a grin.

"Well, I'm flattered."

"I tried calling you earlier in the week, but your phone was always busy," she said curiously, but not suspiciously.

Kurt wanted to keep mum about Gail for now. Not only because he didn't really know what was going on between the two of the them, but also because he didn't want to hurt Dawn's feelings. He knew that Dawn really liked him, and he liked her enough to not want to hurt her like that.

"My mom, you know how it is," he shrugged, "She always gets worried because her little boy is out there getting hurt every night."

She laughed, "I can understand that."

"It's a tough thing, trying to convince her that I'm ok, and that a certain move didn't hurt as much as it looked, even if it really did."

"Gotta keep her happy."

"Yeah."

"So would you wanna take me to catering to get some food?" Dawn asked sweetly, batting her eyes playfully at Kurt.

"Do you even have to ask?" he joked, holding his arm out to her in a grand gesture.

She took it and smiled at him. Kurt smiled back at her. This whole with two girls thing was actually kind of fun. He was never the type to actually juggle two girls at once, it wasn't really his style. But not that he was actually doing it, it was kind of fun to have two pretty girls to occupy his time. He walked down to catering a smirk of self-satisfaction on his face.

Stephanie wandered down the hallways, looking for where the men's locker room was set up. She looked from door to door, trying to locate it. She was walking down one corridor, her mind so focused on locating Jericho that she didn't hear the thundering footsteps behind her. Suddenly she felt herself scooped up and she screamed in fright. She heard familiar laughing and saw her abductor was Jericho. She hit him in the arm.

"Jerk!"

"Excuse me?" he said, kissing her cheek.

"You scared me!" she said, looking at him.

"Didn't mean to, I thought you would've heard me coming, but you were so wrapped up in your thoughts, you didn't even give me a second glance."

"I know, I was just focusing on locating you," she said.

"Oh, did you miss me?"

"Of course," she said, kissing him as she wrapped her arms around her neck to give her more leverage, "Put me down."

"Hmm...........nah," he said finally.

"Please," she said, giving her best pouting face.

"But I like having you in my arms," he said charmingly.

"Come on, do you just want people walking by seeing you with me in your arms, like we're weirdos?"

"I think pretty much everyone already thinks we're weirdos. You know, the whole spotted past, hated enemies turn into the hottest couple kind of the thing. It freaks people out."

"Well, then let's not give them any more reason to think we're weirdos, put me down," she demanded.

He set her down gently, giving into her. He knew when to not put up a fight with her, and this was one of those times. She fixed her jumpsuit and he pulled one of her bra straps down so it was showing. She gave him a dirty look and fixed it. He pulled it down again and she pulled it up, looking at him sternly.

"What are you trying to pull?"

"Your bra strap," he said innocently.

"We're in the hallway."

"I was just joking, what crawled up your ass and died?" he asked, tugging a little on her hair.

"Geez, what are you? Four?"

"Yeah Stephanie, I'm four," Jericho said sarcastically.

"Thought so," she said, walking away, wanting to go to the monitors for the beginning of the show which would be in a few minutes.

Jericho sighed and followed her, having to jog a bit to catch up to her. She was a little bit testy lately, going off on anything that managed to set her off. The past couple of days, the tiniest things had sent her into a fit of rage. Jericho had left a towel on the ground and she had blown up at him. He was trying to be patient with her, but it was difficult when she was being so incredibly stubborn.

He followed her to the monitors where she stopped to watch. Figuring that now wasn't the best time to open his big mouth, he just stood there, watching with her. After a few moments, he took a step closer to her and gently, slowly slid his hand around her waist. He glanced over at her quickly to gauge her reaction and she had a small smile on her face, so he figured it was ok to proceed and wrapped it even tighter. So involved in this game were they, that neither noticed Linda had just walked behind them, on her way to the ring.

Stephanie was shocked as she heard the familiar tune that could only signify the arrival of her mother. She quickly turned around and could just see her mom go through the curtain. She turned to Jericho, who was staring at the monitor, and she saw he was surprised as well.

"I didn't know your mom was here," Jericho said.

"It's news to me too," she said, "She didn't tell me anything about this. I wonder what she needs, she never comes on shows unless there's something pretty big going on."

"Well, then maybe she has something important to say."

Stephanie shushed him as she turned her attention to the monitor before her, which her mother was on. She listened intently as her mother outlined the destruction of the McMahon family. She agreed completely, she had been saying that for a long time now. She knew her family unit was disintegrating. At least she was glad to know that her mother didn't approve of Shane's actions either. She wasn't the only one who thought he was crazy for what he had done.

She felt bad for her mother when she said she wanted the match to be called off. She wasn't going to do it, and her mother deserved to know that. Leaning up to give Jericho a kiss she walked out onto the stage and down to the ring. She climbed in and smiled warmly at her mother, glad to see the one parent who actually cared for her. She took the floor and basically told her mother that it wasn't going to happen, that she wasn't going to turn down this match, for better or for worse. She couldn't back down from her father, she couldn't let him get the upper-hand.

Vince came out next and swaggered down to the ring. Stephanie looked at her mother, he was too busy giving her father looks of disgust. She thought her mother was an incredibly strong woman, and she had no more respect for her, then when she realized she had actually put up with her father for a good number of years. That took a lot of strength. Strength even Stephanie didn't think she possessed.

Her father started in on her, much like usual. She took it as best she could, not letting his words sting. The ones she understood anyways. She didn't understand the whole cleansing of the soul thing. If her father didn't want her so bad, then he shouldn't have had her, plain and simple. Problem solved.

Her mother went on to make an interesting proposition on Stephanie's behalf. And she had to admire her mother once again for coming up with the idea of having her father give something up. He SHOULD have to put something on the line. She suddenly had a lot more stake in the match as she found out that she could oust her father if she won. That was sounding awfully nice right about now. She smirked at the thought of victory.

Then the whore herself had to come sauntering down to the ring, in her horribly ridiculous outfit, which of course her father was drooling over, typical. She tried to remain calm as Sable came out. Her mother was acting with poise and grace, as usual, but Stephanie, being too much like Vince, was ready to pounce on the bitch and tear her from limb to limb. She was about to go on a tirade, when Linda stepped in and took care of it herself. She had to laugh at her mother's dig on Sable. Yeah, her mom could really hold her own.

Then Sable kicked her mother and Stephanie saw red. She rushed to Linda's side and made sure that she was ok. As soon as she heard the good word from her mom, she turned her sights to Sable, who was standing there, a smug look on her face. Stephanie narrowed her eyes and could only see on thing, Sable had laid her filthiness on her mother. Stephanie got up and tackled Sable to the ground, pounding her, wanting to hurt her, needing to hurt her.

She was thrown off moments later and she stood up, her anger not dissipating but growing more each second. She tried to rush to Sable again, but got a huge clothesline from her father and found herself staring at the top of the arena. Her breath had been forced out of her and she lay there as her mother came to her and helped her sit up. She looked to the ramp where her father and Sable were, and she gave them a dirty look as her mother kneeled over her.

Eventually they both stood up and got out of the ring, walking up the ramp, Stephanie taking strength from Linda, "Are you ok Mom?"

"Yes Stephanie, I'm fine," her mother told her softly.

"Good, I was ready to kill Sable for touching you," Stephanie said as they walked backstage.

Stephanie was spotted almost immediately by Josh Matthews and he came over for an interview. She briefly said that she and her mother were both fine and that since Sable was on her father's side at No Mercy, that Linda would be on her side. It seemed only fair after all.

Jericho walked over to Stephanie and gave her a hug. She returned it, then pulled away, but keeping a loose embrace with him. He kissed the tip of her nose. Stephanie could feel her father's eyes on her and she looked over her shoulder to where her father was spying on her and Jericho. She turned back around quickly and with the palm of her hand, put it to Jericho's cheek and made him face her, and kissed him deeply.

"Chris, it's so nice to see you again," Linda said.

Jericho pulled away from Stephanie and turned to Linda, "Linda, it's nice to see you as well. You're looking great tonight. I guess it runs in the family, well, the women of the family."

Stephanie blushed, "Oh stop."

Jericho laughed at her embarrassment, "She's just too cute for words."

"I'm glad you two found each other," Linda said, smiling at them both, knowing that there was a plan going on here, but also knowing these two were very much for real.

"Been talking up both my wife and my daughter Jericho?" Vince said, walking over to the three of them.

"When I'm in the presence of beauty, it's hard not to comment. But I'm sure you don't have that problem, what with you being with Sable," Jericho shot back.

"Good one Jericho, I'll just leave you to these two bitches."

"Good, because I don't particularly want to be around an asshole," Stephanie called out as her father walked away.

"Hey, you two going to be ok?" Jericho asked, "I'm going to go chat with your father for a few minutes."

"I understand," Stephanie said, embracing him and then whispering in his ear, "Give him hell."

"I will," he whispered back.

"Come on Mom, we'll go talk or something," Stephanie said, walking away with her mom.

Jericho went up to Vince and tapped him on the shoulder. Vince turned around, a grin that could be only described as evil planted on his face. Jericho wanted to smack that grin right off his face, but the time for that would come later. Instead he cleared his throat.

"How's it going?"

"She's good, I don't know what else you want me to do about it."

"Just make sure that you keep her happy as possible. Then the downfall of losing both the match and you will be perfect," he said.

"Vince, did you ever consider what this might do to her?" Jericho asked, looking for understanding or compassion, or anything that would show him Vince actually had a heart.

"I don't care," Vince said, brushing it off.

"Maybe I'm not you Vince, but she's going to be so hurt by this. I don't know if I want to put her through that."

"Don't get emotionally involved Chris, this is business, you have to keep that in mind when you deal with her."

"But she's human."

"Just do what I'm asking of you," Vince ordered, "Anything else, don't worry about. You will have a clear conscience when this is over."

"I love your daughter," he blurted out, not knowing where that came from.

"Oh, that's good," Vince said, "If you tell her that, then she'll be even worse off."

Jericho just stood there in disbelief. Did Vince think that everything around him was a game? Was everyone who played a role in his life just pawns for him? Did he even recognize human emotions that weren't revenge or anger? He had just said he loved Stephanie and he didn't even recognize sincerity.

"Fine Vince," Jericho conceded, "Whatever you want."

Jericho walked away silently. Never had he felt worse for Vince. The man was just so cold and machine-like, it made him sad to think about. He shook his head and just went to find Stephanie. He walked down to her office and saw the Undertaker knocking on the door.

"Hey Taker," Jericho said.

"Jericho," his gruff voice answered, "Came to talk to your girlfriend. You two are big news around here."

"Seems like it," Jericho said.

"I know what you're doing," Taker said ominously.

Jericho gave him a look of confusion, "What?"

"I see things Jericho, I know things. Vince has entreated you to be with Stephanie so that you can hurt her even more."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jericho was amazed at the insight that Taker had. It was almost other-worldly. Either that or he was a really good spy. Either way, he knew things that he shouldn't know and that was not a good thing in this case.

"I see you talk with Vince, you're plotting with him," Taker said, "But something else is going on."

"You don't know anything," Jericho said, shaking his head.

"You're falling for Stephanie," Taker said, "A very difficult position you're in boy, choose wisely."

Jericho stood there as Taker went in to talk with Stephanie. If only Taker knew he had already fallen for Stephanie, a hundred times over. An idea pricked at his brain as he stood there. Something Taker had said had triggered something inside of him and he stood there, just thinking.

"Hi," Stephanie said, looking up at the large man, "What can I help you with?"

"Stephanie, I wanted a change of match between Brock and I?" Taker said, not mincing words.

"What kind of change?" she asked, "The match itself is already signed."

"I know, but I was hoping for a more..........shall we say, brutal match," Taker said surreptitiously.

"Oh really?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow in intrigue. She would love nothing more than to see Brock get what was coming to him.

"Chain match."

Stephanie smirked a little, "I can and will do that for you."

"Thank you," Taker said, "So you and Jericho?"

"Yeah, me and Jericho, why?"

"Keep an eye out for him Stephanie," he said simply.

"Ok," she said, though why she would need to do that escaped her at the moment.

Taker left and as soon as he was gone, Jericho walked inside the room. Stephanie looked over at him and smiled, gesturing for him to come sit down on one of the chairs in front of her. He complied and sat there thinking.

"Taker said the strangest thing to me," Stephanie told him.

"Yeah?" Jericho asked, looking up.

"He said to keep my out for you."

"He knows about the deal I mad with your father," Jericho informed her.

"How'd he find out."

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"He must have meant to keep an eye out because you were trying to hurt me," Stephanie said, "He only has one side of the story."

"Yeah, I guess," Jericho said, "He also said he knew I was falling for you."

"You already love me," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, "You've done your falling."

"Well, as far as he knows, ya know. I mean, he doesn't know I've loved you for a long time."

"Oh well, the less he knows, the better."

"Yeah, I mean, I was thinking though. I mean, yeah, he thinks I'm actually falling for you.........."

"So?" she asked, looking over some papers as she listened to him.

"Well, I mean, what if your father thought that too."

"He doesn't, trust me, he's an idiot," she said, writing some notes down on her notepad.

"Well, that's not exactly what I meant Stephanie."

"What did you mean then?" she said, writing some more.

"You love me right?" Jericho asked.

"Dumb question, yes."

"I love you too," he responded.

Stephanie looked up at him and gave him a weird look. She could see he was orally thinking, trying to make an idea by forming other ideas together. She let him be with his thoughts and went back to work. There was still a show going on after all. She took some papers and turned her chair so she could stretch out her legs as she read them.

"Steph?"

"Hmm?"

"What if when this thing with your father is over and he wants me to end the plan that we had..........what if I told him I had fallen for you and that I love you and want to be with you?"

The papers dropped from her hands in shock.


	141. I Don't Know Why I Watch, October 13, 20...

A/N: Ugh, please no Trish/Jericho, I just don't think I could stand it. ;)

Oh, and look for a new fic coming very soon. :D

* * *

Jericho looked over at Stephanie apprehensively, trying to see her face, which was partially hidden behind a magazine. She had been pretty quiet all weekend, ever since he had told her of what he wanted to do. She hadn't outright denied his idea, but he knew that she had to mull it over, and he told her he would give her time to think about it. They did have a week to go until the match.

She wasn't trying to avoid the question, he knew that, she was just kind of shocked that he had asked that. He was supposed to be married, or so her father thought. This would create problems, and then there was the whole thing with her dad and whether or not he would accept them. Especially because he was supposed to just be out to get her.

"Stop staring at me," Stephanie said from behind her magazine.

"I wasn't staring, I was just looking at you."

"Either way, it's bugging me ok?" she said, putting her magazine down.

"Well, sorry," he said, testily. There was a lot of tension going around.

"Chris, sweetie, I know what you're doing, I just have to think about it ok?" she said, her tone softer and less harsh than it had been before.

"I know you do, I'm not denying you that."

"Yes, you are, you keep staring at me, willing me to answer you," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just won't look at you then!" he said, turning his back to her.

Stephanie got up silently and walked over to where Jericho was sitting and sat behind him. She rubbed his lower back softly and kissed his neck. He sighed and reached behind him to grab her hands and wrap them around his waist. She leaned her chin on his shoulder and looked at the side of his face.

"How's your face?" she asked, looking at the bruises and cuts.

"They're fine, don't worry about me," he said, "I've been much worse off before."

"You should have faked that you were injured more and then we could've taken the night off," she said.

"WE? Since when do you do anything on the show?" he joked.

"Very funny," she said, "You know what I meant. We wouldn't have had to come tonight."

"Yeah, but I like what I do."

"And what are you doing tonight anyways?"

"I'm calling out your brother," Jericho told her.

Stephanie stiffened at his words, "You're what?"

"I'm calling out your brother, I mean, he's injured Kane and he's injured Test, and he should be stopped, and he's just as bad as Austin really, thinks he can just run wild over the show."

"Chris," she said softly, "We both know that's not why you're doing this.........."

"Of course it is. It's not cool to see him going around injuring wrestlers. He should realize what he's done, and he should be stopped."

"Chris," she said again, "You're calling him out because of what he said to me last week, about not supporting him."

Jericho cringed, she could read him like a book. Yes, that was the main motive he had in this whole thing, not that he would tell anyone but her that was the truth. He didn't mind doing the valiant thing, just to prove that chivalry wasn't dead. But he needed a better excuse to call out Shane than the fact he hurt Stephanie's feelings. If that was the basis for which he called people out, he had a few other people on the roster he wanted to talk to as well, starting with Vince McMahon.

"Fine, you caught me, happy now?" he said.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Hey, Shane may be my friend, but you, you are the woman I love, and if he hurts your feelings, than it's my duty to do something about it. Usually I don't get to because you're on SmackDown, but this time, I'll make sure that he knows not to upset my girl."

"This is why I love you," she said, kissing his cheek.

"I knew there had to be some reason you kept me around," he told her.

"I've got a couple more, but we can discuss those later," she said, nibbling on his ear.

Jericho laughed and turned around to capture her in his arms. He lay her on the couch and kissed her, running his hand up and down her side. He was about to run his hand up her shirt, when production knocked on his door saying that the show was starting in a few minutes.

"I want to be out there first so Shane knows I mean business," Jericho said as he pulled away from Stephanie.

"Ok," she said, leaning up to kiss him gently.

"I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, you will."

He smiled and kissed her once more before getting up. He left the dressing room and went down to Christian's locker room. He knocked on the door and Christian answered moments later. He nodded his head and Christian nodded to Trish who smiled and nodded. Christian left the room and walked down the hall side-by-side with Jericho.

"I think I'm going to tell Trish," Christian said when they were almost to the ramp.

"Are you sure?" Jericho asked, turning towards his friend, "You chickened out last time."

"I know, but every day it's like torture, I just don't think I can keep it from her anymore. I mean, every second it's like, will it all come crashing down on me?"

"Yeah," Jericho said, clapping Christian on the back, "Let's go out there and do this then."

"Ok," Christian nodded, but he was some place else, Jericho could tell.

Jericho and Christian walked down the ramp, interrupting the recap of what had happened last week, saying they had things to talk about. They climbed into the ring and Jericho started talking about Shane. He didn't say the real reason why he was out there, but he had plenty of other reasons that were perfectly viable as to why he was pissed at Shane. He showed footage of Test and Shane from the weekend, strengthening his point. He also let Christian do some talking as well, letting him get a word in.

It wasn't long before Shane had come out to confront the two of them. Jericho stared him down as he came down the ramp. They both knew what this was about, and it had nothing to do with Austin, or Kane, or any other people. It had to do with Stephanie, and Shane was wise enough to know he had made the wrong choice when he had said some choice words to Stephanie.

Jericho launched in on Shane as soon as he was in the ring, and Shane shot stuff right back at him. There was some definite animosity between them tonight. Considering Stephanie was at the heart of this argument, both men were passionate, and Christian was the one who felt it the most. He had learned long ago, even before they were together that Jericho had a soft spot for Stephanie, even if the other blonde Canadian hadn't seen it.

La Resistance made there way down and pretty soon Shane knew that he was outnumbered. He did the only thing he could, went after the man who was the most pissed at him and he clotheslined Jericho. Jericho got up and stepped back away from the other three men who were beating on Shane. He cheered them on, hoping that Shane felt one iota of the hurt that Stephanie had. Then he decided to lock on the Walls, and put Shane in it to the breaking point. His mind kept repeating the same thing over and over again, "This is for her."

When the Dudleys came down, Jericho almost didn't let go, wanting Shane to feel his wrath, but at the last second decided not to be stupid and got out of the ring quickly. He went up the ramp with the other three guys as the Dudleys talked trash to them and challenged them right then and there. Jericho stared at Shane, knowing his real beef was with the older of the McMahon children. Jericho, Christian and La Resistance didn't take the Dudley's bait and went backstage.

"Wish me luck," Christian whispered to Jericho as they walked back to their respective locker rooms.

"Good luck man," Jericho said, giving his friend a sort of half hug, half pat on the back.

Christian took a deep breath as he dropped Jericho off at his locker room. He walked back slowly to his own locker room, and he knew he was just trying to delay this conversation. He didn't want to put Trish through this, but keeping it from her was just as bad, maybe even worse. He took another calming breath as he entered the locker room, where she was combing her hair. She smiled up at him, and he could already feel tears in his eyes.

"So what's up with Chris and Shane?" Trish asked, not looking up at him.

"Shane said some stuff to Stephanie and upset her and you know how Chris is when it comes to someone badmouthing Stephanie," he explained.

"Yeah, it means you just signed your death certificate," she laughed, "I'm sure they'll get over it."

"Yeah............um, Trishy, can we talk?" Christian asked, almost inaudibly, part of him hoping that Trish wouldn't hear.

"Of course Chrissy," she said.

Christian damned himself for her hearing him. He tried to smile, but found that he couldn't get his muscles to work. He slowly made his way to the couch and sat down hesitantly. She turned her body towards him and smiled, reaching her hand out and grabbing his, bringing it into her lap.

"So what's up?"

"Trish, I'm a horrible, horrible person," he began.

"Oh Chrissy, just because you want Austin out doesn't make you horrible," she said, kissing him quickly. Christian licked his lips to savor her every move. This was going to be so hard.

"No Trish, it's nothing to do with that," he said, looking down.

Trish was starting to get worried, Christian was acting awfully serious, which wasn't that usual for him. She rubbed his hand with both of her, his hands suddenly feeling cold. She looked at his bowed head and wondered what he could possibly be thinking. He lifted his chin and she could see tears in his eyes. She furrowed her brow and searched his face for answers.

"I love you," he said softly, "So much."

"I know," she said, starting to feel really worried.

"I just needed to say it...........in case I never get to say it again," he told her.

"Chrissy, you're starting to frighten me," she told him, scooting closer, "What's wrong?"

"I-I, Trish, I'm so sorry," he said.

"Christian, what happened? What is it?" she said, her eyes filled with worry.

"I cheated on you," he whispered.

Trish had known pain. Going into the ring every single night, she knew what it was like to feel pain. She had gotten injured, knew how much it hurt to just take bumps each and every single night. She knew it. But this, this was so much worse. She felt like somebody had just stolen the breath from her body and she couldn't breathe. She felt like she was drowning and she was so unaware of it until she felt the tears on her lips.

"Wh-what?" she whispered.

"Trish, I'm so sorry," Christian pleaded.

"No, this is a lie. You're lying!" she cried out, "Where's the joke? There has to be a joke."

"Trish, I don't know what to say, I didn't mean to--"

"What!?!" she screamed, "You didn't meant to? That's your excuse! That's your sorry ass excuse."

"We were drunk."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better!" she said, "When?"

"Several weeks ago."

"And I'm just now hearing about this?" she said, disgusted, "You asshole! How could you?!?" 

"Trish, babe, I'm so sorry, it was one time, it wasn't even sex, it was just fooling around."

Trish gave him a look of pure hatred, "And THAT is supposed to make this all better!?! Who was it Christian?"

"Trish, please, let's just sit down and talk about this," he said, reaching for her hand.

She pulled her hand back as if she was being burned, "Don't you dare touch me, don't you put your filthy hands on me! Do you hear me?"

"Ok," he conceded, "But please, let's just talk about this."

"Who was it?" she asked again, but more demanding now.

"Trish--"

"Who the fuck was it!?!"

"Molly."

Trish guffawed. It all suddenly became clear. Every fucking thing that Molly had done to her became clear. She had fooled around with Christian and she was lording it over Trish. Trish looked at Christian in absolute horror and disgust as reality washed over her.

"She didn't want attention," Trish said, shaking her head, looking at Christian through teary eyes, "She did it because she wanted you. Because she had had you."

"Yeah," Christian said, looking down, tears falling from his own eyes.

"God, I don't even know what to say to that," she said, breaking down, "I don't even know what to think."

"Trish, I don't wanna lose you," Christian said quietly.

"You should've fucking thought about that before you fooled around with Molly," Trish told him, "You should've fucking used your damn common sense."

Trish ran out of the locker room, ignoring Christian's pleading with her not to go. She needed to be alone right now. She needed to get away from Christian, away from everything there. But she couldn't leave because she had a match. She went into a deserted part of the arena and leaned against the wall, her breath coming in short gasps partly from her running and partly because she was in such shock. She sank against the wall and cried.

"I wonder if he did it," Stephanie said as she walked out of the bathroom.

"I don't know, he said he was going to," Jericho said.

There was a rapping on the door and Jericho looked towards it. He got up and gave Stephanie a glance, fully expecting it to be either Christian or Trish. Instead Shane, in his ring gear, was standing there, looking at the two of them. Jericho looked him up and down.

"Can we help you?"

"I just wanted to see Stephanie," Shane said shortly.

"I don't want to see you Shane," Stephanie said from behind Jericho. 

"Stephanie, can we just talk?" he said, getting annoyed.

"No, I don't want to talk to someone who thinks I don't care about them."

"Stephanie, come on, you can't expect me not to feel the way I do. The guy had it coming."

"Regardless of that, you shouldn't have done what you did ok?" Stephanie said, "Even Mom didn't like it."

"Look, I don't care what the two of you think about it, he deserved it."

Stephanie walked up to the door and ducked underneath Jericho's arm to stand in front of Jericho, "No Shane. He didn't. Nobody deserves to be put in a moving vehicle that is about to be run into a big rig."

"Stephanie, how can you be so naïve?"

"Excuse me."

"He'd just keep brutalizing people and brutalizing people, and nobody could stop him, I had to stop him."

"I don't think it was the right thing to do."

"You just don't get it Stephanie!" Shane yelled.

"Ok, that's enough," Jericho interrupted, stepping in front of Stephanie, "I suggest you get out of here."

"Chris, we're friends," Shane said.

"Yeah, and I'm Stephanie's boyfriend, and I suggest that you don't piss me off any more than I already am."

"You two just don't understand where I'm coming from."

"Maybe we don't Shane, but that doesn't give you the right to treat Stephanie like that, friend or no friend," Jericho said.

"Well, then we'll settle this in the ring," Shane said.

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked.

"Looks like we've got a match coming up next," Shane said, looking at Jericho, "Table match. And I won't hesitate to put you through one."

"Neither will I," Jericho said, "You make Stephanie upset, I break you in half."

Shane nodded seriously, as if contemplating what being broken in half would be like. He walked off not looking back, as Stephanie looked up at Jericho. She smiled at him, then shook her head at how he always had to protect her. Even against her own brother. Sometimes even against herself.

"So I guess I have to change," he said.

"Seems so," she said, "Sweetie?"

"Uh huh?" he said, as he rooted through his bag for his ring attire.

"Go easy on him," Stephanie said faintly.

"What?"

"I mean, he's, just go easy on him, please, for me," she said.

Jericho gave her a kind smile, "You know I will."

She smiled, "Thank you."

"I can't say no to that face," he told her, kissing her as he got dressed.

He pulled up his ring pants and went to lacing up his boots. She sat down and watched him. He knew that she didn't want the two of them to fight, no matter how grateful she said she was about him defending her. It had to be hard for her, choosing between her brother and her boyfriend. He looked at her, as she looked at him. She gave him a tender smile.

"Ok, I'm going," he said, standing up.

"Good luck," she said, slapping him on the ass.

"Hey, what do you think I am, a piece of meat?" he kidded as he walked to the door.

"Nah, just my personal boy-toy."

He laughed and went down to the gorilla to wait around with his partners. Jericho saw Christian off to the side, wiping his eyes in vain. Jericho then realized that Christian had told her. Judging by the look of him, Jericho came to the easy conclusion that it had not gone well at all. He decided to leave Christian alone for the moment, not wanting to pry into his business. He wasn't Stephanie after all.

Jericho's music hit and the four men wandered down to the ring, Christian hanging back a little, trying to regain his composure. He didn't want to wrestle tonight, he just wanted to find Trish and try to work things out with her. He tried to get his mind on the match, but he just kept picturing her broken face as she had run out of the room.

Jericho, seeing his friend's distress, started off the match, wanting to take as much pressure off of Christian as possible. He fought with Booker T to start off and they fought back and forth until Jericho tagged in Dupree, still trying to keep Christian out of the match. He patted Christian's arm, letting him know without words that he was there for him. Christian looked at him gratefully as he was tagged in and went to work, taking his mind off of Trish for the moment.

Jericho watched Christian, and wondered where Trish was now. He hoped that she had gone to Stephanie. Stephanie would know what to do in the situation, and it would mean Trish wasn't alone. Jericho got tagged in again and went to work, focusing on the match. Eventually chaos broke loose and Jericho found himself facing the guy he had wanted to get his hands on all night long.

Shane grabbed Jericho by the hair and Jericho could feel himself get thrown in the ring. Jericho remembered his promise to Stephanie and didn't retaliate as much as he could've. He could've pounded Shane's face into the ground, but instead let Shane punch him. Jericho managed to get him over to where his teammates were and let the beat down commence.

Eventually Jericho and his teammates lost at the hands of one of the guys of La Resistance, and both Jericho and Christian just wanted to get out of there, neither one wanting any more to do with this. They walked up the ramp together and as soon as they were backstage, Jericho turned to Christian.

"What happened?"

"She got pissed, and she left," he said simply, but Jericho could hear the pain in his voice.

"Where is she?"

"No clue, she stormed out and I didn't want to follow her."

Jericho sighed, "Ok, why don't you go back to your locker room and if I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."

"Ok, I guess," Christian said, sullenly, walking by himself.

Jericho watched him walk away and shook his head. He walked back to his own dressing room, hoping that Trish was there. She wasn't, just Stephanie sitting on the couch, watching the television, where Shane was still in the ring, gloating or talking to Shane or something else that Jericho wasn't interested in.

He grabbed some clothes and kissed the top of Stephanie's head. She looked up at him and said, "Thanks for trying not to hurt him too bad."

"Anything for you," he said, going into the bathroom, then sticking his head out, "Has Trish been here?"

"No, why?" Stephanie said, looking at him.

"Oh, Christian told her and she ran off, and he hasn't seen her."

Stephanie closed her eyes, "I haven't seen her. It went badly."

"Yeah, I don't know the details, Christian looked like a wreck, I didn't want to pry."

"I understand," she said, "Trish's match is coming up soon. I guess we'll at least know where she is during that."

"Oh yeah, I guess, I can wait on the shower," he said, coming back out, "I wanna see it."

"Ok," she said, patting the spot next to her.

He sat down and she leaned against him, despite the fact he was sweaty and dirty. She didn't care about things like that, and she tilted her head to look at him. She smiled to herself. She was lucky to have found him. She knew that he would never cheat on her. He just didn't have it in him. She kissed his chin.

"What was that for?"

"Just for you being you," she told him, her eyes glowing in happiness.

"Hmm, that's a good enough reason for me," he grinned, just as they heard Trish's music.

They both looked intently at her, but she seemed to have cleaned herself up pretty well. They could see sadness in her eyes, but she was trying not to let it show. The match started and Trish tried to get into it, but as she saw Molly across the ring, a smug look on her face, Trish tried to block out her face, but she just kept staring at her, wondering what it was that made Christian go after her.

Finally the moment of truth came and Trish found herself in the ring with Molly. She hit Gail, and stratusfied Molly, she only wished she could've done some more damage. She was hurting and her heart was breaking just being in the vicinity of somebody who had been with her boyfriend. It was then she stopped caring.

Jericho and Stephanie both had looks of anxiety as they saw the match end. It was then that Victoria and Richards decided to go after Trish. And Trish wasn't putting up that much of a fight. She looked like the fight had been drained from her. It was a sad sight to behold.

Jericho couldn't take it anymore and let himself out of Stephanie's arms. She was about to ask where he was going, but realized exactly where he was going. She smiled to herself as she turned back to the screen, preparing to see her man coming down to help his friend.

Jericho raced down to the ring and looked at Trish, who was being held by Victoria. She looked up at him and she looked like she wanted to cry. Jericho looked at her and then turned and hit Richards. He took care of him quickly and then pie-faced Victoria to the ground before helping Trish up. She looked up at him and he could see the anguish in her eyes. She could barely look at him, because she knew what he was seeing.

"Trish, it'll be ok," he whispered.

She just stared at him, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to react. How could anything be ok? How could she possibly look at Christian or Molly without feeling that dull ache in her heart that she felt at this moment? How could she stand to be in the same arena with Christian, knowing that he had betrayed her.

Jericho cupped Trish's face in his hands, searching her eyes, which were clouded with agony. He tried to see anything, anything that he could construed at something positive. But she just seemed dead on the inside.

"Trish, I'll see you backstage," he whispered again as he let go of her and stepped back.

She tried to see Jericho's smile. She knew it was nothing more than a smile of pity for her. Yes, pity. He tried to bring some light-hearted good cheer to the situation, but she wanted to just curl up in the corner of that ring and die. Jericho stared at her as he left, smiling, trying to be cheerful, trying to pretend that Trish wasn't heartbroken and that Christian wasn't in the back, damning himself to hell. 

He waited backstage and then saw her dragging herself down the steps. She looked up and saw him and he tried to give her another smile, but she wasn't having it. He went up to her and hugged her to him. She didn't hug back, just let her arms lay limp at her sides.

"Oh Trish," he said sympathetically.

It was that sympathetic lilt in his voice that finally broke the dam to her tears. She let loose and sobbed loudly into his chest. He felt her holding onto him tightly and he just stood there with her as she cried. At least she was crying he thought to himself. She was letting herself feel.

Jericho spotted Stephanie coming down to see them and she cringed when she heard Trish's still loud sobs. Jericho gestured for her to come over and she quickened her pace to come to their side. Jericho gently passed off Trish to Stephanie who hugged her tightly.

"Trish, come on, let's go back to our locker room, ok," Stephanie said soothingly. Trish didn't say anything and Stephanie led her away, then turned back to Jericho, "Sweetie, can you get her some water?"

"Yeah, sure," Jericho said, watching as the two of them walked away, Stephanie smoothing down Trish's unkempt hair.

Jericho walked down to catering and retrieved a couple of bottles of water. As he was walking back, he ran into Austin who went on to actually berate him because he had helped Trish. He even had the audacity to ask if he and Trish were together. Jericho was disgusted and told Austin that he knew how to treat a lady. God, the man was dense. He was helping out a distraught friend.

He left Austin and went back to his own locker room where Stephanie and Trish were waiting. He could still hear Trish sobbing, even from out in the hallway. He opened the door, before walking inside. Stephanie glanced up at him, angst on her face. Trish was crying on Stephanie's shoulder, and she could feel her shirt getting soaked.

"Hey Trish, I got you some water," Jericho offered, trying to help, and hoping to squelch her tears.

She looked up at him, her eyes already bloodshot, "Thank you."

"Not a problem," he said, sitting down on the other side of her, handing her the bottle.

She took a sip and managed to quiet down her sobs to an occasional burst of tears. She wiped her eyes as best she could before Stephanie reached into her purse and produced some tissues for her. She took one and dabbed her eyes and blew her nose.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess," she told them.

"Hey, no need for that, you don't have to apologize," he told her, "You're going through a tough time."

"Yeah, but I'm making a fool out of myself."

"No you're not," Stephanie insisted, "You've been through a lot in a short amount of time, you have every right to be upset."

"I guess," she sniffled, "So how long have you guys known?"

"What?" Jericho asked.

"Please you guys," Trish said, "I may be upset, but I'm not stupid, I know that he had to have told someone, this is Christian we're talking about."

"A while," Stephanie admitted, "We didn't say anything because we knew that Christian should be the one to tell you."

"Yeah, it's ok, I understand," she said, "I just wish that..........it doesn't matter now."

Someone knocked and Jericho got up to answer it, "Dude, I don't think this is the best time."

"Please, can I just talk to her," Christian begged.

"Christian," Jericho said in a hushed voice, "Just give her some time ok? She's not in a good place right now."

"Chris, please," Christian implored.

"Is that Christian?" Trish asked.

"Trish, please let me talk to you!" Christian said, trying to get into the room, but Jericho stepped in his way, blocking entrance to him.

"We have nothing to say to each other," Trish said, "Nothing!"

"Trish, I'm begging you!"

"Christian, just go," Jericho said, "Give her some time to think."

"Fine," Christian said, "But I'm not giving up on you Trish!"

Jericho closed the door and looked to Trish and Stephanie, "Trish, do you want to stay with us tonight?"

"Can I?"

"Of course you can," Stephanie told her, "You're always welcome to stay with us."

"Thanks," she told them, "I just don't think that I can anywhere near him right now."

"Don't worry about it," Jericho said, "The more the merrier."

"Yeah, we can pig out or something," Stephanie said, "We'll order up room service and just stuff our faces until we're ready to pop."

"Sounds good," Trish said, trying to laugh.

"It will be," Jericho said, "You want me to go get your stuff?"

Trish nodded and Jericho smiled in response. He went to Christian's locker room and knocked. Christian raced to the door, hoping it was Trish, but was disappointed to find Jericho on the other side.

"Trish wanted me to get her things," Jericho said, letting himself in the room and picking up Trish's bag.

"You're not going to be taking sides in this are you?" Christian said.

Jericho turned to him, "You hurt one of my friends. It's hard to look past that. But you're my friend too. You made a mistake, we all do. I can't think any less of you because you're human.........."

"But Stephanie?"

"Oh, Stephanie will probably want to kick your ass from here to Timbuktu," Jericho said, "But she'll keep her cool, if only for my sake."

Christian nodded, "I regret that night."

"I know you do," Jericho said.

"Just tell her one thing for me," Christian said.

"Sure," Jericho said.

"Tell her I love her...........tell her I'll never stop."


	142. No Vince and Steph Match Please, October...

"Hey, you look beautiful!"

"You're such a liar."

"I am not, you are looking exquisite."

"Kurt, you are just trying to make me feel better," Trish said as he joined her, Jericho and Stephanie for lunch in their hotel.

"Of course I'm not, I don't know whether it's the lighting or something, but you are just looking so gorgeous."

"Ok, Kurt, lay it on a little thicker," Jericho said as he threw his arm around Stephanie's shoulder.

"Nah," Kurt replied as he sat down next to Trish, "I just think she does look great."

Trish scoffed, "You guys, I know that you are trying to make me feel better, and I know that you're trying to take my mind off of him, but you don't have to act like I have a terminal disease."

"We know, but we just hate seeing you so despondent," Stephanie told her.

"I know, but it'll get better."

Trish was glad that she had decided to spend the week with Jericho and Stephanie. Despite her obvious apprehension at first, she was enjoying spending time with them. She, for the most part, had been able to keep her mind off of Christian, and Molly. Just thinking that name put a scowl on her face.

She had at first thought that being around a happy couple would be a little bit trying for her, but it wasn't at all. Jericho and Stephanie were happy, yes, but they didn't show off their happiness. They were so comfortable with each other. She had thought she had that with Christian, but obviously it hadn't been enough to keep him around.

Where had she gone wrong? Did she not spend enough time with him? Did she not make him happy? These questions kept running through her mind, every single second since he had said those horrible words, the words that reverberated through her mind, that she fell asleep thinking about.

"Trish," Stephanie said, drawing her out of her trance.

"Um, yeah, what?" Trish said, turning her head to the brunette.

"I was asking if you wanted to go to the show with us early."

"Oh, um, if I don't........."

"You can come with me," Kurt chimed in.

"Ok, yeah, I'll go with Kurt," Trish said, smiling at him as best she could.

"Great, I love having the company."

Trish smiled as she saw Stephanie and Jericho say goodbye and take their leave. Trish looked over at Kurt as he looked down at the menu. It would be nice to spend some time with him. They never really did get to hang out together alone, despite being friends with each other. And hopefully she wouldn't have to think of Christian anymore.

"You know you don't have to do this," Jericho said as they walked out to their car.

"I know, but I owe it to the fans, I just want to prepare myself in case I have to, you know, go away," she said, finishing off quietly.

Jericho sighed to himself. He knew this was hard for to go through, again. He remembered her before that match so long ago that they had partaken in together. She had been so nervous, but she had put on her brave face, but during the match, you could see the desperation in her eyes. He knew that look would be there this Sunday, and he'd be there too, just behind the scenes instead of by her side.

"I understand," he said, kissing her temple, "Have you thought anymore about what I said?"

He opened the car door for her and she got in, smiling at him. He ran around to his side of the car and got inside. He started it up and drove the arena, glancing over at Stephanie as she began to speak.

"I've been thinking about it Chris, just give me a little more time, ok," she said, leaning over to lay her head on his shoulder, "It's just..........why should my dad get to know? He doesn't deserve it."

"I know, but I just, I don't know why I want to Stephanie," he said honestly, "It's just like you want to shout at the top of your lungs that you love someone, and when you can't do that, it's a real blow."

She let out her breath slowly, "I understand, and I know that you want to do that, but my father, he's just, why should I tell him about the best thing in my life when he treats me like scum."

"Because that way I can really threaten to kick his ass and then do it," Jericho laughed.

Stephanie laughed as well, "And then you'd get fired."

"Oh well, I'm sure your mom would hire me back."

"Maybe, but then he'd override her, and you'd be out of work."

"So? Then we get married, have kids, the whole nine yards. There's more to life than wrestling."

She pulled back and looked at him, a bit shocked by the statement, "I never thought I'd hear you say something like that."

"Stephanie, I love wrestling, it's one of my passions. Do I love wrestling more than I love you? Absolutely not."

"You love me more than you love wrestling?" she asked, actually touched by his words. It wasn't that she didn't know that Jericho loved her, she knew he did, but to be put above something he had worked at for 13 years, she didn't realize she could top something he had done for so long, and so passionately.

"Stephanie, do you even have to ask?"

"Yeah, because I would love to know the answer," she said.

He reached over and grabbed her hand, "I love you more than I love wrestling, hell I love you more than I love myself."

Her eyes widened, "Wow, you must love me a lot."

He laughed, "I know, seeing as how I love myself so much."

"I love you too, that much," she told him.

"I know," he nodded as he pulled into the arena.

Stephanie went back over to her side of the car, smiling to herself a little. It was hard to not want to tell everyone about her and Jericho, especially when he said things like that. She knew that he wanted to tell people, well, not tell people, but be real to everyone, including her father. She couldn't argue with his logic, it seemed the only person who didn't know about the two of them was her ex-husband, and she couldn't wait until he found out. What was she so afraid of?

Jericho opened the door for her and she got out, grabbing her bag. She felt him grab her hand as they made their way inside. She walked a little closer to him, so there was no space between them. She just wanted to get tonight over with, then she would go back to the hotel and not think about wrestling for the next two days. Unfortunately, her father and Sable had decided to block their path. Well, this wasn't the best way to start her day.

"I just want to get to my office," Stephanie said, feeling Jericho squeeze her hand.

"Sorry," Sable said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "You don't have an office tonight."

Stephanie straightened up, "What are you talking about?"

"You're banned from the show," Vince said coldly.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard him Stephanie," Sable said, smirking.

"How can you do that to her?" Jericho asked, his voice angry as he entered the conversation.  
  
"Because I can," Vince said smugly.

"But this could be my last night!" Stephanie exclaimed, ready to gouge her father's eyes out.

"Yes, I realize that, and that's why I'm allowing you to do an interview before you are to leave the premises."

Stephanie set her jaw. She looked her father straight in the eye, and she didn't bat an eyelash. He thought she would break. Fuck that, she though to herself. She wasn't going to break, not for this bastard. She simply nodded, her own smirk coming to her face, and she grabbed Jericho's hand as they brushed past her father and Sable. She made sure to give her father a half shove as she walked by.

She stormed down the hall, Jericho following helplessly behind her as she practically dragged him into an empty locker room. As soon as she had closed the door, she let out an angry scream. Then she turned and punched the door, not even flinching as her fist pounded on the hard wood. Jericho physically took a step back, suddenly becoming very, very afraid of his girlfriend. He was scared he'd be the next target of her wrath.

"I hate him!" she screamed, "I hate him so much!"

"I know," Jericho said, trying to calm her down.

"I wish he would just go to hell, it's where he belongs," he said, her face turning red.

"Yeah, I understand," he said, walking over to her tentatively, "But punching things isn't going to solve anything, it's just going to make your knuckles swollen."

"I wanna punch him, but I have to wait until Sunday to do that," she said, her breathing becoming labored as she became more angry.

"Shh, shh," Jericho said, comfortingly, "You just have a few more days, then you can kick his ass to your heart's content."

"I want to kick his ass right now!"

"I know, but you can wait it out."

"I don't think I can," she answered, the rage in her voice evident.

"Of course you can. You just go do your interview and then we'll just go home tonight, ok?"

"What about Trish?" Stephanie asked, feeling calmer now that she heard Jericho's soothing voice as they sat down.

"Well, maybe she can spend a few days with Kurt. You know, it's away from Christian in Florida, and it's a new atmosphere. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And we can just spend the next few days in bliss without thinking about anything having to do with wrestling."

"That sounds nice," Stephanie said in a small voice.

"Yeah, we'll just spend the whole time in bed," he smirked.

She laughed, "Ok, I can get through tonight."

"Good, so go find out where this interview is, we'll go there, you'll do it and then we'll get the hell outta Dodge," he joked.

"Ok," she nodded, standing up, "You coming with me?"

"Of course," he said, getting up as well.

They walked down the hall to where a few production people were and Stephanie asked about the interview she was going to give. One of the producers informed her that there was a room already being set up for her and that the interview would be in about fifteen minutes. Stephanie nodded as she was led to the room.

They were still setting it up so Stephanie and Jericho decided to just wait outside. He leaned against the wall as she stood in front of him, leaning on him as he wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes, realizing that this could be the last SmackDown she would be attending. She felt a tear slip down her cheek and she reached up to intercept it before Jericho could realize that she was crying. She felt him kiss the top of her head, and she knew that he already knew. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and she just buried her head in the crook of his neck, not wanting to move ever, just stay in this moment, wrapped up in Jericho's arms.

"Stephanie, we're ready for you," Cole said as he opened the door.

Stephanie mumbled her response and reluctantly pulled away from Jericho. He gave her a kiss for luck and she entered the room, going over to sit in her designated chair. She put on her brave face as she sat down and put her microphone on. Cole smiled at her and asked how she was doing. She answered that she was pretty ok, and he told her they'd be starting the interview momentarily.

Stephanie sat there, knowing that she could get through this. She just had to be brave. She could do that, she could show her father that he didn't scare her, and that she could and hopefully would win on Sunday. Cole asked her how she felt about being banned and she answered honestly that it was petty, and she wasn't even given a chance to say goodbye on her own show. Just another thing her father had done to her that she couldn't stand.

The interview progressed and she was asked about her family. Her family, they were a mess right now, and everyone knew it. Her mother was really the only person in her family that actually gave a damn about her right now. Shane was too busy trying to kill Kane, and her father was too busy sleeping with Sable. But her mother, she had always been the rock in Stephanie's life, the one who never cared how crazy everything became, she just took it all in stride. She wished she was more like her mother than her father.

The turning point in the interview was when she talked about the relationship her father and her used to have. She was Daddy's Little Girl, who could never do anything wrong. She had stood in his corner more times than naught, and now it had come to this. She thought about her future, and answered honestly, she didn't want him in her life anymore, if he went through with this match. She talked about how her father would not walk her down the aisle at her next wedding, and she thought of Jericho on that one.

She didn't want her father joining in her happiness, and if that meant not having him as a part of her wedding to Jericho, than so be it. And when she and Jericho had children, well, she wouldn't want Vince near her baby. He would just corrupt it, and she wouldn't want that. But would she not want her father to know about any of it? Or would she rather rub it in his face a hundred times over?

Stephanie had had enough of this as the tears streaked down her cheeks. She needed to get out of here. She couldn't think about her father anymore. Bringing up all these memories was really hurting her and she could still remember the good times, and it hurt to think about how bad things had gotten. She rushed out of the room, and saw Jericho still leaning against the wall.

He pushed himself off the wall as he saw her storm out of the room. She immediately went for his arms and he took her. She cried into her neck as he rubbed her back. She couldn't see but Jericho saw Vince and Sable walking down, obviously coming to do more damage to Stephanie's already fragile state.

"Oh, the poor Princess is crying," Sable said laughing.

Jericho held Stephanie to him, not wanting her to respond. Sable was definitely not worth it. She could rot with Stephanie's father for all he cared. If it weren't for her, maybe none of this would've happened.

"Go away," Jericho spat.

"Stephanie, I suggest you leave," Vince said condescendingly.

"God, haven't you two done enough," Jericho said, walking away with Stephanie still clinging to him, "You should be ashamed of yourselves."

He walked out of there with her, neither of them looking back. They walked out to their car and got in. Jericho grabbed his cell phone, but before he could dial, Stephanie's hand shot out and stopped him. He looked at her curiously.

"Steph?"

"This Sunday, I want you to tell my father that you love me," she said simply.

"Really?" he asked, feeling a smile coming on.

"Yes really. If he's going to suffer, I want him to know that I'm happier than he ever will be," she said, smiling back.

Jericho smiled, "Let's get outta here."

"Let's."

Kurt and Trish were driving to the arena when Kurt's cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered it. Jericho was on the other end and asked to talk to Trish. Kurt shrugged and handed the phone to Trish, who took it.

"Hello?" Trish asked.

"Hey Trish, Stephanie and I are heading home, we were wondering if you wanted to come with us or whatever?" Jericho said.

"Um, I don't know, hold on," Trish said, then turned to Kurt, "Stephanie and Chris are going home, they wanted to know if I was coming."

"Stay with me," Kurt said, "I've got room."

"Ok," Trish said, then went back to the phone, "Chris, I'm just going to stay with Kurt."

"Cool, we'll see you guys later," Jericho said, "Bye."

"Bye," Trish said, hanging up, "I wonder why they're going home, there's a show."

"No clue," Kurt said, as he pulled into the arena, "Who knows with those two anyways?"

"I guess," Trish said, getting out.

They walked inside and Kurt led her to his dressing room. She sat down and looked around. Everything felt different. It was a different show and everything, but it just felt different from when she was at Raw. Maybe it was because she knew that she didn't have to work tonight. She was free to do whatever she wanted.

"You look happy," Kurt observed as he looked over the schedule to see that he didn't have a match, but he wanted to do a little something with Cena.

"I don't know, I guess there's no pressure tonight."

"Nope, none at all."

"Makes me want to get traded over here," she said.

"It'll get better," Kurt said.

"Kurt, you've never been cheated on."

"How do you know?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She gave him a look, "Ok, I haven't, but yeah, it's gotta suck."

"It does. I don't think I could go out there on Monday and face him. He'll be there, I know he's been calling my house, not to mention I had to turn off my phone because he kept calling."

"Well, I mean, don't you think you should talk to him," Kurt said, sitting down.

"I don't know," she said, "What is there to say?"

"He could explain what happened?"

"Yeah, that's just what I want to hear," Trish said, "Why he decided to cheat on me?"

"Well, that's your choice to make," Kurt said, pulling Trish in for a hug. She sighed and hugged him back.

At that moment, the door barged open, and Dawn Marie walked in, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Kurt pulled away from Trish, "Oh hey Dawn."

"I didn't realize that you weren't alone," she said, sending a semi-dirty look to Trish.

"Yeah, Trish was hanging out with some friends and she decided to come tonight," Kurt said, smiling at Trish.

"Oh," Dawn said, "I didn't mean to interrupt you two."

"You weren't," Trish said, "Did you want to talk to Kurt?"

"Yeah, I did," Dawn answered.

"Ok, I'll be right back Trish," Kurt said, walking out of the room, "So what's up?"

"I just wanted to come see you," Dawn said, hugging Kurt.

"It's nice to see you too," he said, hugging her back.

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to go out after the Pay Per View on Sunday?" she asked.

"You know, I think that's a great idea," Kurt said, smiling at her.

"Ok," Dawn said, throwing herself into his arms again, "We'll have a great time."

"Yeah," he laughed.

Dawn was a really nice girl, he had found out. She was actually a little bit shy backstage, which was a really huge shocker, seeing how she acted when she was out in the ring. She didn't seem like someone who would be shy, but she actually was kind of demure in a way. It was a nice surprise.

Of course, he couldn't get Gail off of his mind. They had talked a few times since she had called to apologize, and they had actually been good competitions. Gail didn't have a lot of friends on Raw, and seeing as how Molly wanted to be her friend, and took her in, Gail actually felt indebted to her. Kurt wanted to tell Gail how Molly was using her, but he refrained, not wanting her to get angry at him.

So now he had two girls, and he liked them both. He just had to figure out sometime who he liked better. He pulled away from Dawn and smiled at her, looking her in the eyes. She smiled back at him, then frowned slightly.

"Why is Trish really here?" she asked.

Kurt could tell she was jealous, "It's no biggie, she was having some relationship problems and she didn't want to be alone."

"Oh," Dawn said, nodding, "That's too bad."

"Yeah," he said, "I better go get ready though, I wanted to go out at the top of the show."

"Ok," Dawn said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

Kurt smiled and walked back into his locker room. He saw Trish sitting down looking down, "Sorry about that."

"It's ok," she said, "Can't help it if your girlfriend wants to talk to you."

"She's not my girlfriend," Kurt said.

"Uh huh," Trish said sarcastically, "She was so jealous to see me in here."

"I know," Kurt laughed, "Not my fault though. I've gotta change."

"Ok."

Kurt grabbed his bag and went into the bathroom to change. Trish got up and left, wanting to go in search of trouble. She hadn't been on the show for so long, she felt like she had lost touch with everyone who worked there. She was walking down the hallway and saw John Cena hanging around. Licking her lips a little, she went up to him.

"Hey," she said smiling.

"Yo," Cena said, turning around, surprised to see her there, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just here," Trish said, "Hanging around."

Cena nodded, "I don't think we've properly met, John Cena."

"Trish Stratus," she said, holding her hand out, as he shook it.

"You look great," he told her, looking her up and down.

"I know," she said arrogantly.

"I like a girl that knows she looks good," Cena told her.

"So you think I look good?"

"I think you look hot baby," he told her.

"Well thank you."

Kurt walked out of the room, and looked around, Trish was nowhere to be found. He shrugged and left, going to go open the show with his little plan that he was planning. He chuckled to himself at the genius of it all. He went down to the gorilla, not seeing Trish along the way and then went out, much to the delight of the crowd. He heard their laughter since he was dressed up as his opponent on Sunday. He proceeded to bash on Cena.

"So you doing anything later?" Cena asked.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Cool, cool," he said, then looked up at a monitor, "Fuck!"

Trish turned around and saw Kurt dressed as Cena, and tapping to a Kurt Angle little person. She didn't want to but she burst out laughing anyways. She heard Cena run away and then saw him go out into the ring having an altercation with Kurt. She was still laughing as the segment ended. She stood there watching, wondering if Cena would come back. Turns out he was coming back.

"Sorry about that," he said, his voice a little higher than usual.

"It's ok."

"That bastard just tried to psych me out," Cena said, hatred in his voice.

"Oh, well, it was funny."

"Forget that," he said, leaning in close to her, "How about you and me head out of here?"

Kurt walked down the hallways, knowing he was done for the night and wanting to get out of here. It was so rare he could actually leave. He turned a corner and spotted Trish and Cena very close together and Trish was smiling in a very flirtatious way, anyone could see that. Kurt walked over to them.

"Trish, let's get out of here," he said.

"Why?" she asked, "I'm having fun."

"Trish, come on," Kurt said, grabbing her hand.

"I don't think she wants to leave," Cena said, "Why don't you take your little friend and leave us alone."

"I don't think so," Kurt said snottily, "Trish, we're going."

"Sorry," Trish shrugged, then walked off with Kurt, "Why did you do that?"

"I did that for your own good."

"What?" she asked.

"Trish, you're not going to get over Christian in a day. And by going out with Cena, just to make Christian jealous, that's stupid."

"Who said that was what I was doing?" she told him, "Maybe I just want to have fun."

"No, you wanted to make him jealous."

"And why shouldn't I?!?" she yelled, squirming out of Kurt's grasp, "Why shouldn't I hurt him back!?!"

"Would it really make you feel better?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes!"

"Really?"

Trish thought about it. Did she really want to hurt Christian? Would that really solve anything? Sure, she would feel good that he was hurting too, but she wasn't the type of person who did stuff like that, who deliberately tried to hurt people. She couldn't do that to Christian.

"No," she said quietly, "I want to, believe me, but it wouldn't make me feel better. I'm just more hurt than angry"

"Trish, I know it's hard, but you'll pull through."

"Maybe."


	143. Bye Steph, No Mercy, October 19, 2003

A/N: Didn't watch No Mercy, so I don't know if everything is accurate, but I tried. ;)

* * *

"So tonight everything is really coming to a head isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's almost scary, don't you think?" Stephanie said.

"A little, but you know, when the night is over, I still get to be with you, so it's all worth it," Jericho told her as they held hands as they leaned on the balcony.

"Yeah, unless I end up in a hospital bed," she said, pushing herself off the railing and walking back inside.

Jericho jogged in after her, stopping her in the middle of the room. Her head hung down as she stared at the dull blue carpet underneath her feet. Jericho rubbed her arms soothingly, knowing that she was extremely nervous about her match tonight. He didn't blame her in the slightest, because for the past couple of days his stomach had been getting more and more knotted as the prospects of tonight weighed down on him.

It wasn't just her match either, but it was what was going to happen after the match. Vince had called him yesterday and outlined what was going to happen after the match. He was going to publicly "dump" her in front of everyone, causing her more humiliation than she would suffer at the hands of Vince. He had agreed, but knew that as soon as the match was over, Jericho was going to go to Vince and tell him that he loved Stephanie and wanted to be with her.

"You're not going to end up in a hospital bed," he whispered.

"You don't know that!" she yelled, pulling away again and turning to face him, "You just don't know that."

"Stephanie, your father loves you! No matter what you say!" he said, grabbing her and making her look at him.

"No Chris, he doesn't, I have to face that tonight, I have to look across the ring and see him and realize that man wants nothing more than to hurt me," she said quietly.

"I don't believe that," he said, shaking his head, "I can't believe that."

"BELIEVE IT CHRIS!" she shouted as Jericho cringed at the shrieky tone in her voice.

"Steph, please, calm down, I didn't mean to make you upset," he whispered, hugging her gently, "I just don't want you to lose focus."

"It doesn't matter to me anymore Chris," she told him, "None of it matters, if I win, if I lose, it doesn't matter........."

Jericho pulled away and looked at her, his face full of concern at her words, "What do you mean by that Stephanie?"

She looked up at him and saw that he had misunderstood her, "No Chris, that's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, that as long as I have you, that it can ease the pain if I lose tonight," she said, going back to hugging him tightly.

Relieved, Jericho hugged her back. He didn't want her to lose tonight. He knew that Stephanie loved her work, had found that up close and personal when they were business partners. She was the most dedicated employee this company had, giving up her days off and her nights to make sure her show ran smoothly. It was such a shame that Vince couldn't see that, but could only see a personal vendetta. One that didn't even exist.

"You know what's funny?" she said.

"What?"

"I don't even know where my dad changed," she told him, "It's like, I feel like I've been fighting him for years, I don't even know where it all began."

"It doesn't matter, it only matters that you end it tonight," he told her.

"And if I win?"

"I think you should just take over the whole damn company," he laughed, "Stephanie McMahon, Chairwoman of WWE, I like it."

She laughed, "I like it too."

"Yeah, so think about that, and think about the big office you'll get and think about your dad's face as he realizes you took his company right out from underneath him."

"That is a nice thought," she said, pondering the possibilities, "Of course, we'd have to move back to Connecticut."

"Hey, if it means that you're happy, Greenwich here I come," he said, kissing the top of her head.

She looked up at him. He continued to amaze her. He really was just the most amazing man that she had ever met. He continually did nice things for her, reassuring her. He was her rock, if she didn't have him, she didn't know how she could've possibly made it through the past year and a half.

"I love you," she told him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, kissing her.

"I know, I just--"

A knock came to their door, and Stephanie knew it was her mother coming to collect her for their match. They were going a little bit earlier than Jericho and Kurt were, who were driving down there together. Stephanie gave Jericho one last smile before turning around and going to the door. She smiled as she let her mother in the room, but her mother's face was unflinching, not a smile in sight.

"Hey Linda," Jericho said as she walked into the main room.

"Hello Chris," she said, nodding.

Stephanie could tell her mother was on edge. Of all the people this was affecting, it had to be affecting her the most. Stephanie didn't have kids.........yet, but she knew that it must be horrible to see one of your children step into the ring and risk injury, especially at the hands of her own father. She couldn't imagine what that would be like, and she hoped she never had to experience it herself.

Stephanie hugged Linda, "I'm sorry Mom."

"It's ok," Linda said, hugging her back, "I know that you're doing what you feel you have to do."

"I know, but I know you still don't want me to go through with it."

"Would you want your daughter to?" Linda asked.

"Mom, I know that it's hard, but Daddy gave me no other choice. I couldn't back down and lose my job again!" she said petulantly, and Linda felt like she was arguing with a seven-year-old Stephanie again.

"That's not it Stephanie, but there has to be other rational ways to go about this," she said calmly.

"I wish there was," she said, running her hands through her hair. 

"I wish there was too, for the record," Jericho chimed in.

"You should be the one trying to talk her out of this!" Linda chastised, but with a hint of humor in her voice.

"Believe me, I've tried," Jericho said, "But she's Stephanie, tell her she can't do something, she just tries harder."

"I'm right here," Stephanie said, "Don't act like I'm not in the room."

"Ok," Linda said, "But I think we better go."

"Ok," Stephanie nodded, then went to grab her things, "I guess this is it."

Jericho stood there, looking at her, "Yeah, ok, don't get into trouble before you get in that match ok?"

"I won't," she promised, "When are you and Kurt coming down there?"

"In a little while," he told her, "And then I'll come be by your side."

"As I'm led to the slaughter," she said morosely.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and bit her lip. She walked over to Jericho and kissed him. She didn't know why but it felt like the last time she'd ever be kissing him. But that couldn't be true. He'd be there later on tonight and they were bound to kiss then, and then later. She wasn't losing Jericho. Then why did it feel like she was?

"I will see you soon," he whispered.

"I know."

She kissed him again and then went over to where her mother was waiting by the door. She waved at him, gave him a small smile and then walked out of the room. She walked down the hallway, looking around furtively, expecting her father to jump out at her like the boogey man. She looked back at her hotel room door. She just wanted to run back there and hide under the covers.

The ride to the arena was too quick. She needed to collect her thoughts, but suddenly there they were and she was still so unprepared. She alighted from the vehicle and stared at the building. It was here that her fate would be decided. Her career and her love was on the line. They sat in the hands of one man..........a man who had given her life, and a man who now hated her.

She walked in with her mother, receiving words of luck from different wrestlers. She accepted them graciously, trying not to show her nervousness. She would NEVER let her father see her nervous, she would not give him that kind of power over her. He already knew he could make her cry, and that was already too much power for her liking. If he knew he could make her nervous, than he would know how to make her crumble. Tonight she wasn't crumbling.

She went into her dressing room and set her things down. She took out her wrestling attire and laid it gently on the table, looking at it for a moment. It may be the last time she ever set foot in a ring. That thought was so depressing. She loved wrestling, she loved the atmosphere, and like last time, she didn't want to leave it behind.

"Stephanie," her mother said, gently, coming to stand next to her as she stared at her outfit, "We can still call this off."

"No Mom, we can't," she said, running her hand over the smooth fabric, "Chris helped me practice this weekend. I'm set."

"Are you sure?" her mother pleaded.

"Yes."

"Stephanie, please don't go through with this. You're going to get hurt!"

"I can't be anymore hurt than I already am Mom. It's just not possible."

Stephanie let go of her outfit and stepped away from her mother. She wasn't in the mood to talk right now. Talking didn't make anything better. It just illustrated more problems. It just made her think about what was going through her mother's mind, through her father's mind, through Jericho's mind. She needed to worry about herself, because it was only her that would be in that ring tonight.

"Stephanie, do you want children?" her mother asked.

Stephanie turned abruptly, "Yes."

"And you will love those children?"

"Yes Mom, I would love any child that I have."

"Then how would you like to see those children wrestling against Chris?"

Stephanie turned around again, "I know this is upsetting you Mom. But I have to do this. I have to."

"Oh Stephanie," Linda said, then walked out in a flurry of disappointment.

Jericho and Kurt walked in side by side, they were talking in low tones about tonight as they approached the arena. Jericho was telling him about what Vince had told him to do to Stephanie after the match. Kurt just shook his head. Vince could not stoop lower if he tried. They parted ways and Jericho headed down to where Stephanie was for the evening. He was almost there when he was intercepted by Vince.

"Chris, how are you?" Vince said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine."

"You know what's going down tonight right?"

"I do," Jericho said coldly.

"Good."

"Vince, I was thinking, um, how about I interfere on Stephanie's behalf," he paused, "I know that I'm not supposed to be out there, but maybe just this once you know, just like a total surprise since I helped Trish on Monday."

"I don't know, she could win it if she has you."

"I mean, you know, just to show that I'm like with her, to you know, make her downfall that much harder," he stammered, not letting the real reason out.

Jericho didn't want Stephanie to go out there and get hurt and if there was any way he could prevent it from happening, he was going to take that chance. If it meant that he had to ask for Vince's permission, and act all smarmy about it, than that's what he had to do.

"Why not?" Vince said, "Just make sure it's not enough for her to win."

Jericho smiled, "Great."

"Yes, great," Vince said, and Jericho didn't catch that sinister smile on his face because he was too busy jogging to Stephanie's room.

Stephanie was caught by surprise as Jericho burst into her room. She had expected it to be her mother, but it wasn't. She got up quickly and ran to him, glad to have him here. Now she truly felt safe and protected. He kissed her neck and pulled away.

"Your dad said I could go out there."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I can interfere on your behalf."

"What?" Stephanie asked in incredulity.

"Yeah, as long as I don't interfere too much, he said I could," he said excitedly.

"That's so crazy of him," she said, "What are you going to do?"

"What do you think I'm going to do?" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm going to knock the living daylights out of him and you're going to win."

"But Chris, he'll be mad," she said apprehensively.

"So? He'll be out of the company by the time he comes to."

She thought about it, "You're right."

She suddenly became giddy. If Jericho could interfere on her behalf, then she could win this. Her father was strong, but Jericho was a real wrestler and could kick her father's ass six ways til Sunday. She jumped up and down, clapping her hands happily.

"This'll be great."

Stephanie turned the television as the show began and then turned back to Jericho who was also grinning. They felt so sneaky, and the future was looking up. Not only could she win, but then she could declare, in front of the world, that she was in love with Chris Jericho. And she could even do it while standing over her father's broken, beaten body.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" she told him.

"I've got an idea," he winked, "But you can always show me later."

"Oh, when we win this thing, I will show you all night long," she said, kissing him deeply.

They stood there kissing, celebrating without words their sure-fire plan for later that evening. That is, until Vince came onto the screen for a quick segment. Jericho pulled away and looked at the television. They listened as Vince said that if anyone interfered they would be fired. Jericho's jaw dropped. Vince had duped him!

"Oh no," Stephanie whispered.

"Shit! He fucking conned me," Jericho said, pulling away from Stephanie in frustration.

"Oh no," she whispered again.

"Fuck that! I'm going out there anyways," Jericho said angrily.

Stephanie looked at him and shook her head vehemently, "No, no, I can't let you do that Chris."

"Stephanie, I don't care," he said, "Let me get fucking fired, I'm going out there!"

"Chris no! I can't let you do that!" she said, "I won't let you do that."

"Why not?" he said, his eyes ablaze with anger.

"Because, I don't want you to lose your job over me."

"Stephanie, I love you and I--"

"I know you do sweetie, but I'm not letting you give up wrestling for me."

"But--"

"No," she said firmly.

"Stephanie, I can't watch you go out there alone."

"I want you to promise me you won't come out there," she said seriously.

Jericho had to give in, or face the consequences, "Fine, but I don't want to."

"That's not why I asked."

Jericho, frustrated, sat down heavily on the couch. Vince had done that on fucking purpose. Set him up for a fall. But what were Vince's motivations for banning him from ringside? He must've known that he could get hurt and therefore didn't want to risk it, unfortunately.

Stephanie stared at the back of Jericho's head, expecting flames to burst forth from them. It would've been appropriate. She slowly picked up her wrestling attire and went in the bathroom. She was looking pale, she noted, mainly because she was so damn nervous. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and then changed slowly, being careful, though she didn't know why.

She walked out of the bathroom, not realizing she had spent so much time in there. Jericho was staring at the door, waiting for it to open, and sighed in release, wondering why she had taken so long, getting worried at the silence that emanated from the door. She gave him a half-smile and he returned it.

"You look good," he commented, not sure how to proceed with the conversation.

"Thanks," she said emptily.

"You were in there for a while," he said nonchalantly, but she could tell there was anxiousness in his voice as well, "You ok?"

"Yeah, I was just taking my time," she responded.

"Oh, ok."

She sat down gingerly beside, as if nervous to be around him. He reached out silently and took her hand, giving her much needed support. He rubbed her hand with his thumb as they both stared at the television as if it had the answers to their troubles. Only when her mother and father were on did they show any signs of life.

Her mother was still trying to plead with Vince to quit the match, and still he refused. She didn't even care that her father had given her a "concession," it was just a word, it didn't mean she felt any safer. At the mention of a No Holds Barred match, she felt Jericho's hand tighten around hers, threatening to cut off her circulation. She shook her hand free, and his hand formed a fist.

"It doesn't matter what he calls it," she said, "It would've been the same either way."

"I know," Jericho said, and he did know. Vince was not going to play nice. Not tonight, not against Stephanie.

Before they knew it, Stephanie was being summoned to be at the gorilla for her match. They stood up simultaneously and walked resolutely out into the hallway and down to the gorilla, where Vince was already waiting, with Sable hanging all over him, as usual. Linda walked over to Stephanie and gave her a smile of support. Jericho wrapped an arm around her waist as they waited.

It didn't take long before her music hit and she felt Jericho let go of her reluctantly. She walked out there, her mother by her side and to the ring. She was prepared, she was a McMahon and they came out fighting. As soon as her father entered, Linda again tried to plead with him, but Stephanie pulled her back. The time for pleading was over and now was the time to fight.

She was knocked down and she felt her back where she was hit. Leave it to her father to be the first to get offense. She put up her best fight, but from the start she knew that she had no chance. She managed to get a few pin attempts, but neither one gave her the victory. She was no match for her father, and she knew it.

She was dragged to the corner, and grunted in pain as her father repeatedly hit her with his shoulder. She tried to block out the pain, but slumped down and grabbed her stomach. She just hoped Jericho took to his word and didn't come out here and ruin his career for her. She was suddenly being choked and she gagged for air, which was not forthcoming. The next thing she felt was the sting of Sable's slap, but by now, that pain wasn't anything to the amounting pain she was feeling everywhere else.

Finally she could breathe and gulped in the air. She saw her father distracted and went to go get a weapon, it was her only chance. She found a pipe and then turned to use it on her father, hitting him repeatedly. It felt good to finally get some of that aggression out. She saw Sable interfere and she lost her grip on the pipe and felt her father going for a slam, but instead she slammed him into Sable, using a move Jericho had taught her, the bulldog. She went for the pipe, but couldn't get to it fast enough and Vince got it before her. Suddenly she was being choked again, and that's when everything turned black.

Jericho watched from backstage, Kurt beside him, in case he made a rash decision. He watched as Vince won and celebrated, but he wanted to see Stephanie, he needed to see Stephanie, but he couldn't. He wanted to rush out there, but couldn't. He saw some people rush by him to go help her as they stopped showing her on the television. Jericho stood there waiting as Vince and Sable came down, laughing and having a grand 'ole time.

"Did you see that Jericho?" Vince said, "Gave it to her right where it hurts."

Jericho just watched to see them take back Stephanie. He didn't even look at Vince. Vince kissed Sable in happiness, not even noting Jericho's silence. He looked as they helped a now unconscious Stephanie off on a stretcher, and it was then that Jericho lost it.

"How dare you!?!" he said charging towards Vince. The only thing that stopped him was Kurt's strong arm, which was now around his waist.

"Jericho, calm yourself," Vince said, "What is your problem?"

"How could you do this to her!?!" Jericho yelled, "She's your fucking daughter!"

"I know what she is," he said smugly.

Jericho ran over to Stephanie, where she lay her eyes, closed. He grabbed her lifeless hand and kissed it as they wheeled her away. Linda looked at him, letting him know she would go with Stephanie. It was obvious that Jericho had business to take care of right now. She walked behind Stephanie as they took her to an ambulance.

Jericho stalked over to Vince, "She's unconscious."

"Too bad," Sable said, laughing, "You couldn't execute your little plan."

"Shut up whore!" Jericho snapped, causing Sable and Vince's eyes to widen.

"Jericho what has gotten into you?"

Jericho calmed himself down in order to speak in even tones, "Vince, I can't break up with Stephanie."

"Of course you can't do it right now, she's going to the hospital," Vince said, "Wait until she's conscious of course."

"I won't do it then either," he said, crossing his arms.

"It's over Chris, we won," Vince said, "Break her while she's down so she won't try to get on Raw."

"I can't," Jericho said firmly.

"Jericho, I said to humiliate her."

"I love her Vince," Jericho said, feeling a weight, a weight he had been carrying for a year, lift from his shoulders.

Vince's laughter boomed throughout the backstage area, "You've got to be kidding me. You love her!?!?"

"I. LOVE. HER." 

"Don't be ridiculous Chris," Vince said, "You have a wife at home who loves you. You can't possibly love Stephanie."

"But I do."

"I know," Vince finally gave in.

Jericho took a step back. Vince.........knew? How could Vince possibly know? When did this occur? God, what if Vince had known all along and that was why he wanted to be buddy-buddy with Jericho? Jericho looked up at him, that smug grin on his face.

"What?"

"You think I didn't see you were falling for her," Vince told him, "I saw it. Why do you think I banned you from ringside? I knew you would help her."

"I don't care, I love her, and I want to be with her."

"That's where you're wrong Jericho," Vince said coldly, "You won't be with her."

"You can't stop me," Jericho said.

"I can, and I will. I don't want you with my good-for-nothing daughter; you can do better. You HAVE done better, remember that."

"Vince, I'm going to be with your daughter."

"Then you'll be fired," Vince told him, an evil smile coming to his face.

"Because I want to be with her!?!" Jericho asked shocked.

"Yes, she deserves to be alone, and I won't have her use her way back into the company."

Jericho wanted to quit, right then and there, but Stephanie would not want that. She would tell him he was crazy and now there was no way they could get in. This whole evening was turning into a huge bust. He wanted to punch Vince out; he wanted to kill him.

"You don't play fair Vince."

"The winners usually don't," Vince told him, "Don't forget Jericho, she's screwed you over more times than anyone else."

"You don't get it Vince."

"You'll get over her," he said, "She just put her charms on you."

"This isn't over," Jericho told him.

"Oh, but it is, and you are to go to the hospital and break it off with her, good luck," he said happily.

It was with a heavy heart that Jericho walked into Stephanie's hospital room where they were keeping her. She was staring off into space, her head turned towards the window, and away from the door. He walked quietly over to her and she turned her head at the noise.

He hated seeing her lying there. He had never seen her in a hospital bed, and it was a jarring experience, knowing that he could've prevented this, but had given his word that he wouldn't. His heart ached and he would've given anything to be in her place. She looked so ashen, and her eyes were so pale.

"Hey," he said, a sad smile on his face as he saw her lying there.

"Hey sweetie."

"How're you doing?" he asked, smoothing her hair back.

"I'll be ok," she said, "Bed rest."

"Oh," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"How'd it go?"

"I'm not allowed to see you anymore," he told her quietly, sitting down on the chair next to her bed.

"What?" she asked, not too loudly, but loud enough to show her disbelief.

"Yeah, if I do, I'll get fired or something," he told her.

"No," she said hesitantly, "Damn him."

"What're we going to do Steph?" Jericho asked, looking distraught. He didn't want to lose her, but everything they had hoped for had been dashed, and he couldn't take losing her again.

Stephanie reached out and rubbed his cheek. So this is why she was feeling like she was kissing Jericho for the last time tonight? Because her father wanted it to be the last time. Her father was trying to control her life, even when he wasn't a part of it. She had just lost her job, lost her livelihood, and now he wanted her to lose the love of her life. She looked into Jericho's worried face.

"Steph?" he asked again, "It's not over between us is it?"

"I guess it's just time to go back into hiding."


	144. What are They Up To? October 20, 2003

"So you're telling me that he actually said you two cannot see each other?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it," Jericho said, running a hand through his hair, which was down for a change.

"So where is she?"

"Resting in the hotel room."

"I saw what happened last night, I'm so sorry," Trish said.

"Thanks, I wanted to kill Vince. And I would've to, if Kurt hadn't held me back," he said, and Trish noted the anger that was still very much present in his voice.

"Well, it looks like none of us are doing too well in the relationship department," she said.

"You still haven't talked to him have you?"

"As far as I'm concerned, we have nothing to discuss," she said, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Trish," he said, "You know that's not true."

"Stephanie's never cheated on you," Trish said.

"No, that's true, come on Trish, you know that you're going to have to talk to him sooner or later."

"Then it's going to be later, MUCH later," she said angrily, "Chris, you just don't get how upset he made me. How upset I still am."

"Trish, you're allowed! But at least hear him out."

"No," she said, her decision made, "It's a moot point, Christian and I are a moot point."

"You know what? I remember when I was broken up with Stephanie, a little birdie by the name of Trish would not let up on us getting back together."

"You were different, you broke up for asinine reasons!"

"Were they? Trish, if you tried, I'm sure you could get past this," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"How can I ever kiss him without picturing them," she said quietly, "How can I leave him alone without wondering if he's going to do this to me all over again?"

"He has remorse Trish," Jericho said, "For what it's worth."

"Not much," she answered honestly, "Because he already committed the act, he can't take it back, no matter how much he wants to."

Jericho looked at his friend. She looked kind of pale and she was lacking that twinkle in her eyes that she usually had. He didn't know about what went on in their relationship behind closed doors, but for Trish to not even want to talk to him, it didn't bode well.

"Do you love Christian?" Jericho asked idly.

Trish looked at him, "I did. I still do."

"Then you're not over."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know. It's just a feeling you get, you know, it's like, it was feeling I got whenever I saw Stephanie, or see Stephanie. You just.........know."

"But all I see when I see Christian is anger," she said, crossing her arms.

"But underneath all that," he told her, "You still love him."

"Maybe."

"The first time I met Stephanie, I thought she was gorgeous," he told her.

"I didn't know that."

"I never told anyone because she turned out to be a huge bitch, but it's true. I don't know, I really did hate her you know."

"No you didn't, you just didn't know you were in love with her, you couldn't have hated her."

"So you're saying that I really did love her, but just thought I hated her?" he asked.

"Exactly."

"So exactly like you and Christian."

She stared at him and then hit him in the arm, "You set me up!"

"Of course I did, talk to him Trish," he said, getting up.

"Where are you going?"

"Bischoff wants to talk to me," he shrugged, "Stay here though, I still have to tell you some stuff that you might find interesting."

"Ok," she said suspiciously.

He smiled and winked and then walked out of the room. She sat there, thinking about what Jericho had said. He was right, even underneath all the hate she had for Christian, she still loved him. Still loved him with all of her, and that was what hurt the most. She was such a fool, she should've known something serious was up when he became edgy and withdrawn. She sighed and leaned against the couch, closing her eyes.

Christian swung the door open, wanting to talk to Jericho about how Stephanie was after the match last night. He had been worried about her, and his friend as well, since he knew Jericho was going to tell Vince he loved Stephanie. He stopped when he saw Trish sitting there. She hadn't seen him, since her eyes were closed, and he just stared at her.

She hadn't responded to any of his phone calls and Edge had told him she had been with Kurt and Jericho Stephanie's houses. She couldn't even go home because of him. He had been suffering too, but he deserved it, after what he had done to her. He probably deserved to suffer for the rest of his life. It'd serve him right.

"Back so soon?" Trish asked, thinking it was Jericho.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were here."

Trish opened her eyes, recognizing the voice, "Oh, it's you."

"Sorry," he said again, then turned to leave.

"You can stay, Chris will be back soon," she told him, her voice dull and emotionless.

"Um, ok," he said, not wanting her to think that he didn't want to be around her.

He sat tentatively on the other side of the couch, then got up and sat on one of the folding chairs. Trish curled herself into the corner of the couch, turning so she wasn't facing him. He stared down at his hands. The seconds seemed to pass slowly, the tension thick and neither one of them spoke.

Christian finally broke the silence, "I was just wondering how Stephanie was doing."

She didn't answer for a long time, and he thought that she was giving him the silent treatment, but she eventually answered, "She'll be ok."

"That's good to hear, after I saw last night........"

"Yeah, they took her to the hospital, but she'll be ok."

Christian nodded, hating the cold tone of her voice. He wanted to just go over and beg for her forgiveness, but he had a feeling it was too late for that. He wanted to just go back in time, if only he could, he'd give anything to do that. His eyes traveled over her, and he realized how much he missed having her by his side. The last week had been lonely with an empty bed.

"Oh, and Vince?"

"He forbade them to see each other," Trish told him.

"What?!?"

"Said that they couldn't or Chris would be fired."

"That's crazy!"

"Yeah.........I know," she said, finally turning to him, "He's not going to stop though. He said he'd never give her up unless you ripped her from his side."

He knew that was a jab at him. She was comparing Jericho's unconditional love to his own situation. Jericho would, of course, never cheat on Stephanie, and Trish was comparing the two of them. It wasn't fair, because they were different people. But she was just trying to sting him, and it did, it stung.

"I know. And I know that I didn't do the same," he said quietly.

"Chris told me I should talk to you," she said just as quietly, "I didn't want to, I still don't, but why Christian? Why? Just answer me that."

"I don't know why," he answered, and it was the truth, "I just.........."

"Did I not make you happy?"

"No," he said, rushing to sit by her and grabbing her hand, which she instantly pulled away, telling him silently not to touch her, "You made me so happy."

"But you still fooled around with her!"

"I was drunk," he said, "And I know that is the lamest excuse on the planet, but it's true. I didn't even remember most of it."

"That doesn't make it right."

"I know, but Trish, I'm so sorry, I love you, with all my heart."

"Go away Christian," she said, "Just looking at you makes me hurt."

"Trish, please."

"Just leave me alone ok?" she said, "You can't fix this."

He nodded, understandingly, even if he wanted to stay here, to plead to her. He had made a mistake and now he was paying for it. He got up and gave her one last lingering gaze before leaving. He ran into Jericho in the hallway and felt him stop him with a hand. He looked up at him and Jericho gave him a concerned look.

"Did you talk to her?"

"Briefly," Christian answered.

"And?"

"She hates me," he said simply, "She hates me and that's all there is to it."

"Fuck, and you all say Stephanie and I are stubborn."

"You know what Christian?" Jericho said.

"What?"

"Save her," Jericho said.

"What?"

"Save her like I did last week," Jericho told him.

"She would NEVER go for that," Christian said.

"Doesn't matter, she can't stop you," he said, "Dude, do you want her back?"

"Yes," Christian said immediately.

"Then you're going to have to go back crawling on your hands and knees, so you better start now," he said, patting him on the back, "Now I have to go find Shane."

"Why?"

"Because," he said, "See ya."

Jericho walked down the hallway to where he saw Shane waiting earlier. He thought about how he had agreed to be on Bischoff's team for Survivor Series. It wasn't that he wanted to be with Bischoff. He just wanted Austin gone, and if that meant joining up with Bischoff, then he had to do what he had to do. And then he was tagging with Steiner tonight, where the hell did that come from? Why did he constantly get stuck in weird matches?

He was about to think about if he was on SmackDown with Stephanie, but then remembered she didn't even work for the company anymore. Well that sure as hell was a downer. He walked into the area of the backstage and saw Shane. He walked over to him, still pissed about what he had said to Stephanie.

"Shane," Jericho called out.

"Chris," Shane said, "I'm glad you got my message."

"Yeah, so what's up?"

"I found some things out," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Jericho asked confused.

"Don't ask how I found out, but know that my dad has someone over here, a mole if you will," Shane said, looking around furtively.

Jericho laughed, "Why the hell would he have a mole?"

"He knows you're in love with Stephanie," Shane said, "And he hates that. He considers you to be one of his top cronies, and Stephanie is the dark side, and he can't lose you to the dark side."

"So he has someone spying on me?" Jericho asked, darting his head around, expecting to see someone skulking in the shadows.

"Yeah," Shane said, "I know that nobody is following her, because my dad doesn't know where she is.I don't know who it is, but once I found out I'll let you know."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Just be careful with what you say, this guy is bush league so he probably only watches you. And going home is pretty safe as long as she had her disguise on. At least that's what my informant said."

"Who is it?"

"I told you not to ask. It's someone, but you wouldn't expect them to be on my side, but they are. Just be careful, make sure you hold all conversations about you-know-who behind closed doors."

"Ok," Jericho said nodding slowly.

"And it would be better if you could maybe act like you're disinterested in Stephanie, or hitting on other girls. My dad knows that you "broke up" with Burke for Stephanie, and he's expecting you and Stephanie to slip up or something. So if you throw him off your trail, then you could get away with it."

"Thanks for letting me know," Jericho said.

"No problem. Just be careful," Shane said, then walked away.

Jericho watched Shane walk away. He was being spied on! This was crazy. Was Vince so paranoid that he would have him followed? It seemed so, and that was such a idiotic thing to do. Jericho wasn't a threat, and neither was Stephanie. He looked around, wondering if he was being watched. He shook his head of his paranoia and then walked back to his locker room.

Trish was still in there and he closed the door behind him, locking it. He looked everywhere, just to make sure that he wasn't being videotaped or something. Trish looked at him strangely, perplexed by his sudden odd behavior. Once he declared the room safe, he sat down heavily.

"Chris, care to explain messing up the room?"

"I'm being spied on," Jericho whispered.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she said, bursting with laughter, "Chris, come on!"

"Trish, Shane just told me," he said quietly, leaning in close so she could hear, "Vince is serious about me not seeing Stephanie."

"Oh God," Trish said, her hand covering her mouth, "You're actually being followed?"

"Yeah," he said, "She isn't, but damn it, what if we get found out."

Trish looked at him wide-eyed. Jericho looked back at her, fear in his eyes. And then it suddenly became clear as he had an epiphany. He looked at her, a smile creeping its way onto his lips. Trish looked at him, wondering what he was up to; she could see the wheels turning in his head.

"Trish," he said charmingly.

"Chris," she said, though her voice was much more apprehensive.

"I've got an idea," he said, staring off with that crazy glint in his eye.

"Ok."

"Shane said I needed to flirt with someone else, you know to make it appear as if I am over Stephanie."

Trish realized where he was going with this, "Oh no no no no.........."

"Trish come on, you know I would do it for you."

"Chris," she whined, "You want me to flirt with you."

"Yeah, I mean, come on Trish, just until Vince gets off my back," he said, giving his best innocent look.

"Chris, what will Stephanie think, and Christian........." she trailed off as she looked at Jericho. This could have its advantages, "Ok..........."

"Thank you," he said, hugging her tightly.

"On one condition," she said.

"What condition is that?" he asked.

"We don't tell Christian," Trish said.

Jericho pulled away and looked at her, disbelieving what she had just said, "But Trish--"

"That's the one stipulation," Trish said, "We don't tell Christian what's going on."

"But he knows I love Stephanie," Jericho said.

"That's fine, but he won't know I'm not being genuine."

"Ok," Jericho said, nodding, "I will do anything to stay with Stephanie, and if that means betraying Christian, then so be it."

"See," she smiled, "This is why you two are still together."

Jericho shook his head, "I've got a match."

"After the match Chris, I'll be around, in a public area, just come up to me and we'll take it from there."

"Thank you Trish, seriously."

"It's my pleasure."

Jericho walked out of the room, sighing, knowing that this was going to be difficult, but a necessary evil. He was not going to let Vince McMahon ruin the best thing in his life, especially over a personal vendetta. Screw that, if he wanted to be with Stephanie, he didn't care. It hadn't stopped him for the past year, and this minor setback wouldn't stop him now.

He met up with Steiner at the gorilla, rolling his eyes as he saw that horrible looking head-gear he wore. He waited for his music to go off before he headed out there. He thought about how he would make it convincing to flirt with Trish. He didn't like Trish in that way, and it would be a stretch, but it was all for Stephanie, everything he did was all for Stephanie. Fuck Vince, Stephanie was his world, and he wasn't giving her up without a fight.

The other contenders entered the ring and the match was underway before he knew it. Steiner and RVD started off so Jericho had a few moment to himself to think about Trish and what was going to happen? Would Christian be mad at him? Probably, but he really needed Trish right now and unfortunately that meant playing by her rules.

Jericho got tagged in and went to work, beating on Lance. They fought with each other until Jericho managed to knock him off the apron. He and Steiner were working pretty well as a team, which surprised him, considering they hated each other. He and RVD ended up facing each other and each got in some good moves, but neither capitalized on it enough to get the victory. Eventually Jericho was able to hit the lionsault and got the victory. After the match, he and Steiner beat down on the two of them.

He walked backstage, glad that he had won, but nervous for what he was about to do. Stephanie wouldn't be pissed, he knew that, she'd probably find it funny. Christian, well, he didn't know about that one. He walked around, the butterflies fluttering around his stomach. He felt weird having to flirt with Trish of all people.

He eventually found her and walked up to her, laying it on pretty thick. She reprimanded him, telling him he didn't have to be on for her. Not knowing how to act, Jericho regressed to childish behavior. Trish was actually really good at acting, he was almost believing she liked him. He snickered and looked down, don't blow the cover, he kept repeating.

Eventually she walked away and so did the camera. He smiled, that had gone great. He ran up to her and picked her up from behind. She squealed and he put her down. She turned around and he hugged her, spinning her around, whispering words of thanks into her ear. She laughed and hugged him.

"You would've done the same for me," she whispered.  
  
"You know I would, now go kick ass, out there," he told her, kissing her cheek.

"I always do," she smiled.

She walked away and Jericho waved to her. He was about to go get his things and leave when he felt himself jerked around and then face to face with Christian. And here was the downside to the plan. Jericho smiled and then laughed shallowly, trying to avoid Christian's gaze.

"What the fuck was that?" Christian demanded.

"Nothing," Jericho said.

"You were flirting with her!?!"

"So?"

"Bastard," Christian said, "How could you?"

"Dude, get a grip."

Christian sighed, "You were just being nice weren't you?"

"Sure," Jericho looked at him, "Take my advice from earlier."

"I am."

"Good."

Jericho walked away. Those two had to work through all this shit. Yes, he was being hypocritical since he had been stubborn with Stephanie, but hey, when hypocrisy was crime, then someone could collect from him. He just hoped they figured it all out before it was too late.

Trish was decimating Molly, she wanted to rip her head off she was so angry. She brought all she had to that match, especially against Molly. She would never forgive her for what she had done, and she wanted Molly to know that she had messed with the wrong woman. She only hoped Christian was watching and knew that this grudge was held against him as well.

Christian watched the match and became worried about Trish. She was strong, but she was also hurt. That was not a good combination, especially going into a match against someone you hated. He watched as she and Lita double teamed Molly and then Trish hitting her Stratusphere on Molly. He knew it was a stiff one too. It was then that chaos broke loose. Richards and Victoria went to town on Lita and Molly and Christian saw his opening.

He ran down there and as he was running, he saw Trish glaring at him, hatred in her eyes. At that moment, he chickened out, he completely chickened out on saving Trish. She hated him and he couldn't take another look of hatred like the one she had just given him. Yet, he was already out there and he couldn't just turn around and go back, it would look so suspicious. Instead he went for Lita, the only other person he could go for, if he went for Molly, Trish would kill him.

He went in the ring and went up and hit Richards and then knocked him down. He went over to where Lita was and helped her up, sending a small glance over to Trish, just to make sure she was ok. He made sure that Lita was ok, and resisted the urge to go check up on Trish, she would just throw him off of her anyways. He left the ring, still wishing that he could've saved Trish.

Trish stared up at him. She would've been lying if she had said that she hadn't wanted Christian to save her. Sue her, but for a moment, she thought he was there to save her. Stupid of her, she knew, but she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She had never been saved by Christian on television, and it would've been nice. He must've been hurt, and that's why he went to Lita. She couldn't help but be jealous of her friend.

Jericho looked over his shoulder, making sure there was nobody behind him as he went into his room. This was so silly, him having to be on his guard all the time, life sucked sometimes. He dropped his stuff off and went into the bedroom where Stephanie was propped up on many, many pillows. She had been ordered to bed, and that's where she had been all night.

"Hey," he said.

"You know what I realized," she said as she looked at him.

"What?" he said, sitting down lightly on the bed, careful not to shake the bed too hard and irritate her sore body.

"You and Trish, you two make the cutest couple," she said teasingly.

He rolled his eyes and blushed, "Shut up."

"Chris and Trish sitting in a tree," she started.

"No, stop!" he said covering his ears.

Stephanie started making kissy noises and puckering up her lips. Jericho shook his head and leaned over to kiss her, careful not to aggravate her injuries. She kissed him back, though she was still laughing against his lips. He pulled away and stuck his tongue out.

"Stop making fun of me!"

"I'm not, I'm just wondering the motivation behind the antics of Trish and Chris," she kidded, "They're the hottest new couple in WWE."

Jericho rolled his eyes, "I asked her to flirt with me."

"Wow Chris, you sure are desperate," she said, shaking her head, "Did you pay her to go out with you?"

"Why? You jealous?" he asked.

"Of course, I mean, there's no way I can compete. I'm thinking I should just go out with Edge, I mean, you with Trish, me with Edge."

He put his finger on her lips, "Don't even think about it."

She laughed, "So really, what's up?"

"Shane informed me tonight that I'm being spied on by your father," Jericho said.

"He's having someone SPY on you?"

"Yeah, to keep me away from you."

"Bastard, isn't enough that he beat me down?"

"Apparently not, so Trish is helping me throw him off the trail."

"Good idea, but what does Christian think about this?"

"He hates it, but I can't tell him, Trish made me promise."

"Oh," she said, "That must've been why he saved Lita?"

"He saved LITA?" Jericho asked

"Yeah, instead of Trish."

"God, he's such a wuss, I told him to save Trish."

"Oh, well, he didn't."

"He's never gonna get her back at this rate?"

"Oh, but think of it this way baby, if things don't work out with them, you can have Trish all to yourself."

"Nah, I prefer brunettes," he said, kissing her cheek, "With blue eyes."

"Mmmhmm, go on."

"With huge--"

"Ok, that's enough," she said, cutting him off, as he laughed.

"You know, it was weird tonight without you there. I know we only got to be together for like a month, but I got so used to having you there."

"And now we're in hiding, you're getting spied on, and I'm no longer with the company."

"Yup," he said, sighing, "Oh, how things can change."

"Yeah, God, I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself."

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I guess, or you could.........."

"Could what?"

"Leave me and get with Trish," she said, fake sobbing. Jericho buried his face in a pillow.

He was never going to hear the end of this one.


	145. Something Different, October 23, 2003

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, they're all really nice and I always appreciate a review. :)

And for something a little bit different, a chapter that doesn't really have that much to do with the show, but yeah, just a little plot development never hurt. ;)

* * *

Stephanie stared out the window, wondering if this was the right thing to do. Jericho had of course thought it was the perfect idea, but sitting here in the cab, going to a place she had never been before, she wasn't so sure anymore. It was that she hadn't wanted to go, she just didn't know what was going to happen once they got to where they were going.

He had wanted to get her mind off of tonight and she loved him for it. He knew that tonight was going to be difficult for her, since it was the first show after her loss on Monday. Or rather what was her concession, at the hands of her mother. She hadn't actually said that she'd quit, but of course, she hadn't been able to at the time. Could she have gone on if her mother hadn't stopped the match? She wasn't so sure, but she wouldn't get to find out.

So here she was, sitting in a cab, going to Jericho's parent's house. This was the first time she would even get to meet them, God, they hadn't even been told about her. She was so incredibly tense and she had been all day. They didn't even know she was coming, how would they even react? Of course, this was all part of Jericho's dastardly plan to take her mind off the show tonight. She turned to him and saw he was looking out the window with a boyish grin on his face. He sensed her looking at him and he turned to give her a charming smile.

"Should I be this nervous?" she asked.

"No, you shouldn't be."

"But I am," she whined.

"Don't be ok, you are going to be just fine, my parents will love you, I promise," he said, kissing the bridge of her nose.

"What if they don't?"

"Stephanie, would you stop worrying?"

"No," she said, "It's what I do."

He laughed and gazed at her as the cab continued its trek to his parent's house. Truth be told, he was a bit nervous himself. He didn't think his parents would be thrilled to realize he had been in a serious relationship for over a year now and hadn't told them. Especially since he talked to them every week. But he and Stephanie hadn't wanted to tell them until now.

He looked over at her as she sat there nervously looking out the window at the Canadian landscape. He grabbed her hand and held it, feeling her shaking from her nerves. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb comfortingly. She looked back over at him, giving him a scared smile.

"Don't worry," he said again.

They pulled up to a nice home, the porch lights on, awaiting their arrival. Or at least Jericho's arrival since his parents had no idea Stephanie was coming along. The cab driver opened Stephanie's door for her and she alighted from the cab. Jericho got all their things and made his way up to the porch. Stephanie hung back a little bit, suddenly wishing she hadn't made the trip with him. He turned to her and waved her up there and she grudgingly made the trip.

"Hurry your cute ass up," he said, pulling on her hand as she got up the last step.

"Don't rush me!" she protested.

"The sooner you get here, the sooner you can get this over with."

"Don't rush me ok, please," she said, walking over.

"What's this? The great Stephanie McMahon is actually scared. Well I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," he joked.

"Shut up!" she said, giving him a dirty look.

He shook his head and pushed her lightly to the side of the door where she wouldn't be seen. He wanted to announce her presence before he actually showed her off to his parents. He gave her a quick kiss before ringing the doorbell. The door flew open and his mother embraced him fiercely.

"Chris, you're finally here!" she said, delighted to see her son.

"Hey Mom, how are you?" he said, hugging her back.

"I'm well, now get in the house, you must be freezing outside."

"No, it was ok. Um, where's Dad?"

"Oh, he's out with the boys, I told him to stay here so he could see you come home, but he insisted that he go out and said that he had seen you enough for one lifetime and could wait a few more hours to see you again," she explained.

Stephanie had to stifle a giggle at that. Seemed like Jericho was very much like his father, but also seemed a bit like his mother, very talkative. She wondered when Jericho was going to bring up the fact that she was standing outside.

"Oh, ok, well, I wanted to tell this to you together, but I guess that I can just tell you now."

"Tell me what?" she asked, giving him a stern look, "Is this serious?"

"Well, I kind of like to think it is," he said, smiling when he thought about Stephanie.

"You're in trouble, you've gone out and gotten yourself in trouble.........And that's why you came here! You're on the run aren't you? You've done something terrible and had no place to go!"

"No, Mom, Mom, calm down," he said, hugging her, "It's nothing like that, I'm not in trouble."

"Oh, well then what is it?"

"I didn't make the trip alone," he said, giving a small smile.

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"I brought a girl home with me."

His mother looked at him in shock, "You brought a what home with you?"

"A girl, as in my girlfriend."

"Oh Christopher," his mother said, hugging him again, "It's about time you brought someone here for us to meet, I thought you would never meet a nice girl and get married!"

"Thanks Mom," he said dryly.

"Well, I'm not saying you're a bad looking young man, just that you have such a busy schedule all the time and you never have time to meet anybody, and whenever I try to bring up girls with you, you always brush it off. So how long have you been hiding this girl from me and your father?"

Jericho gave a sheepish look, he knew his mother was not going to be pleased with this answer, "Um, a while."

"How long is a while?" she said, folding her arms and giving him a stern look.

"A year," he mumbled.

"Christopher, I better not have heard what I thought I heard," she said, her voice rising, "Because it sounded like you told me that you've been seeing this girl for a YEAR!"

"You didn't hear wrong Mom," he said, giving a guilty smile.

"You have been with this girl a YEAR and this is the first we're hearing about it! No wonder you brushed off any attempts for me to set you up, you already had a girl. And how serious is this relationship?"

"She lives with me."

His mother shook his head, "She must be pretty special then."

"She is Mom, she's the most beautiful person in the world, she's..........I don't know how to describe her," he said, knowing he was about to start gushing.

"Well, let's meet this girl then."

Jericho gave his mother a mischievous grin as he went over to the door. He stepped out for a moment and saw Stephanie standing out there, giving him a nervous look, and biting her lip. Jericho kissed her chin and grabbed her hand. She shook her head, giving one last attempt to not go through with this. He kissed her fully and urged her to go in.

"Mom, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend," he said, pulling Stephanie into the house, "Stephanie McMahon."

His mother's smile faded slightly and she turned pale, "Stephanie McMahon?"

Stephanie got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. That wasn't quite the reaction she had been hoping for, and as she looked up at Jericho, she knew this wasn't the reaction he had expected either. She gave him a worried look and he wrapped his arm around her possessively.

"Yes Mom, Stephanie, you know from the company."

"I know, it's--this is quite the surprise," she said, trying to remain calm.

"We didn't mean to spring this on you Mrs. Jericho, but um, Chris thought it'd be nice if I got to meet you and Mr. Jericho," Stephanie replied nervously.

"Of course you didn't, but come in, you must be exhausted," his mother said a stiff smile on her face.

Stephanie looked at Jericho and wanted to cry. She could tell his mother hated her, she knew it. She knew this had been a bad idea. Jericho just took her in his arms and gave her a quick hug before grabbing their bags from outside and bringing them inside.

"Here Chris, let me help you take those to your room," his mother said, "And Stephanie, you can stay in the guest room."

"Actually, she'll just stay with me Mom," Jericho explained.

"Oh, of course," she answered, "Make yourself at home Stephanie."

"Thank you," Stephanie said graciously before going over to Jericho and whispering, "Is there a bathroom around here I can use?"

"Of course, go down that hall right there," he nodded in the direction, "And it's the second door on your right."

"Thanks sweetie," she said, giving him a smile and leaned in to kiss him, but she felt Jericho's mother's eyes on her and pulled away at the last second. 

Stephanie left to go to the bathroom and Jericho grabbed the bags and carried them upstairs with his mother. Stephanie always had to pack about four suitcases. He never knew why she had to pack so much. He went up to his old room and set all the things down. His mother was close behind and put the things on the bed.

"Stephanie McMahon!" his mother said as soon as they were in the privacy of his own room.

Jericho whirled around, facing his mother, "Yes Mom, Stephanie McMahon."

"The same Stephanie that made sure you had nice long visits to the hospital. The same Stephanie who got you gored through an entire set. The same Stephanie who hit you with chairs!"

"Yes Mom, the same Stephanie, and the same Stephanie I kissed twice, and the same Stephanie I became business partners with, and the same Stephanie I welcomed back when she became General Manager," he countered.

"You're too good for her."

"No, I'm not Mom, she's way too good for me."

"She's been nothing but a bitch to you, and you've been dating her."

"Not only dating her Mom, I love her."

"She's using you," his mother said, like she knew it was the truth.

"She isn't using me!" he shot back.

"How do you know?"

"Why would she stay with me this long if she were using me. That's stupid Mother."

"I wouldn't put it past her, she manipulates and connives, I've seen her type, they never make you happy, only miserable."

"Mom, the only time I'm miserable is when I'm away from her."

"You can do better, so much better, I could introduce you to nice girls, girls who will love you for who you are."

"Mom! Please, I'm a grown man, I can make my own decisions, and I love Stephanie! Do you hear me, I love Stephanie McMahon and nothing is going to change that!"

"Fine, but don't expect me to accept this," his mother said, leaving the room.

Jericho sat down heavily on the bed, putting his head in his hands. That was one strike against them. He knew his dad wouldn't care who he was dating as long as he was happy, but his mother, well, she was opinionated. That's where he got his own bluntness. This was just great, he couldn't let Stephanie know about his mother's feelings, it would break her after what had happened on Sunday.

"I love you too," a quiet voice said from the doorway.

Jericho's head shot up and saw Stephanie standing there, a small frown on her face. She looked so sad that Jericho beckoned her over to him. She made small steps until she was standing in front of him. He pulled her down into his lap and she buried his head in her neck.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you and your mom to fight."

"It's ok, why don't we go get something to eat, I'm starving."

"Change of subject," she laughed, "But yeah, my stomach's growling anyways."

He stood up and picked her up in his arms, causing her to squeal in surprise. He carried her out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen as she giggled madly at his impetuosity. They walked in to see Jericho's mom in there and Stephanie stopped giggling and he set her down. She gave him a smile and he kissed her.

"Baby, what do you want to eat?" he asked, rooting through the fridge as she sat down.

"Whatever you're having," she replied, trying not to let his mother's presence dampen her mood.

"Ok," he said, grabbing a bunch of different things from the fridge, "Sandwiches."

"Gonna make me one?" she asked smiling flirtatiously.

"Of course," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Princess can't even make her own sandwich," Jericho's mom muttered as she left the room. But the two of them heard every word she said.

"Don't let her get to you ok?" Jericho said, coming over with sandwiches for himself and Stephanie.

"I'll try not to," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"She's just irritated because she saw what you used to do to me," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I know I was horrible to you."

"Hey, forget about it, it's in the past and that's where it should stay. We were different people back then and we've both changed," he shrugged, eating his own sandwich.

"Doesn't mean I'm not sorry about it."

He smiled at her, "I know you are. But hell, I'd go through it all again if it meant I got to share a moment with you."

She blushed and finished up her sandwich as Jericho got up to get more food for himself. He asked if she wanted more and shook her head. She got up from the table and went over to where he was making more food. He always had a huge appetite. She kissed his cheek and then wandered into the living room, where Jericho's mom was sitting on the couch looking at what appeared to be a photo album.

"May I talk to you?" Stephanie asked hesitantly.

His mother looked up and saw Stephanie standing there alone. She nodded her head mutely. Stephanie came over and sat next to her on the couch. Well, across the couch from her, a safe distance in case his mother wanted to scratch her eyes out or something. Stephanie glanced down at the photo album and saw what appeared to be a much younger Jericho with a girl.

"That was his girlfriend before he decided to leave everything and become a professional wrestler," his mother explained, "I always hoped they would get married."

"Oh, what happened with them?"

"He decided his career was more important. Wanted to travel around the world, see the sights. I always kind of hoped he'd come back and they'd find each other again. She was a wonderful girl."

Stephanie had heard enough, "I know you don't like me."

"No, I don't," his mother said clearly.

Well, at least she didn't mince words. Much like Jericho, she would tell it like it is, tell the truth even if the truth hurt. She had to respect that about her. But right now it was to her disadvantage. Stephanie cleared her throat.

"I'm not out to hurt your son," she said.

"You've hurt him before.........many times."

"But I'm different now. That was mostly my husband, he was very overbearing and wanted me to be as well. And with Chris calling me all those horrible names," she trailed off, wow, her and Jericho did have a rocky start didn't they?

"You may say you're different, but how can you be sure?"

"Because I love him. He's so good to me, I don't deserve him, at all. He's the best thing to come into my life in a long time, and I'm so thankful that he did. I'm sorry you don't like me, and I'm sure you would love for us to break up, but I need him, he's what keeps me getting up every morning, he's what keeps me going when I feel lousy. My family, God, I barely have a family, I don't want Chris to lose his over me. I'm not asking you to like me, but at least can you get to know me before you pass judgment on me."

His mother remained stiff and unyielding, "I've seen your family, they're nothing but trouble, all out to get one another. You fought your own father just this week, and I've seen your brother fight against Chris."

"They planned that out. My father, he doesn't really know about Chris and I--"

"So Chris isn't good enough for your father to know about your relationship?"

"No, you misunderstand. My father isn't good enough to know the entire truth."

"But still, you've kept it from him, and you've kept it from us. Chris used to tell us everything, but he didn't feel the need to tell us about you, what does that say about your so-called relationship?"

"We don't tell a lot of people. Chris helped me with something, he didn't have to, but he did. He loves me, and I'm sorry that you don't like hearing that, but it's the truth."

"So you've manipulated your way into his heart."

Stephanie was getting frustrated now. Geez, now she knew where Jericho got all his annoying qualities. He could always twist her words to annoy the hell out of her. Well, back when they hated each other, not so much anymore. Stephanie took a calming breath before continuing the conversation.

"I haven't manipulated anyone, least of all Chris. I know you saw what I used to do to him, and as his mother, I'm sure it was terrible--"

"Yes, and when you have kids, you try watching them get beaten with a sledgehammer until they're bleeding."

"I know, I was wrong on so many occasions, but Chris was able to look past that."

"You're a passing fancy I'm sure."

"Do you call this a passing fancy?" Stephanie said, holding up her hand where the ring Jericho had given her shone brightly in the lamplight.

"You are engaged!" his mother exclaimed.

"No, not yet, but we're about as close as we can be," Stephanie said smugly.

His mother grabbed her hand and looked at the ring, then up at Stephanie. She shook her head and stood up, "I don't know what you've done to my son, and I don't care, but I will not stand by and see him throw his life away for you."

His mother left and went upstairs and Stephanie looked down at her ring. She sighed and leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes, willing herself to not cry. She didn't realize Jericho was next to her until she felt him lean his head on her shoulder.

"You are so brave," he told her.

"Why?"

"Because you actually tried to stand up to my mom, it takes a brave person to try and attempt that."

"I can see where you get your stubbornness from," she replied, leaning her head on his.

"Very funny baby."

She stared at the turned off television set and Jericho followed her gaze to where she was looking. SmackDown was just about to start, he knew, since he had looked at the clock not moments before when he had come in from the kitchen. He knew she was curious about the show, but he didn't want to bring it up lest she not want to talk about it.

"I wonder what's going on?" she asked.

"You can turn it on if you want," he told her gently.

"I don't know if I want to," she said, "What if I just don't want to see it."

"You never know unless you turn it on."

He grabbed the remote and handed it to her. She held it in her hand, wondering if she should turn it on. It hurt to think that she wasn't a part of that anymore, and wouldn't be for a very long time, if ever. She turned the television on despite her fear, knowing that she had to do this.

The first thing she saw was her father and the whore who had torn her family apart on his arm. She bit her lip, trying not to look as hurt as she felt. Jericho would instantly turn it off if he saw that she was truly upset about it. She watched as he stood in the ring and basically talked shit about her. She watched, feeling for the first time what it was like to be on the other side. Yeah, she had been kicked out before, but this time was different, this time felt like, forever.

She didn't want to listen to her father; she hated him so much. She hated him for hurting her and causing her to get hurt; she hated him for making her leave the company when it should've been him. She fully expected him to give her former position over to Sable, and that would've been the final nail in the coffin.

Then he sprung it on her and on the wrestling community, and brought out Paul Heyman as her successor. She became pissed for the first time since losing and she set her jaw, turned off the television, and reared the remote back and threw it at the wall. Jericho jumped back a little, not expecting that from her.

"Hey, it'll be ok," he whispered.

"How?" she asked, though it seemed like a simple question it was far more complex and both of them knew it. 

"I don't know yet, but I know that I will try my hardest to get you back to what you do best."

They heard the door open then, which could only signal the arrival of Jericho's father. Stephanie sighed, realizing round two was about to be underway. She didn't think she could take another rejection. Jericho kissed her neck before standing up and heading over to the foyer to greet his dad. Stephanie sat there anxiously, hoping the night wouldn't go from worse to the worst night ever.

"Dad!" Jericho said, going over to give his father a manly hug.

"Chris, when did you get here?"

"About an hour and a half ago," Jericho answered.

"Where's your mother?"

"Up in her room," Jericho told him, "She's not too happy with me right now."

"What did you do this time?" Ted asked giving him a look.

"I brought my girlfriend home."

"Girlfriend? So my boy has a girlfriend, well, where is she? I'd love to meet her."

"She's in the living room," Jericho replied, "Mom doesn't like her."

"Oh, and I'm sure she wasn't afraid to say it either," his dad said, understanding, "How long have you been seeing this girl?"

"A year."

"She must be pretty spectacular for her to put up with you for a year," he chuckled, "Let me see this wonder woman."

Jericho led his father into the living room and Stephanie stood up quickly, smoothing out her skirt, hoping to make a better impression than she did the first time. She gave a tentative smile to Jericho and his father and saw as Ted gave her the once over and then looked at Jericho.

"Stephanie McMahon I presume," he said, going over to shake her hand.

"Yes sir," she said softly.

"Sir? Are we in the army, call me Ted," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "If you've been with my son for a year, it's the least you can call me."

Stephanie gave a smile, "Ok Ted."

"Well, aren't you a pretty young thing," he said, glancing over at her, "You can't be more than twenty-three."

She laughed, "I actually turned twenty-seven last month."

"You are not!"

"Yeah."

"Still younger than my son, but he acts like a two year old most of the time anyways, but I always knew he had good taste."

"Dad, are you trying to hit on my girlfriend?" Jericho joked, glad that his father could look past everything and realize that he loved this woman.

"Me? Never," his dad laughed, "Now, if I can recall correctly, you've had it in for my son many times over. Now what made you fall for him?"

Stephanie blushed, "I don't know, he's great."

"Well, seems he leaves you speechless," he said, grinning at her embarrassment, "Now why doesn't my wife like you?"

"She thinks I'm out to hurt Chris."

"Well, let me see if I can get her to change his mind. It's not everyday our son dates a billionaire's daughter. Using her for the money Chris?"

Stephanie laughed out loud. That was the first time anyone had ever asked that, and she had to find it funny. Jericho rolled his eyes at his dad before grabbing Stephanie's hand and pulling her over to him. He wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"Never Dad, you know I'm just using her for the power."

"That's my boy," he said, clapping Jericho on the shoulder, "Now, I'm going to bed, because it's late for an old-timer like me and I'm tired. Goodnight to both of you, I'll try to get your mother to change her mind."

"Thanks Dad."

Jericho and Stephanie watched as he went upstairs. As soon as he was out of eyesight, Stephanie turned in Jericho's arms, facing him. He leaned down and smiled at her, running his hands up and down her back. He saw relief in her eyes that at least one of his parent's liked her.

"I told you he'd love you."

"At least one of your parents does," Stephanie answered.

"Hey, my mom will love you once she gets to know you."

"I'm not so sure."

"She will," he yawned, "Wanna hit the sack?"

"Yeah, it's been a long day."

They went upstairs and got ready for bed. They lay there in silence for what seemed like hours, just enjoying each other's company when there were no shows to be talked about, no friends in need, no sneaking around. It was something that was different, they were away from it all, not even near their friends, like when they were in Florida, nobody calling, asking to go out or anything. It was peaceful.

"What're you thinking about?" Jericho asked.

"How nice it was to get away," she said.

"Yeah, I just wanted to get away from everything wrestling related."

She traced her finger over his abs, "I hope I didn't cause any kind of riff between you and your mom."

"You didn't baby, we're not like your family, we can mend things after a while."

She slapped his stomach playfully, "Hey, no bringing my family up, they're the last people I want to talk about."

"Oww, that hurt," he joked, "Sorry bout bringing them up, I know the last thing you want to think about is them."

"I'm kind of jealous of you, you know," she said softly, "I mean, your family, you work as a unit, you interact normally, me it's weird, it's like a business meeting or something."

"Every family is different, but pretty soon, you'll be a part of this family."

"Not if your mom has anything to say about it."

"Do you love me Stephanie?" Jericho asked.

"That's the stupidest question I've ever heard."

"Do you love me?"

Jericho's mother happened to be walking down to the linen closet to get a towel when she happened upon Jericho's door, which was left ajar. She could hear their voices and she stood outside the door listening in on their conversation.

"Chris, what kind of question is that?"

"Stephanie, answer the question, do you love me?"

"How do I love thee," she said, sitting up and throwing a leg over his body, straddling his lap, "Let me count the ways."

Jericho laughed, "Go right ahead."

"I love the way you wake up in the morning and kiss me until I wake up, even though you know it bugs me. I love the way you let me have as much room in the closet as I want. I love the way you leave little notes for me everywhere to remind of things I'd be sure to forget. I love how you're patient with me when I attempt to cook........."

"Go on, I'm liking the Chris appreciation hour," he said, looking up at her face which was softly illuminated by bathroom light.

"I love the way when you hold my hand, you rub my hand with your thumb. I love the way you stand up for me to my father, even when you shouldn't. I love how you get all protective of me when I'm put in a bad situation. I love how you take care of me when I'm hurt. I love how you are willing to shave for me even though I know you liked that grotesque goatee."

"Hey! Don't diss the 'tee!"

She giggled and leaned down to kiss his chin, "Much better clean. I love the way you opened up your home to me. I love the way you do spectacular things for me when I don't deserve them."

He took her hands, "You deserve everything I've ever done for you."

"No, I don't baby, I don't deserve any of the little things you do for me, like giving me all the blankets at night when you know I'm cold."

"Don't want my baby to freeze," he said as she smiled, "I don't particularly like kissing blue lips."

She stuck her tongue out at him, "I love the way you put up with me most of all. I know I don't deserve you Chris, and I guess I'm just trying to savor every moment I have with you before it all disappears."

"Well, see, that's where you're wrong," he said, sitting up until they were eye-to-eye, "It will never disappear because I love you."

"Sometimes I don't know why you do. Like your mom was saying, you can do better, and you obviously had girls before you met me, one that your mom wanted you to marry."

Jericho's mother kept standing outside the doorway, listening in to what they were saying. She was beginning to feel a little bit bad for all of the things she had said to Stephanie. Her husband had tried to tell her that Stephanie was a good person, but she had done so many bad things to Jericho.

"Oh man, Katharina, I haven't thought about her in years."

"You loved her?" Stephanie asked, searching his eyes.

"I guess you could say I did on some level, like a schoolboy kind of love," he said, seeing Stephanie look down slightly, "But this, what we have is a grown-up kind of love. The kind of love that propels you into marriage and all that good stuff. I would never have married her anyways."

"That's nice to hear," she said, kissing him lightly.

"Stephanie, I don't think you get how much I love you."

"I probably don't because half the time I question why you would even want someone like me."

"I can tell you why right now. You make me happy. I like being around you Stephanie, I have always liked being around you."

"No," she said, rolling her eyes, "I'm sure you didn't like when I was slapping you or throwing water on you."

"Well, the slaps I deserved and the water refreshed me during my match," he grinned.

"You make me happy too," she said, softly, "I mean, it's just I've never and it's--"

"I get what you're trying to say," he said, not making her explain, "Now you know what would make me happy right now?"

"Sweetie!" she exclaimed, "In your parent's house!?!"

"Steph, get your mind out of the gutter," he laughed, "I meant going to sleep."

"Oops," she said, pushing him down lightly and then laying on top of him, resting her head on his chest, yawning, "Sorry, but you know how you are."

"Are you saying all I want from you is your body?"

"No, of course not," she said sarcastically, drifting off, "Night sweetie."

"Night baby." 

Jericho's mother backed away from the door before going to where she had been planning on before she eavesdropped on her son and his girlfriend. She hated to admit, but her son did seem happy with her, and maybe she had been too quick to judge Stephanie based on the past. But Jericho was her son and she only wanted the best for him.

But maybe Stephanie was what was best.


	146. Get Chris a Real Feud, October 27, 2003

Stephanie collapsed onto the hotel room bed. It had been a long day. They had left Jericho's parent's house this morning and flown to Raleigh, where they then had to drive to the show in Fayetteville. She looked up at Jericho who was busy putting things in his bag to go to the show.

The weekend had not been as bad as she thought it would be. It wasn't eh best weekend of her life, but his mother had started to warm up to him at least a little bit. It made her a little less nervous to be around her. She and Jericho both found the situation sort of comical. Her father hated them together and his mother hated them together. Too bad their families weren't comprised of his father and her mother, than there would be no worries.

Jericho looked over at her as she lay there. He knew that she was exhausted after the long trip and from his mother's questioning stares. She didn't understand why he loved Stephanie, but he didn't ask her to understand, just to accept the fact that he loved her. She seemed to finally get that part, and had only bid her farewell with a warning that if she ever hurt Jericho, she would pay.

"You gonna be ok here by yourself?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," she said, "I'm just going to sleep the entire time."

"If that's what you want," he said, going over to pick up his phone.

"Who're you calling?"

"Trish, just want to make sure that she's going to be there tonight."

"Don't you think you should keep it a secret when you're going to be calling your girlfriend?"

He rolled his eyes, "Well, since this is now an open relationship, I figured that you wouldn't care if I called her in front of you."

"Oh, really? Open relationship you say? If that's the case, then I've got a few guys that I want to call up. I'm sure that some of them would be willing to meet me up here for a little fun."

He leaned down to kiss her, "Better not be here when I get back."

"Oh, of course not, I'll make sure they're gone."

"That's all I ask," he joked.

"Good, now go call your girlfriend."

He shook his head and sat down in one of the chairs in the room, studying Stephanie as she turned from side to side trying to get comfortable on the hard bed. He laughed as she flipped him off. She finally found a spot she was comfortable in and she looked over to him and gave him a thumbs up.

He dialed Trish's cell phone and waited for her to pick up, when she didn't he decided to just leave a message, "Hey Trish, it's Chris, just wondering if you were going to be at the show tonight. You know, strictly for Vince purposes. Let me know, or I'll just see you there."

Stephanie watched as he hung up, "She not there?"

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was just avoiding Christian."

"I wonder what Trish thought of him saving Lita last week?"

"I wonder what Lita thought of him saving her last week?" he laughed.

"Yeah, that too. She doesn't exactly know the entire truth of the matter does she?"

"No, not really. She knows that we 'broke up' and that Christian and Trish broke up. She probably thinks that we're rebounding."

"Yeah," she nodded, "And that Christian is probably pissed."

"Yeah," he said, "You know it was so much simpler this weekend when we could forget all of this shit."

"Yeah, but we can't live in denial forever."

"No," he sighed, "We can't. I'm leaving."

"Ok, give me a kiss goodbye."

He came over obediently and she sat up momentarily to kiss him. He kissed back, "See you baby."

"Have fun on your date," she told him, smiling against his lips.

"God, how long do I have to endure this torture?"

"I'm thinking months," she told him, then thought for a second, "Yeah, months."

"Ok, as long as I know for sure."

She laughed as he grabbed his bag. He gave her one last kiss goodbye and left. He wondered if Christian and Trish were on any kind of speaking terms. He also wondered if Trish knew that Christian had really gone out there to save her and not Lita. So many questions, so many problems, and him right in the middle of it.

He found out he didn't have a match, but he knew he could get his face on the show somewhere. He went to his locker room and dumped off his stuff. He laid down on the couch and went over the weekend in his head. He was really afraid that his mother would try to push him and Stephanie apart, but she hadn't, which was surprising, considering his mother had no tact in that department.

The door opened and he looked up to see Shane, "What's up?"

"I heard that you and a certain someone visited your parents this weekend," he said.

"Did she call you or something?"

"I heard from my mom, who heard from her."

"When did she call your mom?" he asked, sitting up.

"Saturday I think, I just wanted to know how it went."

"Not too good at first," he told Shane, "You know how your father hates the idea of the two of us together?"

"Yeah," Shane nodded.

"Yeah, well, same goes for my mom."

"Geez, you two can't catch a break can you?" Shane said, shaking his head, "I've been talking to my informant, and so far so good, the little thing with Trish was really good last week."

"Yeah, luckily I have Trish who I can fake flirt with," he chuckled.

"And Christian doesn't mind."

"Christian doesn't know it's fake, and you can't tell him, Trish's orders," Jericho said.

"They're still at odds."

"Yeah, and it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon."

"That sucks."

"So what are you doing here anyways?"

"I wanted to talk--"

"No, on the show."

"I have a match," Shane said, "Open challenge, No DQ"

Jericho scoffed, "Good luck with that one."

"Yeah, thanks I've gotta go."

"Ok."

"Oh, yeah, Chris," Shane said, turning back to him.

"Yeah?"

"Tell Stephanie that I'm sorry for the things I said the other week, I really didn't mean them and I was just pissed. I hope she forgives me."

"You know she will."

"Good, but you know, still let her know."

"Of course."

"Thanks," he said leaving.

Jericho smiled. Stephanie would be glad to hear that. She hated being at odds with her family. That's why it had hurt her so much to be feuding with her father. He grabbed the television remote off the floor and turned on the television just in time to catch the end of the beginning segment of the show. Seems Evolution was out there, blowing a lot of hot air, again.

He was about to turn it off again and call Stephanie when he saw Trish and Lita on the television. Trish was listening to her phone, and he hoped that she was getting his message. She smiled and wondered just what she was smiling about. Lita came in and interrogated her about the phone calls and Jericho felt like he was looking at two high school girls, giggling over a boy. He laughed when he thought about how he was the boy. Yeah, he had Stephanie, but it didn't hurt to know that he was talked about.

He was worried that Lita didn't know the entire truth about all of this. I mean, he didn't care what she thought, but she was getting the idea very wrong. Now she was going to go try to pry in other people's business and he didn't know if he wanted her doing that. There were a lot of secrets around here, and he didn't need her poking around and finding any.

He was so distracted in his thoughts he didn't look up on the screen until he saw Booker and Rico fighting. Christian burst into the room and Jericho looked at him. He looked mildly excited and he wondered if there had been a breakthrough with Trish.

"I'm going to be on the team for Survivor Series."

Jericho smiled, "Cool, so now I know I'll have at least one guy I like on my team."

"Definitely."

Jericho looked at the television screen, "I think that I should go make that announcement."

"Now?" Christian asked.

"Yeah."

"But there's a match," he said, gesturing towards the television.

"I'm well aware, but when better to get someone than when they're already down?"

"Point taken."

They walked down to the gorilla and Jericho waited for the perfect moment in which to interrupt. He found it and walked out to the ring. He talked to Booker and announced that his team had a new member. He went on to introduce the new team member and then looking up he saw the cage and told them to lower it as he, Christian, and Steiner began to pound on Booker. Jericho kept telling them to rush the cage, but before it was all the way down, RVD came down and started to clean house. Jericho got out of the ring quickly and walked up the ramp with his teammates. Words were spoken and Jericho and Christian stormed backstage.

"I can't believe that didn't work," Jericho muttered, "Stupid RVD. I'm going to go to Bischoff."

"Yeah, I'm going to go find Trish," Christian said.

"You are?" Jericho asked, swiveling his head to look at his friend.

"Yeah, I figure that I should tell her that I wanted to save her last week, you know, try to get on her good side."

"Good idea, good luck."

Christian walked off, looking around, hoping to run into Trish. He turned the corner and groaned as he saw Molly standing there talking to Gail. Molly heard him groan and looked over. With a smirk on her face, she came sauntering over to him.

"Christian, long time no see," she purred.

"Yeah, not long enough," he told her.

"Oh, did you forget our fun little night together? I could help remind you if you need reminding," she said lowly.

"No Molly, because it was a mistake and we both know it."

"Do we? You seemed to be having fun that night."

"I was drunk ok?" he said, "It meant nothing to me, I love Trish."

"Yeah, whatever, and look what I've done to your little Barbie doll."

"I don't appreciate that."

"Oh," she said, leaning in close, "I just did it all for you."

"Oh, so it seems that you've found someone to replace me," Trish's voice came from behind him.

Christian closed his eyes and turned around, "Trish, I just wanted--"

"To what Christian? Have a repeat performance of what you did with Molly?"

"Can't help it if he came running to me when you weren't good enough for him," Molly said.

"Shut up," Trish spat, "This doesn't involve you."

"I think it does," she said, smirking at Trish.

"Why yes it does, it involves the two of you because I'm out of here," she said turning on her heel, running away.

Christian ran after her, and as she was running she dropped the book she had been holding. He sighed and decided that right now might not be the best time to go after her. She might want to cool down first. He picked up the book she had dropped and saw that it was Lita's book. He ducked into the closest room, the gym area and leaned against a table, pawing through it.

He saw a picture of him and Lita and laughed at it, funny thing he came across this when he had saved her last week. He suddenly saw Lita come up to him and ask if he was trying to one up Jericho. Christian gave her a look that said she was crazy, but she looked serious. He brought up the picture of the two of them, and how funny it was and how they used to be great friends. Lita told him he may be getting the wrong idea about the two of them.

Christian looked at her strangely, "Lita, what do you mean by that?"

"Us, you and me, I don't know what you want from me Christian, maybe you're just jealous because of Chris and Trish."

"Jealous? Why?"

"Because he's been calling her and stuff and they've been flirting," she told him.

"Oh," he said, starting to wonder what phone calls she was talking of.

"I don't know what you're up to yet Christian, but I'm not liking it so far."

"Ok."

Trish ran into Jericho's locker room. He looked up at her, wondering why she had just barged in. She leaned against the door trying to catch her breath. Jericho got up to see if she needed anything, but she shooed him away. She caught her breath and looked at him.

"I saw them.........together!"

"Who?" he asked confused.

"Molly and Christian," she said, "They were talking and she was really close to him and they were just, I couldn't take it."

"Why was he talking to her?"

"I don't know, because he really wants her," Trish said, her bottom lip quivering a little.

Jericho walked over to her and gave her a hug, "Hey, don't go jumping to conclusions ok, that's never good."

"I saw what I saw."

"Yeah, and I saw Stephanie kissing Charlie Haas, and we all know that wasn't her fault. So who's to say that Molly went up to Christian to bug him?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, "But he was so, and she was so, and it was just hard to watch without picturing the things that they did."

"I know," he whispered, kissing the top of her head, "It'll get better."

"Thank God I have you on the show, I'd go crazy without you."

"I'm lucky to have to you play flirt with me so that I can get Vince off my fucking back," he said, "It's a two-way street."

"Yeah," she said, "What did Stephanie think of the little flirting we did? I never got to ask her."

"Oh, she's pissed at me, she went home this weekend because she was so angry with me. I haven't talked to her in days," he deadpanned.

She pulled away, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry Chris, I know that's not what you wanted, I'm going to go call her now! I can't have her thinking that we were really doing anything!"

Jericho laughed, "Trish, I'm kidding."

She hit his arm, "Don't do that! You had me thinking I single-handedly ruined your relationship!"

"Actually, she thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever seen. The only thing she does is tease me about it. Apparently you're my new girlfriend."

Trish laughed before someone cleared that throat. Christian looked at the two of them, still in their embrace, and having heard only the tail end to their conversation. He glared at the two of them for a second and Jericho's eyes widened.

"Dude, it's not what you think," Jericho said.

"Oh really?" he asked, "So you didn't just say that Trish was your new girlfriend?"

"Well, yeah, I did, but it wasn't meant to be taken like that."

"Then how am I supposed to take it?"

"Oh come off it Christian," Trish interrupted, "Take it however the fuck you want to take it, we don't care."

"You know I don't know why I'm even trying with you," he shot back, "I've been nothing but contrite after you dumped me, but God forbid you even see that!"

"Oh, and talking with MOLLY is really going to help you get back in my good graces!" Trish yelled.

"I didn't want to talk with her!"

"Sure Christian, sure," she said snottily, "And why do you care if I talk to Chris? He's my FRIEND! Not necessarily someone I'm going to run off and have sex with. Oh, but according to your rule of scruples, Chris and I should already be on the floor fucking."

"Um..........yeah, I wouldn't be doing that," Jericho interjected quietly.

"Shut up!" Christian barked at him.

"Hey!" Trish yelled, "Don't you dare talk to him like that!"

"Why not!?! He's obviously become your special friend in all of this."

"Oh get off it Christian, he's nothing more than my friend. If I wanted to screw someone, I'd find someone you absolutely hate. Hmm, I wonder what RVD's doing right now!" she screamed.

"Don't you even dare!"

"Who's stopping me? Certainly not you!"

"You wouldn't do that!"

"Watch me!" Trish said, starting to leave.

Jericho grabbed her by the waist. He knew Trish was strong-willed, and if she said she would go have sex with RVD, she probably would, just to spite Christian. Trish struggled to get out of his grasp, but he simply wrapped his other arm around her, holding her against him. She gave a frustrated sigh and stopped fighting against him.

"You guys, you need to calm down," Jericho said.

"I am calm," Trish said, through gritted teeth, "Now I have a match I need to get to. If you'll excuse me Chris, I will talk to you later, we have things we need to discuss."

"Like what?" he asked.

"What happened over the weekend? I want details," she winked.

He laughed, seems Trish had been talking with Shane tonight. She left and he looked up to see Christian, his face still angry. Jericho sighed, it was so foolish of Christian to think he had anything to do with Trish in the romantic sense. Seems like Trish's plan was working though as he was becoming increasingly jealous. But didn't Christian realize that Jericho had someone that he loved. He guessed that his anger made him blind to the obvious.

"Dude, there's nothing going on between Trish and I?"

"How can I be sure of that?" Christian said, crossing his arms.

"Christian," Jericho said, exasperated by his friend's attitude, "Think about it."

"I don't know, I come in here, and you guys are all over each other--"

"I was hugging her!" Jericho said.

"Yeah, hugging her, why is that?"

"Because she was upset over you," Jericho answered.

"And the girlfriend comment?" Christian said.

"Do I have a girlfriend?" Jericho asked.

"I thought you did. But maybe Stephanie is in the dark about all of this too. Maybe she and I are being played like fiddles. Maybe all this time, you two have been cheating on us," Christian said, raising an eyebrow.

Jericho just looked at him, "For you to even insinuate that I would ever cheat on Stephanie is preposterous. How dare you even make that assumption. Believe whatever you want to believe Christian, it seems you already have everything figured out as it is."

Jericho shook his head and brushed past Christian, and went into the hallway. Christian needed to take a major inventory because he was becoming so irrational about this whole thing. He was going around accusing his friends of being cheaters and yelling at everyone. It was becoming a little too much.

He walked down to the gorilla and watched the end of Trish's match, which she had lost. She came limping backstage and he went over to help her. She smiled gratefully up at him, and she could see she was upset about losing. He knew she wanted to get her hands on Molly and take away the title from her, like Molly had taken away her boyfriend.

"Christian thinks we've been cheating," he told her, snorting, "I can't believe he'd even think that."

"Let him think it," she said, looking up at him, "We're much better don't you think?"

Jericho looked down at her. She transitioned from friend to flirt in no time flat. He looked around, wondering if he were being watched right this second. Stupid paranoia, starting to get to him. He looked down at her and smiled, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I guess we should let them think what they want huh?"

"Definitely. I mean, Christian he didn't deserve me did he?"

"Nope," Jericho said softly, "How about I walk you back to your locker room?"

"I'd like that very much," she said coyly.

He walked her back to her dressing room and he let her inside before closing the door. She laughed at him as he took off his mischievous, flirty smile and replaced it with his normal face. She knew it was hard for him to pretend to flirt with someone else, despite it all being an act.

"So still being followed?"

"Yeah, it sucks."

"I bet. But at least you and Steph got away for the weekend right?"

"Yeah, we went to my parents."

"Yeah, Shane told me earlier."

"I figured as much."

"What did you parent's think of her?"

"My dad loves her, absolutely adores, thinks she's the cutest thing in the world, told her she's the daughter he always wanted to have and spoil rotten. Told me about a hundred times to marry her so he could spoil her and our kids, because apparently we should be having kids already," Jericho said.

"Well, that's good to hear, since Stephanie's real father is such a jerk," she said.

"Yeah, she did like all the attention."

"And hey with her not having a job, you should try for those kids," she winked.

"Oh God, don't you start in on us too! There's plenty of time for that later."

"And your mom?"

"Oh, she hates Stephanie."

"Oh no," Trish said, giving a sympathetic look, "Does she know?"

"My mom told her point blank that she didn't like her."

"She must've been so upset."

"Yeah, but my mom started to go easier on her, so you know, it's the best we could've hoped for right now."

"Yeah, and you know, it's not like she's the only one right?" Trish shrugged.

"Right..........so onto more pressing matters, you and Christian, are you two going to just keep fighting all the time."

"I suppose, it's the only thing I'm willing to do with him right now."

"Trish, I know what he did was wrong, but I think you're, um, overreacting just a tiny bit," he said, trailing off.

"Excuse me?!?!" she said, "I have every right to get mad."

"No, I know that, and that's fine," he looked at the clock, "I've got to go to my match, but Trish, I just want you to think about something for me ok?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Jeff kissed you and you broke up with Christian, and he was devastated. You cheated on him Trish, when you kissed Jeff. Now it might not be as bad, but fact remains, you cheated on him. He took you back Trish."

She looked at him, he was right, "But--"

"He took you back."

Jericho left a stunned Trish to her locker room and went down to the gorilla for his match. His countdown went off and he went out for his match, putting on his happy, go-lucky persona for the crowd. It was easier with all this adrenaline pumping through his veins. He waited for RVD to come out and saw the belt, a belt he wanted, not as much as the World title, but it was a belt just the same.

The match started and the two locked up with one another. They fought back and forth for a while, neither one gaining a clear advantage. Jericho did manage to sneak in the little RVD thumb-pointing thing, but couldn't get the pin on him. He liked working with RVD, they always had really good matches. Eventually he gained the upper-hand and locked in the Walls.

He held on steadfast and saw Bischoff distracting the referee as RVD struggled to get away. He locked them on again and the referee finally came over to check on his opponent. RVD eventually had no choice but to tap and Jericho got up and celebrated. So caught up in the moment was he, that he actually hugged Bischoff, he was a little grossed out after that. He raised the belt in victory and knew there was going to be some celebrating in the hotel room tonight.

Suddenly the glass broke and Austin came out. Jericho looked at him, wondering what he could possibly be doing out here. It didn't matter, he had just one. Then Austin dropped the bombshell, that he would already be defending his title, in a steel cage match. Jericho looked at him in disbelief. This was so unfair, but as he saw the cage coming down around him, he knew he had no choice, but to comply.

He and RVD started fighting each other again. RVD got the early offense, but Jericho countered soon after, bending RVD's back over his knee. He got up and ran for RVD, but instead was met with the punishing steel cage. He received a kick from RVD and fell into the steel again. The next few moments were a blur as he tried to regain his composure. RVD was getting in more offense, but Jericho saw an opening and started scaling the cage, but was brought back into the ring by RVD.

The two kept fighting with each other, and trying to win the match. Eventually RVD was on the outside, climbing out and Jericho was heading for the door. He could see the end in sight, could see himself pulling out the win, but at the last second, he was met with the steel door to his head. He fell back and lay there, staring up at the arena ceiling. Then chaos broke out as people kept running down and attacking other people, it was a huge mess and Jericho was caught right in the middle of it.

He saw Christian out of the corner of his eye and got up to go help him beat on whoever he was beating. Suddenly he was knocked down by Booker. Ok, this was getting out of hand. Jericho went to the corner and scaled the cage. He could feel the blood dripping down his forehead and tasted the coppery liquid on his face. He scaled the cage and sat on the top, watching the carnage below. He felt like the puppet-master in all of this, and in a way he was. If it hadn't been for his intense hatred for Austin none of this would've happened. He laughed as he sat on the top of the cage, and felt the urge to yell, "Look ma, top of the world!"

Stephanie looked up as Jericho entered the room, some time after the show had ended. He came into the bedroom and dumped his stuff, "Ok, now I see where you're coming from."

"What do you mean?"

"Now I'm pissed off after what he pulled on you," she said, "You won that match and you got to hold the title for all of 30 seconds before being put in another match."

"Yeah, I know," he said, falling on the bed in exhaustion.

"Now I really want to see you take him down."

"Good, makes it easier to hate him" he said, leaning his head on her stomach and looking up at her.

"So other than that, how was your night?"

"Well, Trish hates Christian, Christian hates me, Christian hates Trish, so yeah, that's what my night was about."

"What? Why does Christian hate you?" she asked, confused.

"He actually had the gall to say that I was cheating on you with Trish."

Stephanie guffawed, "Oh my God!"

"Yeah, because I was telling her how you were teasing me and we were hugging because she had just had a fight with Christian and he thought we were together or something."

"When would you even find time to be together?" she said, "You're always with me."

"It was just his anger talking, I didn't let it bother me. He's just really upset."

"Yeah, I'd imagine," she nodded, "I mean I would be upset too."

"Yeah, but you have no reason to be."

"No, of course not, I mean, I trust you," she said, running her hands through his slightly damp hair.

"I know, and I take that very seriously."

"What about Trish, you trust her too?"

"Well, yeah of course, why?"

"Oh, well, just wondering, wouldn't want the hottest couple to have a falling out so soon in the relationship."

"Just a couple more months of this," he muttered, "Just a couple more months."


	147. Kurt's Teams Sucks, October 30, 2003

A/N: Ok, the SmackDown chapters that lack Stephanie have been turned into Kurt-centric chapters for now. I'm not sure if this is good or not, seeing as how I'm not really used to writing about another of the characters for a whole chapter. So sorry if it isn't as good. And if you like it and wanted more of Kurt to begin with, then you're in luck! :)

* * *

"So you're going to the show now?"

"Stephanie, do you want me to just talk on the phone all night and lay out my entire evening?" Kurt asked.

"No, that's not what I want," she said, sighing, "I was just wondering, this is around the time that I would go to the show."

"Stephanie, you shouldn't think about it."

"I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it," she told him, "I wanna go back."

"I know you do sweetie," Kurt said, "And you will be, your father can't keep you down forever."

"He'd like to," she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you've got so many people on your side. I mean, you have your mother, and it's only a matter of time before your father calms down."

"Yeah, not when he's got something spying on Chris at all times," she scoffed.

"Stephanie, take your mind off of it ok? Just forget about tonight and just go out and have fun with Chris. Don't even watch the show."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"I don't care if you can, just go out and do it. I'm telling you right now to go have fun," he insisted.

She laughed, "I guess I might be able to do that, maybe."

"Good, I hate hearing about how you're so depressed and everything."

"I know, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't force my problems onto you, you don't deserve it really."

"That doesn't bother me Steph," he said, "I'm your best friend, I'm here for you, and I want you to not have to worry."

"I won't worry, I don't want you worrying about me. So go to the show, have fun and do whatever you have to do."

"I was planning on it."

"How are things with Dawn and Gail?" Stephanie asked, taking the subject off of herself for a moment.

"At a standstill with Dawn," he told her.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I think she's too.........um, voluptuous for me," he said, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Oh," Stephanie responded, "I can see where you're coming from. But she still likes you Kurt."

"I know, I don't know, maybe she'll change or something, who knows."

"And Gail?"

"Gail's been good, I like talking to her," Kurt said smiling.

"But is there room for more?"

"I don't know, we'll see," he said, "I better get going."

"Ok, bye Kurt."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone and grabbed his already packed bag and left. He walked down to his rental and drove to the arena, humming to himself. He was thinking about who he wanted to get on his team for Survivor Series. It was kind of funny that he had a team thing going for Survivor Series and Jericho did as well. They were both like the captains of their team, too bad Jericho wasn't on SmackDown so that he could ask Jericho to be on his team, they always worked well together.

But then again he knew that Jericho was needed on Raw. Not necessarily for his in-ring ability, but he knew what was going on with Trish and Christian and it seemed they needed a mediator right now. He hoped they worked it all out, they were lucky to have found each other, and shouldn't give it up so easily.

He walked into the building and went to look for his locker room. He recalled last year's SmackDown, which had fallen on Halloween. He laughed at the prank they had pulled on Stephanie, making her think that she was being stalked. Then the real surprise came at the end of the night when they found out that Stephanie had been kissed by Bischoff. Luckily that little thing had gone nowhere, he shuddered just thinking about it.

He threw his stuff in his room and then went to get one of the schedules for the evening. He was pretty happy to see that he would be on in the beginning of the show. He could get his match over with and then he could formulate his scheme to get his team together. It would be difficult, there weren't a lot of people that he could imagine being on his team. He might have to improvise a little.

He saw that he would be fighting with Benoit. He nodded his head in happiness. He could work with Benoit, and if he could get on Benoit's good side for at least a moment then he could get Benoit on his team. Any team that had the Rabid Wolverine on it always had to have some fort of advantage; Benoit was just too good. He smiled and walked back to his locker room.

He ran into Dawn in the hallway and she gave him a huge grin as she walked over to him. He smiled back politely as she gave him a hug. He hugged her back and pulled away, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"So how are you Dawn?" Kurt asked.

"I'm very well," she said giggling, "Now that I see you." 

He had to laugh at that, "Well, I'm glad then. So you doing anything on the show tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be in a Halloween costume contest with Torrie," Dawn said, smirking evilly.

"Oh, and what are you going as?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out later," she said, "But I'll be sure to give you a sneak peek."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

She smiled coyly, "I'm sure you will."

"Well, on that lovely note, I better get to my locker room and get ready for my match, it's first on the card."

"Oh, don't let me keep you," she said, kissing his cheek, "See you later."

"Ok."

He walked past her and down to his locker room. He liked Dawn, she was really nice, but she had this quality about her. She was quite the vixen and Kurt didn't know if he liked that or not. He guessed that it would take time to find out, but it was hard to like someone when you had nothing in common with them. Dawn wasn't even a wrestler.

He went into his dressing room and got changed for his match. He sat down for a moment, thinking about Dawn, and their situation. He knew that Dawn really liked him and he didn't' want to just brush her off like she was nothing. Maybe he'd go out with her a couple of more times and see if they could be anything together. If not, well, it's not like he had made a commitment to her.

He realized the time and got off his couch and walked down to the gorilla, nodding politely at Benoit, who was loosening up in the corner. Kurt heard his cue and went out onstage and did his thing. He went down to the ramp and waited for the match to begin. He knew that he and Benoit could pull out the victory tonight, Cena and Albert had nothing on them.

The match began and Kurt went into work mode. Thinking about women was off his mind and all he thought about was kicking these two guys ass's and coming out with the victory. He and Benoit managed to work together fairly well, despite the tension they always shared. Benoit pulled out the victory and they shook hands, which boded well for what Kurt was going to ask later.

Kurt made his way backstage and rested for a minute after his match, trying to catch his breath. He saw Benoit walk by him and he was mentally trying to come up with something to say to him to get him to join his team. He needed Benoit on his side, he was one of the best in the business.

He decided to just go and ask him already and walked over to where he had seen him exit. He basically laid it out for Benoit, they didn't like each other, but right now Kurt wanted to win, and by any means necessary. They exchanged words, but Benoit finally agreed to be on his team. Kurt smirked, things were looking up for him. He clapped Benoit on the back and then walked away.

He went back to his locker room and found Dawn sitting on the couch with a robe on. He smiled at her as she stood up. He could see that she was wearing knee-high boots, and he could only imagine what she was wearing underneath the robe. He knew whatever it was, it would be very tiny and probably revealing.

"Hey Dawn."

"Came to show you my costume."

"Cool." 

"For your approval of course," she smirked.

"I'm glad you hold my opinion in such high regard."

"Always," she winked.

She slowly untied her robe and opened it, revealing a pretty revealing Wonder Woman costume. He had to admit she looked amazing in it and it really was form-fitting. He didn't understand why Dawn did all these contests and stuff, as it was only a way to show off their bodies. Did she really just think of herself as someone who paraded around, in little clothing.

"Dawn, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why do you participate in stuff like this?" he asked.

"Like what?" 

"Like bikini matches, bra and panties matches, things where all you do is show yourself off."

"Are you saying I'm not pretty enough to be in them?" she asked, glaring at him.

"No, that's not what I'm saying, you're beautiful, but I mean, don't you think you're better than this."

She shrugged, "I don't know, I've just gotten used to it."

"That's what I'm saying, aren't you tired of just being eye candy?"

"I guess I like the attention. I can't be like Stephanie or something Kurt, I don't have the pull around here."

"Who said anything about Stephanie?"

"Well, she's your friend, your best friend, and I thought you might be trying to compare the two of us."

"Never," he told her sternly, "Stephanie is my friend, and I love her to death, but I would never compare her to anyone, everyone is their own person."

"Well, I don't know, you just hold her in such high esteem."

"I know I do, because she's my best friend, but I'm not going to judge you based on the fact that you AREN'T her."

"I better go," she said, brushing past him.

"Dawn, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Kurt told her.

"I'm good at what I do Kurt! I know it's not as compelling or whatever as someone else's job. I know that I'm only used for my looks. I've got to take advantage of what I have."

She stormed out and Kurt sighed; he hadn't wanted to fight with her, just wanted to understand her reasons for what she did. He bit his lip and went to his phone. He dialed Gail's number and hoped that she would answer.

"Hello?"

"Gail," he said.

"Kurt, hi," she said brightly, "You're at the show right now, what are you doing calling me?"

"Just wanted to say hey."

"Oh, that's nice. I'm watching the show, good match earlier."

"Thanks."

"And getting Chris on your team, good move."

"Yeah, I was pretty happy that he accepted, you know given the fact we're not the best of friends."

"How could he say no? The man loves to win, regardless of who it's with. I'm sure he just wants to win."

"Yeah, of course that's what he wants."

"Hey, are you ok? You sound like mad or something."

"Nah, I'm just thinking."

"About?" she prompted.

"Um, who else to get on my team."

"Oh yeah, you still have three spots to fill. Got any ideas?"

"I don't know, it's hard to find good members around here you know, I'm limited on supply."

"If you weren't limited, who would be on your team?" she asked.

"Like from the entire roster?"

"Uh huh."

He answered instantly, "Me, Benoit, Jericho, Christian and Edge."

"Oh, interesting team, any reason behind it?" she asked, "I mean, Edge and Christian, they hate each other."

"Well, because I know they'd work well together you know, they were a tag team for a long time so you've got that dynamic going on."

"And Jericho because he's your friend?"

"Yeah, not to mention he's teamed with just about everyone else that I'd have on my team."

"Yeah, you know," she said, pausing for a moment, "Maybe you should get a tag team, an established one. That way, you know they'll work together, and if there's any double team moves, you know they'd be in sync with each other."

"That's a good idea," he said, thinking about it.

"I like to think so," she said, laughing.

"Yeah, but who?"

"Um..........I can't think of anyone."

"How about the APA, I mean, I know that it's and odd choice, but right now, I just need members for my team."

"Go for it."

Kurt's phone beeped and he looked at it, "Hey Gail, I've got another call, I'll talk to you later, thanks for the suggestion."

"No problem Kurt, see ya."

He ended the call and clicked over to the other call, "Hello?"

"Kurt Angle."

"Who is this?"

"Your newest team member?"

"Um," Kurt said, "Who?"

"Bob Holly," came the gruff voice, "I've got a bone to pick with Brock and I want to be on your team."

Kurt thought about it for a moment. What did he have to lose really? He was already having a hard time thinking of people to have on his team. His dream team couldn't possibly come true. He didn't really have anyone else in mind. It couldn't hurt to let him be on the team. He was a fair guy.

"Sure, you can be on it," Kurt said nonchalantly.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"Ok, um, bye I guess."

"Later."

Kurt hung up his phone and got up to go find the APA and ask them to be on his team. He was about to leave when he looked at the television in time to see Dawn getting into a tub of what looked to be chocolate. He stood there, wondering why she thought this was the only thing she was good at. She had to have lots of other positive qualities. She took her top off and got out of the tub, showing off her bare breasts to the entire crowd. He shook his head and left.

He meandered down the hallways, trying to find the APA. He tried to smell for beer and cigarettes as that would be a sure sign that they were near. Finally, he found them, doing, what else? Drinking and smoking. He walked up to them and nodded his head. They offered him a beer, but he politely declined.

"What can we do ya for Kurt?" Bradshaw asked.

"I want you two to join me at Survivor Series."

"You best not be kidding us," Bradshaw bellowed.

"Nope, no joking."

"Well, hot damn, of course we'll join you right Farooq?"

"Damn straight," Farooq answered.

"Great, I knew I could count on you guys."

"You sure you don't wanna join us for a beer?" Bradshaw said.

"Yeah, join us," Farooq added.

"No thanks," Kurt said, shaking his head again, "Not in the mood."

He walked out of the room and was immediately confronted by Josh Matthews. He asked for an interview and he obliged, telling Bradshaw and Farooq to come with him so that he could introduce him. They sat there, finishing their beer and he proceeded to give Matthews and update on the current situation with his team. He introduced all the newest team members and while it wasn't the group he wanted, he knew he could live with it.

After the interview he walked back to his locker room. Along the way, he happened to come across Dawn who was still covered in chocolate. She was trying futilely to wipe it off on a white, but now brown, towel. She had another towel wrapped around her chest to cover her up. He walked over to her and she just looked away, avoiding his eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier," he said, "I shouldn't question why you do things. You don't question why I do things."

"Forgiven," she answered.

"Good, I still don't get why you do the things you do, but I guess I can overlook that." 

"It's all I ask," she said, "Sometimes I think you just have to live a little Kurt."

"Maybe, I've just always lived on the straight and narrow path," he told her, "I don't know any way else to be."

"Well, we all live according to our own rules right?"

"Yeah."

She took her finger and ran some chocolate down his nose playfully. He laughed and wiped it off with his finger and licked it off. He made a noise, indicating that it was yummy and she giggled happily. He ran a finger down her cheek and ate some more chocolate. She took some off and tasted it.

"Not too bad."

"No, not all," he said, "But I better let you go clean that off."

"I could have you help me," she winked.

"As nice as that sounds, I've got to watch the show."

"Oh, too bad then."

He laughed as she walked away. He licked his lips still tasting the chocolate and went back to his own locker room to watch the rest of the show. He wanted to make sure that the main event match went smoothly and was prepared to go out there at a moment's notice if he was needed.

It turned out that he was needed and he jogged to the ring to help out. He knew Benoit was coming out too, and together they fought off Brock and the Big Show. But soon they were joined by Nathan Jones and Matt Morgan and Kurt found himself knocked down, not exactly sure how he got to this position.

Eventually he was able to get up and he shook his head free of the cobwebs. He trudged backstage to his locker room to take a quick shower and a clean change of clothes. The trip back to the hotel was uneventful and he fell onto his bed, exhausted from the night's events.

His phone rang and he picked it up, wondering who it was this time, "Hello?"

"Hey there."

"Edge, what do you want?" Kurt said, then yawning.

"Tired?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not, I'm wide awake."

"Yeah, because you didn't have to work tonight, or any night for that matter, you're out there living a normal life."

"Yeah, exactly what I wanted to," Edge said sarcastically.

"Yeah, if you weren't injured you could've been a part of my team, but no, you had to go and get yourself hurt so I'm stuck with people I don't want to be on a team with."

"Oh, sorry, next time I'll check my schedule to make sure that my injuries won't correspond with any of your important dates."

"That's really all I ask," Kurt joked.

"I just watched the show, thought it was interesting, I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"Well, let's see, I was going to put on some pajamas and then I was going to go to sleep. It's a pretty full schedule Edge, but I managed to squeeze you in."

"I'm flattered, but I didn't mean that."

"What did you mean?"

"Thought you might not be alone."

"I'm not sharing rooms with anyone. After the last time when I shared a room with Chris and Stephanie, I vowed to myself not to share a room unless I'm being forced to by means of torture."

"They're that bad." 

"Yes," he said simply.

"I thought that you and Dawn would be licking chocolate off each other by now," Edge said, smirking.

"Shut up, we're not even dating."

"Oh sure, because you would've turned her down." "I didn't say that." "Didn't have to, I know what you were thinking." "When did you develop psychic powers?" 

"Around the same time that I gained the ability of super speed and x-ray vision," Edge said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, all formidable qualities."

"So why aren't you licking chocolate off her?"

"None of your business."

"Oh my God, she's there isn't she, I interrupted something and you're answering in non-descript terms because you're trying to get me to hang up!"

"No, I'm just tired."

"You're not a whole lot of fun for a guy who hasn't been out tonight," Edge said.

"Next time I'll try harder."

"I should hope so."

"So really, is she there?"

"No, she's not here."

"Well, let me tell you, if I had a girl who liked me, and she was covered in chocolate, there's no way she wouldn't be with me right now."

"But I'm not dating her."

"Shouldn't matter," Edge said immediately.

"I guess that's the difference between us."

"What? I like to get messy?"

"No, that I'm not insane."


	148. I Miss Chris and Steph, November 3, 2003

A/N: Ok, judging by the fact I didn't get anyone hating me for doing a Kurt-centric chapter, I guess I can keep doing them if you guys don't mind. If you do mind, let me know, and I could do more chapters where Jericho and Stephanie aren't even at the show. Or I could alternate, either way is cool with me. :D

Also, I'm updating some of my other fics tonight and tomorrow, I didn't want to give you a Jericho/Steph overload all in one night. ;)

* * *

"Would you stop following me!?!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Not until you actually talk to me!"

"Christian, I told you time and time again, leave me alone!" Trish yelled, trying to outrun him.

"No!"

Trish scowled at him. He had not stopped tormenting her since last week and she was getting sick and tired of it. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore and he couldn't seem to grasp that. She couldn't be with him, it was too hard to look at him and not picture him with Molly. They hurt still cut too deep for her liking.

She had thought about what Jericho had told her last week, about how she and Jeff had been the same as Christian and Molly. It simply wasn't true, Trish hadn't lied about what happened with Jeff. She had been completely honest with him about her feelings. She hadn't snuck around and lied about it. The situations were different and deserved to be treated differently.

"Christian, I swear to God, if you don't leave me alone........." she said dangerously.

"What Trish? You going to call the police on me? Have them arrest me?"

"I just might do that!"

"Fine! I don't care! I just want to talk to you."

"About what? About how you lied? About how you treated me? About how you cheated on me? About how you single-handedly ruined our relationship?" she said, firing off questions to him.

Christian narrowed his eyes, frustrated, "Trish, if we could sit down and have an actual conversation about this."

"I don't want to Christian, and you should respect that."

"What were you doing with that John guy earlier?" Christian asked accusingly.

"What're you doing? Spying on me?" she spat out in disgust.

"No, I just happened to see you two together, is that such a crime to see you!?!"

"No," she said testily, "And what I do in my free time is none of your concern."

"Are you with him?" Christian said crossing his arms.

"That's none of your goddamn business!" she screamed, slapping him.

Christian rubbed his cheek and glared at her, "You know if you want to go fuck around with some guy, I can to."

"Oh, ok Christian, go ahead and fuck around with some guy," Trish said laughing, "I'd love to see that."

Christian scowled, "You know what I meant. You want to get with some guy, I'll get with some girl."

"Isn't that what you already did?" she told him, "I mean, Molly is a girl right? You can't ever tell these days."

"Very funny Trish," Christian said.

"Go ahead and get with someone Christian, see if I care," Trish said, "You can't hurt me more than you already have."

Trish stormed off, making it clear by her body language that she did not want to be followed. Christian watched her go, obviously upset by the previous conversation. He had tried to get her to talk to him for the past week, tried sending her flowers and things, but she still wouldn't talk to him. He was beginning to think it was a lost cause.

Christian saw Jericho walking in through the entrance, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was on the phone, smiling and laughing. He hung up and stuck his phone into his back pocket, before looking up and seeing Christian. Jericho's smile disappeared, turning into a taut frown.

"Christian," Jericho said curtly as he walked past.

Christian reached out to grab Jericho's shoulder, stopping him, "I owe you an apology."

Jericho turned around slowly, "You do?"

"Last week, I was out of line. I realize that now. I had no right to insinuate that you were sleeping with Trish or that you would ever cheat."

"Whatever man," Jericho said.

"I'm just trying to say I'm sorry ok? I don't know, life sucks for me right now, and I don't need to lose any more people in my life," Christian said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah, still didn't give you the right," Jericho said, "You know, I wasn't bothered by it at first, but when I actually thought about it. You had absolutely no justification in saying that Trish and I had any sort of relationship other than friendship. I'm your friend and to have you distrust me like that, especially with the people involved, that was wrong."

"I know, I'm sorry, look, you don't have to accept my apology, just know it's out there," Christian said.

"Are you saying this because we have a match later?" Jericho asked suspiciously.

"No!" Christian protested, "I just, I wanted to apologize."

"I'll think about it," Jericho said, "I'll see you in the ring."

Jericho walked away. He had wanted to accept Christian's apology, but his words still stung from last week. He didn't want to tell Stephanie, but he kept thinking about Christian and Trish's situation and was trying to figure out if it could ever apply to his own. Christian and Trish had always been so right with each other, much like him and Stephanie.

If something like this could happen to them, could it happen to him and Stephanie? He would never cheat on Stephanie, but circumstances were always in their way. Just when they would think they'd gotten everything figured out, some new obstacle would present itself. Sometimes he thought his life would be so much simpler if he hadn't fallen for Stephanie. Those thoughts never lingered, as soon as he saw Stephanie, or talked to her, he knew why he went through so much shit just to be with her.

He put his stuff down and grabbed his tights to go change. Christian wasn't looking well at all. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes themselves looked completely drained of emotion. He also had that perpetually sad look on his face, Edge had said if he looked any sadder than his face would stick that way. He just wanted things back to normal, or as normal as things got for them.

He got dressed and sat there thinking for a few moments, mentally pulling himself together. He didn't know how he got into the middle of all his friend's messes, but it seemed that he did. Christian couldn't have been serious when he accused him and Trish of being together. They were just friends, same as always, the thought of being with Trish in the romantic sense, it kind of sent his gag reflex into overdrive.

He got up to wait for his match to start, wanting to warm up a bit before he went out there. He was glad to have the first match of the night, hopefully that would mean he could leave early. Recently he had been there until late and then he'd be so tired when he got back to the hotel he hadn't any time to pay attention to Stephanie.

His eyes met Christian's as he went to the gorilla. Christian sent him a hopeful glance, hoping for forgiveness. Jericho quickly looked down, running in place, trying to loosen up for his match. Christian walked over to him, but Jericho just kept looking down, trying to avoid talking to Christian.

"Hey man, you ready to go out there?" Christian asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Jericho said shortly.

"Good," Christian nodded, "We'll kick ass as usual."

"Yeah, as usual," Jericho nodded.

"Look, about earlier--"

"Hey, I have a good idea," Jericho said, cutting him off.

"Oh, what?" Christian said.

"We should come from the audience," Jericho said, grinning evilly, "You know, sneak attack."

"Sounds good," Christian said, "Let's go."

Jericho and Christian started jogging down the corridor to go to the open part of the arena where all the fans came in. They went through a door just in time to see RVD come out to his music. They heard Jericho's countdown and they ran down the aisle to attack Booker and RVD.

The match officially started and Jericho and Christian worked together well, just like always. Even if they were upset with one another, they still managed to put on a good show. Jericho and Christian were both thrown to the outside and Jericho looked at Christian who was still looking upset. Jericho rolled his eyes and gave him a hug, forgiving him in that moment. Yeah, it was an inappropriate time, but Christian was looking so depressed.

Christian was grateful that Jericho had accepted his apology. He needed his friend to gripe to, since no one else in the building would listen to him. Christian's head was much more into the match after that, and a good thing too, as the match proved to be a good one. The two tag teams countered each other almost exclusively, neither of them winning, always having broken the count.

Jericho wanted to end the match and found himself one on one with RVD. He gave him a flashback and then went for the pin. He saw Christian on the outside, and almost instinctively grabbed RVD's leg and held on. Jericho got the three count and he and Christian celebrated all the way backstage. Jericho clapped Christian on the back and Christian impulsively hugged him again.

"Thanks for forgiving me," Christian said. 

"Ok man," Jericho said, glancing around, "People are going to start talking about us."

Christian pulled away and laughed, "Well, it's been said that I do like blonde Canadians."

"Yeah, you love yourself, we get it."

They started walking back to their locker rooms and Jericho could still sense some tension hanging around Christian. He glanced over at his friend and wondered what was going through his mind. Christian was staring down at the floor, watching himself take every step.

"Is everything ok?" Jericho asked.

"No."

"You want to talk about it?" Jericho offered.

"Where do I begin?"

Jericho opened his door, "Wherever you want."

Christian collapsed on the couch, his head in his hands. Jericho had thought he had started crying, but Christian looked up at him in despair and Jericho didn't see any tears. Jericho sat down on a folding chair, wondering what was so bad this time. Maybe Molly had been trying to get with him again.

"It's Trish," Christian said.

"Ok," Jericho said, moving forward with the conversation.

"I think it's really over, I mean for good," Christian told him, and this time Jericho could see his friends eye's fill with tears.

"What makes you think that?"

"She basically told me it was really over, and she means it. I know she does."

"You don't know that."

"She's teaming with that John guy," Christian said.

"John Heidenreich I think it is," Jericho supplied.

"His name doesn't matter Chris," Christian said impatiently.

"Sorry," Jericho muttered, "And what does that have to do with anything? So she's teaming with him, she's teamed with other guys before, Nash, Maven, Bubba, Rock, Hurricane........." 

"You are not helping!" Christian said.

"All I'm saying is that they're tagging, they're not sharing a hotel room."

"I saw them earlier today, and she was flirting with him!" Christian cried indignantly.

"Ok, once again, how do you know she was if you just saw them, did you hear them?"

"No," Christian admitted.

"There you go," Jericho said, "You don't even know, you are jumping to major conclusions."

"Maybe," he sighed, "But she won't even talk to me, I've tried your 'do something nice for her' method and it hasn't worked yet."

"Maybe she needs some more time to cool off," Jericho told him.

"I don't know, I just don't know anymore," Christian said, running his hands over his face, "I don't even know what to do with myself anymore."

"You know, if you can't help Trish, maybe you can help her friends," Jericho suggested.

"What do you mean? Like help you or Steph, or like help Kurt? Or Shane or Edge?"

"No, not one of us, because you would do that anyways," he said, "Go for another one of her friends. You know how you helped Lita?"

"Uh huh."

"Go help her again, or do something nice for her."

"What purpose would that serve?"

"You would be showing Trish that you are a nice guy," Jericho explained, "If she sees you being randomly nice to people, then maybe she'll let you be randomly nice to her."

"Yeah right."

"Christian, do you want her back?"

"More than anything."

"Then you're going to have to do it by any means necessary."

"I guess you're right."

"You know I am."

Christian scoffed, "What? No witty comment, no air of superiority?"

"Dude, you're a mess, I'm not fond of kicking friends while they're down. Enemies, sure, friends, nah."

"Ok," Christian said, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

Christian walked out and looked both ways, wondering what the easiest way to find Lita would be. He walked down the hall to catering when he passed by a monitor. He saw that Lita had just been attacked Gail Kim and Molly. He wanted to go out there, but she had to have already been taken to the back. He thought quickly of how to change this situation to a positive.

He raced to the trainer, where he knew she would be, getting checked out, like everyone did if they were hurt or what not. He got there and decided to put this good deed thing into affect. He went into the room and told her that he should've been there for her when she needed him. He knew that Lita was confused by his behavior, but he didn't have time for that. He was too concerned with trying to get Trish back. Lita told him she was fine, and he nodded, pleased with his performance. Not that he didn't like Lita or anything, but he had a mission.

Jericho sat on the couch, just finishing watching Christian make a fool out of himself for love. He chuckled to himself, hoping that Trish would open her eyes and realize that yeah, Christian was wrong in what he did, but that didn't mean he wasn't sorry for what he had done. Of course the plan could backfire if Trish actually thought Christian was after Lita. But there was no way she would think that, right?

"Oh, so you did decide to hit on my friends?" Trish said smugly as Christian was opening the door to his locker room.

"I just wanted to do something nice for someone," he said quietly.

"Sure you did, after that little speech how you would get with some girl. It's so clever of you to go after one of my friends, way to stick the knife in a little deeper. This time though, you don't have to tell me when you make it to third base," Trish said sarcastically.

"I was trying to help someone," Christian said, "I wasn't trying to get her to bed."

"You might as well have, it's what you do right?"

"Trish," he sighed, "I don't know what it's going to take to get you back, or to believe me, or whatever. I'm willing to wait, I'm willing to do anything I have to, to at least get you to talk to me. If it all ends up futilely, then so be it, but I have to try."

Trish looked speechless for a minute, then scoffed, "We're over Christian."

"I don't believe that."

He walked into his locker room, leaving Trish standing there. She closed her eyes and let out a breath. It had hurt to see him talk to Lita with that concern. She wanted him to talk to HER like that. Wait, no she didn't, she didn't want to talk to him ever again, it would just end badly, like their past few conversations. There would be fighting and tears, and more anger. She couldn't deal with that, and she walked away.

"It's crazy," Jericho said into his phone.

"What is sweetie?" Stephanie asked as she lay down on the bed.

"This whole mess. Raw just feels like a battle zone or something. I feel stuck in the middle, trying to run interference between the two of them."

"Maybe you should stay out of it then? What happened tonight though, because you sound like something happened?"

"They're still fighting and Trish is teaming up with that John Heidenreich guy, and Christian said they were flirting earlier, and he doesn't know what to think, and truthfully, I don't know what to think."

"Well, if it was just harmless flirting, I don't really see any trouble with it."

"You don't?"

"No, maybe she was just trying to make herself feel better or something, it's not impossible you know. I mean, maybe he was making her feel special and that's what she needs right now."

"Maybe," he conceded.

"I flirt with other guys," she said casually.

"Um.........what?" Jericho asked.

"You heard me, it's harmless, as I'm sure this was. Trish was probably discussing strategy with him or something."

"Whoa, can we go back to the you flirting with other guys part? What is that about?"

"Sweetie, I just do it naturally, it's not like I'm doing it to give them the wrong ideas."

"I don't like that you flirt."

"Oh, like what you're doing with Trish isn't flirting," she said, rolling her eyes.

"But you know that's acting."

"So it doesn't mean anything?"

"No."

"That's exactly how my flirting is," she smirked.

"Oh, ha," he said sardonically, "But still, I'm a little worried, this John guy, he's kind of weird."

"Weird?"

"I don't know, you know, wacky, out there.........."

"I got what you meant. Well then go talk to her you doof."

"I guess I could."

"You should. You know, make sure that he's on the up and up. In case she really was flirting with him."

"Great, as if I'm not the referee already."

"Oh, like you don't like to be the center of everything," she told him, "You know you love to be in the action."

"Will I be getting any action tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"That depends, I flirted with a guy earlier at the coffee shop, I may be sleeping with him later, but I may be able to pencil you in."

"Oh good, last time I had to wait a week for my reservation."

"I told you to call a few months in advance, I'm very popular."

"I love you."

"You better love me," she told him.

"Why?"

"Because I love you too."

"Maybe I should go find Trish........."

"Go," she urged, "You're obviously worried about her, you might as well make sure that she's alright."

"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you hanging."

Stephanie smiled, "Sweetie, is that you I sleep next to every night of the week?"

"Yeah," Jericho said weirdly.

"Is that you I see when I come home every night?"

"Yeah."

"Is that you who I spend like every waking moment with every single day of the week, every single day of the year?"

"Yes."

"Then I think I'll live if you hang up and I don't see you for another hour," she told him.

"Sheesh, that's the last time I'm polite," he said as she laughed, "Is that your way of telling me that we spend too much time together?"

"Of course not. I can never get enough of you."

"I'll see you in a while," he told her, "I love you."

"Love you too, now go get spied on or whatever you do over there."

"You know what I do over here."

"Oh that's right, you sit around for long periods of time doing nothing, silly me forgetting that important schedule of yours."

"You know, people say we have the same personalities, now I can tell why they think I'm annoying."

Stephanie mock gasped, "I should be highly insulted by that!"

"But you're not, later baby."

"Bye."

Jericho laughed as he hung up, Stephanie could always just make him feel silly, and dealing with so many serious topics over here, he needed to laugh once in a while. Now it was back to the serious stuff that he had to take care of. He wanted to make sure that Trish was ok. He had tried calling her cell phone before he had called Stephanie, but it said her number was no longer in service.

He wandered down the hallways, just looking around, knowing so close to her match she most likely wouldn't be in her locker room. He happened upon her and smiled, saying hello. Trish thought they had to go in flirt mode and instantly started flirting with him. He saw the camera on him, and felt that this was not the appropriate time to bring up anything that she might be embarrassed to have revealed on national television.

He subtly asked about her phone and her number, and she answered that she could've asked for his number. She gave him a pointed look and he realized she must've changed the number or something of that nature, because he had her phone number. He wondered if that had anything to do with Christian.

Jericho then mentioned the fact that she was teaming with John Heidenreich tonight. She smiled coyly and he didn't like seeing it. It wasn't the kind of smile you gave when you talked about a mere tag team partner. She mentioned that she had been talking to him earlier and had shown her "Little Johnny." Jericho was shocked, taking that for a sexual innuendo. He almost flipped out. What was Trish doing? Was she really trying to deliberately hurt Trish.

Before Jericho could question her further, her tag team partner strolled up to them. She smiled up at him, and Jericho became angry at him, for trying to steal his friend's girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend, whatever she was, it was wrong. He tried to get her to stay and talk to him, but she brushed him off. He cursed to himself. This was not going well at all.

"See?" Christian said, happening upon Jericho, "What did I tell you?"

Jericho quickly masked his face of the shock and disgust that had been undulating through him, not wanting to project a weak front to Christian, "That was nothing, they're just tag team partners."

"You call that just being tag team partners!?!" Christian said, "Yeah right. It's a lost cause."

Christian turned and walked away quickly. Jericho tried to call after him, but it would be useless to argue with him right now. Better to let him cool down for a while. Christian was the kind of guy who got really wound up over things, but given time would calm down. Jericho decided to just watch Trish's match to make sure that nothing funny happened. The last thing he needed was another piece to this already messy puzzle.

He went up to the monitors and stood there, watching Trish's match. He was worried about his friend's state of mind and watched for anything peculiar, like what had happened a few weeks ago. She seemed to be fine and actually enjoying himself. He scowled a little, not liking things for Christian.

Eventually Trish and her partner won and he picked her up in celebration. Jericho furrowed his brow, now more than ever thinking about what was happening with the two of them. He couldn't begrudge Trish if she was trying to move on, but well, he didn't have to like it that much. Especially when her ex was one of his best friends. Maybe he'd have to talk to her about what she was doing.

"Chris, you're still here," Trish said breathlessly as she and John walked down to where he was, John having his arm loosely wrapped around her waist.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you," he said uneasily, not liking the other man's presence.

"This your boyfriend Trish?" John asked.

Trish and Jericho both simultaneously burst into laughter. Ok, now Jericho knew this guy was a rookie and probably didn't know anyone all that well, but to imply, it was just too funny. This poor fool didn't realize that they were just friends and Jericho was in fact, dating the boss's daughter.

"No," Trish said, trying to keep her laughter in check.

"Oh, good," John said, squeezing her against his side a little tighter.

She looked up at him, "I'll see you in a few minutes to celebrate, let me just talk to my friend."

"Ok," he said, wandering off.

"So Chris, what's up?"

"You changed your phone number for one," he said.

"Yeah, I did, I'm sorry, I meant to call you and tell you, but I didn't know if Christian would be around to hear it, and that's why I got the new number in the first place."

"To avoid getting calls from him?"

"He'd been calling me all week, I couldn't take it anymore, every five minutes he would call me, I couldn't stand it, I had to do something!"

"Ok, calm down," he said, rubbing her arm, "Now, this thing with John."

"Oh Chris, don't be jealous," she joked, running her hand down his cheek.

"Funny Trish," he said, pulling her to his dressing room and then locking the door behind him, "What is going on?"

"With?"

"John?" he said.

"Nothing Chris, I can't have fun?"

"But I mean, Trish, why are you doing this? To get back at Christian?"

"Not everything is about Christian you know? Maybe I just want to be with someone, no strings attached. Someone who doesn't know that I dated Christian, someone who doesn't know me."

"There's nothing wrong with you."

"Obviously there is if Christian cheated on me."

"If you talked to him, he could explain why he did it."

"I don't care why anymore, it's over, done with. John was really nice to me, and protective, and he made me laugh. Why shouldn't I pursue something?"

"Because Christian loves you," Jericho said weakly.

"I loved him too, and he blew it," she said, "Not my fault."

"I know it's not, but--"

"Chris, this isn't up for discussion, I appreciate your concern, I really do, but this is between me and Christian, and what I want to do is go celebrate with my tag team partner."

"Fine Trish, go do whatever you want to do," he said, giving up. She wasn't going to give up the noose she was hanging Christian on any time soon.

Jericho gathered his things and went back to the hotel, hoping to forget about his problems for a little while. They were sure to pop up sometime this week, but maybe for a few hours he could get away from all the shit that Raw seemed to be cloaked in. He sighed, when did work become such a chore?

"Well look what the cat dragged in?"

"I look that bad?"

"Worse," she told him bluntly.

"At least I can expect an honest answer."

"You shouldn't expect any less."

He trudged over to the couch and laid down on it, resting his head in her lap. She ran her hand through his hair as she watched television. Chris looked up to see her watching the news. Her fingers made circles around his temple, soothing him. He knew that she knew what it felt like to be in his position. Once upon a time, she had been the woman in this picture and he had been her savior. Just this once, she wanted to help him.

"You shouldn't have to be in the middle," she told him quietly.

He turned on his back to look up at her, "But earlier you said.........."

"I know what I said, but you look so bad, like you're the one getting dumped and cheated on."

"Great," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't strain yourself trying to help them Chris."

"I'm not, I just-- they helped us."

"Yeah, but did you listen to them?"

"No."  
  
"Exactly."

"Is it wrong to want to help?"

"Never, but it is wrong to work yourself into the ground trying to help."

"Yeah," he said, his voice trailing off, "It's just I feel the need to repay the favor."

"If Trish and Christian want to be together, they'll be together. We just have to wait and see it play out."


	149. Kurt and Benoit Are a Good Team, Novembe...

"So do you still not want to watch the show?"

"I don't know, it's like, I want to, but then it'll just hurt too much."

He rubbed her back, "Yeah, I know baby, but it'll get better as time goes by."

"Yeah, eventually that hurt will fade right," she said bitterly.

"I guess so," Jericho told her.

She sat back against him, as they sat on the couch, watching the television. They were probably once again avoiding the show. She was still getting over her loss at the last Pay Per View, though it had been almost a month ago. She knew that she should be grateful that she had so much free time, but she was anything but grateful, she wanted her job back.

She was almost convinced that she would do anything to get it back. She wanted it that badly, hell, she would take just being allowed to go to the show. She didn't necessarily have to be out there to do anything, she didn't even have to be on camera, she just wanted to be there. If her father hadn't put some sort of lock on her and Jericho's relationship, she could've at least gone to the shows with him, but even that wasn't going her way.

"I'm sorry you have to hear me whine every single Thursday," Stephanie said, leaning her head back so she could look at him.

"Hey, you listen to me whine every Monday, so I think it's a fair trade-off."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but my complaining is far worse."

"Nah," he said, shaking his head, "Hearing you complain is better than sitting here alone like I did before I started dating you."

"Oh poor Chris, sitting all alone in the dark with nobody to love him at all," Stephanie mocked.

He kissed the top of her head, "Yeah, that's exactly what I did, but I would be eating a cold can of Spaghetti-o's and I'd be in a bathrobe."

"You're painting me the most pathetic picture," she laughed.

"I want you to take pity on me."

"Oh, I pity you alright," she said, nudging him.

"So what's on the agenda tonight, are we still not watching SmackDown?"

"I don't know, what else is on?"

"Well, we could always amuse ourselves with Survivor and CSI," he said, flipping through the TV Guide.

"Anything that doesn't include my father."

"Well, actually, you know on Survivor I heard there's a guy on there who really likes wrestling, so maybe that isn't the best idea," Jericho told her.

"Great, just what I need, I'm surrounded by wrestling," she yelled, covering her ears with her hands, "Make it stop Chris, make it stop!"

He took her hands off of her ears and held them in his, his thumbs rubbing her hands. She looked up at him and he gave her a kind smile. She could get lost in that smile if she wasn't careful. He leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose and she rolled her eyes in embarrassment.

"Baby, if you don't want to be surrounded by wrestling, maybe I'm not the best guy to be around, since, you know, I'm a wrestler."

She rolled her eyes again, "Yes Chris, that's what I meant, I want to get away from you."

"So what do you want to watch?"

"Let's see," she said, tapping her chin, "How about wrestling?"

"So you do want to watch the show?" he said, grabbing the remote and turning it to the station.

"No," she said, grabbing the remote back, "I want to watch old shows."

"What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"I don't know, do you ever go back and watch old tapes?" she asked.

"Sure, I like to watch old matches of mine, since they help me improve in the future, you know, it helps me remember moves that I haven't done in a while and all that. I also like to watch tapes of my opponents, you know, try to get a feel for them, one step ahead and all of that," he rambled.

"Wow, that answer was way longer than it needed to be," she said, "I meant, of us?"

"Of you and me? Like together?" he said, looking at her.

"Yeah?" she said coolly.

"Not recently," he admitted.

She frowned a little, "You don't watch tapes of us?"

"No, not really."

"Why?"

"Why would I need to? I mean, if I want to be with you, I'll usually, you know, walk into whatever room you happen to be in at the time."

"Oh."

"I know what you're getting at?" he said teasingly.

"What?"

"You want to watch tapes of us," he said, grinning impishly.

"No," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"Yes you do," he told her, poking her side.

"Stop! I do not!"

"Yes you do."

"I do not!"

"Uh huh," he nodded.

She gave him a look and she knew she was caught. Maybe if she watched better times from the past, it would ease the pain of the present. Not to mention it would give her a laugh to see how much her and Jericho had hated each other. Besides, it was something to do, since they had been sitting on the couch for hours doing nothing.

"Fine! You got me," she gave in, "Come on, let's just watch ourselves and make fun of us and how stupid we were. Besides, there are a few things I need to question."

"Like what?"

"Some things," she said, getting off the couch.

"Now where is the tape you made?" she said, going over to the many shelves of tapes that lined the back wall of the living room.

"Which tape?"

"That tape of us, you know, the one you gave me for my birthday," she said, looking over the tapes, "What's it labeled?"

"Us."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, but Stephanie, it's in alphabetical order," he said as he saw her looking at the top of the shelf.

"Oh," she said, looking down to the floor, then picking one up, "Oh, here it is."

She took the tape and flashed him a proud smile that she had been able to find it. She went over to the entertainment center and stuck it in the VCR. She pressed it on rewind, and then went over to sit next to Jericho on the couch. He pulled her into his lap and she snuggled up to him as she pulled a blanket over them.

"So we're watching the Chris and Stephanie story basically," he said.

"Yes, the long and illustrious history of the best couple ever," she said, kissing his cheek.

"But we weren't even together in any of this."

"Oh yeah," she said, "Well, then the long and illustrious history of my marriage to Hunter."

Jericho made gagging noises as the tape stopped rewinding and she pressed play on the remote. He quieted down as the tape started playing and he saw himself when he first started making fun of Stephanie. He looked so young in the tape it was almost comical. Stephanie looked even younger than he did. He laughed as he saw his former self.

Stephanie looked over at him, and laughed herself. She looked like such a little kid, just hanging onto Hunter for dear life. She smiled wistfully, that had actually been a happy time in her life, not that she wasn't happy now, but that time, she had never know happiness until then. She had always been Daddy's Little Girl, but for the first time, she wasn't. Though in the end, being Hunter's wife hadn't really been the best deal ever.

They kept on watching until it came to the infamous kiss at King of the Ring. They watched as Stephanie came running down the aisle to help Kurt win the match. Unfortunately for her, she had ended up laying out Kurt and not Jericho, and the look on her face when she realized that only she and Jericho were left in the ring was hilarious.

"I was so terrified," she said laughing.

"Of me?"

"Yes, I thought you were going to put me in the Walls," she admitted, "And I was wearing a skirt and thought you would totally take advantage of that."

The next thing they knew, Jericho had pulled Stephanie to him on the tape and kissed her, actually dipping her down. Now that Stephanie saw it, she could see how she had kissed him back. When it had happened, it had happened so incredibly fast that she hadn't realized she had kissed him back. It was only later that same night, when she had watched it over that she realized she had actually cradled his face with her hands.

"I kissed you back," she blurted out.

"I know," he said as if it were nothing.

"You knew?"

"Yeah, I knew when you did it," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen as another scene played.

"Did you think I liked you?"

"I don't know what you thought actually. I thought maybe you just got caught up in the moment," he shrugged.

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Just wondering. I mean, I didn't even realize I did it."

"I did, that's why I dropped you actually, I wasn't expecting it," he laughed.

"Why did you kiss me? I mean really?"

"Don't remember."

"You don't."

"It was a spur-of-the-moment type thing. I could say it was to psych Hunter out, and that's probably why I did it, but who knows, maybe I had a secret burning desire for you."

She laughed and kissed his cheek as she went back to watching the tape. They watched through the Fully Loaded match where he had gotten her hundreds upon hundreds of flowers. She would never admit it then, but it was actually kind of sweet, in a very twisted way. She had wanted to think it was Hunter who had done it at the time, but finding out it was Jericho had made it special in a weird kind of way.

"I'm thirsty," Jericho said.

"Ok, go get something to drink then," she told him.

"I will if you get off me."

She got off his lap and he went into the kitchen. She stopped the tape to wait for him to come back and found herself watching SmackDown. Paul Heyman was on her screen and he was harassing Torrie Wilson. Stephanie scowled, she had never treated her employees so poorly. Heyman was a slime, just like her father, which made them perfect working partners.

She sat there arms folded as they came back from commercial and she saw Kurt on her screen. A smile came to her face as she saw him. He looked to be upset and she soon found out why. He was without a fifth member for his team, now that Farooq was out. Then Torrie came in and delivered the bad news to him and Kurt. A four on two match, Kurt and Benoit were going to get murdered.

"You're watching," Jericho said, surprised to find SmackDown on as he walked into the room with his water bottle.

"It was already on when I pressed stop," she said.

"What was up with Kurt?"

"He lost Farooq so he's one member short," she explained," And he has a match with Benoit against, get this, Brock, A-Train, Matt Morgan, and Nathan Jones."

Jericho winced, "That sucks."

"Poor Kurt," Stephanie said, thinking of her friend.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Jericho reassured her, then handed her a water, "I got you one too."

She smiled up at him, "Thank you, more of us?"

"You bet," he told her, plopping himself down on the couch.

She pressed play again and went back to watching herself. She could see a sort of evolution of herself as the segments passed by each other. First off, you could see her looks change, and not just her breast implants, though that was definitely a change, but her overall maturity, that had changed too. She liked to think she was more mature now, she didn't really know if she was, honestly, but she thought she was. She watched as Jericho made fun of her implants.

"That was mean of you, you know," she said.

He chuckled, "But it was funny."

"Not for me," she said, crossing her arms.

"Oh come on," he said, "It was a little funny."

"No," she said, shaking her head, "And then later on, you put me in the Wall, IN A DRESS!"

"I know," he said, raising and eyebrow and then leaning in close to her, "And I took a peek."

"What?!?!"

"Of your underwear," he laughed, "Hey, I'm a guy, it's what we do, if we see underwear, we're gonna look."

"I feel violated," she said indignantly, "You looked at me without my consent."

"It was just a quick peek."

"Still, you looked at my underwear, how dare you!"

"Stephanie, I've seen you naked," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but not at the time you hadn't."

"Yeah, but since then, I've seen everything there is to see, are you really going to hold it against me?"

"No," she said, sticking her tongue out.

She glanced at the television and saw the SummerSlam match that Jericho had with Rhyno going on. She knew what was coming up soon. Another kiss between the two of them, but this one was different. She had kissed back and she had known she had kissed back. Jericho was really an expert kisser and she couldn't help it, not when his tongue was involved.

They were just coming up to the kiss when the phone rang. Jericho picked it up aimlessly, "Hello?"

"Chris?"

"Kurt?"

"Are you watching SmackDown?"

"No."

"Turn it on, I'll see you later," Kurt said, then hung up.

"Steph, turn SmackDown on," Jericho said.

"But I like seeing us kiss," Stephanie whined.

"So do I, but just turn it on."

Stephanie complied and turned off the tape. She was confronted with her father, in the dark, in the middle of the ring, with just a spotlight on him. He was going on and on about how he had been chosen to bury the Undertaker in their match at Survivor Series. She glanced over at Jericho, who was watching intently, and with a little bit of anger. She went back to watching, a little freaked out. It looked like her father had lost his mind.

He was seriously creeping her out. He was doing an invocation, is that what he had said? He kept going on and on about how he had been chosen to do this, and how he was going to win at the Pay Per View. This was definitely scary, and she was almost glad she wasn't there to be around him. Who knows what he would've done to her. She actually jumped when they showed his face close-up and she saw the evil glint in his eye as he said Amen.

She looked over at Jericho, who's face now showed utter confusion. He looked over at her, and they had a conversation with their eyes, trying to make sense of what they had just seen. Jericho just shook his head, trying to figure it out, but coming to no conclusions.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"No idea," Stephanie said, "None at all."

"Your father takes things too seriously."

"You're telling me," she scoffed, "He's always been this way."

"Yeah, but that was beyond weird."

"He's just trying to get into the Undertaker's head," she told him, "It's what he loves to do, if he knows he can't beat them physically, he beats them mentally."

"Oh."

"Yeah, you know, if I could beat him mentally, I would."

"How would you do that?"

"I don't know, I'd pretend to be on his side or something," she laughed, "Can you imagine if I went up to him and told him I was suddenly on his side?"

"Wow, what a sacrifice that would be."

She suddenly felt herself tempted to do just that. Jericho was giving her a questioning look and she just smiled and turned the tape back on, diverting his attention. As he watched, she thought about it. It would be stupid, or would it? If she just gave in to her father, just did what he said, she could go back. She could get back to what she loved to do, hell, she would do anything as long as she was there.

But would it be worth the risk? Could she really pretend to go along with her father? At this point, she knew she would. But what would Jericho think? He'd never let her do that, he'd never let her go to her father just for the chance to go back on the show. It would compromise her principles, but at this point and time, everything that had to do with common sense flew out the window as the prospect of going back to the company came over her.

She sat there thinking as Jericho scooted over and took her in his arms. She shook her head of her thoughts, trying not to focus on them as she watched more of herself and Jericho. That was safe territory, it didn't require thinking. She and Jericho had hated each other, than become friends, and then more. It all seemed so simple, well, now it did, not when it was happening. But in proximity to the rest of her life, it was the most simple thing to come around in a while.

"How did I not see how beautiful you were," Jericho asked casually.

"I think it was that burning hatred you had for me."

"Oh yeah," he said, "That probably tweaked my view a little bit right?"

"Yeah, though I think you hated me for all the wrong reasons."

"Oh so hating you because you were constantly out to get me isn't the right reason?"

"No, you should've been flattered that I paid you so much attention."

"Likewise," he said, "I guess I saw something in you that made me want to keep teasing you."

"What? The fact that I had a temper and you loved to see me blow up."

He laughed, "There ya go, that must have been it."

"You know that time when I said I was pregnant and you cornered me in the ring?" she said.

"Yeah."

"What were you saying to me?" she asked.

"Um, something like you're a liar and that baby probably wasn't Hunter's," he said, "Or something to that affect."

"Oh."

"Everything ok with you?" he asked.

"Yeah, just curious you know, I mean, you were muttering something to me........."

"And you were yelling to not hurt your 'baby' right?" he laughed, "The nonexistent one."

"I had to make it believable."

"You did, trust me."

"I thought so," she nodded, "I had to........until I decided to end it of course."

"Yeah, lucky for me," he said, kissing her.

"Yeah, lucky for you."

She kissed him again and her mind went back to that time in her life. She was a conniving bitch then too, and it had worked for her. She had made Hunter's life miserable for a while and that was more satisfying than when she was trying to play nice with him. Maybe she could do that again. Maybe if she just got on her father's good side, acted like the bitch she knew he wanted her to be, she could be back in no time.

She didn't notice Jericho had pulled away and was staring at her. She was sitting there, her eyes glazed over as she stared off into space. He looked at her for a few moments, wondering what she could possibly be thinking about. He snapped his fingers in front of her face and that brought her out of her trance.

"Where were you?"

"Huh?"

"Thinking, what were you thinking about?"

"Oh, just your birthday," she lied.

"Oh really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up, "And what about it?"

"What we should do for it?"

"I don't really care," he told her.

"I hear you say that, but I know you don't mean it, I know you want something special. You play the humility card, but you know you're all excited."

"Ok, yeah, I am," he admitted, "So really, what are you doing?"

"I was thinking we could take a little trip or something, or do something on the day, go to a bed and breakfast or something."

"Oh," he said, trying to smile, "How fun."

"Yeah, or go to New York and just go to clubs all night long and have fun."

"Ooh, sounds much better," he said, laughing, "So is that what we're doing?"

"Sure, you are the almost birthday boy."

"Cool," he said, kissing her again, "I love you."

"I love you too."

He got up from the couch and grabbed their empty water bottles to take them to the kitchen and dispose of them. She turned off the tape again and just sat there. Crazy thoughts were running through her mind. That tape had reminded her of who she was, of what she had done in the past. It was everything she wasn't now, she used to be someone completely different. Not a bad different, but a good different.

She had been a complete bitch to everyone, even her own family. She had turned on her family more times than she could count. She had feuded with each and every single one of them. She had driven some of them to leave. She had done what she had to do to get on top. What had become of that girl?

She used to use people for her own personal advantage. She used to manipulate people's feelings to get the power she wanted. She could wrap anyone around her finger and make them do whatever she wanted. She had done it to Hunter, she had done it to Kurt, she had done it to the Alliance, to her brother, to her father and mother, and to a certain extent, during their business partnership, she had done it to Jericho. She had taken advantage of so many people. But as soon as she had come back to be the GM, she had suddenly turned virtuous, but why?

If she hadn't, she surely would've been at her job still. If she hadn't tried to change, she would still be on top. Of course she ran the risk of not being with Jericho, but in her bitch state, they would've made the perfect partners-in-crime, but would it be more? She wasn't sure. Maybe that was a plus side. Not to mention for the first time in a long time, she had had people's respect, she had people like her.

She smirked as she remembered a time when most everyone hated her. Even Jericho had hated her. It was a pretty good feeling to know that she could invoke such hatred out of people. She missed that, she realized, she missed being that person. She missed being a complete bitch to everyone. She would see Jericho being an ass every week on Raw and she could just picture herself with him, making everyone's life miserable. She wanted that feeling back, but was she willing to go for it? Was she willing to trade in everything she had earned to become a person she thought was gone forever? She didn't really know.

But you really can't take the bitch out of the girl, no matter how hard you try.


	150. Wow, H Made Me Laugh, November 10, 2003

"Happy Birthday!"

"My birthday was yesterday," he laughed.

"I know, but I didn't see you yesterday," Christian laughed, "So I have to say it today."

"Well, thanks."

"So where were you yesterday anyways, everyone tried calling your house and you weren't even there."

"Stephanie and I went to New York and rented a really fancy hotel room and then we had fun all weekend."

"Sounds like a good time had by all," Christian said.

"It was."

"So did you guys see the sights and stuff, do touristy things?"

"We barely saw anything but the walls of our hotel room," Jericho said, laughing.

"Oh, you had THAT kind of fun," Christian, said smirking.

Jericho thought back to his incredible weekend with Stephanie. The two of them, flying up to New York, getting the five-start treatment at their hotel, and then spending every waking moment wrapped up with each other. He couldn't have asked for a better birthday if he had tried. Spending it with Stephanie was present enough, but they had had such a good time as well.

He looked over at his friend, who's face seemed to have fallen as he had drifted off into daydream. Jericho could only make a guess as to what Christian was thinking about, but it was a very educated guess. Jericho felt somewhat guilty for having rubbed him and Stephanie's weekend into Christian's nose. He hadn't meant to, but he had a feeling that he had had an ill effect on Christian.

Stephanie had told him time and time again to stay out of their business, but he found it increasingly difficult. The two of them were both miserable, though Trish had an easier time at hiding it. IF she didn't show feelings, then Christian wouldn't know how much he hurt her. It was so simple, but yet it was so hard for them to figure out. He wanted to help his friends, but Stephanie had been right when she said it wasn't their place to interfere.

Maybe if he only interfered indirectly it might have a better effect on him and on his friends. There were plenty of ways that he could do things with them, to get them to talk to each other, at least for a moment. He thought of locking them somewhere, but he figured that could only bring negative feelings to him. Maybe something where they were together, but in a public place where they couldn't make a scene. He smirked as he thought about it.

"Thinking about Trish again?" Jericho asked.

Christian looked up, "What?"

"You looked like you were thinking of Trish."

"No," Christian said unconvincingly, "I was just thinking about my match later against RVD."

He was a miserable liar, Jericho could tell. He had been thinking of Trish. His thoughts were constantly on Trish, anybody with half a brain could come to that conclusion. But what was he thinking about. Did he want Trish back? Yes, was the resounding answer to that question. But did Trish want him back? That was the trickier of the two situations.

"So what about Trish were you thinking about?" Jericho asked, cutting to the chase and not buying any of the RVD bullshit.

"Her birthday is next month," he said, giving up his pretense of thinking about his match.

"Oh," Jericho said, "That's rough."

"I wanted to do something big for her you know? Like a huge surprise party. Rent out an entire club for the evening, just have fun. Now she'll probably spend it with that John Heidenreich person."

"Hey, you don't know if there's anything going on with them."

"They were talking last week, I saw them talking earlier today. Dude the only other person she talks to on this show is you, and I know you aren't doing anything with her."

"Not anything that requires us to be behind closed doors," Jericho answered, "But I don't think she likes him like that."

"You never know," Christian said, "She's free now, she doesn't have a boyfriend, she can go out with whoever she wants to now."

"That may be true, but she loves you man, and I don't think she's going to get over you that quickly."

"Sure, you say that to spare my feelings, but really, there's nothing to be spared."

Jericho watched as Christian got up and left, presumably to go to his match. Jericho scowled as he watched the hunched figure of his friend close the door. He hated seeing Christian like this. He had to do something, he had to intervene in some way, the question was in what way? He had a lot of time to spare and he leaned back to think of plans. It would be a lot easier if Stephanie was here, but she wasn't and he'd have to think this one up on his own.

Christian walked dejectedly down the hallway, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He turned the corner and he heard Trish's laughter. He could recognize it anywhere and tonight was no exception. He looked up and saw her talking to Heidenreich. He scowled as she touched his arm as they talked. He closed his eyes briefly, banishing the image from his weary mind and quickly walked past to go to his match.

Before he could get there, he saw Jericho running to catch up with him. He pulled him with an arm and Christian wondered where they were headed. He found out when they met with the rest of the team for Survivor Series. Christian played up his role and so did Jericho and it turned into an all-out shouting match with Austin's team. At least this would take his mind off Trish for a while.

"John, you're really funny, you know that," Trish said, smiling.

"Thanks, that's a nice thing to hear from such a pretty woman."

Trish smiled demurely, "Now you're just being too nice. You're too charming."

He laughed, "That's what I was going for."

"Oh was it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've just been buttering you up so you can't possibly turn me down when I ask you out."

"You were going to ask me out?" she asked incredulously, not expecting to hear that come out of his mouth.

"Yeah, and I was hoping you'd say yes," he said hopefully.

"Well, I'm not doing anything later, so I guess if you wanted to go out I'd be free."

"Great, so after the show then?"

"Yeah, sounds great, we'll grab a bite to eat and maybe get a drink," she said, smiling.

"Cool," he said, walking off.

Trish sighed as she watched him leave. She didn't know what she had just done. She wasn't ready to go out with anyone tonight, not someone who had romantic intentions for her. She was still reeling from her break up from Christian and she knew that she had made the wrong decision, but she couldn't take it back now. Not to mention, John really was a nice guy, and she hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings.

She walked down to the gorilla to see what was going on. She saw Christian and frowned. He didn't seem to be doing that well at the moment. Yes, she still had some invested interest in him, even if he had broken her heart. She watched the match go back and forth, and then saw RVD win. She should've felt glad that Christian had lost, but she wasn't all that happy. She knew Christian would've been ecstatic if he had won the IC title, and maybe she would feel happy for him too.

Christian walked backstage, upset that his head hadn't been in that match all the way. He knew what his mind was on, however, and it dealt with a certain blonde that plagued his thoughts. As if that wasn't bad enough, the moment he stepped backstage there she was. He prepared himself for another fight. Fighting was all they seemed to do nowadays and he figured it'd be all they'd do for the duration of their tenure in WWE.

"Hi," she said hesitantly as he walked past.

He nodded at her shortly, "Hey."

"Sorry you lost," she told him.

"So am I," he answered.

She nodded, "Good luck at Survivor Series."

"Yeah, thanks," he said, wondering why she wasn't screaming at him, "I hope that we win, even though you know I don't like Bischoff and neither does Chris."

"I know, but I guess to you Austin is worse right?"

"Yeah," he said, "Much worse."

"So that's why I hope you win, because you know, um, Chris is my friend."

"Yeah, he's my friend too," Christian nodded.

Wow, this was really awkward, Trish thought as she stared at Christian, the sweat dripping down his chest sexily. His hair was sticking up and she saw him bite his lip as she regarded him. She stood there, resisting the urge to run up to him and throw herself in his arms and cry her eyes out. She didn't hate Christian, she had tried, but she was just upset, she realized. She couldn't hate him while she still loved him.

Christian wondered why she was just standing there staring at him. She was probably picturing all the ways she wanted him to die. He wouldn't blame her if she was doing that. At times he had wanted to die, because being without Trish was just so incredibly hard. He didn't expect himself to get so attached to one woman, but once she had captured his heart, he was a goner for sure.

"Trish," he said softly.

"I'm sorry about your loss."

"You already said that," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah," she said, disheveled, "I meant, um, that I better go."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. This was the most civil conversation they had had in a while, "So I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, you'll see me.........around."

"Ok."

She turned to walk off, glancing back at him as he stood there. She suddenly regretted accepting John's dinner invitation. She walked around, trying to clear her head of the naughty thoughts about Christian that had decided to make their way into her mind. She didn't know how she ended up where she did, but she ended up in front of Jericho's locker room. She knocked tentatively, but there was no answer.

"Chris," she said as she knocked on the door, opening it slightly.

He wasn't there, but she decided she really needed to talk to someone and walked inside, intending to wait for him. She sat on his couch and took in the silence of the room. She was resigned to her thoughts again, and they brought her back to the same subject every single time. Christian would not leave her brain, no matter how hard she tried. She was abruptly broken from her thoughts as Jericho's cell phone rang. She saw it sitting on the table in front of her, and deciding that Jericho wouldn't mind, went to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie?" came a confused voice.

"Um, no, this is Trish," she said, deducing this was one of three people, and it sounded like Shane.

"Trish, did I accidentally call your cell phone?"

"Shane?"

"Yeah."

"No, this is Chris's cell phone."

"Why are you answering it?" he asked.

"Oh, I was looking for Chris, and I'm waiting in his locker room. I need to talk to him, and I thought the call may be important."

"Oh, ok, I thought I dialed your number on accident," he chuckled, "How are you?"

"I'm ok," she said, rolling her eyes, she wasn't ok.

"You sure, I mean, I know what's going on with you and Christian."

Trish needed desperately to talk to somebody, and Shane was right here, she might as well spill to him, "Do you have time Shane?"

"I'm waiting for someone, but they're not here, and they may not show, so what's up?"

"It's Christian, and John, and everything," she gushed.

"John?" Shane asked surprised.

"Yeah, you know John--"

"I know," he answered, "I do work for the company, so what about him?"

"Well, we were talking and he asked me out, and I accepted, but then I regretted it because I'm still not over Christian, but I don't want to hurt his feelings, and then I saw Christian, and he looked so good Shane, and I wanted to just kiss him, but then I felt angry for feeling that way, because I'm supposed to hate him, and then we talked, and I felt so bad for him, but I'm not supposed to feel bad for him, I'm supposed to hate him," she said in one long sentence, not even pausing for breath.

"Whoa Trish, calm down," Shane said, "You just gave me a helluva lot of information right there."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just upset."

"It's ok, don't worry about it. You have to break the date with John."

"I know, but I'll feel bad, and then he'll feel bad."

"Trish, if it's not what you want to do, then you don't have to do it. I know you're really nice, and I know you hate making other people feel bad, but you can't just say yes because you feel bad. If he found out, how do you think that would make him feel?"

"You're right," she said, "But I don't know if I can do that."

"I know you can, you can just tell him you made other plans, or had other plans before hand."

"I guess........"

"And you need to talk to Christian."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"Anyone who just heard you would tell you that."

"But I don't know what to say to him."

"Tell him the truth, tell him what you're feeling. He does deserve that much Trish."

"Does he?" she sighed.

"Yeah, I know what he did sucks, but if you don't let him know what he did hurt you in what way, you'll never be able to get over it and you'll just be stuck in the same spot for the rest of your life."

"What you say makes so much sense," she said.

"I know, it's a talent," he said smugly.

"I do want to move on."

"I think you have to ask yourself if you want to move on with Christian or without him. Are you ready to ask yourself that though?"

"No, I'm very not ready," she admitted, "I just don't think I'd ever be able to trust him again. I could never leave him alone without thinking he'd do it again."

"Then you should tell him that, and work something out with him. If you want to get back together with him that is."

Trish looked up at the television screen, which had been on mute the entire time. She saw Christian in a meeting with Jericho and the other members of their team. She looked at him, and sighed. Her heart was aching for him, she was just denying it. She would continue to deny it, if it meant keeping her sanity.

"Shane, can I tell you something that you have to promise to keep to yourself."

"Of course," he told her, "I swear."

"I still love him," she said softly, "I still love him so much, and I want him in every way possible. But I'm so scared that he'll hurt me again. Or that he really wants Molly secretly."

"Oh Trish," Shane said sympathetically, "You're allowed to feel that. You got all of this dumped in your lap, you can't be expected to have your feelings change over night."

"But I'm supposed to hate him for what he did to me! I'm supposed to despise him!"

"Who said?"

She was shocked into silence. He was so right, nobody had told her she had to hate him. She didn't hate him, maybe she shouldn't hate him. He did something wrong, he made a mistake, but didn't everyone? She had made a similar mistake earlier this year, and Christian took her back, no questions asked. But she was afraid to put her heart out there for him to see and possibly break again.

"Thanks Shane," she said, "Everything you said makes perfect sense."

"I'm glad I could help."

"You did."

Jericho walked into his locker room and was surprised to see Trish sitting on his couch, with cell phone in hand. He noticed it was his cell phone and wondered who she could possible be talking to. She looked up at him and gave him a small smiled. He looked at her questioningly and she held a finger up, silently telling him that she'd explain in a moment.

"Good."

"So why'd you call in the first place?"

"Oh yeah," he laughed, "I'm at a local Chinese place that Stephanie loves and I was going to go see Stephanie later and surprise her with some food, and wanted to ask Chris if he wanted me to pick him up anything."

"Hold on, I'll ask him," she said, then took the phone away from her ear, "Chris, did you want any Chinese food?"

"Who's on the phone?"

"Shane," she mouthed.

"Oh, um, just have him get me something spicy, and some beef fried rice," he answered.

"Something spicy and beef fried rice," Trish answered.

"Cool, bye Trish, feel better," Shane said.

"Thanks."

She hung up the phone and Jericho raised an eyebrow in question before he sat across from her on the couch. He wondered why Shane was calling, but had found that out, now he just needed to figure out why Trish was in here, and why she seemed deep in conversation with Shane.

"So what was that about?" Chris asked.

"I was just talking to Shane about things," she said, not wanting to give away anything from their private conversation.

"Oh, and he was at a Chinese food place?"

"Yeah, he wanted to surprise--"

Trish was startled as Jericho's hand darted out to cover her mouth. He took it off silently and put a finger over his lips to signal to be quiet. She looked at him, perplexed by his actions. He looked around furtively and then went in close to her ear so he could hear her.

"I'm being followed," he whispered.

"I know," she said, "That's why--"

"Shh," he hissed, "I saw someone lurking around me earlier, but when I turned to look at them, try to find out who it was, they ran away before I could get a clear view. I don't want to take any chances with this one."

"Oh," she said, looking around, wondering if the spy was standing right outside the door or something.

"So we have to step it up a notch," Jericho told her, "Major flirting."

Trish nodded enthusiastically, not wanting her friends to get caught and torn apart. They didn't deserve to be treated like that. They deserved all the happiness in the world and they couldn't even get that. She thought of things to do with him, and suddenly a great idea came to her mind. Not only would it be a cover for Jericho and Stephanie, she could use it to get out of her date with John.

"Ask me out," she whispered.

"Huh?" Jericho said, "I'm going back to the hotel after the show, but if you want to come hang out.........."

"No, ask me out later," she said, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, please ask me out, please," she pleaded.

Jericho could tell this wasn't all about him, "What happened?"

"I made a mistake and made a date with John, and I NEED to get out of it. Don't ask me why, I just do," she answered.

"Ok, fine, I'll ask you out," he told her.

"Great," she replied, kissing his cheek, "I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?"

"I'll be around," she said, smirking, "Find me soon."

He chuckled as she left. He sat back, figuring that he and Trish were really good at all this acting stuff. They actually made it pretty believable. It was like they were actually going out with each other, just like her and Christian. Jericho was suddenly hit with an epiphany. He knew of a way to get them to talk to each other. Oh, he was brilliant, he thought as he picked up his cell phone.

He quickly redialed to get Shane, "Shane McMahon."

"It's Chris."

"Oh hey, what's up? Did you change your mind on what you want?"

"No, I need you to do something for me?"

"About Stephanie?"

"No, about Christian."

"What?"

"Can you give him a call and tell him to meet you at the restaurant?"

"Yeah, why are you guys meeting later or something?"

"Nope, but Trish will be meeting him," Jericho said, smirking at his own plan.

"Chris, what the hell are you planning?" Shane asked, realizing that his sister had definitely gotten under Jericho's skin.

"Just tell him to meet you there ok?"

"Fine, you and your crazy plans," Shane said, shaking his head.

"Thank you," Jericho said coyly.

"Bye," Shane said dryly, than dialed Christian's number.

"Hello?" Christian asked as he answered his phone.

"Christian, it's Shane."

"Oh hey man, aren't you at some restaurant or something?"

"Yeah, I am, I'm at that place over on 5th. Do you know it?"

"Yeah, I know it," he said, "Why?"

Shane quickly thought of a cover, "Well Stephanie, Chris, and I are all meeting here after the show to have dinner, and we wanted to know if you'd join us."

"Is Trish going to be there?" he asked, because if she was, he didn't think he'd be able to go and see her.

"No, she can't come, so do you want to come?"

"Sure, after the show?"

"After Jericho's match, yeah," Shane said, "The table will be under Jericho."

"Cool, see you then."

Christian hung up the phone and went into the shower to get ready for later. Jericho smirked as he thought of what might happen tonight. There was no way that they would make a scene in a restaurant and that made it the perfect place to stage this entire thing. Christian would be there, and then Trish would come and they'd be forced to at least talk to each other. He was such a mastermind.

Trish sat on a folding chair, hoping that her little thing with Jericho worked. She didn't want the added burden of going out with someone tonight. She just wasn't in the mood to be with anyone right now. Not while her heart still belonged to one man. She knew that she and Jericho had to make this convincing, and she thought of what to say to John.

Jericho wondered if people actually bought his little fling with Trish. They bought when he pretended to care about hitting Stacy, so he figured the same had to be said with Trish. The only person he had ever been sincere in apologizing to, or flirting with was Stephanie. When he told her he never meant any of those names he called her, he had meant what he said. He hadn't meant it when he said them, but afterwards, he had felt bad.

He walked out of his locker room to prepare for his match and possibly find Trish. Or maybe she would find him. Trish liked to keep a little bit of mystery in this whole thing and he couldn't blame her, it made it that much more fun and natural. He walked around and could feel a presence behind him and knew he was being followed. He turned around quickly, but couldn't see anything.

"Good for nothing bastard," Jericho muttered to himself while thinking about Vince McMahon.

He was becoming too stressed about this entire situation. It was stressful enough trying not to show that he loved Stephanie, but then to have to pretend like this, it reeked of suckitude. And now he was spouting off old Edge and Christian lines, he had been hanging out with them WAY too much lately. He saw a production assistant and asked her to get him a bottle of water, he needed something before his match.

He stood in place and jumped up and down trying to loosen up for his match. The production assistant came back and told him something he didn't want to hear, and something inside of him just snapped. Damn this stress, and damn Vince McMahon for making him so stressed out. He yelled at her, until he saw Trish walk up.

Jericho bit his lip and went into teenage boy mode. He found it the most effective way when dealing with Trish. They had a fake, pleasant conversation, where she said he could always talk to her. It made him want to laugh, because the reverse was true, she always talked to him, not vice versa. If he wanted to talk, he usually went to Kurt. Kurt was his best friend after all.

Jericho asked Trish out for dinner and she readily accepted. He knew that she was so enthusiastic because she wanted out of this date with John so badly. She had said not to ask why, but it was pretty obvious it was because of Christian. What about Christian, she didn't know, but it was definitely about him. They felt the camera move and they both let out a breath of relief.

"Thanks for that," they said at the same time, then laughed.

"Did you really want to go out later?" Jericho asked.

"Don't you want to go back to your hotel?" she asked.

"Nah, I want to go out for a while, come with me," he smiled, "I'm just going to go pick up some Chinese."

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"Never."

"Ok, sounds like fun," she said, kissing his cheek, "I've got to go find John."

"Good luck, I'm going to go to my match."

"Ok, have fun," she said, "Good luck to you too."

Trish jogged off to the men's locker room, thinking up ways to explain what had just happened. She got there and knocked on the door. Garrison Cade answered and she smiled at him, wondering if John was even there. She asked for him and Garrison closed the door only to have it open a few seconds later to see John.

"Trish, hey."

"John, I feel like such an idiot, but I made plans to go out with Chris Jericho tonight, and I don't really want to cancel on him because we're good friends and he's just getting over this terrible break up and everything," she lied, and a pretty good lie at that.

"Oh," he said, nodding slowly, "I understand."

"I feel really bad," she said, and meant it.

"Some other time then," he told her.

"Yeah, some other time," she nodded, "Thank you for being so understanding about this."

"No problem, I understand that you want to help someone you care about."

She smiled gratefully, "I really do, and he needs me."

Right then, Jericho wasn't doing too badly in his match. He was getting the upper-hand some of the time and he and Booker were pretty evenly matched. Jericho tried to lock on the Walls, but Booker got out of it. The ending came as a surprise as Jericho was pinned and lost. He couldn't believe that he had lost and so quickly.

He went after Booker and locked him in the Walls out of frustration. He could see the rest of his team come out to join him in his fight against Booker. It wasn't long before Austin's team came out as well and there was chaos in the ring, which was to be expected. Finally the melee was over and Jericho went up the ramp to a waiting Trish. She ran over and hugged him.

"I got out of it," she said.

"Congratulations, I lost," he said.

"Oh, poor thing," she said, putting up pretenses, "Want me to help you back to your locker room?"

"I never turn down an offer from a pretty lady," he said as they started walking as Christian gazed at them jealously. He knew they were just friends, but right now, Christian would take just friends. He sighed and left to go meet Shane and Stephanie, and eventually Jericho at the restaurant.

"Oh, I'm sure you turn down lots of offers," Trish smirked.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm dodging them left and right."

"She's so lucky," Trish told him honestly, "I'd kill to have what you have."

"No you wouldn't," he told her as they went into his locker room, "You would hate it."

"No, I don't see that happening, you two are just.........perfect."

Jericho grabbed a towel and his toiletries and went into the bathroom, then shouted through the door, "No, we're not, we're just human."

Trish heard the water running and sat back. It was true, they were human, but they were made for each other. Jericho and Stephanie had overcome so many odds, and they were still so strong. They made it through every obstacle intact, and were better after every single one. She had never seen two people who were so........right for each other. It made her very jealous, and yet so happy for them.

Jericho came out of the shower and wrapped the towel around him to grab some clothes out of his bag. He went and changed and then came back out, still seeing Trish sitting there, deep in thought. He cleared his throat and she kneeled on the couch to face him.

"I'm jealous of you," she said.

"Why, because my hair is so soft and voluminous?"

"No," she laughed, "I want what you have, with her."

"You'll have it," he reassured, "Now let's go."

She dropped the conversation as they left his locker room and went to the women's locker room to get her own stuff and to tell Lita she wouldn't need a ride. Once they were ready they went to Jericho's car, where Jericho opened the door for her, they drove off to the restaurant.

The ride was short and Jericho was looking for a parking spot, or at least pretending, "Hey Trish, while I find a parking spot, can you go inside and grab a table, it should under Jericho," he said, remembering what Shane had put it under.

"Ok," she said, getting out, see you in a few.

"Yup," he said, nodding, though she wouldn't.

She got out and he drove off, presumably in search of parking, but actually just leaving her there. If she wanted a ride back, she'd have to ask Christian. Trish walked inside and was seated at a table. She tapped her fingers and drank some water as she waited for Jericho to come in.

Christian walked inside and up to the host. He, too, asked for the table under Jericho and was led to a table where a blonde was sitting. It wasn't Jericho either. He saw Trish and felt duped. He looked around, wondering where everyone was, still not realizing they had been set-up.

Trish looked up at what she thought would be Jericho, but instead saw Christian. What was he doing here? She realized then, she had been tricked. She cursed under her breath. She wasn't ready to talk to Christian. He looked at her apprehensively and sat down opposite her.

"Hey," he said, "Is anyone else here yet?"

"Christian, nobody else is coming."

"What?"

"We've been set up," she sighed.

"Oh.........fuck," he mumbled, not believing the situation.

"Yeah," she said, "Just my luck."

"I'll leave if you don't want me to stay," he said, getting up.

She reached for his hand, "No!"

"Huh?" he said, shocked by her actions and subdued by the softness of her hand.

"You don't have to go, you might as well stay."

"Oh," he said, sitting back down, "I had nothing to do with this."

"I know, I think it was all Chris."

"Chris? Shane asked me to come," he told her.

"Seems they were both to blame," she said, "Guess they wanted us to talk."

"I guess."

"Christian, I can't talk to you about what I feel right now," she said, "I'm still hurt and angry with you.........."

"You don't have to, just having you here is enough for now," he told her.

"So can we be civil to each other at least?" she asked, "At least until I stop hurting?"

"Yeah, I can do that," he nodded quickly, "But after that?"

"After that, we can...........re-evaluate the situation."

"Ok."

"But for now, how about joining me in some dinner?"

Christian smiled. This would have to do for the moment.

Jericho walked into his hotel room, pretty proud of himself. He knew that his plan would work, he knew it in his gut. He walked into the bedroom and was taken aback as he saw Stephanie surrounded by Chinese food boxes and stuffing her face with chow mien. She looked up and smiled guiltily.

"Stephanie, you've got like 12 boxes of food," he said, looking at her.

"Shane was here and he was eating too, but you missed him," she answered.

"What did you get?" he said, throwing his stuff down and then sitting on an unoccupied spot.

"Lots of stuff," she answered, kissing him hello, "Dig in."

She handed him some chopsticks and he grabbed the nearest box and opened it to find sweet and sour chicken. He started eating as Stephanie went from box to box eating a little of everything. He watched in awe; this girl could eat. It made him wonder if Hunter starved her or something and she was trying to compensate now.

"Slow down baby, you'll get a stomachache."

"Sorry," she said, "I'm just hungry and Shane got all my favorites. He sprung it all on me."

"So that's why he called," Jericho nodded.

"Oh, he called you?" she asked.

"Yeah, we had things to discuss actually."

"About your stalker or spy or whatever?" she asked, wiping her mouth.

"No, other things."

"What other things?" she asked curiously. He leaned over and kissed her, knowing she would be proud of what he had done. It was interfering, like she told him not to do, but it was so innocuous that she couldn't be mad at him.

"Did Shane tell you anything about tonight?"

"No, he just talked about Kane and stuff. Why?" she gave him a look, "What did you do now?" He smirked.

"Just you wait and hear. You are going to LOVE this one.........."


	151. Vince Is Very Disturbed, November 13, 20...

A/N: I don't really like this chapter to be honest, and it was pretty rushed and I'm sorry for that. There was kind of a family emergency that I needed to attend to, nothing serious, so the chapter was written kind of hastily. But I still hope you like it. :)

Oh, and to the person who reviewed and said that I shouldn't call it a "little" story anymore, that was the original summary for the fic, which should've been one chapter. I actually thought it was funny to leave that up, as irony, because it's so large now. ;)

* * *

"This Sunday, it'll be one month."

"Well, not exactly a month," Jericho said.

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. It's symbolic, one month down, about a million more to go until I die."

"Ok, and why are calculating when you're going to die?" he asked.

"Because before us is a series of time, and one day time is going to sneak up on you and just snatch you away."

Jericho wrapped his arms around her, "Not without a fight they're not."

"It's just passing the time until I can get back in the ring," she told him.

"And when do you think that's going to be?"

"At the rate I'm going, probably never," she said, "My dad thinks he'll live forever, and I wouldn't put it past him to have sold his soul to the devil to achieve that."

Jericho chuckled, "Yeah, you're probably right."

"You know I'm right, whatever my dad wants, my dad gets."

She sighed and leaned her head against his chest. She was once again sad because it was Thursday. It wasn't even Thursday to her anymore, it was the worst day of the week every week. Every week, she'd sit in front of a blank television, wondering what would happen if she just turned it on and watched. She never did find out what would happen, though she had caught parts of the shows in the previous weeks.

Now she was sitting here, doing the same thing. Her life had become so routine in the last month. She wasn't truly depressed or anything, but she had felt a certain amount of melancholy settle over her. She was sure that Jericho could sense it, and he did try to take her mind off of it, and try to get her mind on other things. But when you go twenty-seven years of being embroiled in something, it was hard to break away from it.

"You ok?" Jericho asked as she had gotten extremely quiet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, looking up at him, "Perfectly fine."

"I'm not so sure about that anymore."

She wasn't sure either to be honest. She wasn't used to this. Last time she had been kicked out of the company, it had been by her ex-husband, who didn't have the power that her father had. The last time, she knew there was a huge chance that she would come back, it was an inevitability really. But this time, it was her father who had kicked her out, and to her, this seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. How could she get back in now?

"I'll be fine, I'm strong," she said, "You know that."

"I do know that," he nodded.

"Ok, who's up for some tea?" Linda asked, walking into the room with a tray with a tea set and some cookies on it.

"Thanks Mom," Stephanie said, "I'll have some."

To try and get Stephanie's mind off of the show, they had decided to spend the weekend in Connecticut with Linda. Her mother was alone now, save for some of the help around the house, and Jericho thought it might be nice if Stephanie got to spend some time with her mother. They had both been slighted by Vince, and they were family after all. Linda poured Stephanie a cup of tea and then looked questioningly over at Jericho who shook his head politely. She nodded and poured herself a cup before sitting down in one of the armchairs in the room.

"So are we watching the show?" Linda asked.

Jericho glanced at Stephanie, who was too preoccupied with blowing on her tea, "No, we.........really don't watch SmackDown anymore."

"Oh," Linda nodded, understanding, "So what do you two do? Or is that a question her mother doesn't want to hear?"

He laughed, "Last week we just had a marathon of our scenes together over the past three years."

"That must've been quite the interesting watch."

"It was," Stephanie said, "I didn't realize how much I despised this guy."

"Yeah, and I didn't realize how big a slut she really was, I mean a real trash bag ho."

Stephanie shot him a look, "Hey!"

"Oops, I mean, the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes one."

Linda laughed, "And before that?"

"Just hung out, oh and we visited my parents," Jericho told her, "Took a trip up to Canada, let them meet Stephanie and all that."

"Oh, how did that go?" Linda asked, genuinely interested.

Both Linda and Jericho were keenly aware that Stephanie wasn't talking all that much. She seemed infinitely more interested in her tea than in the conversation, though they were both about her basically. She seemed to be off in her own world, and neither one of them could really get her out.

"Well, my dad loves her, I think he always wanted a daughter, and instead he got me, so now he has someone to completely spoil."

"That's good to hear," Linda said, "I'm sure that you loved that Stephanie?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "Nice to kind of have a positive father figure in my life."

"Definitely," Jericho nodded, "What with how your father acts now."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "And Chris's mom hates me."

"What?" Linda asked, surprise, her eyes falling on Chris for an explanation.

"Well, given our past together, she thought that Stephanie was really just using me. I tried to set her straight, but she didn't really believe it. My mom's just worried about me, and she worries a little too much sometimes. She started warming up to Stephanie a bit after she realized how much I loved her."

"That's good to hear, I can't imagine anyone not loving you Stephanie."

"Dad doesn't," she answered quietly.

"Steph, he loves you, he's just," Linda paused, weighing her words, "He's just off in his own world right now. You know how your father gets."

"Yeah, I know," she whispered.

"So Chris, you're match on Sunday, are you ready?" Linda said, changing the topic quickly, as Stephanie obviously didn't want to continue the current one.

"As ready as I'll ever be. I know you're the one who instated Austin, but to be frank, he bugs me, and I just can't work under the conditions."

"And you have every right to feel that way," Linda told him, "And rather you settle it in the ring than anywhere else."

"Yeah, that's what I was going for actually. I don't know if I have the best team behind me, but it's the best that I could come up with from those available, but I'll win the damn match by myself if I have to."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come down to that."

"I know," he laughed.

Linda looked at her watch, "It's time for the show, are you sure you don't want to watch?"

Jericho looked to Stephanie. She looked up from the cookie she had been eating, her eyes wide, like a deer caught in headlights. She looked to her mother, chewing slowly, than looked at Jericho. They were both staring at her, and she felt obliged to watch, if only to get them off her back. She swallowed audibly.

"If you want," she said, "Go ahead."

"Ok," Linda said, picking up the remote, "It'll be ok, we're here for you Stephanie."

"Yeah, all of us," a voice said from the foyer.

The three people in the living room looked up to see Shane, in a pair of comfortable work out pants and a t-shirt. He smirked at them and walked in, hugging Linda hello and plopping himself down on the couch before putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.

"Why wasn't I invited to this little party?" he asked, putting his hand over his heart like he was really hurt by it.

"It was invitation only," Jericho said, "You're just a party crasher."

"I used to live here, automatic invite," he said, leaning back on the couch, "So what is the dynamic duo doing all the way up here in Connecticut and not in Florida."

"We wanted to get away," Jericho answered.

"And you came here, where tension is running around the clock?"

"We thought it might be nice to spend time with Mom," Stephanie told him.

"She speaks!" Shane said, "I was wondering when my little sister would speak, I was starting to think you had gone mute."

"Very funny Shane, why the hell are you so perky?" she said, looking at him.

"I'm getting psyched up for my match," he told her.

He reached out and ruffled her hair playfully. She turned her head and glared at him. He just whistled innocently and she reached out and shoved him. He laughed and shoved her back. She practically tackled him and started ruffling his hair. Jericho just watched and realized this is what it must've been like growing up with the two of them. This is what having a sibling was like.

"Ok you two, enough," Linda said.

"Yeah, Steph, go tackle your boyfriend," Shane smirked.

"Ha," she said, then turned towards the television, "Ooh, Kurt's on."

The four of them quieted down and watched the show. It kind of felt weird for Jericho, being there with all of them like this. He felt like one of the family. He had been with them all before, but this was different. They were just hanging out, like a normal family, and he was a part of it. He felt Stephanie lean against him and play with his hand unconsciously as she watched Kurt wrestle. A small smile played on his lips at the scene.

After the match was over, Stephanie took her eyes off the television. She looked up to Jericho, who had this contented look on her face that she hadn't ever seen before. He looked down at her and smiled as he went back to watching. She was a bit perplexed as to why he looked so happy. Was it because Kurt won his match? That would be weird.

"Chris, do you wanna get a water with me?" she asked.

"But you just had tea," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but I want something cold."

"Sweetheart, do you want me to get you some water?" Linda asked, turning her attention to her daughter.

"Oh, don't worry about it Mom, I can get it myself," she said, standing up, "Chris........."

"Chris, she obviously wants to go make out with you in the kitchen so just go with her already," Shane said, not taking his eyes off the television.

"Shut up Shane," Stephanie said, then pulled Jericho out of his seat.

Jericho let her drag him into the kitchen and he looked at her like she was insane. She was practically pulling him forcefully. He leaned against the counter, taking in the huge kitchen. This whole house was huge actually. It was the first time he had actually been here. It was a really nice house. Good architecture and all that, and for the most part, it was very tastefully decorated. Stephanie snapped her fingers in front of his face and he turned to her.

"Sorry," he said, "What is it?"

"I was just wondering why you looked so happy out there."

"That's what you dragged me in her for?"

"Yeah, I don't know, you just looked so happy and I was wondering what made you happy so I could share in your happiness and not be so sad."

"You're not sad," he told her.

"Oh come on, you don't think I know what you and my Mom were doing. What do you take me for?"

"Um, I don't' know," he said, playing dumb.

"You were obviously trying to get my mind off of things. I'm not that dumb Chris, I can read between the lines."

"I was happy because I felt like part of the family," he told her.

She looked up at him in surprise. She hadn't expected him to say that. Not that she didn't think it was the sweetest thing ever, but she wasn't expecting him to say that. She was glad he felt so comfortable here. She hugged him tightly and hugged her back. He could feel her tears wetting his shirt and he pulled her away from him.

"Hey, what's with the tears?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted, "I just felt like a good cry."

"Oh," he said sympathetically, wiping her tears from her cheeks, "Please don't cry, I hate to see you cry."

"It was just, I'm so glad you feel so welcome here."

"Well, I mean, I know you're family likes me--"

"No, not like that, but like you're one of us, like you can be yourself and just be around us without having to impress anyone."

"Well, I have known your family for the past few years, and I've been around them."

"But were you really friends with them. Like my mom, I mean, to you now, she's just Linda, but you know before she was your boss and all that."

"She's still my boss," he told her.

"Yeah, but she's also your girlfriend's mom."

"I know, but it's like--"

"Hey you guys!" Shane yelled.

"What?!?" Jericho yelled back.

"You might want to get in here!"

Jericho and Stephanie looked at each other, puzzled as to why they would need to go in there. Jericho took Stephanie's hand and they walked back into the living room, standing in an archway as they fixed their eyes on the television. On it, Vince was explaining how he had dreamt about his death. Stephanie laughed inwardly, feeling evil for thinking about dancing on his grave.

The dream was starting to creep everyone out, especially since they were Vince's actual family. Being eaten by maggots was never a pleasant image, and the way Vince was describing it made it even worse. He had all of them cringing at one point or another, and they all were absolutely grossed out by the end.

"What the hell was that?" Shane said, "Seriously, what the fuck was that?"

"Shane, language," Linda chastised.

"Sorry Mom, but that was seriously crazy," Shane said, "And even better, that's my dad."

"He's my dad too," Stephanie said, "And that was just disturbing."

Jericho and Stephanie walked back to the couch and sat down, still disgusted by what Vince had just said. What do you say after that? How do you begin a conversation? And Jericho was not about to put his two cents in about that one, not with these three people who were inherently involved in the whole thing.

"And this is another time when I question why I married your father?" Linda said, breaking the tension and causing the other three to laugh.

"Well, you did get us out of it, so it couldn't have been all bad," Shane said.

"Well," she said, then pretended to think. Stephanie and Shane gave her incredulous looks as Jericho kept laughing.

Stephanie turned to him, "Hey, if it weren't for that, you wouldn't be with me right now."

He stopped laughing, "Oh yeah."

"Yeah," she said, kissing his cheek, "And you need me."

"Oh, I do?"

"Yup," she said, kissing him.

"Oh great, just what I need to see," Shane said, rolling his eyes, "Go back home if you're going to do that."

"We weren't doing anything," Stephanie said, "I just kissed him."

"Yeah, but I don't want to see that."

"Oh, just go back to watching the show."

He did just that, and so did Jericho and Stephanie. Stephanie found it easier to watch if she was around people and if they were able to keep it light. This was actually pretty fun. She could be snarky and mean and nobody cared about it. She watched the show, sharing quips with Jericho and Shane, and arguing over certain wrestlers. She even got a look from Jericho as she said that Cena was kind of good looking.

Still, in the back of her mind, lingered the thought that she wanted back on the show. She had said that she would do anything to get it back, and she had been serious about that. She was trying to push those thoughts away, but it was harder than she thought. Who said she couldn't be a huge bitch while doing business? It was possible, and maybe she had to do just that.

She watched again when her father was shown, this time with a priest. She was surprised that the priest couldn't feel the devil in the room, since to her that was what Vince was, the devil. He didn't really care about anyone but himself, and that was well-documented. If the priest has sprayed him with holy water, he might have burst into flames or something.

Seeing her father pray was just absurd to her. Her father didn't have a religious bone in his body, and for him to even think he did was preposterous. He went back to his old self when he talked about praying for the wrong person. The priest looked scared out of his mind at this point and she didn't blame him. Her father's parting words and look said it all. He was pure evil. Through and through.

"Geez, Dad needs to calm down," Shane muttered.

"That's for sure," Jericho said, "I thought he was going to explode during that." 

"My future looks bleak," Shane said morosely.

"You won't end up like your father," Linda said, "You're much too good for that."

"Who knows Mom, I might, if I do, someone shoot me."

"My pleasure," Stephanie said, smiling.

Shane stuck his tongue out at her in a childish manner, "So Stephy, how are you going to spend all this time off?"

Stephanie hated thinking about the great expanse of time that lay ahead of her. She never needed to work again, that wasn't the problem. She could laze around all day and she wouldn't have to worry about money or anything, but that wasn't her style. She didn't want "time off," she wanted to be at work, she wanted something to do.

"I don't know, I'm taking it one day at a time right now," she answered.

"Good strategy," he nodded, "That way you can't get your hopes up."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't want to anticipate a return to the company, in case it doesn't happen," he told her.

"Oh thanks Shane, that's just what I wanted to hear, that I'll never get into the company again," she said, getting up and storming upstairs to her old room.

Shane looked apologetically at Jericho, "I'm sorry, I didn't know she'd take it so hard."

Jericho shook his head, "It's ok, she's just a little on edge about that right now, it'll be ok, just tell me which room is hers upstairs."

"Seventh door on the right," Linda told him.

"Thanks," he said, getting up.

He walked upstairs and he looked at the long hallway ahead of him. He actually had to count off the doors to get to hers. He opened the door a little and saw a gigantic poster bed in the room and a small figure lying on the huge mattress. The room was huge, but the bed was just enormous. He walked in a little more and closed the door.

"So this is where you grew up," he said, looking around, "Nice, girly, but nice."

"Thanks," she said, sniffling.

He went over to sit on the bed, "Shane didn't mean what he said."

"Yeah, I know he was joking, but it was just the underlying truth in it that got to me. There's a chance I may never get to be in the company again."

"Don't think like that. You WILL be in the company again. I'm not going to lie to you, it could be a long time, but eventually Vince will not have power, Shane will and you'll be back in."

"By that time, we'll probably be married with kids, and then I won't have the time."

"Steph," he said, rubbing her leg, "It'll work out, I promise."

"Stop promising me things you can't fulfill."

"Hey! I'm trying to help ok? I know that I can't really do anything, but don't make me out to be the bad guy."

"You're right," he said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said, leaning over to grab her hand, "Just come downstairs with me and we'll watch the rest of the show."

"You go ahead, I'm just going to lay here for a few minutes."

"You want me to stay?"

She shook her head, "I'll be down in a few minutes."

"You sure?" he asked, "I wouldn't mind looking at a young Stephanie's room, seeing what she was like as a teenager and stuff."

"Some other time," she smiled.

"Ok," he said, leaning down to kiss her, "I'll see you downstairs."

"You will."

Jericho got up and left and closed the door behind him. As soon as she heard his footsteps fade away, she grabbed the phone from her nightstand. She had spent hours on this phone in her teen years, but nothing was more important that the call she was about to make. She knew she was crazy, but she had to make the effort. She was not one for the "what-if" scenario. She dialed quickly, knowing the number well.

"Who is it?"

"Don't hang up on me," she said quickly, "Just hear me out."

"What is it?" he said, knowing who it was immediately.

"I want to know how I can get back in the company?" she asked.

"You quit, you can't come back."

"I'm willing to do what it takes, anything it takes."

"Anything?"

"Within reason," she told him.

"And why should I help you?"

"Daddy, I want back in, and I want back in now."


	152. Survivor Series, November 16, 2003

"And you'll be ok here by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll be ok here by myself. Why do you ask that if I keep giving you the same answer?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "It seems the appropriate thing to ask when you leave someone who can't come with you."

"Oh thanks, rub it in," she told him.

"See? Now I'm rubbing it in," Jericho said, "How am I rubbing it in?"

"Because I can't go!"

"Stephanie, I'm sorry you can't go, I really am. But you do know that I can't stay."

"I know that. You have a match, a very important match and I don't want you to lose focus of that."

He leaned down to kiss her. He was glad that she understood that he had to go out there and do his job. He wanted to beat Austin tonight. It wasn't even him fighting for Bischoff. He wasn't doing that; he was fighting for himself and all the shit he had to go through with Austin.

"You'll win," she assured him, "I'm sure of it."

"And how are you so sure?"

"I can see the future," she said ominously.

"Oh really? Then what do you see for later tonight?"

"Hmm," she told him, "I see you getting lucky."

"And suddenly I'm anticipating the future," he winked, then kissed her again, "Ok, I'm going to go. I'll see you later?"

"Don't you always?"

"Yeah, but I ask just in case the answer is different one time."

"It'll never be different."

He grinned at her and then left. As soon as he left she stood up and went to go change. She had been in her pajamas, but she knew she would have to change her clothes. She put on a nice pair of slacks and a nice blouse with a sports coat over it. She combed out her hair and left the room. She walked down the hallway and to the elevators, taking the elevator up two floors to some of the larger suites. She went down to one of the doors and took a deep breath before knocking. She didn't know why she was here........no wait, that wasn't right, she knew exactly why she was here. Before she could continue her thoughts the door opened and she stood in front of her father.

"What a surprise?"

"It shouldn't be," she answered, brushing past him.

"And you're here why?" Vince asked.

"I needed to talk to you."

"I thought everything that needed to be said was said."

She whirled around, "I didn't quit in that match."

"Of course you did, you're out of the company aren't you?"

"You know it wasn't me who gave it. It was Mom," she said coolly, "I didn't give up in that match."

"Maybe because you were too preoccupied with the wrench around your neck."

"Maybe so," she conceded, "But I wouldn't have given up."

"That's the McMahon in you."

"Yes, and the McMahon in me does not want to be out of this company any longer."

"What took you so long to come crawling back?"

"I'm not crawling Dad, do you see me crawling?" she shot back.

"Stinging over your break up with Chris," Vince said lightly, "Is that what you've been doing?"

"What do you even know about that?"

"It was a set-up Stephanie, he never liked you, I planned it all out with him. He was never interested in you," Vince sneered.

"So you say," Stephanie said, smirking, "But I gather that you didn't plan on him actually falling for me."

Vince's face dropped and Stephanie smiled cruelly. She knew what her father was trying to pull. He was trying to get her down on herself so she would accept any offer that he gave her to join the company. But she wasn't falling for his stupid games, especially not ones that included Jericho. Because she knew much more than her father ever could about that situation.

He scoffed, "Don't fool yourself Stephanie. He never loved you."

"I beg to differ. You didn't see the way he looked at me, the way he was around me when no one was around. You don't know and it eats you up doesn't it Daddy," she taunted.

"Where is he now Stephanie? Not with you is he?"

She scowled, "No, but I'm sure you had something to do with that."

They were playing a game here, and neither of them was going to back down. The fight wasn't about what they were saying, but about what they were saying, and that dug deep. She knew that she had to win this or she wouldn't be coming back to the company, and she couldn't have that. She wouldn't stand for that.

"Maybe I did."

"Maybe?" she told him, "There's never a maybe with you Daddy."

"Why do you want back in so bad?"

"You need me Daddy, don't act like you don't."

"I don't need anyone Stephanie. I'm Vince McMahon, I can do anything I want to, I don't NEED anything or anyone. And if I do, they're easily bought."

"You don't have a family do you Daddy, but you will need us one day."

"I have a family, a family that doesn't support me or stand by me. Why should I let you back in the company if all you'll do is turn on me again?"

"Risks Daddy. Don't tell me you're afraid of taking a risk. Isn't that what the XFL was?"

"And look what happened there?"

"Risks can go either way," she answered, "And you should take one on me."

"After you turned on me?"

"I did what I had to do, and I'm doing what I have to do right now."

"I'm not going to take you back in so easily Stephanie, and you know that."

She nodded, "I do know that."

He sat down in a seat in the living room area. Stephanie wanted to sit down, but she didn't feel like she should. She felt like she was under an enormous amount of scrutiny. Vince rubbed his chin, thinking. She wanted this to be over soon, either he let her back in or he didn't, she just wanted an answer. Any answer, but she hated this silence that was engulfing them now. This definitely needed to stop.

"I'll think about it," he finally told her.

She stared at her, "So I can't come back tonight?"

"I've got a big match tonight, so go," he said, ignoring her question.

"This isn't over Daddy," she told him as she turned to leave, "This is just the beginning."

She walked out of her Dad's room, feeling slightly better and more relieved. Having him say he'd think about it was certainly better than nothing, and it would have to be the best she could do at the moment. The fact remained that she wanted back in the company and she had to go to great lengths to get it back.

Jericho set his things down, wondering if Stephanie was really ok about tonight. It was only the last big show that she had lost her job, and she hadn't missed a big show in a long time. She always loved the Pay Per Views, saying they had a certain buzz about them that couldn't be matched. He frowned and sat down.

Christian walked into the arena, Trish walking next to him. After their impromptu dinner the other night, they had actually been talking. They avoided relationship talk like the plague, but this was better than no talking at all. He respected Trish's decision to wait until they had "the talk," and he'd just have to wait until she figured out all her feelings. He could wait, he had to, she was Trish and he loved her.

Trish laughed at a joke that Christian told her. She hadn't laughed at anything he said since the last night they were together as a couple. She still had mixed feelings about Christian, but she knew that if she didn't move forward, she would be stuck in a rut with him for the rest of her life, and she didn't want that. Maybe they were destined to be just friends, but she needed to find that out for herself.

Shane smirked as he saw Christian and Trish actually talking. Seems Jericho's idea wasn't such a bad one after all. It also seemed that Trish had actually taken his advice and talked to Christian. He turned to go back to his locker room. Tonight was a pivotal night for him, make or break, literally. He would either be victorious, or he would be set to the hospital in an ambulance. He was hoping for the former, as the latter seemed like a less than ideal situation.

Kurt put his feet up on the table. No worries for him tonight. He was going to win, and the team he had single-handedly assembled would win as well, even if he wasn't the one getting that final pin, it didn't matter as long as it was his team. Not to mention Gail was here tonight and it would be the first time he'd gotten to see her in a long time.

"Hey," Dawn Marie said, sticking her head in the room, "You busy?"

"No, come on in," Kurt said.

Dawn smiled gratefully as she walked into the room. Kurt stood up and let her embrace him. He hugged her back, feeling comfortable enough to do so. Without Stephanie at SmackDown he had been hanging around Dawn quite a bit, and found that she was really nice to talk to and she made the time at the shows pass by fairly quickly.

"How are you?" she asked, "Nervous?"

"Never," he kidded, "I'm confident that I'll be pulling out the victory tonight."

"Good, think positive, it--"

"Kurt!" a voice screamed from the door.

Kurt looked up at the door, which had just flown open. Gail stood there, grinning, and wearing a simple red t-shirt and leather pants. Kurt grinned as she ran into the room and over to him. She hugged him fiercely and he hugged her back, actually lifting her off the ground.

"What's up?" she asked excitedly.

"Nothing," he said, then remembered that Dawn was in the room, "Oh, Gail, this is Dawn, Dawn, Gail."

Gail turned to the brunette and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Dawn said, but it had a cold undertone.

"I was hoping to see you tonight," Kurt said.

"Of course you were, after talking to you for like forever, it's good to actually see you face-to-face."

"Yeah, but no match," he told her.

"I know!" she said, "Oh well, I can just hang out with people, no biggie right?"

"Of course not, you're here!" he said giddily.

"Yeah," she said, hugging him again then punched him lightly in the stomach, "So what're we doing tonight?"

"We're doing something?" he asked laughing.

"Hey! Don't tell me you forgot what I told you on the phone last week. I wanted to go out."

"I don't know, you decide and let me know."

During this whole exchange Dawn hung back and watch, her arms folded and a frown on her face. She didn't really appreciate being interrupted while she was having a private conversation with Kurt. And now they were going out; she had wanted to ask Kurt out, but that was through the window now. She snorted and left the room quietly, the other two people not even noticing.

"Cool," Gail said, "Well, I have to go see people that I haven't seen, but I'll see you later ok, don't leave without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said.

She gave him a wave and exited. Kurt smiled, Gail was such a fun person to be around. He wasn't sure there was anything romantic there, but he knew he definitely had a friend in the spunky diva. He turned to go back to talking with Dawn, but found that she wasn't in the room anymore. Kurt sat down and wondered why she had left.

Jericho passed by Gail in the hallway and gave a slight nod of hello. She smiled shortly at him before walking past. Jericho took a swig of water from the bottle he had just procured and walked back to his own locker room, smiling and waving at guy's he hadn't seen in a while. He saw a few smirking at him, and he wondered why, but was soon to find out as he felt a petite hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked at the person who had stopped him.

"You set me up!" Trish yelled.

"Somebody had to," he answered.

"I should kick your ass for doing that to me," she said, shaking her head.

"But you're not because you know it was the right thing to do."

She rolled her eyes and turned serious, "Thank you."

"Hey, you know when I was broken up, you tried to do the same for me, so I'm just returning the favor."

She hugged him, "Seriously, thank you."

"You're welcome," he hugged back.

"I still don't know how it'll end up, but the air was definitely cleared," she explained, "We're kind of friends right now."

"That's a good start," he told her, rubbing her arm as he saw the sadness in her eyes.

Vince sauntered down the hallway and his eyes fell on Jericho, who was currently rubbing Trish's arm in an almost seductive manner. Vince smiled proudly; Jericho was one smooth guy. No sooner had he "broken up" with Stephanie, and he was now going after Trish. Vince sidled up to the two of them.

"You two are looking cozy."

Trish jumped as she saw Vince, "Huh?"

"Nice going Chris," Vince said, smirking at Jericho, "Nice to see you getting everything you can around here."

Jericho smiled tightly, "You know me Vince, always going after the ladies."

Trish made a rash decision and decided that maybe Vince would get off Jericho's back if he really thought that she and Jericho were together. She laced her arm through Jericho's and moved so she was leaning on his side. Jericho looked down at her curiously, wondering what she was up to.

"Yes, but now he's all mine," Trish said possessively.

"Huh?" Jericho said, looking down at her.

"Oh sweetie, don't be silly. After that date last week, we shouldn't hide our relationship from anyone."

Jericho looked at her strangely, "Yeah, we're, uh, together."

"Yup, all mine, and nobody else's. I mean, you don't even look at other girls right Chrissy baby," she said coyly, laying it on, not just thick, but triple thick.

"Oh yeah...........honeycakes," he said, trying not to laugh.

"Good going Jericho," Vince said, clapping his back, "You two go have some fun."

"We will," she said.

Then to make sure Vince got the point. Trish ran her hand down Jericho's cheek and gazed up at his blue eyes. She could see the terror in them and she smirked as she licked her lips expectantly. Like a band-aid, she thought to herself, quick and painless. She leaned up quickly and captured Jericho's mouth. She felt him stiffen, but was persistent in keeping him connected to her lips. Finally she let go and he almost stumbled back in shock, if she hadn't caught his arm, he might've fallen over.

"We're going now," Trish said, pulling Jericho away from Vince, letting the owner of the company think they were going to go do something naughty.

Trish pulled Jericho all the way to his locker room and pushed him inside. She closed the door and wiped her mouth. Jericho stared at her, looking both horrified and amused. She opted to think him more amused than horrified. The kiss couldn't have been that bad. She laughed guiltily.

"That was like kissing my sister!" he said, making gagging noises.

"Oh thanks," she said dryly.

"No offense Trish, but that was awful," he said, wiping his mouth.

"Oh, so you're saying I'm a bad kisser?"

"No," he said, "But given our relationship, I think that was really weird and awkward."

"Well now maybe Vince will get off your damn back."

"Yeah, maybe, I mean, he did see us being all cutesy and stuff. He can't possibly think I'm still with Stephanie after that display," he said, realizing what she said was true.

"Yeah, so we keep it up for a while, then I turn on you, or you turn on me, and everything will have come full circle."

"I just cheated on Stephanie," Jericho said, suddenly terrified, "Oh my God, I just cheated on her."

"No you didn't," Trish said, calming him down by putting an arm around him, "She knows about this."

"Yeah, but we kissed!"

"I know we did," she said, "But I kissed you, just tell her that, and if she doesn't get a good kick out of it, then send her to me and I'll let her kick my ass."

"You're pretty confident she won't care."

"You didn't get a fake message from her where she's crying and telling me I stole her boyfriend."

Jericho burst out laughing, "Yup, that's my girlfriend."

Christian had been talking to Steiner about the match later on and saw Shane walking around. He excused himself from the conversation and jogged to catch up with Shane. Shane heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Christian come up to him and stop, panting a little.

"What's up?" Shane asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for last week and the whole restaurant thing. I mean, you know with Trish."

"Oh, not a problem, it was all Chris anyways."

"Yeah, but you had a part in it, and I just wanted to thank you."

"So I guess that it went well."

"Well, we're actually speaking now, and we aren't yelling at each other all the time, so I guess you can call that better."

"Good, that's good to hear."

"Yeah, well, I've got to go talk to Chris, but thanks again man."

"Bye," Shane said, then continued walking, going into his room.

Shane was surprised when Vince wanted to talk to him. They hadn't spoken in a while, and after everything that happened with Stephanie, Shane didn't care if he never talked to Vince again. They stared at each other and exchanged a few words, but Shane was distrustful of his father's motivation behind this. If he thought that Shane would suddenly want to help him or something, Vince was wrong. Shane was not going to help the bastard that hurt his mother and sister, no chance in hell would he go back to his father's side.

Kurt walked backstage, having just congratulated Cena on winning the match. He knew that Cena would be a good addition to the team, and if he couldn't win, then he was glad that he had. He wiped the towel he had been given over his face, getting most of the sweat and grime off. He decided to go see what Jericho was up to and went to his dressing room, not bothering to knock on the door. He walked in to see Trish with her arm around Jericho as they talked about something. They looked up quickly as they heard the door swing open and both were relieved to see Kurt standing there, but Kurt had a suspicious look on his face.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"Yeah," Jericho answered, "Trish and I were about to do it on the couch, so if you'll excuse us, I've got a girl to bang."

"Hey, could you be a little cruder to your prospective lay," Trish berated him.

"Oh, you two are so funny," Kurt said, walking in fully, "Really, what's up?"

"I kissed Chris," Trish said.

"Oh great, you were driven to kissing by this whole stalker/spy thing?"

"Yup, that and Vince was standing right there," she answered mischievously.

"Bad girl," Kurt winked.

"You know me."

"Did you already have your match?" Jericho asked, seeing that Kurt was sweating and in ring attire.

"Yeah," Kurt answered, "We won too."

"Shit," Jericho muttered, "I didn't even know it was on."

"Well, now you do."

"Yeah, oh and congrats on the win."

"Yeah Kurt, congratulations," Trish told him, giving him a supportive smile.

"Thanks, Cena won it for us though."

"Oh," Trish said, "Interesting."

"I guess so, so Chris, when is your match?"

"In a little while, I guess," he said.

Just at that moment, Christian walked in and was surprised to find the little gathering in Jericho's locker room. Trish scooted over on the couch so that Christian could sit down. Jericho and Kurt exchanged a look at the little display by the two of them. They weren't fooling anybody with all of this dancing around.

"What's up everyone?" Christian asked.

"Chris and Trish kissed," Kurt blurted out, then smiled evilly.

"Huh?" Christian said, turning an accusatory eye towards the two long-haired blondes.

"Thanks Kurt," Jericho said, shooting a glare to Kurt, who just smiled innocently, "It was nothing Christian. Vince was right there and Trish decided to play us up to get the Vince off my back."

"Oh," Christian said, a weird rush of relief coursing through him.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Trish said, quickly but reassuringly. Kurt and Jericho shared another look. The sexual tension between Christian and Trish was very high and could be felt throughout the room. Jericho was tempted to just shove Trish into him.

"Ok," Christians laughed, but it sounded awfully bitter to his ears. Another thing that was weird was the jealousy he felt at the fact that Jericho got to kiss Trish, albeit with no emotion behind it, but his lips got to touch Trish's. It made him extremely jealous.

"So I'm going out with Gail tonight," Kurt blurted out, seeing as how nobody was really speaking.

"What about Dawn?" Trish asked.

"I don't know, I was talking to her and then Gail came in and then she left without saying goodbye."

"Oh, she's obviously jealous," Trish snorted.

"You think?"

Christian and Jericho looked at him, and Kurt instantly realized that Trish was right. Damn, he hadn't wanted to make Dawn feel bad. It was just that he hadn't seen Gail in such a long time, and he saw Dawn every single Thursday, of course he'd pay more attention to Gail when he saw her.

"What do I do?"

"Talk to her," Jericho said obviously.

"Yeah, but I don't know, I mean, I'm not dating her."

"Oh," Trish said, "Well, then talk to her next Thursday, give yourself a buffer zone."

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, "I swear I didn't think she'd get jealous."

"The woman practically hangs off your arm, and you don't think she'll get jealous over another woman," Jericho told him, "Dude, get your head out of your ass."

"Well, someone sure is pissy tonight," Kurt snapped.

"I'm not pissy," Jericho said, "I've just got a match I need to prepare for."

"Oh yeah," Christian said, "That's why I came in here in the first place, to talk to you about the match."

"Lay it on me."

"Switch places with me Trish," Christian said, "So I can talk to Chris without having to talk around you.""Fine," Trish said, getting up and switching seats. She found herself nearer to Kurt, "Hey."

"Hey," he said back as Christian and Jericho talked animatedly in the background.

"Look, Dawn likes you a lot, I saw her, she likes you a lot. Now you don't have to like her back, but at least let her know about Gail," Trish told him.

"Yeah, I guess I should."

She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Don't put it off, it only leads to hurt feelings, trust me on this one."

Kurt looked at Trish and nodded. She made sense, and she had been there, recently at that. He looked down at the ground for a moment before looking up at Trish, seeing a wistful look on her face as she gazed at Christian. Kurt felt sorry for her. She obviously still wanted Christian, but something, probably fear, was holding her back.

"I'm going guys," Kurt said, "I want to get showered."

"Bye Kurt," everyone said.

He smiled at Trish then left. Trish turned her attention to the television and saw the Kane and Shane match in full swing. She nudged Christian, causing him to stop talking, which caused Jericho to stop listening. She pointed to the television where the fight was going on. Suddenly forgetting their conversation, Jericho and Christian transfixed their eyes on the match at hand, silently rooting for their friend to make it through this brutal match.

Shane cringed as he was beaten by Kane. This wasn't that fun anymore, not that it was supposed to be fun, but he was pretty fuzzy at this point and wasn't thinking straight. He managed to get some good offense on Kane and brought him over to the ambulance, hitting his head on the door. He went over to a dumpster and grabbed a trashcan, hitting Kane with it, hoping to fell the big man. As Kane lay there, Shane got to the ambulance and hit the Van Terminator on him, thinking that would do it. Unfortunately it didn't, but Shane wasn't about to give up.

Jericho cringed when Shane was tossed into the ambulance and lost the match. Stephanie was going to be so worried about him. Not only her, but Linda as well. He ran his hand through his hair, hoping that his friend was alright and not too seriously injured, as it seemed he might be. But he couldn't let his mind dwell on this. He had his own match to attend to, and if he didn't think about it, then he wouldn't be able to concentrate and get Austin the hell out of his show.

"We're coming up soon," Christian said somberly, still thinking about Shane.

"Yeah," Jericho nodded.

"You two are going to be great," Trish said supportively.

"Yeah, we better be, because I want Austin gone," Jericho said.

"Me too," Christian echoed.

"Well, you've worked so hard to get to this point, I don't see you two losing," she said to them.

"Yeah, that's true."

"And I don't think that the other team is quite as strong as you are, I mean, you've got a lot of talent on your side," then she thought about some of the guys, "Well, between the two of you, you have tons of talent on your side. Enough to get the job done."

"Speaking of getting the job done," Jericho started.

"Steph's not here, it won't work," Christian cut in.

"Oh yeah, it's so much more fun when she's here."

"Aww, you miss her?" Trish said.

"A little. She's watching though, which makes it a little easier."

"You two should go strategize with your team or something," Trish said.

"Yeah, we should," Jericho nodded, "Come on man."

They both got up and said their goodbyes to Trish before leaving to go find the rest of their team. Jericho was walking and noticed that Christian kept glancing over at him. Jericho was getting annoyed by it, and kept looking over to Christian, but wasn't fast enough to catch him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Jericho asked exasperated.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to thank you for that dinner thing you pulled last week."

"No problem," he said, "I had to be done, I was tired of hearing you both complain."

He laughed, "Well, it was the best conversation I had had in a while."

Jericho nodded and walked over to his other teammates. They conversed until the match was about to start. They all went out there together and the match began. Jericho knew with so many guys, he might not see a lot of action, but felt ready to go in at any second. It wasn't long before he was tagged in and it was time to get Austin the hell out of there. He put all his effort into winning this match, and getting what he felt was a blight on Raw, out of the way.

His team was working pretty well together, considering he and Christian were really the only ones who had been regular tag team partners. They were definitely dominating the match and they knew it too, capitalizing on everything. Jericho was in against RVD and later Michaels, getting some good moves on each man. Eventually it came down to him, Christian, and Orton against Michaels, and he knew that very second that Austin was definitely on his way out. There was no way Michaels could overcome this deficit. He didn't even care if he was the one to win, he just wanted his team to gain victory.

He didn't actually get the win as he was taken out of the match. But smashing a chair into Michael's head was reward enough for getting eliminated. Content that they would win, he got up and left, dragging himself backstage. It didn't matter that he had been eliminated, as long as Austin was the one eliminated for good. He watched backstage as Orton won, and then Austin give his little speech. Jericho smirked, he didn't care, Austin was gone, and that was all that mattered. Tonight was a night of celebration and he knew who he wanted to celebrate with.

He was surprised to find that Stephanie was not in their room when he got there. He searched from room to room but didn't see her anywhere. He dropped his stuff on an armchair and was about to call her cell phone when she walked in. She was surprised to see him there and stood in the doorway. Jericho looked at her and smiled, but something seemed amiss with her.

Stephanie had just been in Vince's room again, leaving him a note that outlined why he should let her back into the company. She hadn't expected Jericho back so soon, since the show had only just finished. Her father had won the match with the help of Kane, and she wanted to let him know that she could be an asset like Kane was. She may not have the strength, but she had the cunning and intelligence.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"Um, nowhere."

"But you're dressed up," he pointed out.

"I, uh, went downstairs to the café to get food," she improvised.

"Oh, why didn't you get room service?" he asked.

"Well, I didn't want to be in this cramped room, so I went downstairs."

"And no food for me," he pouted.

"Sorry, I thought that you had eaten."

"No matter," he said, reaching into his bag and pulling out some champagne, "We're celebrating."

She gave him a small smile, "You're victory over Austin?"

"Yup," he said, "I thought this could set the mood."

He walked over to the bar area and grabbed two crystal wine glasses. He popped open the champagne and poured some for him and Stephanie. She smiled as he handed her a glass. She was about to take a sip but he stopped her.

"A toast, to our victory."

"Yeah," she said, clinking glasses with him, then taking a sip as he did the same.

"I'm just sorry your father won," he said, "He should've lost, he would've lost, had it not been for Kane."

"Yeah," she told him, trying to smile.

"Oh well, we'll get him someday."

Stephanie couldn't tell him about her conversation with her father. Jericho would never understand. He'd tell her not to worry, that there were other ways for her to get back into the company, but this was the one way she knew would work. Jericho would hate for her to go back to her father, but she had to. If her father wanted her back, she would go back, she wanted to be in the company, by any means necessary. She smiled guiltily as Jericho kissed her, his lips tasting like the champagne they were drinking. She couldn't get into the kiss though, as one thought ran through her mind, and the thought was not a pleasant one.

She was lying to Jericho.


	153. Raw, November 17, 2003

A/N: Before you read the chapter, a huge THANKS to every single person who has ever left me a review, because of you, I reached 1000 reviews, and left me completely speechless. I'm absolutely shocked this fic has gotten so many reviews and I know it's because all of you and I thank you for that. Thanks to you guys who take time out of your day to make my day a little brighter. I'm hoping for 1000 more. ::cough::leavemeareview::cough:: ;)

Enjoy. :)

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Stephanie smiled as Jericho outlined once again how funny the look on Vince's face was when he saw Trish and him together. He said it was a mixture of shock and pride. He figured the shock was because Vince hadn't really expected him to be with Trish. Stephanie laughed as he told the story of how he and Trish had kissed. He said it was like kissing his relative, very much without passion. She shook her head as he made a disgusted face.

"So what are you and her planning to do tonight?" she asked, "You going to fake having sex?"

"Well, you know, it might work, we throw some things up against the wall, you know, like I'm pushing her against the wall. Then we can really be sitting on the couch making moaning noises," he said, demonstrating some moans that he could do.

"Ok, now you're just turning me on," she told him.

"Oops," he said, giving her a guilty look, "Later, I promise."

"Ok," she nodded.

"I wish that I didn't have to pretend with Trish, but I must say that it is pretty fun to pretend with her. It's like playing the ultimate prank you know. We're fooling everyone."

"Are you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean, everyone and their mother thinks we're together, I mean, come on, I like Trish and all that, but my heart only belongs to one girl."

"Oh, you're so sweet."

"Yeah, that's what Stacy said when I told her that."

She rolled her eyes, "Why must you torment me? First you have Trish, now you have Stacy, what's next on your sordid list of love affairs?"

"I was thinking about Torrie the other night and--"

She covered his mouth, "I've heard enough."

He pulled her hand off of his mouth, "Aww, but out of all of them, I love you the best."

"You better buster or I'm going to have to kick your ass," she told him, pretending to be serious.

"You can't touch me, I'm a sexy beast."

"Yeah, a sexy, dead beast if you ever pull something like that," she giggled.

She sighed as he touched his lips to hers. He was such a comfort to her, and could always afford her a laugh when she felt down, and she felt down right now. Except that she couldn't tell him. Her father hadn't called her yet, and she was beginning to think that she wasn't going to get accepted back. Her father never took this long to decide something, so he must not want her back in the company.

"Steph, where are you?" Jericho asked as he pulled away when Stephanie wasn't kissing back, but instead sitting there like a dead fish.

"I'm right here."

"Yeah, physically, but ever since last night, you've been off..........is there anything you need to tell me?" he asked worried.

Damn it, when was she going to learn that she couldn't lie around Jericho. He knew her too well, could read her eyes like nobody else could. If anyone could tell something was wrong with her, it would be him. She put on her best smile and gave a short laugh, pretending like his question was an idiotic one.

"Of course not, I'm fine."

"No, you're not," he said, shaking his head, "What happened last night? I know something did."

"Chris, sweetie, nothing happened," she said, rubbing his arm, "I'm perfectly fine, I swear."

"Are you cheating on me?" Jericho asked tentatively, his mouth suddenly going dry. It would make sense if she did. She hadn't been in the room last night when he came back and she was being all weird today.

Stephanie shook her head viciously, "NO! Of course I'm not cheating on you! I love you and only you."

"Ok, it's just, you know, you seemed kind of moody, like Christian was being before he--"

"Sweetie, I swear to you, I'm not cheating on you," she insisted.

"Is it this thing with Trish?" he asked, "I mean, if you don't like it, or you're jealous or something, I can stop it right now. It doesn't matter if your dad has a spy on me..........  
God, I'm such an idiot for kissing her last night. I'm sorry, I tried to tell Trish that it was cheating, but she wouldn't believe me. I swear, it'll never happen again, I'll tell Trish to quit it and we don't have to do it anymore."

Stephanie watched him ramble on. Whenever he got in a tight spot, he would just start rambling. It was actually pretty cute. Not to mention he would start talking with his hands, so not only would he talk quickly, his hands would be flailing all over the place. He looked like he was being electrocuted.

She put her hand on his leg, "I don't care about the Trish thing."

"Huh?" he said, calming down enough to look at her.

"I don't care, you can go out and kiss her tonight for all I care," she said, "I know there's nothing going on between you and Trish. I know she's in love with Christian, I know Christian's in love with her. I know you'd do nothing to hurt me and Christian, and I know that Trish wouldn't hurt me. I know there's nothing going, I trust you, and besides, I'm with you all the time, and unless you're banging Trish at the shows, which I find highly unlikely considering I've been to shows with you and you are notorious for having people coming in and out of your locker rooms at all times. So unless you guys are like doing it in five minute intervals, then I know nothing's going on."

"Then what's wrong?" he asked softly.

She sighed, time to lie, "I'm just..........missing the business. I don't know, I travel with you and I feel stifled somehow. Like I should be going with you, but I'm not. I'm still surrounded by the business that pushed me out."

There, that hadn't been much of a lie, just enough to keep Jericho off of her back until she squared things away with her father. She looked up at Jericho and he had the saddest look on his face, a mixture of pity and regret. He grabbed her hand and rubbed the back with his thumb.

"I should've gone out there to help you, ban be damned," he said, "I'm sorry you feel that way."

"I'll be ok."

"Maybe you should take a little vacation, you know, get away from all the madness. Or you don't have to travel with me anymore, you can just stay at home."

"Oh great, and miss you all the time. And a vacation by myself, I don't think so," she scoffed.

"How about you go look for another job or something," he suggested lightly.

But the thing is, I don't know how to do anything else," she told him, "I mean, yeah, I have a degree and all that, but, all I know is wrestling."

He kissed her temple, "We'll figure something out baby."

"We?"

"Of course we, it's not just you anymore, we're a we," he said, passing his hand between the two of them, "You and me against the world."

"You know, no matter what happens in my life, I know that I want you a part of it. I never thought I'd say that, given our past, but I thank God everyday that WCW was so shitty and you wanted to come here."

He blushed slightly and looked at the clock, knowing he had to leave, but that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. She looked at the clock as well, and knew he was itching to leave. She leaned over the couch and kissed him, letting him know it was ok to leave her. He smiled gratefully, and picked up his bag, ready in case he had a match.

"Have fun," she said, waving.

Christian walked into the arena and saw Lita standing talking with Trish. He smiled as he looked at the blonde. She was looking beautiful tonight, like she did every night. He wanted to go talk to her, but he didn't know if that would be the right thing to do with Lita standing right there. Fortunately Trish saw him and waved him over. He eagerly walked to the two divas and hugged Trish briefly.

"Hi Christian," Lita said nodding.

"Hey," Christian said, awkwardly hugging her as well. He didn't know why he did that, but he had hugged Trish and it seemed appropriate.

"Did you just get here?" Trish asked.

"Yup," he told her, "And you?"

"Yeah, even though I don't have anything to do tonight."

"Hey you guys," Lita interjected, "I have to go check what I'm doing tonight, but I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, bye Li," Trish said, hugging her goodbye, then turning to Christian, "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Haven't checked, so are you staying even though you don't have a match?" he asked.

"Yeah, I figure I'll hang out, in case Chris needs me."

Christian felt that pang of jealousy as he thought about Jericho and Trish sharing a kiss. He had to keep reminding himself that it meant nothing because Jericho was so in love with Stephanie. But it still nagged him because Trish was out there, single and she could be kissing any guy she pleased and he would have no say in it.

"It's awfully nice of you to do that for him."

"Yeah, well, I mean, it's no biggie," she brushed it off.

"Hey, you know, I wasn't doing anything after the show and you know, we could go grab a bite to eat or something," he said, feeling like he was asking her out all over again.

"Like a date?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, like just getting some food," he said, "Look, you can invite Chris, that way it won't be weird." 

"Ok," she nodded, "That sounds like a good idea."

"If I was asking you out on a date, you'd know it," he smirked.

"Oh really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, "And how would I know?"

"Oh, trust me, you'd know," he winked, "Now I've gotta go find out if I'm doing anything, but I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll bump into each other sometime."

He walked away, going to check on his schedule and Trish watched his retreating figure. A date? Could she handle dating him again? She knew now, he really hadn't wanted the Molly thing to happen, but she was still wary of letting him back into her heart. But as she thought back to their brief conversation, she knew it was only a matter of time before she let him back in.

"And why are you looking all wistful?" a voice said from behind her.

She turned to see John, "Oh hi."

"Hi, I was hoping I'd get to see you tonight," he smiled.

"How are you?" she asked politely.

"Good, you looked a little sad right there though," he observed.

"Oh," she said, shaking her head, "I just had my mind on something that was a little........ weird."

"I hope that everything is alright with you," he asked concerned.

"Yeah, it's fine, but if you'll excuse me, I need to go find someone," she lied, then fled. She didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, especially not someone who was only out to look for a date. She ran around the corner and straight into someone's chest. She looked up and cringed. Why'd she have to run into him?

"If it isn't my old..........practice buddy," the smarmy voice said.

"I didn't mean to run into you," she said.

"Of course you did," Hunter said, "But Trish, all you had to do was ask to sleep with me, you didn't have to throw yourself at me."

She shuddered, "No thank you, I wouldn't sleep with you--"

"Of course you would, don't kid yourself Trish, you want a piece of me, just like every other chick on the planet wants a piece of me."

She felt herself about to gag, "I'm sorry I ran into you, but if you'll just let me pass........."

She took a step to the left to try and get by, but Hunter stepped in front of her. She tried the right, but was once again intercepted by him. She sighed and looked up at him, silently pleading for him to let her pass. He smirked at her, and ran his hand don the side of her hair. She was about to push him away, when someone did it for her.

"God, do you have no respect at all?"

"Jericho, I'm sorry, was I infringing on your little crush?" Hunter mocked.

"Leave her alone Trips," Jericho snapped.

"And why is that? Because I'm man enough to act upon my desires? You can't even work up the courage to ask her out without looking like a little wuss."

"It's none of your business," Jericho told him, stepping partially in front of Trish to get in Hunter's face.

"Just like you couldn't do with Stephanie."

Jericho rolled his eyes. Every single fucking conversation he had with Hunter ended with Stephanie. Why did this man always bring her up? Well, he knew, Jericho was better than him in every way, so Hunter thought he was going for the jugular when he brought up Stephanie. But Hunter really had no targets, because he had Stephanie as well.

"Why do you always bring up Stephanie when you're talking to me?" Jericho asked, "Is it because you know that you've got nothing on me?"

"No, because idiot that you are, you couldn't hide the fact that you wanted her. Too bad for you, she didn't want you back."

"Fuck that," Jericho said, his teeth clenching.

"You acted like a puppy dog then too Jericho. Being my ex-wife's bitch."

"That's enough!" Jericho yelled, "Get off the fucking bitter train you've been on for the past two years Hunter, welcome to reality, where it's not all about Stephanie anymore."

"Whatever," he snorted, "See you Trish. And since you're obviously not getting any from this guy tonight, call me and I'll help you relieve some of that tension."

"In your dreams," Trish sneered as Hunter left. She turned to Jericho, "Thanks again."

"Again?"

"Well, I feel like all I say to you anymore is Thank you."

"Well, that's me, Mr. Good Deeds."

"You play the part surprisingly well."

"I've had a while to practice," he said as he walked her to her locker room, "So what's up with you?"

"Not much, not doing anything tonight," she said, "But in case you need me, I'm around."

"Cool, I probably will," he said, "Since I always need you."

She giggled, "Of course, since I'm you GIRLFRIEND!"

She said loudly looking around, in case anyone was watching them. They laughed as a stagehand looked up at them and gave them an odd look. Laughing, Trish let Jericho into the dressing room that she and Lita were sharing tonight. They sat down comfortably on the couch.

"So what are you doing tonight?"

"Highlight Reel, Lita," he said, giving her the basics.

"Lita huh?"

"Yeah, and I've actually got something planned for her," Jericho smirked.

"Oh God, the Walls, are you going to put my friend in the Walls?"

"No, better, you see, after her loss last night, I went out and did something nice for her," Jericho said, grinning impishly.

"You doing something nice for someone that's not one of your friends, wow, I didn't know you had it in you?" she said.

He leaned in close, "You bring out the best in me honeycakes."

She rolled her eyes, "What'd you do?"

"I brought Matt over here."

"Huh?"

"Well, I pulled a few strings, and Matt's on the show."

"A few strings?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, "And how did you pull that off?"

"Well, here's the thing, I'm dating the daughter of the CEO of the company. Call it a fringe benefit."

"You asked Linda to do that?" he asked, that was such a sweet thing to do for Lita.

"Well, I remember Steph mentioning a while back that Matt's contract was expiring and so, you know, I asked Linda to kind of orchestrate it."

"Wow, that's so nice of you," she told him seriously, "But why?"

"I know what it's like to be without the person you love on the same show as you," he said, "It's tough you know, so if I can help them out, it's kind of like, well, maybe someday Stephanie can be on the same show as me again."

Trish looked at him. He was blushing slightly, and looking down, avoiding her gaze out of embarrassment. Except he had nothing to be embarrassed about. That was one of the most heartfelt things she had ever heard him say. She blinked a few times, just processing how incredibly good this man was.

"Chris, you have NO reason to be embarrassed about this," Trish said, "God, I'm so glad to have you as a friend."

His blush got deeper, "It was nothing, and you know, don't say anything to Lita ok? I don't want anyone to know what I did."

"Of course, of course," she told him, but that is still the most unselfish thing I've ever heard of, is it ok if I praise you endlessly for it?"

His face was so red now, she was afraid he was going to blow a gasket. She found it pretty cute actually, "Sure, if you want."

"Aww, you're so cute," she said, reaching across the couch and hugging him fiercely.

Lita walked in unannounced, since it was her locker room and all, "Oh shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know you two were in here."

"Lita, it's ok, I was just hugging him because I was happy."

"Oh," she said, "If you two want me to leave........."

"No, I was just going anyways," Jericho said, "See you later Trish."

"Oh, I'll walk you to your locker room," she said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"That's fine," he said, "I'll see you later on the Highlight Reel Lita."

"Yeah.........hey, any reason why I'm on the Highlight Reel Chris?" she asked.

"Who knows?" he said ominously.

Trish and Jericho left Lita to her thoughts and walked down the hall to Jericho's locker room. Trish turned to him before he could go inside and he looked down at her questioningly.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out later."

"Trish, I'm sorry, but another date," he joked, "After the last one and everything."

She rolled her eyes and leaned up to whisper, "With Christian."

"Oh?" Jericho said, giving her a look, "And why am I coming?"

"I need you," she said.

"Well Trish, this is all so unexpected," Jericho said, feigning shock, "I mean, I like you well enough, but a date, you're asking me on a date!?!"

"Cut it out," she said, shoving him, "You coming or not."

"I'll come, but only because I'm Mr. Good Deeds."

"Ok, Mr. Good Deeds, go away now."

Christian came jogging up, "Dude, gorilla now!"

"Why?"

"The team's going out, since Bischoff won, come on," he said, tugging on Jericho's arm.

"Ok, see you later Trish."

"Bye, we'll decide where to go later."

"Ok!" he called out.

Jericho and Christian arrived just as everyone was going to go down there for Bischoff's first night at the sole General Manager of Raw. Jericho acted his usual cocky self and hung towards the back, letting Bischoff do the talking. Suddenly the whole thing was interrupted by Evolution. Jericho groaned, as if seeing Hunter once tonight wasn't enough, now he had to see the jackass twice.

He stood there, acting nonchalant as Hunter went off about all the shit that had happened to him. God forbid he actually own up to the responsibility he had in his match. But, it was inconceivable to think that Hunter could be in the wrong, that's just not how things worked around here. Hunter was the second coming and everyone had to bow down before him. Jericho wanted to throw up.

Jericho walked backstage with Christian, wondering what the hell was the purpose of going out there. Of course, he was looking good tonight, so at least for the people bored at home, he was there to look at in all his gorgeousness. Yep, he was completely full of himself.

"So you're coming tonight?" Christian said.

"Yeah, I was invited wasn't I?"

"Yeah, of course, I was just wondering, cause if you don't go, there's no way that she would go, and, yeah," Christian said, his voice tapering off.

"You have it so bad for her," Jericho chuckled, "It's pathetic really."

"Shut up," Christian said, starting to blush, much like Jericho had been doing earlier.

"I'll see you later, where are we meeting?"

"I'll figure that out with Trish later. Meet me in my locker room."

"Sure."

Jericho wandered off back to his locker room to call Stephanie and let her know where he was going. He walked inside his locker room and grabbed his cell phone, dialing her cell phone. It rang once and then was picked up.

"Hello?" came Stephanie's anxious voice.

"Whoa, were you like waiting for me on the other end."

"Oh, sweetie, hi," she said.

"Wow, that's just the kind of greeting I wanted, indifference!" 

"Oh love of mine, wherefore art thou that thoust ring me with love and good cheer in thy lilting voice," she said dramatically.

Jericho laughed, "That's more like it."

"And why are you calling me when you should be working?"

"Because I just wanted to let you know that I'll be back a little later than usual."

"Why?"

"I'm going out."

"Oh my God, you're going out with Trish aren't you!?! You're leaving me for her!?!"

"Yup, and that's why I called, see, since we've only been going out for a year and a half, I figured that a phone call break up would suffice ya know, so get the fuck outta my life bitch."

"Hey, no need for name calling," she scolded him

"Christian and Trish are going out and they need someone there to make it not a date."

"Oh so they're not going on a date, but it really is a date with you as the third wheel."

"Precisely," Jericho said, "So do you want me to pick you up anything?"

"Where are you going?"

"Well, we're in Texas, so probably like a Tex-Mex place or something."

"I'm hungry, get me ribs and potato salad. And can you get me some apple pie."

"Geez, anything else Stephanie, a whole side of beef perhaps?"

"Ok, just get me a salad then," she told him, her voice suddenly serious.

"Hey, you know I was kidding right?"

"It's fine, a salad is fine, get me low-fat Italian on that ok?"

"Baby, you know I was joking, I'll get you your ribs, do you want mild or hot bbq sauce with that?"

"Hot," she said softly.

"Ok, I'll get a whole slab and then we can share them," he said, knowing she'd feel more at ease if he ate with her, "We'll get all dirty and then we'll have to get cleaned off and you know how fun that can be."

She laughed and it was like music to his ears, "Very fun."

"Yup, so I will see you and you're beautiful everything later."

"That you will," she said, "Oh, and don't forget to get bread."

"I know, I know, you and your bread," he said, shaking his head.

They sat there talking about the show and watching together over the phone. They laughed as they made fun of some of the wrestlers and their ring attire. Jericho saw they said the Highlight Reel was next, and told Stephanie he had to go. He got up and went to go check on his very special guest. Seeing that Matt was ready to go out there, he smiled and made his way out to the ring.

It was good to be back on the Highlight Reel. He hadn't done one for a little while and he felt more at home with his obscenely expensive set around him. Made him feel special. He went out and congratulated himself on ousting Austin last night. He had been the catalyst for it after all. He hadn't really had time to think about Austin leaving since there was so much other stuff in his life, but knowing he had a part in it was a great feeling.

He brought out Lita and smirked to himself as he thought about what he had done for her. Lita was of course skeptical, but he assured her that his intentions were in the right place. He was almost giddy with excitement. It was as if he were bringing Stephanie out there. Oh, wouldn't that be the day. Yeah, that would be the day, the day everyone was in shock and not know what to do with themselves because they'd be beside themselves with happiness.

Jericho brought Matt out and saw Lita's face light up. Yeah, this was definitely worth it. Matt came down and Jericho just smiled. It gave him just a really good feeling deep inside to do nice things for other people. Matt went up to Lita and Jericho smiled at the scene. He was pleasantly surprised as Matt got down on one knee. Hell, how much would he love to be able to do that with Stephanie? Just as Matt was talking, Molly's music came out. God, was there nothing Molly didn't ruin nowadays.

He watched as Molly made her little speech and interjected a few thoughts. It ended up with Molly having a match with her and Bischoff against Matt and Lita. Why would she choose Bischoff? That seemed to be an odd choice. Jericho shrugged it off and went backstage, seemingly done for the evening.

Trish was energized with happiness for her friend. That had to have been a marriage proposal that Matt was going to do for Lita. It just had to be. There was no other explanation for it. He was down on one knee for God's sakes. Her and Lita were giggling happily over the prospects. She ran out of the room, but instead she smacked into her second chest of the night. This time the person was much less annoying.

"Where's the fire Trish?"

"Sorry Christian, it's just Lita and Matt, did you see Lita and Matt?" 

"Yeah, I did, I wonder what he's going to ask her."

"Oh God, he's GOT to be asking her to marry him!" she exclaimed.

"I guess."

"That has to be it!"

Christian looked down at Trish and smiled softly at her excitement. He and Trish used to think about marriage. Every now and then the idea would pop up in conversation. They had both been seemingly for it, but now he wasn't so sure that was in their future. Trish looked up at him, curious by his sudden silence. He was staring into her eyes and he knew she was thinking the same thing she was. They had wanted to get married, but now that seemed like an improbability.

Swiftly, so she couldn't have prevented it if she wanted to, Christian kissed Trish forcefully. Not too forcefully that it would hurt her, but definitely enough to know that it was real. Trish let go of her inhibitions for a moment as she kissed him back. Christian hadn't been able to take it anymore. All this talk of marriage and thinking of her kissing Chris, it was too much. He pushed her up against the wall and she kissed him back fervently. She grabbed him by the waist and pulled him so their bodies were close. He ran his hands down her side and then up under her shirt. She became keenly aware that they were out in the hallway and pulled him into the closest room, not caring who's it was. Their mouths were still connected as she fumbled for the lock and locked it.

Christian led her over to the couch and laid her down. He held her arms above her head as he kept kissing her. She whimpered against his mouth and he let go of her hands and they immediately when for his shirt, which she pulled off expertly. Clothes came flying off and before they knew it, they were together again.

Trish smiled lazily as she looked to the television that had been left on in the room. She wondered who's room they had walked into. She didn't care at the moment. Christian's body was achingly close to hers and she felt him kiss her neck reverently. She pushed him off quickly as she saw Lita crying as she walked up the ramp during the commercial break. What was that about? She heard the announcers saying that she had been fired and had lost at the hands of Matt.

"Oh my God," she whispered, "That bastard."

"Who?" Christian asked from the floor, "Matt! Did you hear that?"

"No."

"He turned on her!" she exclaimed, standing up, "I've got to find her!"

"Hey, um, why don't you get dressed, and I'll take care of it," he told her.

"Take care of it?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, go find Chris, go find a place to eat or something, I'll catch up ok?"

"Ok," she said, as she started to get dressed, "Um, Christian?"

"Yeah."

"What we just did."

"Let's just leave it where it is Trish, we can chalk it up to momentary insanity. I know you're still not ready to be with me."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem," he said, pulling his shirt back on, "I'll be back."

Trish was so confused as she pulled her own shirt back on. She had just had mad, passionate sex with Christian. What had driven her to just let herself go like that? She had no idea, but she didn't want to dwell on it. Maybe Chris could get her mind off or it. She walked out, intending to go look for him.

Christian walked up to Bischoff, who was smirking, "Bischoff!"

"Christian, what can I do for you?" Bischoff said, turning to him.

"I'm calling in a favor."

"A favor, since when do I owe you a favor."

"Don't make me get into it," Christian said, "You owe me and you know it."

"Fine, what do you want? A match? IC title perhaps?"

"Lita, give her, her job back."

"What?" Bischoff asked incredulously, "You've got to be kidding me?"

"Nope."

"No."

"Do it Bischoff, or you not only lose my support but Jericho's as well."

"Fine, whatever. I know you just want to bed her anyways, she can come back."

"Thank you."

Christian walked off, figuring that Lita was already on her way out. He was right as he saw her walking away from the arena. She dropped her keys and he went over to her. She looked up at him, and her first instinct was that he was lying and was here to rub it in. But that's not what he wanted. He told her what he had done and she looked at him gratefully. He led her away, promising a meal. It might be better to have four people out tonight, since he and Trish had slept together, not half an hour before.

Trish was looking around for Jericho. He wasn't in his locker room. She finally spotted him and went up to him, turning him around to face her. Jericho looked at her in confusion. Her hair was a little unkempt and her eyes were shining. Not to mention she was flushed. She looked like she had just had a match, but he knew she hadn't.

"What's up?"

"You, me, a scene right now."

"But," he looked around, "There's nobody around."

"Come on, let's just act, whatever we did for Vince. Kiss me."

Jericho studied her face, "O..........k."

"Ok, just do whatever, I'll do something."

Jericho stood there, walking up to Trish again, not sure what was going on. He made conversation with her about where they were going later and he didn't know why, but she just burst in anger, making accusations. He could tell the anger was real, but he didn't know who it was directed to. He played the part he was supposed to, and kissed her, obeying her order. The kiss itself was sweet, but just nothing was there. It was like kissing, well, he didn't know right now, but it wasn't like kissing Stephanie. Those kisses were fueled with passion and fire, and this candy and clouds. He pulled away and licked his lips.

"You don't wear chapstick," he told her.

She looked panicked, "Yes, I do."

"No you don't, you wear lip gloss, the only person I know who wears chapstick is.........." Jericho's eyes widened as he looked at Trish.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, walking away quickly.

"Oh, it all becomes clear, you wanted to forget that you kissed Christian!" Jericho said, pointing at her.

She shoved his finger out of her face, "No!"

"Oh YES!" he exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Nothing! Ok, we're not going out, I'm telling Christian."

"I think he's with Lita, waiting for us. Trish and Christian sitting in a tree.............."

"NO! We weren't! I'll tell him to take her out then! See, nothing going on! Nothing!"

Trish walked away and suddenly Jericho was free for the evening. He chuckled at Trish's face as she had been arguing with him. Geez, no wonder the kiss had been so sweet, she wasted all the passion on Christian. He walked away happily as he thought of where to go to pick up Stephanie's food.

Trish watched as Christian's face fell as she told him that she couldn't make it. He nodded and led Lita out of the arena. He looked back at her sadly and she wiped her mouth. She could taste his chapstick too. Damn these feelings that he stirred up inside her. Even pretending with Jericho wasn't working. She though if she could just roleplay as Jericho's for a second, she could take her mind off the way Christian had kissed and touched her earlier.

"You're here early, I thought you were going out."

"Trish freaked and uninvited me or something," he said, putting the food on the table, "I got ribs and hot links and then potato salad and your pie."

"Ooh, yum," she said as they started getting food, "Is Trish mad at you or something?"

"She kissed Christian, or they kissed each other, or something happened to the point where Christian's chapstick was on Trish's lips."

"Oh my, and how did you know about the chapstick."

"Well, seems that I got third hand chapstick," he thought for a moment and Stephanie looked up at him.

"Chris, what is it?"

"Oh, eww."

"What?"

"I kissed Trish, who kissed Christian."

"So?"

"That's like me kissing Christian."

Stephanie stared at him before bursting out in laughter. She laughed so hard she had to put her food down or she'd drop it. She laughed so hard, tears came from her eyes. Jericho wiped viciously at his lips, as if trying to get some unknown disease off of them.

"Great, now I have to worry about Trish AND Christian."


	154. SmackDown, November 20, 2003

"So Chris tells me that you and Christian kissed on Monday?"

"I didn't tell him that. I don't think he knows what he's talking about," Trish said, shaking her head.

"Come on Trish, this is me you're talking to," Stephanie scolded her gently, "You know I won't tell anyone."

Trish looked over to her friend, "You'll tell Chris."

"Well, he practically already knows," she said, rolling her eyes, "Come on, nobody has to know."

"We kissed ok," she said, pulling her sunglasses back over her eyes.

Stephanie and Trish were sitting on Jericho and Stephanie's patio in Tampa. Since nobody really had anything to do tonight, they had invited everyone over to dinner, a little party among friends. Stephanie and Trish had been talking outside in the cool seventy-four degree weather, while the guys were inside doing something or another, they weren't sure. Stephanie was trying to seize the opportunity to squeeze information out of Trish.

"That's all you had to say," Stephanie said, "So did you come here hoping for a repeat performance."

"No!"

"Puh-lease, you know you still love him," Stephanie said, knowing it was the truth. You don't get over someone so easily, not someone you loved.

"That may be, but what we did, it was a mistake."

"So you say to my face, but what are you thinking?"

She sighed, "I don't know. It's all such a web of, ugh, I don't even know how to articulate myself."

"You love him," Stephanie teased.

"Shut up, you love Chris."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Hey, you know, when we kiss and all that it's just for show, and I really don't like kissing him," she said seriously.

Stephanie waved her off with a hand, dismissing the comment, "I've heard this from Chris."

"I know, but I want you to hear it from me."

Trish didn't want Stephanie to think she was honing in on her territory. Kissing Chris had been a stage kiss really. Sure they may be able to pull it off so they looked like a real couple, but whenever his lips touched hers, there was no passion. There was barely a fizzle, it was just there. A kiss, nothing special, nothing spectacular. Certainly no fireworks like she felt with............someone else.

"Don't worry about it ok? I know why you guys are doing this, and I knew what was coming before hand. I know there's nothing between you."

"I just wanted you to hear from me that I wasn't putting any designs on your boyfriend."

"I should hope not," Jericho said, walking outside, "It'd make me feel mighty uncomfortable."

"Oh, but I was just saying how good a kisser you really are, and how I want to keep kissing you all that time."

"No thanks," Jericho said, shaking his head, "I'm sure there are people you'd much rather kiss than me."

Trish caught the sly look on his face, "Would you stop it about that? Please, I swear, it was no big deal."

Stephanie looked up at Jericho, who had his arm on her shoulder. He was rubbing her shoulders gently with his hand and she smiled. He looked down at her and took his hand off her shoulder to ruffle her hair. Trish looked on in jealousy; they even made the simplest gestures look sweet. Stephanie grabbed Jericho's arm and pulled him down so that he was crouching right next to her mouth.

Stephanie cupped her hand around his ear and whispered, "She kissed Christian."

Jericho stood back up and sent a knowing smirk in Trish's direction. Stephanie gave a soft giggle and Trish rolled her eyes. She knew what Stephanie had just told him, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. She got up from her chair and decided to go inside and talk to Edge or something. Jericho occupied her now vacant chair and stared at Stephanie.

"There's more to it," he told her.

"Huh?"

"They couldn't have just kissed, please, the body language, the looks, the way Christian practically confessed it..........."

"Confessed what?" Stephanie asked anxiously.

"That they slept together."

Stephanie covered her mouth with her hand. She KNEW that something had to be going on. It just made too much sense for the two of them to slip into their old roles. She and Jericho had done it when they were broken up. It happened, you would just be in the same room, or in some contrived situation and the dam broke and you ended up sleeping together.

Now she was eager to go inside and see what kind of situation the closeness was bringing. Would there be another slip-up? Or would they get back together? That would be so great if they just suddenly realized how perfect for each other they were and just decided to forget this time apart and get back together. Maybe she was being a tad idealistic, but it had happened for her and Jericho and she hoped it would work out for her friends.

"I see the wheels turning as we speak," Jericho said.

"Oh shut up you."

"You've got your interference face on."

"I do not have an interference face!"

"Come inside so we can decide what kind of pizza we want."

He stood up and stuck out his hand. She grabbed it and let him pull her from her chair. He pulled her closer with her arm and wrapped it around her as they walked inside the house. Trish was sitting in Edge's lap comfortably, talking to him animatedly about something. Stephanie glanced over at Christian who was talking with Shane across the room. He was trying to remain nonchalant, but Stephanie caught him glancing over at Trish, a look of jealousy passing over his face momentarily before disappearing.

"Look," Stephanie whispered to Jericho, gesturing towards Christian.

Jericho looked to where she was gesturing and caught Christian with an angry look on his face. Jericho didn't need to guess twice about what he was angry about. Seems little brother was jealous of big brother. But of course, there was nothing going on with Trish and Edge. Anyone could plainly see that. Trish had only sat in his lap because Edge had chosen to sit in an armchair that had no chairs near it.

"God, this is like a bad soap opera," Jericho whispered.

"Where do we figure into it all?"

"I think we're the evil, scheming couple that's always getting in trouble and cheating death at every opportunity."

"Ooh, they're always the best," Stephanie said excitedly, "So who's everyone else?"

"Well, Trish is the good girl, and Christian is the bad guy I guess, since he cheated on her. Edge and Kurt are the comic guys, you know, floating from story to story. And Shane is the sensible one you go to for advice."

Stephanie giggled, "I like that. This really is like a soap opera."

"Days of our Wrestling Lives," Jericho said.

"What are you two whispering about?" Kurt asked as he walked into the room with the pizza menu.

"We're discussing all the different things we're going to do to each other tonight," Jericho shot back, "You see, it is our deepest desire to have sex while we have guests in the house. You know, so if you hear Stephanie screaming, she's NOT in trouble, I swear to you."

"You two are sick," Shane said, "Sick, sick, sick."

"We're the evil couple," Stephanie said, looking up at Jericho, who nodded.

"Huh?" Edge asked, "Evil couple."

"Inside joke," Jericho laughed.

"You two are so weird," Christian said.

"Thank you," Jericho said, leading Stephanie over to the couch, before sitting down, Stephanie following suit soon afterwards, "So what are we ordering?"

"Pizza, but what does everyone want?" Kurt asked around.

"Vegetarian," Stephanie answered.

"No, I want pepperoni," Edge said.

"Me too," Christian said, and then off everyone's look, "Hey, we're brothers ok, we grew up eating the same stuff."

"I don't really care," Shane said.

"I agree, I'll eat whatever," Trish told them.

"I want Hawaiian," Kurt told them, "You Chris?"

"Just extra cheese for me," he answered.

"Ok, so I guess we'll get one vegetarian, one pepperoni, one Hawaiian and then one with extra cheese and Shane and Trish can eat whatever," Kurt said, trying to remember it all.

They all nodded in agreement as Kurt went into the kitchen to order it. The conversations got louder as everyone went back to talking, holding three different conversations at once. Edge and Trish were still talking. Shane and Christian were still talking, with Christian still glancing over at Trish. Stephanie and Jericho just sat back and watched it all.

"Don't you love these inner group dynamics?" he asked as he wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulder.

"Oh, they're the best. Jealousy and backstabbing not included."

"You know if Christian stares any harder, he's going to burn Trish."

"Yeah, I know, does she even know he's watching her?"

"No, or else she would've stared back."

"Yeah."

The separate conversations kept going on, with Kurt joining in on Shane and Christian. Finally the pizza arrived and Jericho went to go pick them up and pay for them. He returned with the boxes in hand and put them on the coffee table, inviting everyone to start eating.

"Don't we need plates?" Edge asked.

"Yeah, I don't want pizza stains on my carpet!" Stephanie yelled, "Chris, get some plates."

"Here, I'll get them," Trish said, getting up to go to the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen and looked around, trying to figure out where the plates would be kept. She went from cupboard to cupboard until she found them finally. She grabbed seven plates and turned around, gasping in shock as Christian was standing right in front of her. Flustered, she set down the plates.

"I just wanted to see if you needed some help," he told her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I can carry a few plates."

"Oh," he said, "You looked pretty cozy with Edge."

"Yeah, so?" she asked in confusion as she avoided looking at him.

"Well, just saying..........."

"Oh God, don't tell me you're jealous," she said, "Of me and Edge?"

"No! I just noticed you were sitting in his lap and stuff," he explained quietly.

"Because there was nowhere else to sit! You know there's nothing between us."

"Is there something between us?" he asked somberly.

"I've got to bring these plates in there before someone drops something on the carpet. I can just imagine Stephanie staying up all night trying to get a stain out," she laughed nervously as Christian was creeping closer to her.

"I'm sure everyone's fine out there," he said softly, stepping even closer to her.

"Christian, what are you doing?"

"Something I've wanted to do since Monday."

"I don't think that's the best idea," she said, trying to look for a quick getaway, but found none."

Christian stepped closer, so he was right in front of her, and he put both his hands on the counter on either side of her. She thought about ducking under his arms, but found that she was grounded to the floor and couldn't move. She could barely breathe actually. Was Christian actually taking her breath away? She tried to not look him in the eyes, but he compelled her silently and she looked up into them and found such an open look of lust and passion in his eyes.

He was kissing her again, and she did nothing to stop him..........again. She felt him put his hands lightly on her hips. She rubbed his arms as she kissed him. She didn't want to break away. She never wanted to break away. She was too lost in the moment. So lost she barely noticed when Christian lifted her up and sat her on the counter. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she leaned down from her perch to kiss him. His arms were around her waist and moving upward towards her bra.

"Christian," she whimpered between kisses, "We're in the kitchen."

"I know," he said.

"But everyone," she said.

"Forget them, I just want you," he whispered, rubbing her bare back.

She moaned into his mouth and didn't even care if people could hear her or not. At this point, she was beyond caring as long as Christian's warm, soft lips were on hers. His hands moved out from under her shirt and grasped her hair, not too hard, but not softly either. He put more force into the kiss as their tongues sparred for control.

"Hey, you guys the--"

Jericho turned around, embarrassed by what he had just seen. Trish and Christian were in a frenzy making out. They had pulled apart guiltily at Jericho's voice and Trish looked down, almost ashamed of what she had done. She wiped her mouth and tried her best to fix her hair, which was now messy from Christian grabbing it.

"Um, that was nothing," she said.

"Oh, ok," Jericho said, his back still to them.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Christian added, "It didn't mean anything."

"Sure," Jericho said, "It means about as much when I kiss Trish right? I mean, that means nothing, so Trish, next time we kiss on-screen, I'm going to grope you and feel you up ok?"

"Fine! I don't know what it meant!" Trish conceded, "Don't tell anyone."

"You two are too much," Jericho said, grabbing the plates, "Don't do anything in here please, at least take it upstairs. I don't want to have to build a new kitchen just to get the dirty thoughts I would have if you two did something in here."

Jericho walked out of the room and Trish got up off the counter, pulling down her shirt, which was scrunched up to her breasts. She looked down again, still avoiding Christian's gaze, but she could feel his eyes on her. She looked up angrily and pushed away his arm as he went to embrace her.

"God, don't touch me!"

"Trish," he said confused, "What's wrong?"

"I can't do this with you anymore! I just can't. I'm heading down the same path I was before, and I can't do this again. I can't sit back and let you cheat on me again."

"Trish, I'm sorry, you know that I didn't--"

"That's the thing, I don't know what happened. I don't even know the whole story and here I am, kissing you and touching you, and," she hissed the last part, "Having sex with you!"

"Then let me explain, let's talk about all of this."

"No, not while I'm here with my friends. I'm not putting them in a more awkward situation than they already are," she said, leaving the room and leaving a very confused Christian behind.

Christian sighed in frustration as he leaned back against the very counter where he and Trish had been involved in a very steamy kiss. He ran his hands over his face, trying to erase the softness of her hair against his hands and the feel of her kisses on his lips. Edge walked in and saw his brother hunched over and looking desolate. Seeing Trish stalk into the room a few moments earlier, he knew something had to be amiss. He went and stood next to Christian, leaning against the counter as well.

"Things aren't too good huh?"

"They go from bad to worse on most days, but I'm getting used to it," he said.

"You're an idiot, I hope you know that," Edge told him, "Man, what were you thinking cheating on her?!? You brought this all on yourself you know?"

"Geez Edge, you don't think I know that. I know it, I live it. I go everyday thinking about how stupid I was in what I did."

"Think harder next time."

"Is that your brotherly advice," Christian said rolling his eyes, "It was oh so helpful, please impart more of your invaluable life lessons on me, so that I may also learn how to be as awesome as you are."

Edge shook his head. He knew his brother. He knew his brother in ways that only growing up with him would afford. He was hurting so badly right now, and he didn't know how to show it. He didn't want to show it. Christian was hiding it because it was better that way, he wouldn't cause a stir that way. Edge wanted him to open up to him, but it was almost impossible.

"Christian, man, are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"Would everyone just stop asking me if I'm fine!?! If I say I'm fine, than I'm fine damnit!" Christian yelled, walking into the next room.

Edge shrugged and walked back into the living room. Christian and Trish were on opposite sides of the table as someone turned on the television to SmackDown. Stephanie watched intently as her father came down to the ring. He still hadn't gotten back to her and she was beginning to think he never would. She leaned her head on Jericho's shoulder and he looked down at her, wondering what was on her mind.

"You wanna take a walk?" he asked softly.

"Why?"

"I don't know, walk off some of this pizza," he said, patting his stomach, "Gotta work some of this off."

"I don't know," she said, glancing between him and the television.

"I you don't want to, we don't have to, I was just trying to get your mind off of things."

"Ok, let's go."

"You guys, we're going on a walk," Jericho announced, "We'll be back in a little while."

"That's code for we're going to go have sex in a public place," Edge joked.

"Very funny wise guy," Jericho said sarcastically.

"Don't let us keep you Chris, you and Stephanie probably have a nice date planned in your car."

"Get a life," Jericho said.

He and Stephanie got their coats and things since it had gotten nippy outside and he opened the door for her. She shivered a little as she left the warm comfort of her home and stepped into the chilly night air. At least her hand was warm since Jericho was holding it in his. She walked a little closer to him, feeling the heat emanate off of him.

They walked in silence as they walked around the block where they lived. There were no words needed. Sometimes the silence was welcoming, they didn't always need words to convey what they were feeling. Stephanie observed how the light from the streetlamps bounced off the cars parked on the street.

She was tempted to tell him right now that she had gone back to talking with her father, but she was almost afraid of his reaction. Jericho, more than anyone, had hated what her father had done to her, and if she told him she was thinking of going back to him, he'd never allow it to happen. Most of the time she was happy to let him protect her, or happy for his input on certain things, but not with this one. This was something she had to do alone.

She hadn't really had to do anything alone for a long time, but she felt like she could be independent with this. Besides, Jericho was always trying to play the hero, and she didn't need a hero right now. She needed her job back, something that her father could be the one to provide.

It wouldn't be so bad really. She had sided with her father before, and she could do it again. She didn't have to agree to all his motives, but if it meant that she could come back to the company, she would just have to suck it up and bear it. That was the best way she could go about getting back in the company. She only wished that her father would respond to her requests.

"You know, I get the feeling that something had been really bugging you," he told her, "And it worries me."

"Don't worry about me," she told him firmly, "I'm fine."

"I just don't think that's true."

"Chris, stop with your worrying ok, just stop," she berated him.

"No, not in a million years."

Christian stared at Trish across the couch. The guys were watching SmackDown and making snide comments about certain wrestlers, but he didn't want to join in. He wanted to stare at Trish and try to figure out what she was thinking. So far, he couldn't come up with anything. She would occasionally send him a wilting glare but that didn't deter him from trying to magically read his thoughts.

"Stop that!" she finally yelled, exasperated.

"What?"

"You're fucking staring at me," she said, rushing out of the room. Christian followed her.

Shane, Kurt, and Edge just looked at each other and shrugged, going back to watching Raw. They could hear shouting from the other room and tried to not feel as uncomfortable as they were. Trish was yelling at Christian for staring at her, and he was yelling at her because he said he wasn't staring. Edge looked that television, but wasn't really watching. Neither were Shane and Kurt.

"You know something?" Shane said.

"Yeah?"

"We may be the most normal ones in this little group," Shane answered. Edge looked at Kurt and they looked at Shane. Kurt just nodded slowly.

"Scary."


	155. Raw, November 24, 2003

Jericho sighed as he looked at her. He didn't know what was bugging her, and that, as a result, was bugging him. If he didn't know what was bothering her, then he couldn't help her. That's what he wanted to do, that's what he always wanted to do. It was like a knee-jerk reaction, to help Stephanie whenever she needed him. How many times had he played the hero to her damsel-in-distress? Far too many by his own accounts.

She lay there, curled up on the bed, watching some infomercial play on the television. She seemed to get more and more distant as the days went by, as each second passed that she wasn't at work, or doing something. She needed something to do desperately, or else, he feared, she would simply just fall into a lonely abyss that he wouldn't be able to get out of.

He wanted to know what was going on with her, but whenever he asked, she would simply say she was fine, but anybody who saw her knew that things were far from fine. He was around her every day and he knew that she was hurting. She just wouldn't let him share in her hurt, to try and squelch whatever had turned his girlfriend into this despondent shell of a person.

He went up and kneeled on the floor in front of her, but she seemed to look through him. She did that a lot now, and he wondered where she went when she was a million miles away. He could only imagine she was back in the company and someplace where she was happy. It stung a little to realize that he alone couldn't make her happy. He wanted to be the one who lit up her face all the time, and he wasn't. The business was, the business had always been her first love. It was his first love too, and he knew that if he switched positions with her, that he would be in the same sad state.

"Steph," he whispered softly, hoping to get her attention.

"Hmm?" was her only response. She didn't even acknowledge him with her eyes, just staring through him. It was almost maddening.

"I have to go."

"Fine."

"Do you want me to stay for a while? I'm sure that if Bischoff needs me he'll call me, I can just stay until then."

"No.........go."

"I don't really want to leave you by yourself," he told her.

"I'll be fine."

"You say that, and I just can't believe it anymore. I look at you and I can't believe it, because there's something wrong with you and I can't help you," he said, frustrated now. Why wouldn't she let him in?

"Nothing's wrong."

"Don't fucking lie to me!" he screamed, infuriated by her behavior. He got up and paced in front of her.

"Don't yell at me," she said, still not moving from her spot on the bed. She only seemed to curl up into a ball even more.

"Look at yourself Stephanie, you're a mess, there's something wrong, and you won't even tell me. God, you must have no fucking regard for me if you're going to treat me like this."

"Just go Chris."

He was raging with anger now and couldn't hold it in any longer. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up to a kneeling position. She yelped in pain, not expecting him to do that. He held her by the wrist and she tried to free herself from his grasp, but he was so much stronger than her and he wouldn't surrender his hold on her.

"Tell me what's wrong?!?"

"Stop!" she cried, "You are hurting me."

Jericho hadn't even realized how tight his grip had been until he looked down at his hand, which was almost crushing her. He let go and looked at his own hand in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he had just hurt Stephanie, had grabbed her hard enough to make her rub her wrist, trying to get the pain to go away, which she was doing at the current moment. He took in her tear-filled eyes and looked shocked at his own conduct. He sat down heavily on the bed and just stared at the ground.

"Oh my God," he muttered to himself, "I can't believe I hurt you."

Stephanie's lip quivered and she furiously wiped her eyes. She was tearing him up inside and she felt accountable for it. She kneeled behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged her off. She was stunned for a moment before trying again. This time he didn't do anything, which she took as a good sign.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled over and over again, grabbing her hand and kissing her wrist over and over again.

"It's ok," she told him, coming to sit next to him.

"I can't believe I did that," he said.

"You didn't mean to," she told him.

"Oh my God, I'm a horrible person, I'm a horrible, horrible person."

"No, you're not," she told him, "You are not a horrible person."

"I hurt you," he said, inspecting her wrist, "I hurt your wrist."

"No, look, see nothing," she said, "You've grabbed me harder when you kissed me those two times in the ring."

"But this was inexcusable."

"Sweetie, I'm ok."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm ok, I swear, and you didn't mean to," she told him, stroking his hair.

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?" he asked sullenly, looking at her with sad eyes, "Why won't you just tell me what's wrong with you?"

Stephanie's eyes filled with tears again as she stared out the window. She closed them momentarily, feeling the tears spill over onto her cheeks, where they were deftly intercepted by Jericho's thumb. She kept them closed as she felt him kiss away her tears softly, before he laid his head onto her shoulder.

"Let me in Stephy, please," he pleaded, not caring about how desperate he sounded, how scared and lost he came across as.

"Chris, please, just leave this alone."

"Why won't you let me in? Why does there have to be this separation between us?"

"You can't understand, you'll never know," she said cryptically.

"I can if you tell me what's wrong with you. I will do everything in my power to understand, but you have to tell me."

"Chris, what's the longest you've ever been out while you've been wrestling professionally with either WWE or WCW?"

He thought for a moment, "I don't know, a few months, maybe a little more."

"You've never been kicked out," she said, "You've never had to have what you love stripped away from you. You've never had something you hold dear taken away with no warning whatsoever."

"I'm having you stripped away from me," he said, "You keep to yourself and you pull away from me, and you keep secrets from me, and I feel like you're pulling away from me."

"I left my heart in the business," she told him, "I can't get it back, it's still there, and I'm still there, everything I love is still there. Except for what you see right here."

"So you're saying that mind and soul you're still there, but body, you're here and you can't deal with that?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Fuck Vince," Jericho muttered, "I swear to God Stephanie, one of these days, I'm going to just call him out and take him down."

"No," she said, shaking her head, "No."

"Why?"

"Because then you'd end up where I am," she said, "You better go or you'll be late."

"Fine, I'll be late, fuck Raw, fuck WWE, fuck everything," he said, anger building up inside him again, "I want to be here for you."

She looked at him. How she loved this man? He was her one lifeline, the one to make sure that she didn't do anything crazy, that she didn't do anything rash with her life. She couldn't imagine how bad off she'd be if she wasn't with Jericho. She would've shriveled up and died by now. She didn't know why she had so much invested in a company, but she had to guess that it was her father's fault for bringing her up in the business.

"You'll be here when you get back."

"But I don't want to leave you alone," he told her, a hint of apprehension in his voice.

"Go do your job, it's only a couple hours that you'll be gone. Not long at all."

"It's far too long for me to be away from you."

"Go," she insisted.

"Steph.........."

"Please, go."

He sighed and relented. She was right, he had to go, it was his job, and even if he could appeal to Linda or even Vince to get the night off, he couldn't do that. He got his bag slowly, wanting to delay his departure for as long as humanly possible. Maybe if he delayed himself, Stephanie would insist he stay and then he'd rush over to her and tell her exactly what she was feeling, what she needed, and he'd hold her all night and whisper words of comfort to her.

He finally gathered his things and checked them three times, even though he knew what was there. Stephanie just sat on the bed, not looking at him, and she didn't say anything either. Knowing she wouldn't beg him to stay, he walked over to her and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. She smiled slightly and gave him a proper kiss before he left. She even gave him a smile, which made him feel slightly better about leaving her.

Trish sat in her locker room, brushing out her hair. She had a match tonight and she knew that she'd have some stupid stipulation put upon her, since it was Raw Roulette night. She rolled her eyes at the thought of it. Eric Bischoff and his asinine ideas; she knew she wouldn't be able to escape his wrath.

She knew that she was only thinking of Eric Bischoff to keep her mind off something else. Another pressing matter that should've commanded her attention, but instead was being pushed to the back of her mind where all the other subjects she didn't want to think about were residing. If she didn't think about him, then the problem would vanish, or something like that..........she hoped.

She hadn't talked to Christian since their huge fight last Thursday. She had practically bitten his head off whilst they fought in Jericho and Stephanie's kitchen, but with good reason. She was falling again, falling for him if she wanted to be more specific. She couldn't let it happen. She couldn't let him have her when he would just break her heart again. She was scared, terrified really of letting him have her heart again. It was too fragile right now. She couldn't risk it, only to have it broken again. One more time and that would be the end of Trish.

"Trish, we need to talk!"

Trish looked up, startled by the sudden intrusion. She half-expected it to be Christian, but she knew the voice well, and it wasn't her ex-boyfriend. It was another blonde Canadian she knew well. She was almost shocked by his appearance. His eyes were frantic, darting across the room quickly and he was wringing his hands in an almost nervous manner. She grabbed his hands and made him stop to look at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, worried by his actions, "Did something happen with Stephanie?"

"We need to step this thing with us, whatever it is, we need to step it up," he told her.

"Chris, what happened? Is Vince doing something?"

"Of course the mother-fucker is doing something," Jericho said furiously, "Isn't that bastard always up to something?"

"Ok, you need to calm down," she said, standing up and grabbing his face so he was looking at her, "Calm down."

"I can't stay calm when my girlfriend is sitting in her hotel room crying and depressed and I can't even help her," Jericho said, finally collapsing onto the couch, and Trish saw his shoulders droop in defeat.

"Chris, what happened to Stephanie, what's going on?" Trish said anxiously, sitting next to him.

"I don't know, she's, God, I can't help her," he said, the realization of his statement hitting her hard.

"What can't you help her with? Chris, is Stephanie...........pregnant?" Trish asked, her eyes widening.

That snapped him out of it, "No."

"Ok, good, because I was going to say if her reaction to that was being depressed and your reaction was freaking out then I'd be very worried," she said lightly, hoping to elicit a smile. No smile was sent her way.

"Maybe if she were pregnant, she'd feel better."

"Ok, Chris, I'm in the dark over here and you need to tell me what's the matter or else there's no way I can possibly help you."

"It's Stephanie," he said, composing himself so he could talk to Trish.

"Ok, we're getting somewhere now, what about her?"

"She's not Stephanie," he said plainly.

"What do you mean? She seemed fine last weekend," Trish pointed out.

"She's not fine. It's just an act, a good one, that she puts on for everyone. She's been getting more and more depressed every day and I can't help her, because she won't let me know what's really going on with her."

"Does this have anything to do with her getting kicked out of the company?"

"I think so," he nodded, "And tonight, I hurt her! I hurt the woman I love!"

"What did you do?" Trish asked, her eyes wide. Jericho was not the kind of guy who would hurt a defenseless woman. Well, unless they provoked him, she supposed, thinking of times he had gone after her.

"I grabbed her wrist really hard."

"Is that all?" she said.

"What?" he said, swiveling his head to look at her in surprise.

"Come on Chris, you've hit Stacy with a chair," she laughed, "You've even put Stephanie in the Walls before, and I know you went easy on her, but still, that had to have hurt more."

"Yeah, but that was in the ring........"

"You shouldn't worry about it, just worry about what's wrong with Stephanie."

"I suppose."

"Maybe you should take her on a vacation," Trish suggested, "Take a few days off, it's not like you have to work until next Monday."

"It's more than something a little vacation will cure," he told her, "She needs to get back in. And I don't know how. If I go to Vince, he'll accuse me of still having feelings for Stephanie. Linda could re-hire her, but Vince will just fire her again. I don't know what I can do."

Trish felt for her friend. At least for her and Christian, they still had wrestling to comfort them, to keep them going. Stephanie had had the rug pulled right out from under her and it had to be difficult to build a new life when all of yourself was tied into your old life.

"What about what you said when you came in here?" she asked, "What if we just totally pretended to be a couple?"

"I'm starting to think that was a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Because it wouldn't solve anything, seriously, it wouldn't," he said desolately.

"But it would," she said, a small smile forming on her face as the wheels turned inside her head.

"How?" he scoffed, "Nothing short of a miracle is going to help Stephanie right now."

"We don't need a miracle, we just need you and me."

Jericho looked at her, questioning what her idea was, "Tell me what you're thinking."

"If we can convince people we're 'together,' then we can convince Vince we're together," she explained.

"So?"

"So...........if we put on a convincing enough act, then we can ask for Stephanie's job back," she finished proudly.

"Again, he'll think that I still have feelings for her and that's why I want her back in the company."

"Not if we do it together."

"Do what together?" he said, not fully understanding where she was going with this.

"We go to Vince together."

"What purpose would that serve?" He still didn't get what she was proposing to him. She gave a frustrated sigh.

"You're supposed to be all sweet and kindly around me right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So what if cute little me, who got the big, bad Chris Jericho to turn softie, got you to help a poor girl in need.........one Stephanie McMahon?"

Jericho thought about it for a moment. What she said could actually work, if played out right. If he and Trish could become like a real couple, act all loving and shit towards each other, Vince would HAVE to believe that they were together. He would be duped, and Trish, being the good person that she was, would want to help Stephanie, and Jericho, being one of Vince's "lackeys" would offer his help because he would supposedly "love" Trish. Then maybe Vince would let her back in, and he would be none the wiser to what was actually happening.

"Because Vince trusts me, but if he knew, for a fact, that I was with you, there would be no worry on his part that I would go for Stephanie, and I'd still be under his so-called 'power,' so he wouldn't have to worry about anything," Jericho said, a smirk coming to his worried face.

"Exactly," Trish said, glad that he had finally figured out what she was trying to say.

Jericho hugged Trish tightly, "Do you realize how much I owe you? Stephanie and I will name our first girl after you I swear."

"As appealing as that offer sounds, I just want you two to be happy," she said, hugging him back, "Besides, I haven't thanked you for walking in on me and Christian last week."

"Oh, you mean that little make-out session you two were having in the middle of my kitchen," he joked, suddenly feeling his mood lifting.

"Yeah, I plead temporary insanity," she told him.

"Why? I mean, you didn't look insane when you were doing it."

"I can't, it's just too confusing right now," she said, "I don't want to have anything to do with Christian right now."

"Wow, I guess I can understand that, but are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"So I guess this new little arrangement will benefit you as well, since I'm going to now be hanging off of you every chance I get."

"Ooh, lucky me, getting this big, strong, hot guy all over me," she teased.

"Yup, you are lucky. One thing though, can we not let Stephanie know about this. One, I don't want to get her hopes up about it, and two, if we do get her, her job back, I want it to be a surprise. She'll be so happy," he grinned.

"Of course," she said, "My mouth is sealed."

"Great," he said, hugging her again, "I'm going to go to my dressing room and watch the show. You're welcome to come join me."

"I'll be there in a little while ok? I just want to get dressed. I have a match later on."

"Ok, bye honeycakes," he winked.

"See ya sweetums."

He laughed and left, walking back to his own dressing room. Just as he reached the door, Christian came walking up, laughing over something with Lita. Lita waved as Christian stopped to talk to Jericho and Christian waved back. Jericho took in the little exchange and looked at Christian curiously.

Christian, upon picking up the look, "We're just friends, there's nothing going on. After all her boyfriend just dumped her."

"Yeah, and you got her, her job back," Jericho said knowingly, "Using a very valuable favor in order to get it back I might add. A favor that you could've used very differently."

"Maybe, but I, was, just you know, with Trish and," he stammered.

"Oh," Jericho nodded, "And it all becomes clear."

"Shut up, I just wanted to tell you that you have a match," he said.

"Against?"

"Batista and Flair, and your partner," Christian snickered and Jericho knew this could not be good, "Michaels."

"Fuck," Jericho said, "That's..........fuck."

"Sorry man," Christian said, clapping his shoulder as Trish walked up to them, "Trish."

"Christian, if you'll excuse me, Chris and I were going to watch the show." Trish brushed past him and into Jericho's locker room.

"Yeah," Jericho said, "We're watching the show."

"Oh, and I guess that since Trish is there, I'm not invited."

"Dude, what the fuck did you do to her?" Jericho asked.

"We just..........it's screwed up ok," he just said, not wanting to talk about it, "I screwed up. End of story."

Christian walked off and Jericho shrugged to himself. Life was so fucked up sometimes. It was maddening to think about it. Christian was depressed because of Trish, Trish was depressed because of Christian. And the love of his life was probably in their hotel room, sulking. He punched the wall before walking inside. Trish looked up at him and patted the seat next to her.

He sat down and watched the television, trying to take his mind off of everything that was going on. He got into the show, and the rest of the world faded to oblivion. He saw Christian save Lita, and had to really wonder what was going on there. Trish scowled as she saw it, not wanting to think of Christian as a good guy, but as a horrible guy who didn't do anything nice for anyone. Seeing him save Lita wasn't fun to watch for her.

The show went by slowly and they both laughed as Christian had to partner up with Matt Hardy. Jericho just thought it was funny, but Trish's laugh was downright vindictive. She really wanted Christian to get it, and Jericho again had to wonder what exactly went down between the two of them for them to be so........mean to one another. Or Trish being mean to Christian. He was just confused about it all, but then again, what wasn't he confused about right now.

"Chris, I better go find out what my match is," Trish said, getting up.

"Ok, let's go."

"Oh yeah, you're my human shadow tonight right?"

"And every night from here on out," he said.

"Cool, it's like having my own personal bodyguard," she said as they started walking.

"Like you need one," he snorted.

"Yeah, I'm tough," she said, flexing her arm for him.

"Come on tough girl," he said, pushing her down the hallway as she laughed.

He waited outside for her to get whatever match she had to have. He prepared himself for being her boyfriend. He hoped they could pull this off. Not just for kicks, but for Stephanie. He did these stupid things for Stephanie. Oh God, did he do stupid things for Stephanie. He thought back to when he had to go all over town to get her lotion. But when you're a fool in love, you do these things.

Trish came out, and he put on his act. She told him about his match and he pretended to be indignant about it, like any concerned boyfriend would be. He was doing such a good job, he almost amazed himself with this stupid little thing. Trish was playing the part well too, and he was almost proud of them. They would get Stephanie's job back for sure.

Trish leaned up to kiss him before he left and as she did, she felt this peculiar surge go through her body. She was really liking kissing Chris Jericho. She felt her stomach flutter and she pulled away not realizing that he was leaving. She stared at him as he went off, and she tried to shake off the content feeling that had just washed over her. Maybe she was playing the part too well.

Jericho walked off, thinking about how to play the part even better than he was. He wanted to help Stephanie so badly, it was becoming almost an obsession of his. Eat, drink, help Stephanie was his daily regimen. She needed him, now more than ever, and he had to be there for her.

He came up with a brilliant little plan in his head and contemplated it. He was on the ins with Bischoff, he should be able to pull this off. He smirked to himself. He really was brilliant. Then he though, a little bit cocky too. But that really never hurt anyone, did it? Nope, it didn't and if he wanted to pull this off, he needed to go full throttle.

He marched right back to Bischoff's office and asked if this Bra and Panties Match was necessary. He was playing the angered boyfriend now, but Bischoff, he didn't really relent. Of course he didn't, Jericho thought, he was Bischoff, and he always marched to the beat of his own drum. Though try as he might, Bischoff didn't relent and Jericho had to just shrug it off. He left, only to find Trish waiting for him, a huge grin on her face.

"I can't believe you would do that for me!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

"Huh?" he asked, "Oh, you mean in there, of course I had to do it."

"Thank you," she said sincerely. She didn't want to let go of him for some reason.

"No problem, you still have the match," he said, "I guess my negotiating skills aren't up to par."

"But you still tried," she said, then looking at the clock, "My match is coming up, wait for me."

"Sure," he said, he didn't have anything better to do anyways.

"Great," she said.

She kissed his cheek, and again, felt that peculiar feeling. She shook it off as she went to the match. Jericho watched her, looking around, wondering where Christian had run off to. Maybe he was with Lita, the earlier conversation having been all lies. It might just be these two needed to move on. Maybe he'd ask Stephanie to set Trish up with one of her friends or something. Make her feel better, hopefully.

Trish smiled and went backstage to where Jericho was standing. She was glad to see him there. He asked if they were still on, and she kind of wished they were going out later, she was pretty lonely at nights. She said that it depended on him and his match later. The flirting was fun for her, made her feel like she was liked by someone other than her ex-boyfriend. He walked away, and she ran to catch up to him.

"So what are you doing after the show?"

"Going back to the hotel," he said obviously.

"Oh yeah, I was going to say maybe we could go get a drink or something, you know, because our lives are so hectic."

"Yeah, but you know, I need to go to my hotel room" he said, "I'm needed there."

"Of course you are."

"I'll see you later though ok," he told her, "And thanks again, for what you're doing for us."

"Not a problem, really." He walked off and she stared at him go.........again. She turned the other direction. What the hell was wrong with her tonight?

Jericho went out for his match, not happy that he was partnering with Michaels. He decided to make this as painless as possible. All he really wanted was to win, and then go back to Stephanie and make sure she was alright. He did his best to work with Michaels and it was actually going pretty well, if he thought about it. Trish had been getting on his case about it all night, and maybe he had taken her up on it.

He laughed inwardly as he super-kicked Michaels onto Flair to win the match. That helped Michaels, but also hurt him. If Trish were really with him, she'd be a bundle of confusion, because he'd played nice and then hadn't played nice. He was Chris Jericho after all, he never played by the rules. He high-tailed it out of the ring, an amused expression on his face. He was sure everyone thought he was going to go see Trish, but they were all wrong.

No, he thought as he walked into his hotel room not much later, this was who he really came home to at night. The room was dark, but he didn't expect it to be late. He walked into the bedroom and saw the television was on, but the sound was off. Stephanie was laying with her back to him, and there was an eerie calm over the room.

"Steph?" he said happily, turning the light on. She gave no response, so he came closer, "Stephy?"

He walked over and didn't see her move at his voice. Starting to worry, he walked over to the bed and laid behind her, grabbing the flower he brought for her and brought it around so it was right in front of her face. She made no move for it and he kissed the back of her neck. She shuddered once and grabbed the flower.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"What for?" she asked softly, and he could hear sleep in her voice. He must've woken her up.

"For hurting you earlier."

"You didn't hurt me," she reiterated.

"I know, but I felt bad anyways."

She smelled the flower, "Nice."

"Are you feeling any better?"

She turned on her back, "Yeah, I'm feeling better."

"Good."

"You and Trish, you two are interesting together," Stephanie commented idly.

"Jealous?" he teased.

"Of course, God knows, I never get to kiss you," she said, leaning up to kiss him to prove her point.

"I love you."

"I love you too, and I'm sorry I keep part of myself hidden from you. Hopefully one day I can share that part with you."

"I'll be waiting with baited breath."


	156. SmackDown, November 27, 2003

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it and hey to everyone that doesn't. :)

* * *

"So tell me again why your parents celebrate Thanksgiving?"

"Because when we lived in the States when my dad played hockey they just picked up on it," he explained.

"Makes sense," she nodded.

"It's no big deal, it's more of a tradition than anything else."

"Maybe I shouldn't have come," Stephanie said to Jericho.

"Why not?" he asked as he drove through the familiar streets of Winnipeg.

"I mean, I wasn't even invited to come. Your parents are only expecting you to come."

"So, you're my girlfriend and I want you to come."

"But I'm just barging in uninvited."

"You're my guest."

"I would've been fine with staying at home this weekend while you visited your parents."

"Alone?"

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"No fucking way. I'm not letting you spend a holiday by yourself."

"It's ok, I don't mind."

"Well, I do."

She stared out the window as she sighed. Her mother and brother were in Europe on business so spending the holiday with them was out of the question. Plus, there was no way in hell she would spend any kind of time with her father. He was the one who was keeping her from the business she loved. She had been resigned to spending the holiday by herself, but Jericho insisted she come with him.

She wasn't looking forward to it. She really didn't need any more berating from his mom. Also, Chris didn't tell her who would be there. I could be a whole house worth of people who hated her. She held Chris's hand tightly, her nerves on end, just like the first time she had come here.

"How are you feeling?"

"I guess I'm ok. I mean, it could always be worse."

"Yeah," he told her, kissing her hand.

"I just hope that not too much goes wrong, you know, like last time."

"It won't, I'll make sure of it."

"How?"

"You shouldn't worry about it," said Jericho, shooting her a smile.

She looked down and shook her head, her hair falling her in face a bit. She pushed it out of the way and when she did, she found that they had arrived on Jericho's street and he was about two hundred yards from his house. She felt those stupid butterflies in her stomach as they made their quick approach. He pulled into the driveway and she swallowed hard.

Jericho hopped out of the car and ran around to Stephanie's side, opening the door for her, like a gentlemen. She alighted from the car and took his hand, as if that would provide her the protection she so desperately sought.

Her hair had fallen in her face again and, he tucked some hair behind her ear. She gave him a small smile and reached up to touch his hand, which slowly caressed her face. She turned her head slightly and kissed his hand softly. He laughed and kissed her properly, letting his lips linger on hers briefly before pulling away.

He wanted to get her mind off of whatever was bugging her, and he hoped that maybe a little time away would help her feel better than she was feeling the past couple of weeks. Even if it meant that he had to take her back to his parent's. At least they wouldn't have anyone or anything wrestling related to bother her, or so he hoped at least.

"You ready?" he asked, as she adjusted her coat.

"Sure," she said, putting on her best happy face.

He grinned at her and she looked at the house in front of her. Could it be possible that it was looming at her? It looked definitely scary, but that was probably just the foreboding feeling of seeing his mother again. He led her to the door and rang the doorbell, stomping a few times to combat the chill they felt in the cold, November afternoon. The door opened and his mother stood in front of him. She grinned delightedly and he hugged her, actually picking her up off the ground.

"It's so good to see you again," his mother told him, "You need to come by so much more often."

"I'm a busy man Mom."

"Oh, you should never be too busy to visit your family," she teased.

He pulled away and went to step back next to Stephanie. Stephanie sent Jericho's mother a nervous smile and Jericho's mom gave Stephanie a small glare before turning to Jericho again. She gave him a look and Jericho gave back a look filled with warning. They stepped inside and Stephanie stuck to Jericho's side, a place she felt safe.

"Stephanie, we weren't expecting you," his mother said.

"Yeah, I know, I wasn't planning on coming, I told Chris that he didn't have to invite me along, that I would be fine if stayed back home--"

"But I wouldn't hear of it," Jericho interrupted.

"Oh," his mother said, then looked over at Stephanie, "Well, you know what they say, the more the merrier."

She turned on her heel and walked promptly out of the room. Jericho rolled his eyes at Stephanie, who let herself have a little chuckle at his mother's expense. She shrugged her coat off as Jericho took it to hang by the door. She was about to turn to watch him when Jericho's father sauntered into the room. Upon seeing Stephanie, his face lit up.

"Well, look who's here!"

"Hi Ted," Stephanie said happily, always feeling at home whenever Ted was around.

He came over and hugged her tightly, picking her up much like Jericho had picked up his mother earlier. Seems that kind of thing ran in the family. Stephanie laughed as he set her down. Right now, he was the closest thing that she had to a father, seeing as how her real father didn't want anything to have to do with her. But Jericho's father was so nice and kind to her, she had to love him.

"See, the minute I have a girlfriend that you like, it's like I disappear," Jericho said, standing a little ways behind Stephanie.

"I can't help that, she's just the prettiest thing I've ever seen," he told her, as she started to blush.

"You're too nice," Stephanie said.

"Never."

"Hey, where's Mom?" Jericho asked.

"In the kitchen I think, making sure that dinner is serve and ready on time."

"Ok, I'm just going to go see if she needs any help."

"Fine, Stephanie and I will just catch up in here," Ted said, wrapping a fatherly arm around Stephanie.

Jericho smiled as Stephanie was already talking animatedly to his father about something. He walked into the kitchen and saw his mother angrily taking dishes out to be used with dinner. He leaned in the doorway and watched as she practically threw the plates down. He cleared his throat, causing his mother to drop some silverware in surprise. She turned around and scowled at him. Jericho laughed and went to pick up the fallen items for his mother.

"You couldn't even let me know that she was coming?" she said testily.

"I didn't think that it would be such a problem, there's lots of food you know," he pointed out to the dishes that sat around the countertop ready to be eaten.

"That's not the point, I didn't really invite her."

"She's my girlfriend Mom, is it that absurd that she should be around?"

"It would've been nice to get a heads up."

"Mom, I'm going to ask you something, and please do not roll your eyes at me, and don't think that I'm being foolish or stupid or anything, but I need you to really listen."

"What is it?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Please, please go easy on her," Jericho said, practically begging, "I know you don't really care for her, but please, for my sake, this weekend, just go easy on her."

"Why?"

Jericho looked down, gulping audibly, washing away the images of Stephanie when she was saddened by her present conditions of being unemployed, "She's just had it hard for a couple of weeks and the last thing she needs is you breathing down her neck."

"What about that blonde girl, Trish was it? What's going on with you two?" his mother asked hopefully, "She looks like a nice girl and she's much more your type."

"Mom, don't try to change the subject."

"You've kissed her," his mother pointed out, "You usually don't kiss people you don't like."

"Mom, I'm not with Trish, she's in love with my friend Christian ok, we're doing each other some favors by PRETENDING we're together."

"Oh, but I definitely see something there," his mother said, giving him a smile, "I mean, you two, I think you two can go together. I mean, she's pretty and seems intelligent, and I think that you should pursue that."

"Why do I even try with you?" he asked, "I try and tell you that I love Stephanie and you go on and on about a woman that I don't care about."

"I just think that there's better out there for you Christopher."

"Mom, please, just go easy on Stephanie ok, that's all I'm asking. Don't mention me going out with other people around her. I love her Mom. I know that seems like the stupidest thing I've ever done, but I'm not going to stop loving her because you don't like me."

"So my opinion doesn't matter?"

"When it concerns Stephanie, no, it doesn't."

"Don't take that tone with me," she scolded.

"Then don't talk badly about the woman I love," Jericho shot back, "If you won't leave her alone for this weekend, we will leave, and I will not come back."

"Oh, so now she's more important that your parents?"

"I love her Mom, I love her so much that I am willing to do anything and everything to help her. If that means that I can't see you because you treat her like crap, then so be it."

"Look at how she's turning you against me."

Jericho scoffed, "Mom, she has been nothing but nice to you. She has treated you with respect and kindness, even when you turn around and treat her like a whore off the street. I think you are trying to turn her against me."

Jericho walked out of the kitchen, not even caring if his mother agreed to his terms or not. Forget her, he and Stephanie would make the most of it, no matter what his mother thought. He walked into the living room and saw his father and Stephanie watching a video. As he got closer he saw they were watching an old videotape of one of his old matches. Stephanie giggled as she watched it. He walked up behind the couch and grabbed her by her shoulders and put her in a headlock.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes, you and that ridiculous outfit," she said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

"I thought Stephanie deserved to know what you looked like when you were younger," his father explained.

"As gorgeous as I am today."

"Oh yeah, you're gorgeous Chris," Stephanie laughed as she looked at Jericho's old haircut, "Viva la mullet!"

Jericho laughed and started ruffling Stephanie's hair playfully. She screamed and tried to get away from him, elbowing him in the stomach and scampering off the couch. He ran after her and caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and hoisting her over his shoulder. He plopped down on the couch and let her sit in his lap.

"I can just imagine what it's like living with you two," Ted said, watching the two of them act like children.

"Why does everyone think living with us would be so difficult?" Stephanie asked thoughtfully.

"You two just seem to be hyper."

"We're not hyper all the time," Stephanie said, "At least I'm not, this guy over here, like a child most of the time."

"Oh, you're so cute," Jericho said, kissing her.

"I think I'm going to go call my mom, is it ok if I use a phone?"

"Go ahead."

"It's long distance."

"It's fine," Ted said, "Talk as long as you want."

"Thanks," Stephanie said, "Where's the phone?"

"The kitchen, it's cordless, so just take it wherever."

Stephanie walked into the kitchen and saw it was empty. Jericho's mom must have gone somewhere else. She grabbed the phone and dialed the operator to help connect her to England, where her mother and brother were. After finally getting the number right, she was connected to them.

"Mom!" Stephanie said.

"Stephanie, sweetie, is that you?"

Jericho's mother walked into the kitchen as she heard Stephanie talking. Stephanie was facing the wall so she didn't see her walk in. Loretta thought about leaving, but she really had things she needed to take care of in the kitchen so she just went about her business, trying not to eavesdrop, but it was difficult not to.

"Yeah, it's me Mom."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Chris's parent's house."

"Oh good, I was hoping that you wouldn't be alone."

"You know how Chris is Mom, he wouldn't let me be alone even if I argued and begged him not to care, which I did try to do."

"Why would you want to be alone?" Linda asked, concerned about her little girl.

"It's just, I'm not really welcome here you know," Stephanie said uncomfortably, "So I didn't want to cause a rift between Chris and his mom."

"Oh sweetie, you know that Chris wouldn't leave you alone."

"I know, I just don't want to cause problems," Stephanie said, "I know Chris is already worried about me enough. I don't want him to be so concerned, but I know that I can't make him stop."

"He loves you."

"I know he does, and I don't want him to be any more upset than he is."

"Sweets, you need to get over this thing with your father, go out, live your life."

"It was my life though."

"I know, but you can start a new one, start one with Chris."

"I like to think I already have a life with Chris. But Mommy, I miss the business."

Jericho's mother could hear the pain in Stephanie's voice, and it almost brought her to tears. She knew that Stephanie had been kicked out of the company, but she could tell that it was really affecting her. It was that moment that she felt something other than contempt for Stephanie. She actually felt sympathetic towards his son's girlfriend. It was a new feeling.

"I know sweets, but he can't keep you away forever."

"I know," she sighed, "Is Shane there?"

"Yeah, do you want to talk to him?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on."

Stephanie heard some shuffling over the phone and then her brother's voice, "Steph?"

"Hey Shane."

"What's up baby girl?"

"Just with Chris and his family. What're you and Mom up to?"

"We're just eating in tonight, it's nice here, you should've come, it would've done you some good."

"I'd rather go on a vacation when Chris can come along."

"Oh of course, you can't not have the boy toy with you."

"Nope, I just wanted to call you guys and wish you a happy Thanksgiving, it's late there though right?"

"Yeah, pretty late, but it's all good, we love to hear from you."

"I miss you guys."

"Well we don't miss you," he joked.

"Shut up Shane. Well, I guess I better go, I don't want to rack up his parent's phone bill."

"Ok, you have a good weekend ok baby girl?"

"I will, hopefully. Bye."

"Bye baby girl, Mom says bye too."

She hung up and turned around. She almost jumped when she saw Jericho's mother working on something. She wondered how much of the conversation that she had heard. Figuring it didn't matter anyways, she turned to leave the kitchen.

"So, you two are happy?"

Stephanie didn't realize that she was being addressed until she looked around and saw that no one else was around. She checked one more time to make sure that his mom was really talking to her and not somebody else. Again, her search yielded her as the intended verbal target.

"Chris and I?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"Very," Stephanie answered simply.

"I'm glad he's happy," she said, "And I feel I haven't given you a fair chance."

"Um, excuse me?"

"I don't think I've been very fair to you," Loretta repeated, "I've been judging you too harshly I think."

Stephanie stood there, wondering if she had entered some alternate dimension. Hadn't this woman been treating him horribly not an hour before? Why the sudden change of heart? Unless she was putting on a ruse and trying to kill her with kindness. She looked confused, as well she should be.

"He's your son."

"How are you? I mean, I know you got kicked out of the company recently, that must've been hard."

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why are you being nice to me?"

His mother thought for a moment, "I don't want to be one of those mother-in-laws that hates the woman his son married. Chris basically told me to accept you or else he wouldn't see us again."

"I would never allow that. I know what it's like to be alienated from your parents, I wouldn't let him stay away from you. I can't believe he said that."

"Then I heard you talking to your family, I know it's wrong to listen in on people's conversation, but I couldn't help it, and it seems like you're having a rough time."

"It's nothing you should worry about," Stephanie answered, shaking her head.

"My son loves you, and he loves you enough to be willing to give his parents up, and that says more about your character than anything else. So I, in turn, should give you the benefit of the doubt."

"That's all I wanted in the first place," Stephanie said, "I never said you had to like me, but I just wanted you to know how much I did love your son. I'm not out to hurt him, or make him do anything that he doesn't want to do. In shorter terms, I'm not using him."

"I should hope not," she said.

"I should probably get out there before Chris starts to worry," Stephanie said.

"Yes, and I need to check on dinner..........I'm glad we had this talk."

"So am I," Stephanie said genuinely.

She walked out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. It wasn't suddenly her and Jericho's mom being the best of friends, but it was something. It was progress in the right direction. She looked in the living room and didn't see Jericho, so she wandered around the house until she came upon him in his old room. He was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

"You know, I never really got to get a good look at this place before," she said, looking around at all the heavy metal posters that were still hanging from the walls, even though they were a bit faded from the sunlight that streamed in on them.

"Well, take a look around, you can get a better feel of how much of a geek I used to be."

"Used to be?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You can't say I'm still a geek, I can get all the pretty girls now," he argued.

"Oh, of course, you bring home all those really beautiful chicks," she said, sitting lightly on the bed.

"Yup," he said, kneeling so he could kiss her neck, "So what took you so long?"

"I'm not sure what just happened really."

"What do you mean? Linda and Shane are ok right?"

"Yeah, but your mom, she.........."

"Did she say something to upset you?" She could tell by his voice that he was getting mad.

"No, that's the thing, she was so.........nice to me," Stephanie said, "I mean, like really nice, not like sarcastic nice."

"Good."

"Though you really shouldn't have threatened her."

"I didn't threaten her," he scoffed.

"Saying if she didn't accept me that you would never see them again?" she questioned.

"Oh.........that."

"Don't do that for me."

Jericho's mother called them down for dinner and Jericho looked relieved that the conversation was over. They got up and went downstairs to the dining room, which was filled with food. Jericho pulled out Stephanie's chair for her and she smiled up at him as she sat down. He sat down next to her just as Loretta brought the turkey into the room.

The meal was actually very pleasant, filled with laughs and old stories that made Jericho blush, much to Stephanie's delight. She loved hearing about Jericho when he was a young kid, it explained a lot about him now. It seemed he hadn't changed much since he was a kid, judging by his current behavior. She was actually having fun, and she hadn't thought about wrestling once the entire time they were there.

Hours later she sat with Jericho and his parents as they watched old home movies, a tradition Jericho had warned her about. She smiled as she got to see Jericho as a young boy and could almost picture what their sons would look like. Not that she was being presumptuous or anything, just naturally curious.

"You getting a kick out of this?" Jericho asked, whispering in her ear so his parents didn't hear.

"It's cute."

"It's humiliating."

"I like watching it."

"Are you thinking about wrestling?"

"Nope."

"Ok, then maybe it's not so humiliating."


	157. Raw, December 1, 2003

"I can't believe how nice your mom was to me."

"I told you she'd warm up to you."

"Yeah, but I have a hard time believing you when she's telling me how much she hates me," Stephanie said.

"I think she just needed to see the truth for herself."

"She might have been taking it overboard."

"Why?" Jericho asked, knowing that while he had gone out with his father, Stephanie had been alone with his mother. He had been wondering for days what they had done during that time together, but was too afraid to ask. When he had come home, they had been sitting in the kitchen drinking tea and laughing companionably. It was quite the difference from last time they had visited, where his mother would constantly shoot dirty looks towards Stephanie.

"Nothing," Stephanie said, giggling to herself.

"No, you can't do that," Jericho complained, "You can't tell me something and then not tell me what you mean by it."

"I didn't mean anything by it," she said, "It's nothing."

"Don't make me tickle it out of you," he said, raising his hands up.

She scooted back against the headboard, away from him. He approached her slowly and she squealed, knowing what was coming. She scampered off the bed and ran around the room as Jericho chased her. She jumped on the bed, and he lunged for her, but she was too quick for him and he fell onto the bed. She just laughed at him as she ran out of the bedroom and then tripped on his bag and landed on her butt. Jericho seized the opportunity and pounced on her, pinning her on the ground.

"On the floor? How kinky," Stephanie said, smirking up at him.

"Well, it's not like we never done it on the floor."

"Or the bed, or the shower, or the bathtub, or the balcony, or the backyard, or the kitchen table, or the dining room table, or the couch, or at your parents, or in the car, or in the arena," Stephanie listed.

"God, we're like animals," he laughed, leaning down to kiss her.

"So what did you do with my mom?"

"Why are you so curious?"

"Cause she's my mom," he said, "And as such, I deserve to know what you guys did?"

"We didn't do anything."

He looked at her skeptically, "Yeah right, tell me."

"Fine," Stephanie said, giving up, "She showed me her wedding dress."

"Huh?"

"She showed me her wedding dress, and told me about her wedding and we talked about weddings."

"Really?" Jericho asked, pulling away from Stephanie to sit on the ground, his back leaning against the wall.

Stephanie moved to sit between his legs, "Is that such a problem?"

"No," Jericho said, but his voice belied the way he really felt. The lump in his throat was another indication as to what he was feeling.

Stephanie turned her head, "It is a problem. Why? Because you don't want to marry me?"

"That's not it," he assured.

"Well, it must be something then."

"It's just, I don't know, um, marriage is like a really big commitment."

"Yes, I know," she nodded, "I've been married."

"I'm sorry, I should be happier about this and you probably think I'm not interested in marrying you."

"Ok, I didn't think that before, but NOW I am," she said, turning around more to face him, "You aren't happy with the thought of marrying me?"

"No, it's not that," he said, kissing her, "It's just my parents, they've been pushing me to get married since, well, forever, and now that it seems it's going to happen, I don't know, it's just the pressure is on for me to propose, and I don't want the pressure on me from them because of what's really going on."

"You mean because you can't propose right?"

"Yeah, I just don't want my parents to think it'll happen like any day now, when it might not be for a while."

"I can understand that," she said, nodding, "I don't know why, God help me, but I still want Daddy's approval. And I know that he would approve of you, he LOVES you, it's just he hates me right now........."

Jericho could see her mood changing from jovial to sullen and he kissed her recklessly to get her out of this mood. She lost herself in the kiss and let herself forget about her father, and just focus on Jericho. He was the only one she wanted to focus on anyways, so she let herself melt into his embrace until she felt like the world disappeared.

"I wouldn't dream of marrying you if you weren't completely happy with it," he whispered, their foreheads together as they stared into each other's eyes.

"She showed me your grandmother's engagement ring," she told him, "She said she hoped one day you'd give it to me."

"Someday I will," he said, kissing her forehead, "But on our terms."

"I would've married you already if I could."

"Likewise, Mrs. Stephanie Jericho," he said, a smile peeking through, "I like it."

"Mrs. Chris Jericho, Stephanie and Chris Jericho, I like it too," she giggled.

"I better go."

"Ok," she said, giving him another searing kiss.

Jericho got up and picked up the bag that Stephanie had tripped over earlier. Stephanie stood up as well and dusted herself off and watched him as he went. He was just about out of the door when he remembered something and turned around. Stephanie looked at him, wondering if he had forgotten something. He rushed over to her and kissed her deeply.

"Forgot to say goodbye," he told her.

She smiled and shook her head at him. He grinned like a dope and left. It was because of her that he had to pretend with Trish. Hearing her saying her name if they got married had stirred something deep inside of him, and he wanted to get her, her job back, he wanted to tell her father and most importantly? He wanted to make her his wife.

He'd have to talk to Trish about being even more lovey-dovey. Maybe they could even do a match together. That'd be even better; they'd be a team. He laughed as he thought about him and Stephanie as a team; that had been something. He figured he and Trish might work a little better since she was actually a trained wrestler. He dumped off his stuff and went to go look for Bischoff to make the match. He found him in his office and walked inside unannounced.

"Jericho, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I wanted to ask for a match tonight," Jericho told him, crossing his arms.

"Name it and it's done."

"Trish and I versus," he thought for a moment for a logical pairing, "Rico and Miss Jackie."

"You and Trish?" Bischoff asked smarmily, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, got a problem with that?"

"I'm not losing you to the dark side am I Chris?"

"No, of course not, but I want to partner with her."

"Don't fall for her Chris, you never know where's she's been."

Jericho knew exactly where she had been, and that was with one of his best friends. He didn't want Trish, but he couldn't tell Bischoff that. Let him think whatever the hell he wanted, that's what he and Trish wanted anyways. To be the most believable non-couple that ever existed.

"Don't talk about her like that alright?" Jericho answered angrily, "She's a good person, better than you and I could ever aspire to be."

"Getting all high and mighty on me now?" Bischoff remarked with snark in his voice, "Don't let yourself fall for that kind of shit Chris."

"It's not shit, and I'd like you to quit talking about her like that."

"Fine, you and Trish can have your precious match, and hopefully it'll lead to you getting laid, because that's what you want right?"

"Fuck you Bischoff."

Jericho left and rolled his eyes as he closed the door. He hated dealing with Bischoff. He didn't think that man had a decent bone in his body. And if he did, he hid it very, very well. Not that it mattered now, he had his match and that was fine with him. He and Trish could go out there as a united front and Vince would see them as a couple, in and out of the ring. It was the perfect set-up. He knew Vince watched every show, so there was no way that he'd miss it.

He walked back to his dressing room, wondering if he should go find Trish and tell him about their match. He sat down and then immediately got back up again, yeah, he'd go tell Trish about it, maybe do a little planning as to what they could do to be even more couple-y. Maybe he'd bring her flowers or something, that had worked with Stephanie, and it would be a nice gesture.

He reached Trish's locker room and knocked on the door. He shifted his feet and sucked something out of his teeth as he waited. Nobody was answering and thinking that nobody was in there, he turned to leave. But before he could leave completely, Trish's arm darted out and grabbed his. He swiveled himself to look at her, and gave her a wide smile.

Trish felt her stomach flutter. She didn't know why she was feeling like this. It seemed that every time that Jericho was near her, she got this nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shouldn't be feeling like this, but here she was, standing her and finding herself mesmerized by his shiny, white teeth. And his beautiful, flowing blond locks with the perfect highlights in them. And how strong his arm was as she held it in her hand.

"I was beginning to think you weren't in there," he told her.

"Sorry, I was reading something," she said.

"Oh, what a good idea, I should bring something to read when I'm bored, like the newspaper or something," he said.

"Yeah, passes the time," she said, tilting her head to the side coyly.

"Mind if I come in?"

"It's kind of messy, I'm sharing."

"Like I care, do you know who I live with?" Jericho laughed.

Trish did know and she felt an ill feeling rise up in her throat. Was she..........no, she couldn't be jealous of Stephanie because she was with Jericho? That was the silliest thing ever. All this close contact was obviously getting to her. The two of them were playing the game a little too well, and with her so vulnerable after Christian, this was bound to happen.

"Yeah," she said, laughing, but knowing it sounded hollow.

He walked in and surveyed the room, "Geez, this is a mess."

"I told you," she laughed.

He cleared some clothes off of the couch and then sat down. She sat down next to him and tried not to get too close. She could smell the slight smell of his aftershave and it smelled so damn good. She felt herself leaning a little bit closer and then pulled back, catching herself. Jericho ran a hand through his hair.

"So, I got us a match."

"Us?"

"Yup," he grinned proudly, "We're like officially a team! Trish and Chris, see, it almost rhymes!"

She laughed, "It does, so why are we a team?"

"Because it cements ourselves, we're cemented. Or if Stephanie knew what was going on, she'd say we were demented."

"Who are we facing?"

"Rico and Miss Jackie, how's that for a combo?"

"Sounds like a lot of fun," she said, "We'll totally kick ass."

"Yeah, I know, because we're so much better than those assclowns," he chuckled at his own insult, then leaned back against the couch, "So what should we do tonight?"

"Tonight?" she asked anxiously. What did he mean by tonight? Could he want to go out later or something? She felt weird at how much she was hoping that was the case.

"Yeah, I mean, we have to really start acting like a couple. You know, the whole nine yards, I really want Steph to get her job back."

"Uh huh," she said blandly.

"I think that we can actually pull this off. I mean, if Vince buys this, I mean, it will have to go down in the annals of good plans."

"Definitely," she told him.

"I mean, cause you know, the sooner we can maybe get Vince and Stephanie on good terms, the sooner that you know, I can marry Stephanie," he said, smirking.

Trish turned almost violently to look at him. Had he just said he wanted to MARRY Stephanie? She felt a remark rising to her lips, telling him that he couldn't, but she suppressed it and buried it in her throat. She couldn't tell him to not marry Stephanie, there was no plausible reason why he shouldn't marry her anyways.

"Marriage?" she croaked.

"Yeah, we spent the weekend at my folks, and my mom, she totally loves Stephanie now. I know both my parents wanted a daughter, but it's ridiculous how much they love her now. My mom showed Steph her old wedding dress and my grandma's old engagement ring, which I will someday give her."

"Wow, sounds like you two are so happy."

"Yeah, I think that my mom accepting her really gave her some happiness," he said, "Thank God."

"Yeah, I mean, she deserves to be happy." Trish wanted Stephanie to be happy, Stephanie was her friend, but something wanted Jericho all to herself. She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling like this towards Jericho. What had changed?

"Yeah, oh, my mom before she turned her opinion around about Stephanie, she told me to get with you, can you believe that?" Jericho said, bursting into laughter.

Trish was taken aback for a moment. Jericho's own mother thought they should be together? That was something going her way at least, but then she fell for Stephanie. And why shouldn't she? Stephanie was the woman that Jericho loved, of course they should love her. She looked to Jericho, who was looking at her intently, and she laughed, knowing that was the reaction he had anticipated.

"That's funny."

"I know, I had to tell her you weren't my girlfriend and that I didn't care about you like that."

"Yeah, that must have been weird."

"To say the least, but hey, I better get going," he said, getting up.

"Why?" she said, reaching out for his arm again.

"Oh, because I just have stuff to do you know, I wanted to go get food, I haven't eaten anything all day. Steph and I flew here from Winnipeg. Actually we flew into San Francisco, and then drove here. And I refused to eat the airplane food, talk about gross, and then Stephanie and I only stopped for In-n-Out on the way here, and that was hours ago, and I'm starving."

"Maybe I can go with you."

"Sure, if you want to, it'd look good."

"Ok," she said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I went shopping this weekend, and I saw this jersey and had one made for you. I was going to give it to you for Christmas, but you know, I thought I should give it to you now because--"

"Giving me gifts! Awesome idea," he said excitedly.

Her face fell a little. It wasn't actually a prop for their phony love story. She had seen it and thought that it would look good on him. She knew he wore jerseys a lot, and had wanted to do something special for him, "Yeah, I thought so."

"So lemme see," he said giddily, looking like a child on Christmas morning.

"Ok," she smiled, hoping that regardless of what he thought it was for, he would like it.

She got up and walked over to her suitcase. After rooting through it for a moment, she produced the jersey and stared at it for a second. She had really gone all out with this, and she really wanted him to like it. She hoped he appreciated it. She walked over and handed it to her. He looked at it, inspecting the front and then the back carefully.

"Wow, this is awesome Trish," he said. Then he did something unexpected. He hugged her in thanks. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back, and trying to resist that feeling again.

"You're welcome."

"You had this made?"

"Yeah, I made it," she said.

"This is great, you can give it to me later and I'll be all happy about it and stuff," he said, handing it back.

"Ok," she smiled.

"Steph's going to be all jealous now."

"Oh?"

"Kidding, she'll probably have a good laugh about it. I won't be surprised if she steals it and wears it. She steals like half my clothes as it is. I swear, it's like I wake up every morning, reach for a shirt only to find that she took it and wore it."

Trish was kind of disappointed that the jersey would just go from him to Stephanie. But she didn't let it show as she dropped it onto the couch, suddenly feeling that it wasn't worth as much as when she had though to give it to him. She hadn't gotten it for him just to have him give it to his girlfriend.

"Want to go eat?" he asked, "I'm about to fucking eat my shirt."

"You go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Ok," he said, "Ok, I'm going into 'Trish is my girlfriend' mode."

"Me too," she said.

"Great, see ya," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

Trish closed her eyes and focused on his soft lips on her cheek. How could his lips be that soft? Did he use chapstick or something? They were perfect. She opened her eyes to find that Jericho had already left. She walked over to the jersey and went to put it with her stuff again. She looked at a clock and saw, to her surprise, that the show was well underway. She knew he had come in here right before the show started. Had she and Jericho really been talking that long? It had seemed so much shorter than it was. She sighed and went back to her things.

She didn't notice Lita come up to her, but when she did, she wished that Lita had minded her own business. She shouldn't be mad at her friend for not knowing the situation, but she tried to be as upbeat as possible. She lied like a pro through the whole thing, even dropping Christian's name into the conversation. Lita no-sold the comment, and asked about her and Jericho again. She lied and talked about how they would probably seal the deal tonight. She briefly wondered what Jericho would be like in bed, and then quickly shook the thoughts from her head, not wanting to go into that territory.

"So really, what's going on with you and Christian?" Trish asked curiously, walking back over to Lita, knowing the two of them had hung out quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. Great, now she was jealous of Stephanie AND Lita.

"Oh, I don't know," Lita smiled, "He's really nice, which is weird, because he's like never been nice to me in the past, but he's just really sweet and kind you know. After the thing with Matt, we went out and had the best time, and just pigged out."

Trish gave a weak smile, sounds like they were having fun, "Wow, he seems great."

"Oh man, I'm sorry Trish," Lita said, "I know that you and Christian--"

"Don't worry about it," Trish said, trying to be supportive, or something in that vein.

"But you have Chris now, so you're happy."

"Yeah, I have Chris." What a big, fat lie that was. She didn't even have anything going on with anyone. Jericho loved Stephanie with all his heart and made that clear every day.

"I'm accompanying Christian out there tonight," Lita told her, "He's facing Matt, just for me."

"That's so sweet," she said and meant it. Christian had never done anything like that for her. Now why was he doing it with Lita?"

Christian scanned the room, hearing from someone that Jericho was in catering. He spotted Jericho gobbling down food in the corner, his plate piled so high Christian almost couldn't see his face. He made his way over and plunked himself down in the seat across from Jericho. Jericho grunted in hello, not even taking a break from eating.

"How was your weekend?"

"Great," Jericho answered between bites.

"Good, good," Christian nodded.

"Yeah, it was fun, everyone had fun."

"I've got a problem," Christian told him.

"What now? And why are you coming to me?"

"I'm coming to you because there's no one else here for me to talk to."

"Ok, fair enough, what's up?"

"I think I might be falling for Lita," Christian said, hitting his forehead against the table in misery.

"Come again?" Jericho asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I don't know! I mean, she's really nice and funny, and she likes me and I guess I like her too, but I feel so guilty because I still love Trish, and how would she feel if I dated her best friend."

"Wow, you sure do love to put yourself in tricky situations don't you?"

"Shut up, ok, I need some help, advice, suggestions, fortune cookies, magic 8-balls, something to help me."

"Well, I'm plum out of fortune cookies, but I can give you six numbers to use in the lottery if you want."

"Geez, the one time you can't be serious."

"Ok, here's my advice, go with how you feel," Jericho said.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Damn it, what kind of help is that?"

"The best help there is. Do what you feel man, I can't tell you what that is, nobody can except for yourself."

"Yeah," Christian conceded, "But it's harder than just that."

"You know, it may be, but the rewards are so great. You know, after," Jericho looked around furtively, then stood up, plate in hand, "Come with me."

Christian followed wordlessly as Jericho walked quickly to his locker room. Christian walked in and sat down. Jericho set his food down and sat down as well. Christian figured he was in for a story.

"Ok, listen, I didn't have to go after Stephanie. You know why I went after her, you know how I got together with her."

"You got together after she became General Manager, you let your feelings out."

"But why I confronted her in the first place?"

"Why?"

"Because she wouldn't hug me."

"THAT'S why you got together, because she wouldn't HUG you."

"I went into her office and went to give her a hug and she turned it into a handshake. I was pissed. Yet, I could've stayed in my locker room and forgotten about it, I could've just left well enough alone, called her a bitch and been out of her life forever."

"I know where this is going," Christian sighed, "But you followed your gut and look what happened."

"Smart."

"If only it were that easy."

"Good luck," Jericho said, bidding him farewell.

"Where are you going?"

"I have a match with Trish."

"Good luck Loverboy."

"Funny."

Christian sat there as Jericho left. Do what he felt like doing? Would that even be the right choice? He sat there, weighing his options. He loved Trish, but she hated him. He liked Lita and she liked him at least a little. If he couldn't have one, perhaps he could have the other. It wouldn't be terrible to go out with Lita. She was a really nice girl. He got up and went off in search of her.

He found her by the monitors, watching, as he looked closer, Jericho and Trish's match. For some reason, he didn't see Lita and focused on Trish instead. She looked so happy to be out there, and it wasn't him that was out there with her. He bit his lip as he watched Trish and Jericho tagging and Lita turned to him.

"They're cute huh?"

"So cute," Christian said, relying on the truth to keep him sane. Jericho and Trish were just pretending, he kept repeating.

"Yeah, lucky them," Lita laughed, then walked over to Christian, "How about us? Are we ready for your match?"

"Yeah, definitely, you'll be right by my side right?"

"Of course," she answered, but he found himself looking over her shoulder at Trish's match.

Trish didn't think she'd ever had so much fun in a match in a long time. Sure it was hard work wrestling, but she had Jericho by her side. They were working so well together, and it showed. They were really in tune and as he made the tag to her, she smiled secretly. Stephanie and Jericho had never worked this well before; when they had tagged, it had been a mess. Not her and him though, they were kicking ass.

She started to get double-teamed and found herself fighting a losing battle. She desperately tried to get the tag to Jericho, but she couldn't. He was encouraging her, and through him she found strength. She tagged him in and he went to town on their opponents. He threw Rico out of the ring and then jumped on him. Trish took the advantage and did her signature move on Jackie for the win. She smiled as she and Jericho were declared the winners. He came over to her and they acted so into each other, and part of her hurt to think that he was just acting, because part of her wasn't. Part of her loved to feel his kisses on her forehead, and loved to feel his arm arms wrapped around her as he lifted her from the ground.

A big part of her.

They walked up the ramp, still acting as if no one existed but them. She was happy, and anybody could tell she was. They got backstage and the warmth of his arm was off her and she wished nothing more than to pull it back around her, but she couldn't, for fear of what he would do. She was about to say something to Jericho when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Christian and Lita talking closely. She turned a particularly nice shade of green to match the envy coursing through her.

Lita looked up and saw them, "You two were great!"

"Thanks," Jericho said, "We know."

"And aren't you the cutest thing?"

Jericho wrapped an arm around her again as she grinned, "We try to be."

Jericho gave Christian a teasing look, but was only met with a scowl. Seemed Christian wasn't too keen on this as he was. Oh well, it's not like Christian really had a say in the matter, since he and Trish were broken up. Lita snaked her arm around Christian's waist and Jericho felt Trish tense. Jealousy was such an odd thing.

"So Christian, you have a match?" Trish said.

"Yup, against Matt, gotta defend Lita's honor," he joked.

"He's the best," Lita said, kissing Christian's cheek.

"Wow, well, we better go, right Chris?" Trish said, glaring at Lita.

"Oh yeah, things to do right?"

"Uh huh."

"Have fun you two," Lita called out as they walked past, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Jericho laughed as they walked away. He kept up the pretense of being a couple until they reached his locker room. As soon as they were inside, he let go of her and went over to pick up some things he wanted to take to the shower with him. He got up and was going to ask Trish if she was going to stay here, but didn't get the chance.

Trish didn't know what had come over her. Seriously, it was like she had one of those out of body experiences. She rushed to Jericho and kissed him with abandon. She actually pushed him up against the wall, a mixture of her strength and Jericho's shock. She didn't care though, she just couldn't stand looking at him and not kissing him. His lips were so damn soft, and perfect for kissing, and she wanted to taste his mouth so badly.

Jericho, on the other hand, was not as enthusiastic about this. There were no cameras around and Trish was kissing him. His mind registered that and as soon as it did, he pushed her off of him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at Trish in astonishment and confusion. She looked back at him guiltily

"Trish, what the fuck are you doing?"

"I.............I don't know," she stammered, suddenly embarrassed. She shouldn't have done that; Jericho had a girlfriend that he loved. A girl who was her friend.

"You should be, God, what made you do that?"

"I have feelings for you," she said biting her lip, hoping he wouldn't fly off the rocker.

"What?" he asked, "Pardon me?"

"I don't know, I just, I feel something for you, more than friends."

"Ok, um, Trish, I don't like you like that, and I certainly don't love you."

"But--"

"No buts, I'm sorry Trish, this thing tonight, we have to end it ok? You don't know what you're talking about. You're just hung up on Christian, but if we keep working like this, I don't think we can continue this thing."

"No! Christ, I made a promise to you."

"It's ok, promise over," Jericho said, still shaken up by her confession.

"But Stephanie?"

"I'll figure something else out."

"Chris I'm--"

"Um, I'll figure out some way to end this."

He walked out quickly and closed the door. She sat on the couch and cried. She may have just screwed up friendships with two people and she felt like the world's most horrible person. Jericho walked down the hallway, stunned by what had just transpired. That was the by far the craziest thing to ever happen to him, Trish of all people, falling for him. That was madness, especially because she knew the whole truth. He needed to clear his head.

Christian had looked in Lita's eyes and had seen nothing. Well, no, not nothing, he had seen something, but that something being that he really wanted Trish. He loved Trish and he couldn't give her up. Yet, Lita really liked him, and how would he get out of that one. He needed to think of something. He walked down the hallway and bumped into someone who seemed equally lost in their thoughts.

"Chris?"

"Christian?"

"What's up?"

"Um," Jericho said, not wanting Christian to know what had happened, "Um, nothing."

"Oh."

"I need to think of a plan," Jericho said, "To get out of this thing with Trish."

"Why?"

"It's just not working out," he lied.

"But you guys are really good at acting and Stephanie's job..........."

"Yeah, plan off."

"Oh?" Christian replied, perplexed, by the sudden cancellation, "I need a plan too. I want Trish, my gut, it said Trish, and I'm following it."

"So we're both in a bind..........."

"Yeah............"

"Wait.........." Jericho said, walking into Christian's locker room, "I've got the perfect plan."

"What?"

"Ok, so we made a bet as to who could nail one of the girls first. I mean, people think we're jerks, we just live up to the name."

"Great," Christian said, "She'll hate me."

"Yeah, and so will Trish."

They mocked the girls in their ensuing conversation. Talking about a bet that never existed until a few minutes before. They laughed about it, and joked about it, and Jericho felt better knowing that this was over. He couldn't have Trish running around falling for him. He was willing to look like an asshole to spare any hard feelings. So was Christian.

Trish stood outside the door, clutching Jericho's jersey in her hand. She had planned to give it to him, as a peace offering, hoping he would forgive her outburst and go on with the plan. She really wanted to help Stephanie, but it seemed like he had already thought of a plan to get rid of her. And a good one it was. She cried as she realized she really had screwed this on up.

Jericho sighed as he went back to his hotel room. It had been quite the night, and he wasn't looking forward to the conversation he had to have with Stephanie. He couldn't keep that kiss a secret from her, because that was what caused problems, having secrets. He saw the bathroom light on and walked into the lavishly decorated bathroom. Stephanie was laying in the tub, her hair pinned up and lying on the headrest provided for her. Bubbles were everywhere and he went to kneel next to the tub, clearing his throat. She jumped and looked at him.

"Hey you," he said.

"Hey, I bet you're mad tonight," Stephanie said.

"Huh?" Jericho asked, wondering if she knew.

"You know, with Mick trying to get Austin back after you worked so hard to get rid of him."

"Oh, wow, I didn't even know about that," Jericho said, worrying too much about his own problems."

"Oh, why, got a lot on your mind," she smiled, "Wanna join me?"

"Tempting, but I don't feel like a bath."

"Who said anything about bathing," she winked.

"Steph, I need to talk to you," he said seriously.

She immediately noticed the mood change and commented, "What's wrong? Did something happen? Speaking of that, why did you do that with Trish? Did Daddy send his spies away?"

"About that," he gulped, "Um, I had to end it."

"Why?" she asked innocently.

"Trish kissed me."

"Duh, that's her job," Stephanie laughed, "Oh sweetie, I'm not jealous. I know it's acting."

"No Steph, she really kissed me, and told me that she had feelings for me."

"What the fuck!?!" Stephanie said, incensed.

"Yeah, um, I think she was just in a rut because we had just seen Christian and Lita, but yeah, she told me that."

"Oh my God..........." Stephanie was dumbfounded. How could Trish do that to her?

"I had to tell you because I love you and I didn't want to keep secrets from you."

"What did you do?" Stephanie dreaded his answer. If he said that he kissed her back, she would drown herself right here and now.

"I pushed her away immediately and left. I couldn't believe she did it, and I don't know what to do now."

"Um, maybe this was a fluke," Stephanie said uncertainly, "And she was confused, yeah, confused."

"Yeah........."

"Let's drop it for now, ok," she said, leaning back against the tub, "Just let it lie."

"Ok," Jericho nodded, knowing Stephanie was thinking hard. Great job, Jericho thought, I'm so sexy nobody can resist, which just adds another problem to Stephanie's pile, "I'll be in the living room."

"Fine," she nodded, "I'll be out soon."

Jericho kissed her forehead and then got up, feeling his knees crack from kneeling for a while. He went into the other room and sat down on the couch, wondering what Stephanie was thinking about. He picked up the phone and contemplated whom he should call. A friend maybe, to get this sorted out? Trish, perhaps, to let explain her actions? He settled on a number and dialed it by heart, having it burned into his brain.

"Hey Mom, I think I might need a ring."


	158. SmackDown, December 4, 2003

A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews, I still love them all.

I do have a question though: Are you guys still interested in this story? I know, odd question if you're reading this. I just worry because with a story this long, there's always the potential that it will get boring and stale. I don't want that to happen and I'd rather quit the story tomorrow than have everybody hate it.

Please, PLEASE let me know if you guys still like the story's direction.

Thanks in advance. :)

* * *

Oh, and if some of you are worried I'm jumping off the Jericho/Steph love train by asking this, I assure you, I'm still firmly seated on it, hell, I may be the damn conductor of the love train. ;)

Stephanie and Jericho stood at the check-in desk to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Stephanie lifted her sunglasses as she looked at the gigantic fish tanks that stood in the room. She put them back down as she turned back to Jericho who was just signing off on the suite they had gotten. Only the best for her after all, yeah, she was a little high maintenance, so what?

"Ok sir, here are your key cards to the room, you get two, if you want anymore just let us know," the hotel agent told him, handing him the voucher that held the keys.

"Yeah, I think we'll only need two, thanks," he said, taking them, and looking over at Stephanie, "Right?"

"Uh huh," she nodded.

"Did you need any assistance with your luggage?"

"No, we're good," Jericho said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, enjoy your stay," she smiled.

Jericho grabbed his bags and Stephanie pulled her suitcase as they walked to the elevator. They got on and put in their key card to get to the suites. They rode in silence, looking up at the numbers as the light changed as they passed ever floor. Jericho noticed that Stephanie had been pretty quiet since he revealed what had happened between him and Trish. Unusually quiet for Stephanie, usually she'd be flying off the handle at something like this.

"That chick at the counter was so flirting with you," Stephanie said rolling her eyes behind the sunglasses she had put on so she could remain somewhat inconspicuous.

Lucky for them there weren't a lot of wrestlers around, since Jericho was here doing a promotional thing for Spike TV. Of course Stephanie was with him, since she went everywhere with him. Not that he minded that, since he loved her and everything. He reached out his hand and took hers, stroking the back of it with his thumb. She took comfort from his presence and was relieved to hear the ding as they reached their floor.

"Nice digs," Jericho said, looking around.

"Yeah," Stephanie said, walking around, taking her sunglasses off so she could get a better view of the surroundings, "Oh my God, Chris, come here and look at the view!"

Jericho walked over to her as she stood there, looking at the incredible view the room afforded them. He wrapped his arms lightly around her waist and looked out onto the strip. She sighed contentedly against him and took in the view herself. Stephanie became mesmerized by it, the excitement she knew was going on below her. She laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" 

"I was just thinking," she said, covering her mouth as a giggle escaped.

"What about?" he asked, tilting his head to look at her.

"Oh, just you know, about Hunter."

Jericho looked at her, "What do you mean about Hunter? It's not very cool for me if you're thinking about your ex-husband when your boyfriend is standing right here."

"No, I was just thinking about when we got married, talk about your less than ideal situations," she laughed.

"Yeah, let's hope your next goes better right," he said, kissing the spot right below her ear.

"Yeah, let's hope," she said quietly.

Stephanie walked up to the window and stared out. She was trying to remain calm, but really, she was about two seconds away from going into freak-out mode. She had trusted Trish when she and Jericho had started this little game to throw her father off their trails. Trish was her friend and she knew that she wouldn't put any designs on her boyfriend. But she had been so wrong.

She thought back to this exact situation, three years ago. She was with Hunter, and Trish had tried to seduce him away from her. She remembered the scene she had walked into, with Trish bent over in front of HER husband, and the seething rage that had followed. Now it was happening all over again. And if she ever caught Trish bent over in front of Jericho, she might have to rip that skank's head off.

What was with Trish? Was she following Stephanie around, trying to steal away the men she loved? She couldn't help but think so at this point and time. She thought back and tried to remember what Jericho had called her so long ago, what was it, oh yeah, it was TRASH Stratus. Seems Trish was living up to her name right about now. She had thought the blonde had class, but seemed she was still lying on her back like a two-dollar ho.

Jericho watched her sadly. Why couldn't he and Stephanie just be a normal couple? Why couldn't they just lead normal lives, in a nice house, maybe with a baby, a dog, just normal? He had never wished for a normal life, it was always about wrestling, traveling, and that made him happy. Now that he was with Stephanie, he just wanted what everyone else had, that perfect life, but here he was, in his millionth hotel room, staring at his wearied girlfriend, who had too much on her mind.

Stephanie never stopped thinking, she never stopped worrying about the next move in the game that was her life. Just when she'd think she had it beat, when she knew her life was perfect, someone threw a wrench into her plans. She had tried so many times to stop thinking, to just live every moment as it happened, but Jericho saw her keen eyes, always observing, always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Stephanie wanted to be with Jericho on television again. It burned through her, that desire, that need to just be with him, to show people that he was hers. She hated not having control of anything in her life, and she had so little control right now, she couldn't even stop her friends from kissing her boyfriend.

"You want to talk?" he asked.

She turned away from the window, "I was thinking about getting some room service."

"Not about that Stephanie."

"Then what? Do we need extra pillows or something?" she said, walking across the room to the bedroom.

He followed her and grabbed her arm, "Stephanie, you haven't talked to me about.........things."

"What things?" she asked, playing dumb. If she ignored the problem, it would go away right?

Jericho frowned, "You know what things."

"Chris, it's not a problem, ok, I'm fine."

"Stephanie, you're not fine, and even if you were fine, I'm not fine."

She turned to him, "You're not fine?"

She didn't even begin to think about what he was feeling. God, she was so selfish, of course he would be feeling weird about the whole thing too. She had been so busy feeling sorry for herself that she hadn't even considered that Jericho had been the one who was actually kissed.

"No Stephanie, I'm not fine! Trish, my FRIEND, kissed me and told me she had feelings for me, how do you think I feel, I feel awful! I didn't want her to kiss me, that wasn't part of the plan, geez, she bought me a fucking jersey she liked me so much!" Jericho said, going on a rant, his arms flailing carelessly in the air.

"You.........didn't kiss her back did you?" she asked apprehensively, not knowing why she wanted to know the answer to that, but knowing that the question had to be asked.

Jericho stared her in the eyes, his gaze burning into her, the intensity of them causing her to shiver, "No."

"Ok," she nodded, then started spontaneously crying, "Why did she have to kiss you!?!"

"Oh baby," he said, pulling her into his arms.

She cried against his chest. She hated this. This vulnerable feeling, this feeling that Jericho was the only one who could really make her feel safe or strong. She needed him so badly, she needed him because God help her, he was under her skin in the worst way. He had infiltrated her whole being, and the thought of her being without him, the thought of losing him to Trish, was the most frightening thought to ever cross her mind.

"Why Chris? How could she do this to me? I thought she was my friend!" she sobbed.

"I know, I thought the same thing, but I don't know what's going through her mind."

"And then you're going to see her tonight, and I won't be there, and God, what if she kisses you again?" she said, pulling back, her eyes were wet, and darting around wildly.

"Steph, I will make sure that doesn't happen," he said, putting his hands on the sides of her face softly, wiping her tears away. Why was he the one who could do that? Why did she feel so much better when she felt his touch on her skin? His touch was cool against her flushed skin and she let him touch her and make her feel loved.

"But............" she trailed off.

"But nothing? Trash Stratus is nothing but a skanky whore and she doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you," he winked.

She laughed, despite the aching in her heart at the betrayal of a friend, "Yeah?"

"Yup, and she's the company dip you know? Everyone's had a taste, I'm sure some have even double-dipped."

She laughed loudly, "The company bicycle right?"

"Sure, she's on her back more than the Brooklyn Brawler."

She giggled, "She is."

"Yeah, and not to mention the fact you can kick her ass."

"I could."

She hugged him fiercely, knowing he was saying these things for the sole purpose of cheering her up. They didn't hate Trish, but they weren't very pleased with what she had done. She had betrayed them both, had known the truth and disregarded it, instead going after her own carnal desires.

"She was like my only female friend," Stephanie said, "Now I'm surrounded by guys again."

"Hey, it's not so bad is it? You get all the compliments, and all the attention, it's exactly what you need."

"Yeah," she said, smiling a little, "What do we tell Christian? Do we tell Christian?"

"That's your call."

"But you're the one she likes."

"Yeah, I know. I guess we'll leave it up in the air for now, is that ok with you? If you want to tell Christian, you can."

"I don't know, I don't want to break his heart," Stephanie said, "God knows we don't need two people moping around here."

"I love you."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I once fell down a flight of stairs and got a concussion because I slipped on toilet paper."

She looked up at him and burst into laughter. How did Jericho know the right thing to say to her at all times? How could he feel her mood before she could? He knew her head, which was a difficult undertaking, considering how complicated she was.

"Ok, yeah, I definitely didn't know that."

"Well, I don't normally tell people, considering it's embarrassing. I mean, I didn't see the paper and then I was on my back, not fun at all. I think Lance was with me at the time, first time I ever saw him laughing."

"Thank you for making me feel better."

"It's my job," he said proudly.

"No it's not, I should be adult enough about this to not start bawling like a three year old."

"Well, then I'd have no job whatsoever!"

"I can think of one job I'd need you to do," she said, raising an eyebrow seductively.

"Oh really?"

"Yup."

"I know what that is."

"I'm sure you do," she said, starting to pull him lightly into the bedroom.

She kissed him passionately, forgetting for the moment that things in her life were screwed up, forgetting about everything that made her want to crawl under a rock and die. He returned her kiss with a passion all his own and they moved quickly to the king-sized bed. They were on the bed when he pulled away, his lip slightly swollen where she had sucked on it.

"You need me to change light bulbs for you right?" he joked.

"Of course Chris, that's just what I need you for."

Trish sighed as she walked alone up to her room. She walked inside, it was nice enough for the night, before she headed back to Toronto for the rest of the week. She was feeling particularly lonely at the moment. She had made one of the biggest mistakes in her life, and it was haunting her every moment since she had made the error of kissing Chris Jericho.

She didn't know what had come over her, but the minute she had touched his lips with her own, she had known. She had known when she felt his body stiffen at the contact. He didn't kiss her back, didn't respond, had just pushed her off of him in disgust. It was then that she realized the magnitude of what she had done, of whom she had hurt. It wasn't even one person, or two, it was three people, and now she was alone.

She knew that Jericho was going to be at this awards thing tonight. They had been asked together, since people thought they were a couple. They had agreed, playing up the part. For Stephanie, that's why they were pretending, for Stephanie, the friend she had committed a horrible atrocity against. Trish knew; she had known for so long how Stephanie felt about Jericho. It didn't take a genius to see it, to catch the looks she sent him when he wasn't looking.

She hadn't meant to feel these things for Jericho. Yes, feel, not felt. They were still with her. She couldn't help it, these feelings were weird, and she couldn't explain them. Perhaps she was rebounding from Christian, maybe she was just lonely, but she felt something more than friendship with Jericho. She knew he didn't feel it, but she did, and it was killing her inside.

She didn't want to lose her friends. She remembered when she had first found about them, about the whole group of them. Seeing Stephanie coming down Jericho's stairs, as if she belonged there, talk about your surprises. The shock she felt as Jericho revealed Stephanie was his girlfriend, and Stephanie's sincere wish to be friends with Trish. Look what she had done now; she was a horrible person.

She needed to talk to someone, but didn't know a single person to call that would understand. She couldn't talk to Jericho or Stephanie, seeing as how they probably couldn't stand the sight of her. Christian was definitely out of the question. Shane was Stephanie's sister and would protect her with his life. Kurt was too close to Stephanie and Jericho, and Edge was Christian's brother. Weighing her options, she figured Edge was the safest bet. He had always been so cool-headed and he would know what to say. She got her cell phone and dialed his house.

"Hello?"

Damn, it was not a voice she wanted to here, "Christian?"

"Yeah, Trish is that you?" he asked.

"Yeah, it is, what are you doing there?"

"Oh, I was just over because I was bored, did you want to talk to Edge?" She could hear a twinge of disappointment in his voice, but tried to pretend that it wasn't there.

"Yeah, if that's ok with you?"

"Um, sure, hold on."

Trish could hear Christian's muffled yell for his brother and then a shuffling as the phone passed hands between the brothers, "Y'ello?"

"Edge?"

"Yeah, who is this? Jen?"

"No, actually, it's Trish, didn't Christian tell you?"

"Trish, Trish as in my brother's former Trish?"

"Yeah," she sighed as she was still identified as being Christian's.

"Hey you, what's up? Where the hell are you?"

"Vegas."

"Oh, going to lose your money on the tables? If you are, bet on 15 red for me."

"I'm here doing that video game thing," she explained.

"Oh yeah, good luck with that," Edge told her, "So really, why did you call, because you've got the 'I need to talk to someone' voice going."

"I need to talk to someone."

"Ok, I'm here, what's up?"

"I kissed Chris," she stated bluntly.

"Yeah, I've seen, Stephanie's getting a real kick out of it, I think she's getting you two engraved wedding invitations as a joke."

"I kissed him for real," she replied, softer than before.

She heard a crash and then a muttered curse. She figured that Edge had dropped the phone, and she didn't really blame him. She could hear Christian's voice and suddenly became terrified that he had heard. The phone was picked up at again, but she didn't hear anything for several moments.

"Edge?" she asked tentatively.

"Trish, how could you?" he hissed into the phone.

"Please, please tell me Christian didn't hear," she pleaded, hoping to God that he hadn't heard.

"No, I didn't have you on speaker or anything like that," he told her.

"Good, where are you?"

"Away from him. Trish, what the fuck happened?"

"I don't know, I'm just very............attracted to Chris."

"Fuck," Edge said, "And my brother?"

"I'm still in love with him," she confessed.

"He likes Lita," Edge stated, and by his tone, he though Trish knew this. She didn't, and she felt a lump rising in her throat.

"He likes Lita?"

"Oh shit, you knew that right, you had to know, I mean, oh my God," Edge said, switching places with Trish; him being the bearer of shocking news.

"No," she whispered.

"Trish, are you ok?"

"He likes her," Trish said, suddenly feeling like the one betrayed.

"You couldn't expect him to pine after you forever could you?" Edge said bitterly, "Come on Trish, give the guy a break. It's not like you weren't kissing other guys."

"I know," she told him, knowing he spoke the truth.

"You know you can't pursue those feelings for Jericho right?"

"Yeah," she said sullenly, "I don't know why I feel that way."

"Does Steph know?"

"I'm sure she does, Chris tells her everything."

"You're fucked," Edge said simply, "I'll have to find something black for your funeral."

"Edge, you're not helping!"

"Sorry Trish, but you're on your own here, I can't tell you what to do."

Stephanie reached for her cell phone as it played the familiar tune. Jericho rolled over onto his side as she sat up against the pillows. Jericho rubbed her bare thigh, running his hands in circles slowly, calmly. She looked at the display, making sure it was someone she wanted to talk to and smiling answered it.

"Kurt!" she said happily.

"Stephanie!" he said in the same jovial tone.

"Where are you? How are you?"

"Home, and ok."

"Just ok?"

"Yeah, and where are you?"

"Vegas," she said, "Chris had the thing."

"Oh yeah, fun, so you two are going to hit the strip tonight."

"We might," she told him, smiling over at Jericho, "I need to spend some cash to get my mind off of things."

"What things?" Kurt asked curiously.

Stephanie contemplated telling Kurt. He was her best friend and could offer her some advice on how to handle the situation. Not to mention he was part of the group and deserved to know when things changed between people, and things had definitely changed.

"Trish kissed Chris, like for real, and told him she had feelings for him."

"Whoa," Kurt said, obviously not expecting that, "I thought you were going to say something with your dad."

"No, that's still a no-go."

"Shit, Stephanie, are you ok?"

"I'm fine Kurt."

"You sure?"

"Uh huh."

"Geez, so Chris and Trish huh? I'm sorry beautiful, this must be so hard on you."

"He's not with her Kurt," Stephanie said.

"Oh..........Good."

"Did you really think that they were together?"

"Nah, no of course not," Kurt answered unconvincingly.

"Did he think I was with Trish?" Jericho asked from beside her. She nodded in response to his question.

"Kurt!" Jericho yelled, "I'm not with Trish."

"Oh, well, I guess he wouldn't be if he's right there."

"Baby, it's getting late," Jericho said, "I have to get to the venue so I can be ready."

"Ok," she said, leaning over to kiss him, "We still have reservations later?"

"Yeah, at Picasso in the Bellagio."

"Sounds good, so I'll meet you there at 10:30 for a late dinner."

"Yup," he said, getting out of bed and walking over to where his discarded boxers were lying.

Jericho got his things ready, getting ready to wrestle for the second time this week. He only needed his tights and a few other things and then he was off, giving Stephanie a peck on the cheek as she kept talking with Kurt. He walked downstairs and to the cab stand to get a cab to the MGM Grand.

"Mind if I share?"

Jericho turned to his right and saw Trish standing there, looking sheepish. Jericho's first instinct was to tell her to get the hell away from him. Yet, she looked so sad that he couldn't say no to her. He shrugged and got in the taxi. Figuring that wasn't a rejection, she climbed in after him. He told the cabbie their destination and that was the only thing he said the entire trip.

Trish glanced over at him as he stared out the window. She wanted to say something, anything to him, but whatever words she wanted to say fell dead at her lips. Being this close to him was unnerving and she scooted away from him, so she wouldn't do something stupid again. She couldn't afford to do anything stupid.

They reached the hotel, and Jericho paid got out of the cab as if it were on fire. Trish followed him quietly, not sure how to broach any kind of subject with him. Judging from his body language he didn't want to talk to her for the rest of his natural life. They got backstage and she saw Jericho go up to Victoria and say hello. He'd rather talk to Victoria than with her.

She walked around, looking for her dressing room and finally found it, and retreated to the safety it provided her. If she just stayed holed up in here all night, than she wouldn't have to face the shame and embarrassment that she had felt when she was with Jericho earlier.

Jericho hated how he had just treated Trish. He wasn't a bad guy, to his friends at least, and to shun one like he had done to Trish, it had been hard for him to do. He couldn't forgive her just yet for what she had done, but to ignore her and give her the silent treatment wasn't right, no matter how mad he was at her. He put his own things down and went off to search for Trish. They needed to talk.

Turns out she was just down the hall from him and he knocked on the door. Trish heard the rapping on the door and didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment so she simply curled up on the couch and ignored it.

"Trish," Jericho called out.

Trish's ears perked up and she made a run for the door, "Chris!"

"Hey," he said nervously.

"Hi," she said, looking down, too ashamed to look him in the face.

"What you did was wrong," he said, cutting to the chase.

"I know it was, I'm sorry," she said, "I don't know how I can say anymore, but I'm sorry."

"I just needed to tell you that," he said, turning to walk away. He couldn't even look at her in the face for more than a moment.

She shook her head and closed the door, yeah; she had definitely screwed up.

Jericho's match was filled with distractions and couldn't get his mind focused. This wasn't a normal match, but he wanted to go at it with the same intensity as he usually did. Easier said than done with Trish so close by, watching him. He didn't put the effort into his fighting, and let Mysterio get the upper-hand more than once, despite his size advantage. His mind was on Trish and how screwed up things had become with them, all because of one stupid, ill-timed kiss.

After the girls had barged in on their match, Jericho ran out of the area and backstage, so he could get ready as quickly as possible. Ok, and to make sure he didn't get caught up with Trish. He couldn't look at her, without feeling this horrible feeling of dread over him.

"Hi," a female voice came from next to him.

He turned to see a petite redhead, "Oh, hello."

"Chris Jericho right?"

"Yeah, and you are.........."

"Tara," she said, "I'm working the event, you were great out there, I love to watch you wrestle."

He smirked as he realized what this girl wanted, "Thanks."

"Yeah, I just, I'm a big fan, and I'm sure you get that all the time, but yeah, I just thought I'd put that out there."

"Again, thanks," he smiled.

"Chris!" Trish's voice came as she yelled from down the hallway.

Jericho turned, "Sorry Tara, I gotta run."

Jericho started walking away, cursing that he had gotten distracted enough to let Trish catch up to him. She ran full speed and grabbed his arm. He pulled from her grip and kept on walking. He was just to his door when she grabbed him again. This time he faced her.

"Trish, I'm not in the mood ok, I need to get ready."

"Chris, please, talk to me, I'm so sorry, I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"And were you thinking that when you kissed me?"

"I was wrong."

"Fuck yeah you were wrong. Do you know what Stephanie has been through, and to have you be so inconsiderate--"

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm an idiot ok. I don't need a fucking lecture."

"Trish, forget about it ok, I don't want to get into it, Steph is waiting and I want to go see her."

"Fine, can we please be friends again?"

Jericho reached for the doorknob, his hand resting on it, ready to turn around and open it, shutting Trish out. But he couldn't do that. Damn him and his good nature, it was times like these, he needed to be a cocky jerk, but Stephanie had turned him soft. He nodded his head slowly, much to her relief.

"Oh thank you Chris," she said, lunging at him for a hug.

Jericho, not expecting it, moved his hand, opening the door. Trish hugged him as they stumbled into the room. They were greeted with the wide-eyed expression of Stephanie, her eyes darting between the two of them.

"You fucking bitch!" she screeched.

"Oh my God," Jericho said under his breath, "Steph--"

"You fucking whore," Stephanie said dangerously, stalking towards Trish slowly, "Seems I can't leave my boyfriend alone for an hour without you trying to dive into his pants."

"Stephanie," Trish said, pulling away from Jericho and backing up, her back hitting the closed door, "It's not like that, I'm sorry."

"Oh, you should be sorry," Stephanie said, "You should be sorry you ever even thought to get with my boyfriend, I will rip you to shreds you bitch, and then I will feed you to the dogs."

Trish's eyes widened, "I just wanted--"

"Oh, I know what you wanted. You wanted to spread your whore legs. Well go spread them somewhere else, because if I ever catch you around my boyfriend again, I will personally see to it that you are fired!"

"Stephanie, calm down," Jericho said.

"Get out!" Stephanie said.

Trish just obeyed, scurrying away, not wanting to mess with Stephanie when she was angry. She had been on the end of this stick before, and she knew that messing with Stephanie was the last thing that she needed right now. She'd just wait a while and then apologize.

Stephanie couldn't hold a grudge for too long, could she?


	159. Raw, December 8, 2003

"Be careful tonight."

"Why, because of my match against the Dudleys?"

"No, be careful of Trish, she might accidentally fall into your arms again, or her lips might magically get stuck to yours," Stephanie said sardonically.

"Well, I will make sure that my hands, arms and lips are in their full and upright position, nowhere near anything of Trish's," he reassured her.

"Am I going overboard with this?" she asked thoughtfully, "I mean, am I not being nice enough about this?"

Stephanie was staring to feel a little bad for the way she acted towards Trish the other night. She had been more shocked then anything when Trish and Jericho had fallen into his room, her arms around him. She was reacting on adrenaline, and couldn't really be held accountable since her temper was always getting her in trouble. This time was no exception.

"Well, I'd act the same way if I saw you hugging someone that had feelings for you and that kissed you," he paused, "Hey, wait a minute, that IS how I reacted when I saw someone kiss you, except I broke up with you..........oh shit, you're breaking up with me!"

She giggled, "No, see unlike my counterpart, I don't go overboard, I just get mad."

"Oh whew, had me worried there for a second," he said, winking at her as he put a hand on his chest, "Ooh, it's beating so fast."

"You're so weird."

"So are you, I mean, what are you doing, knitting?" he asked, looking over at her as she sat on their bed.

"No, I'm sewing, big difference," she said, holding up something she was sewing. It looked like a napkin to Jericho.

"When the hell did you become Susie Homemaker?" he asked, leaning over to watch her work, "Your stitch is uneven."

"I'm just trying to find a hobby or something that I can take with me when I'm traveling with you. You're not here most of the night and I have to keep myself occupied in some way."

"Oh," he nodded, realizing she had a point, "Are you teaching yourself?"

"No, I told you my grandmother taught me, remember?."

"Oh, yeah, well you might not want to have so much space between your stitches next time," he pointed out, "I'm sure you know that, but in case you don't."

"You know how to sew?" she asked.

"Well, you know, when I was first starting out in the business I didn't have someone who designed my outfits for me."

"Obviously, judging by your outfits," she sniggered.

He gave her a look, "Shut up, I was poor, I needed to fix and mend my own clothes."

"Aww, she said, well then luckily my dad gave you a job then, we wouldn't want you to be poor again."

"Yeah, feel sorry for me, pity me and all that good stuff."

"Oh I will, trust me," she said sarcastically.

Trish sat in her locker room glumly. She had lost practically all her friends over the past week, and she wanted so badly to go back in time and never kiss Jericho. What had she been thinking? Seriously, she must've been suffering from temporary insanity. Jericho loved Stephanie, Stephanie was her friend, she loved Christian. God help her how she loved Christian. But now they were all gone, because of one of her stupid mistake.

Well, Christian was gone for another reason. He had realized that he liked Lita. She had broken up with him, so it was well within reason that he should find someone new. She just didn't realize how much it would hurt when it happened, and it hurt so badly that she felt like she was being stabbed repeated through her already broken heart.

She shouldn't have expected him to just sit there and pine away for her. She wouldn't have wanted him to do that. She had been the one who had sent him away and she had to accept the fact that the reason she wasn't with him was because of her. They had made progress a couple of weeks ago. If you called having sex and making out progress, but the feel of him in her arms again had surpassed the feelings of betrayal that had previously occupied her heart.

But she of course had pushed him away, thinking that it was the right thing to do. She had pushed him into the arms of one of her friends, and he had taken to Lita in the worst way. When Edge had let it slip that Christian liked Lita it was like the final nail had been driven into her heart. As if it wasn't bad enough that he cheated on her, he had to turn around and go after one of her best friends. Life sucked right now, and Trish was feeling so lost.

"Hey Trish," Lita said as she walked back into the locker room with a couple of water bottles in hand, "Here you go."

"Thanks Li."

"No problem, so have we figured out what we're going to do?"

"Do for what?" she asked, her mind elsewhere.

"With the guys, after what they said last week, I mean, we can't let them get away with it can we?"

Trish thought back to the disaster that was last week. She didn't want to go back to it; didn't want to even think about it. What they had said, what Lita had heard, wasn't true. There was no bet, there was only an escape for Jericho, an escape from her. She had promised to help get Stephanie her job back, and thought she was being a good friend. She was a terrible, terrible friend. She was even jealous of Lita and Christian, and that made her even more terrible.

"We just be mad at them I guess," she shrugged, not knowing of anything else to say.

"I'm still pissed off about it," Lita told her, malice in her voice, "Can you believe that? I mean, using us just to see who can win a stupid bet?"

Trish wanted to set her friend straight, but in order to do that, a lot of questions needed to be addressed, and answers she couldn't provide. There was so much shit that went down that people didn't know about, would never know about. Would anyone even believe that Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon were in love and had been for the past year and a half? She knew it would turn a lot of heads.

She didn't want Lita to see Christian in a bad light, not if Christian really liked her, "Li, you know, Christian isn't a bad guy."

"Are you kidding me?" Lita said, "First he cheats on you, then he shows that he's using me to win a stupid bet."

"He makes mistakes," she sighed, "This is one of those mistakes."

"Trish, be reasonable, the guy is scum, I mean, this dates back for a long time. He turned on his own brother for God's sakes!"

"Yeah, so what?" Trish snapped, "I've made mistakes, plenty of them, but I'm not a bad person am I?"

"No, but Trish, look at the situation," Lita said softly, "You have to look at the situation."

"Just don't count him out ok? Cause he'll surprise you, when you least expect it, he'll surprise you with something incredible."

Lita could sense an air of sadness come over Trish, the blonde suddenly becoming reserved, "What about you and Chris?"

"What about us?"

"Is there any hope for you two?"

She sat there glumly, "None, he's in love with someone else."

Trish snapped up as she had said that. She hadn't meant that to escape her lips. She mentally berated her own stupidity. Lita looked at her curiously, not expecting her to say that of all things. She thought if anything that Jericho was at least sincere some of the time. The way he looked at her, she thought she had actually seen something.

"Really?"

"No," Trish said, "I mean, I don't know."

"Wow, I never would've guessed," Lita said, "I wonder who it is."

"I was just making a guess really. I just get the feeling he's in love with someone else."

"I'm sorry," Lita said, hugging Trish, "I know that you really liked him."

"Yeah," she said, partly speaking the truth, partly lying, "I did."

"Well, we can be mad together."

"Ok," Trish said, pulling away from her, "We'll be mad together."

"You know the one question I would've loved to ask Chris that you should've asked?" Lita said, thinking for a moment.

"What?"

"I always, sorta kinda wondered, I mean, I'm probably crazy or something with this, but I can't help it--"

"Just say it."

"Do you think he ever slept with Stephanie McMahon?" Lita asked, "I know, stupid question, they hated each other. But you know, when they were together for a while, I kind of always got the vibe that they were doing it. God, now I'm embarrassed for asking that, it's just with their history, one has to wonder.........."

If only Lita knew the truth. Of course Jericho and Stephanie had slept together. They'd been sleeping together for a long time. Had they been together when they were business partners? No, they hadn't, thought it was only a matter of time before they just gave in. Who knew what would've happened if Stephanie hadn't left.

"Actually, I don't think they did," Trish said.

"Oh, yeah, I know it was stupid, they hated each other. I mean, they did hate, because they went out a little while back, but only for a few weeks. I guess they got sick of each other or something."

"Yeah."

Trish was getting mighty uncomfortable and since Lita had turned to her bag, she thought it safe to leave for a while. She got up silently and walked out of the room, wondering where she could go now that she had left the last friend she had. She ended up wandering up and down the hallways, making idle chit-chat with some of the guys, but she always felt somewhat uncomfortable around them.

She saw Christian up ahead, sitting on one of the large crates that dotted the hallways. He was reading some sort of book, and though she didn't want to disturb him, she just wanted to be around him. To reassure herself that maybe, deep down he did still care about her, despite the fact that he had moved on.

"Good book?" she asked, standing next to the crate.

Christian, startled, looked up, "Oh hey."

Christian didn't really feel like being around Trish right now. After he had realized that he really did love her, and only liked Lita, he hadn't known how to act around Trish. He wanted her back, but he didn't know how to do that after she had practically thrown him down last time they had something going. He put down his book and patted the spot next to him. She hopped on and they sat silently for several minutes.

"I talked to Edge," she said.

"I know. I answered the phone remember."

"Oh yeah," she laughed, though there was no humor behind it.

"So what'd you talk about?"

"Things," Trish answered, not really wanting to get into it.

"Oh, things huh?"

"Yeah, I just felt like he was the only one I could talk to."

"You know you can talk to me," he said, a little envious that she had run to Edge with her problems.

"I know, but this needed an impartial judge," she revealed, "So Edge told me something interesting."

"He did?"

"Yeah, he basically told me that you like Lita," Trish said, giving him a gentle nudge with her shoulder.

"He told you that!?!" Christian asked, alarmed. He hadn't meant for Trish to find that out. He didn't know how she would react to the news, and he wasn't even really sure about his feelings for her. He was attracted to her, sure, but he wasn't in love with her like he was Trish. He was going to have to kill his brother when he went home the next day.

"Yeah, I mean, it's good news," Trish said.

"It is?" he asked, again in shock.

"Yeah, I mean, we couldn't pretend like there was nobody else we could go out with forever could we? I think it's good that you're moving on. It makes me wanna go out there and date again."

Christian didn't like the lump that formed in his throat as she talked about dating again. A retort, or a plea rather, was on his lips, but died before he could say it. He swallowed the lump down, realizing he was fighting a losing battle. Trish wasn't his anymore, no matter how desperately he wished to reach out and hold her to him. Just to touch her, to feel her soft, silky blonde hair, to kiss her soft lips. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, feeling Trish's presence way too close for comfort.

"Good luck with that," he said.

"Yeah, good luck with Lita. I tried to put in a good word for you, she wasn't having it, but I think with time, she may forgive you," Trish said, hopping back off the crate, "Just don't screw it up you hear?"

"I'll try not to."

Watching her walk away, Christian felt the urge to run after her, sweep her in his arms and just take her away from here and make her see that he was the right guy for her, not any other guy who cam into her life. He resisted that urge, difficult though it was, he couldn't restrict her from her life. He couldn't hold onto her like she was some pet of his. She was a person and he couldn't give her what she needed.

Trish glanced back at Christian who was staring at her, watching her go. Why was it so hard to let him go? Her other boyfriends had been so easy to get over, and most of them hadn't been jerks who cheated on her. Not that Christian was always a jerk. He was actually really sweet when he wanted to be. Where had that Christian gone?

"Watch where you're going miss," a voice said in front of her.

Trish turned to see Jericho standing in front of her. She was about a half a foot away from bumping into him. He looked good tonight. He had probably just been with Stephanie, causing his good mood. She gave him a wistful smile and he returned which surprised her a little. She expected harsh words and dirty looks, not cordiality.

"Can we go somewhere and talk?" Jericho asked.

She hadn't been expecting that, "I'd like that."

"Cool, come on, my locker room's just down here," he said, nodding a few feet ahead of him.

She followed him as he opened the door to let her in first. He walked in afterwards and closed the door. She wondered what he could possibly want. She had a strange feeling it might involve him telling her that if she ever revealed his and Stephanie's secret that they would make her life a living hell. She sighed as she sat down, expecting the yelling to start, not that she didn't deserve it, she did deserve a tongue-lashing.

"How are you?" he asked, sitting at a safe distance across the room.

"I'm ok, a little sad, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"Good."

"Chris, I'm sorry for what happened on Thursday, I didn't know Stephanie was going to be there."

"Neither did I," he laughed, "I was supposed to meet her later a restaurant, but you know with Stephanie it's always her way or no way."

"I hope she doesn't hate me."

"Oh, she pretty much despises you," he said, allowing himself a laugh, "I don't blame her either, I think she's justified."

"She is," Trish nodded, "What I did was wrong."

"It was very wrong, but I'm not going to hold that against you," Jericho told her, "You're my friend, and to lose a friend after a stupid mistake is just not my style. It'll take a lot more for you to lose me as a friend. Say if you drugged me and then had sex with me, then I might not want to be your friend anymore."

She giggled, "Got it. But Stephanie?"

"Stephanie needs time to get over things. You know how she is. She gets pissed, but eventually that'll fade and she'll want to be your friend again."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"I'm not mad, I'm sorta flattered that you like me, but that's it Trish. I love Stephanie and I would never do anything to hurt her."

"Wouldn't being my friend hurt her?" Trish asked.

"Ok, see, Stephanie and I, I know this is shocking, we're two different people, and I can make my own decisions. She can't tell me who to be friends with just as much as I can't tell her what to do. If I want to be your friend, that's final."

"I'm glad you're so understanding. I have to say it's very much unlike you."

He laughed, "When you're with Stephanie for a long period of time, you realize that one of you has to be the calm one."

She laughed as well, glad to have her friend back. She was glad he could look past her mistake and realize that she was a good friend. He was a good friend too, willing to overlook that mistake, and even willing to be her friend when he knew she was attracted to him. Though that's all it was, attraction, Christian still occupied much of her heart.

"I want to go ahead with the plan Chris," Trish said, "I want to help you get Stephanie's job back. If I can help with that, then maybe it'll help me get her back as a friend."

"Trish, I don't know, she would be pretty pissed," Jericho said uneasily, thinking about the kind of screeching Stephanie could do when she was mad.

"But I want to help you get her job back, at any cost," she told him.

"Ok, here, you can help me, we can see how it plays out alright. But let's cool it off for just a little while, just to give Stephanie some time to not be so mad, because I don't want to feel her wrath. It ain't pretty, and I don't want to be on the receiving end. So let's play like you're mad at me, and Stephanie will calm down if we don't have so much contact with each other."

"Ok, but how will she feel when she finds out we're back to our old plans, or at least to what she thinks the plan is?"

Jericho thought for a moment, "Just leave that to me ok. I know how to deal with her. So tonight, I guess I'll try to apologize, and you can reject me or something alright?"

"Get Christian in on the action, Lita really is pissed with him."

"Great, that's the last thing he needs, another diva out to get him," Jericho laughed.

Trish rolled her eyes, "I better go, see you in a while then."

"Yeah, I'll even go buy you some flowers," he told her grinning.

"Oh Chris, you really don't have to," she said, getting up and punching him lightly in the arm. She looked down for a minute, her eyes trained on the floor, "Thank you for not hating me."

"Hey, the only people I hate are those who have deliberately hurt Stephanie, and you are not among those people, so don't worry about it."

"But thanks again."

Jericho watched her go, and then sat there for a minute. Stephanie was going to kick his ass if faked a relationship with Trish again. She would pound him so hard, she'd probably knock his teeth out and then he'd have to go to SmackDown to team up with Benoit and become the Toothless Aggressors. He shuddered at the thought and ran his tongue over his teeth protectively. Well, if all went well, Stephanie wouldn't be so mad and he and Trish could get her, her job back.

Oh he was so getting his ass kicked.

He got up and ran a hand through his hair, a calming action he did when he was nervous. He went off to search for Christian, to get him to come out there with him tonight since they had been partners in crime so to speak in this whole little fake scenario. He found him leaning against the wall while sitting on a crate.

"Yo Christian!" Jericho yelled out jogging over to him.

"Yeah?"

"You, me, the store, now," he said.

"Why?"

"We have to do something."

Christian followed Jericho wordlessly as they headed for Jericho's rental car. Hopping inside, they drove to the nearest florist where they each picked up a bouquet of roses. Christian looked at Jericho perplexed, wondering if this was some sort of surprise for Stephanie that he had no clue about.

"Um," Christian said, "Are these for Stephanie?"

"No, mine are for Trish and yours are for Lita," Jericho explained slowly, as if Christian were a child that couldn't understand large words.

"Why?"

"Because we are going to play nice for a while ok, we can't just go out there after what we said last week, we have to resolve it. And I know you like Lita so just apologize."

"Why are you apologizing to Trish?" Christian asked.

"Look, here's the deal ok, but you don't speak a word of this to Stephanie, swear?"

"Yeah," Christian said, wondering if this was going to be bad news, "Um, please, PLEASE tell me you're not with Trish."

"Oh God no, I know you still love her. We're playing up the couple thing because we want to appear like the real deal for Vince."

"Vince?" Christian asked, getting more confused as the moments passed.

"Yeah, if we look like we're together, than it looks like I don't care about Stephanie and that I love Trish. Then Trish will 'ask' me to ask Vince to get Stephanie's job back, and since I'm so smitten for Trish, and Vince will believe that, maybe he would do it for me, since he likes me so much."

"Wow," Christian replied, in awe, "I'm impressed."

"Thanks, now let's get back to the arena and apologize our hearts out."

"Trish is going to beat on you isn't she?"

"Yup," Jericho said, "And I'm sure Lita's going to do the same thing to you."

"Great."

And so it did happen that way. Jericho put on a great performance, but he had to admit that all the props belonged to Trish, who played the jilted girl to a tee. Even doing the indignant head turn. He had to giver her major kudos on her performance, Oscar-worthy really. He ducked as she started hitting him with the flowers, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He could tell she was trying not to have fun either, but they were, it was just such a silly interaction.

Until the Dudleys came out and ruined their fun. Jericho had to go into match mode and put his focus on the match, knowing that Trish and Lita were watching. Jericho put his all into the match, as usual, but much like usual, he came up short. Well, his team came up a little bit short, but nothing unusual there. Jericho sometimes longed to be back on top of the company, the belts on his shoulder, the woman he loved on his arm. He only realized it in hindsight, but he really had been on top of the world during his title reign, even having Stephanie with him.

Trish didn't want to go up there and head-butt her friend, but she saw no other choice as Lita was eager to hit Christian where it hurt. She completed the move quickly, sliding out of the ring, trying to give an apologetic look to Jericho as she did it. She saw he was bleeding from the mouth and she worried about him, but she was sure Stephanie would take care of that.

Jericho licked his lips, tasting the coppery fluid. Just great, now he was bleeding. He went to Christian as they walked up the ramp, mutually deciding to go complain to Bischoff. Yeah, they were tattlers, but they could back it up in the ring, most of the time anyways. Their complaining somehow led to a match against Lita and Trish at Armageddon. Jericho looked apprehensive, he didn't want to fight women, that seemed wrong. Yeah, he had fought with Chyna, but come on, she was Chyna, she could more than handle herself in the ring.

He looked to Christian, who was putting on a front of his own, except his was more overt. They walked out of the office, pretending to be happy, but in actuality, they were pissed about the whole thing. Jericho didn't want to fight with women who were smaller than him, and he didn't want to fight against his friend. Christian had an even bigger problem, he was fighting against a woman he liked and the woman he loved. How could he possibly go through with a match like that, where he might have to hurt two women that he actually cared about?

"Fucking shit," Jericho muttered, "Fucking shit."

"Dude, this sucks," Christian added.

"Damn right it sucks," Jericho said, "Look I'm going to go find Trish and tell her, you gonna be ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me," Christian said.

"Ok," Jericho said, taking off to go find Trish.

"Chris, where's the fire?" Trish asked from her locker room.

He quickly went inside, and she closed the door quickly, "Did you just hear about our match for Armageddon?"

"You mean yours and Christians?" she asked, "No."

"No, it's not just me and Christian. It's Christian and I against you and Lita."

"No way," she dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand.

"I'm serious Trish."

"I have to fight against my friend and the guy I--Well against Christian?" she asked in indignation.

"Yeah, God, how can I go through with this? I don't want to hurt you guys, this was so NOT part of the plan."

"We'll think of something," she said to him, "Even if we have to do something stupid, we'll think of something, I mean we have--"

There was a knock on the door and Trish looked to Jericho. He shrugged and she motioned for him to hide. He spun around in a circle, thinking of an appropriate place to hide, considering the bathroom wasn't connected with this locker room. He ducked behind the couch, as Trish went to open the door. Her eyes widened as she saw who was on the other side.

"Rock!" she exclaimed.

"The one and only," Rock said to her, taking off his sunglasses, "And let The Rock say you are looking beautiful this evening."

She blushed, "Thanks."

"I saw what the roody-poo candy ass Jericho did to you last week and this week and I have to say that makes The Rock angry that Jericho would take advantage of someone as beautiful as you are," he said, running a hand down her cheek.

Jericho scowled. He wasn't a roody-poo candy ass. Rock was just a huge assclown!

"Wow, thanks Rock," Trish said, smiling slightly, "That's so sweet."

He leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers in a sweet, chaste kiss. She wasn't expecting it, but found herself kissing him back, just like she had so long ago when he had saved her and she had thanked him. That was almost two years ago, but she still remembered it. Christian happened by the locker room and saw them kissing and turned to flee, suddenly feeling nauseous.

Trish finally pulled away slowly, "Wow."

"Yes, wow."

"Wow," Trish said again.

"Looks like the lovely Trish can't get enough of The Rock."

She laughed, "Seems not."

"Well, if Trish ever wants to go out, you let the Rock know, ok?"

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"Later," Rock winked before putting his sunglasses back on and leaving.

Trish closed the door slowly as Jericho emerged from behind the couch. She looked somewhat dazed as she turned around, a star-struck look in her eyes. Jericho went up to her and just laughed, looking at her face.

"Don't tell me you're falling for The Rock."

She snapped out of it, "Well, before I ever kissed you, I kissed him."

"Who haven't you kissed?" he joked.

She slapped his arm, "Jerk!"

Christian sat with his head in his arms. That scene, it was so very wrong, and it disgusted him to no end. Seeing Trish's lips on another guy, who wasn't playing a part, was sickening. And he was sickeningly jealous of Rock. He should just go up and kiss her, but he was such a chicken. He sat there until Jericho came to get him to go watch the girl's match.

Christian stood out there, pretending to be interested in the match. He kept his eyes trained on Trish, wondering what she saw in The Rock. He was an arrogant, cocky bastard. Oh God, he had just described himself. So if he was just like The Rock, he should be able to get back Trish, right? Wrong, she hates you, he thought.

"Dude, could you look any more pathetic," Jericho whispered to Christian.

"I do not!" Christian protested.

"Stare at Trish a little more longingly, I don't think the guy in the last row can tell.........oh wait, yeah, he can tell."

Christian ignore Jericho's comments, focusing back on the match. Jericho kept whispering nonsense to him, but he wasn't listening, just giving an occasional appeasing answer to the blonde man. Trish lost the match and he was disappointed for her. He was secretly rooting for her.

"You should go help her," Jericho teased, whispering to him again.

Christian smirked. If only it were that simple. If only him going out there and helping her up after she had fallen would make things suddenly right for him. If only he hadn't seen her with The Rock earlier. If only he hadn't cheated on her.

If only he hadn't broken her heart.

"You against Trish huh?"

Jericho looked at Stephanie, who was still sewing, though he noticed a Band-Aid on one of her fingers, "Yeah."

"Get in a few good hits for me then," she said, laughing.

"Steph," he said, his tone a mixture of affection and exasperation.

"Oh come on, I'm allowed to be mad at her."

"I'm not going to hurt her for you."

"You're no fun."

"I may be no fun, but here's an interesting tidbit. The Rock kissed Trish tonight."

"Seriously."

"Yeah, seriously."

"Well, I guess she really is the company dip."


	160. SmackDown, December 11, 2003

A/N: Ok, I think I was just a tad bit harsh in my last author's note. Brian, I'm sorry it seemed like I attacked you. I really wasn't, I just don't like the concept of being told what to do.

And since I was kinda harsh, I'm totally using your suggestion, so thank you. :)

I wish my "SmackDown" chapters weren't so off the charts from the show, but I really don't have anything to say about them, because none of my base characters are on it. So I'm really sorry that these seem to just go off in their own world. But well, at least Jericho really is performing tonight with Fozzy in New York lol. ;)

Stephanie loved the frantic pace of the city, it was so much like her life, constantly going. Or at least how her life used to be, before she had been kicked out of the company. Before, she'd always be working on something to make the show better, making sure she was on top of her game. Nowadays she was in a stalemate, no hustle, no bustle, just sitting back and watching the traffic pass her by.

She appreciated her new existence on some level. Some small, miniscule level that she couldn't fully comprehend yet, but she knew, it could be worse. She could be alone, she could be all alone and then she would enter the annals of pathetic. But she wasn't alone, thankfully, and she at least had someone who pulled her along with them.

She had Jericho.

She smiled to herself. She could get used to this life, in time. She could learn to be laid-back, to be late to something, to not rush around like the house was on fire and she only had a few minutes to gather up all her things. She had time to think about things, to contemplate things that she couldn't contemplate before. In some aspects she was happy.

She could even say she was happy to be away from the company.

She, after all, didn't have any of the complications that came with working. She didn't have anyone to worry about but herself and Jericho. Vince wasn't lurking over her shoulder analyzing her every move. Her ex-husband wasn't hovering around, flaunting what she lost in front of her face. She didn't have any of those extra worries that used to riddle her brain and wake her up in the middle of the night, with the urge to go work on her laptop. Jericho would never know how many nights she would wake up and just watch him sleep, so peacefully, because he could.

One day she hoped to have that peaceful kind of sleep.

So here she sat, at a little coffee shop in New York, the big city, sipping her latte slowly. She just soaked in everything, watching the city go by in front of her. She felt relaxed for once. She didn't have that added worry that usually afforded her on these Thursdays when SmackDown was on. She didn't feel that familiar dread creep into her brain at the thought of what she must be missing at that exact moment.

She must be getting over it.

She gave a small laugh as she watched a couple of kids walking with their mother, going into a nearby toy store. Yeah, she was getting over the company slowly. Sure, it would always be in her blood, but it didn't need to be her life anymore. She didn't need to live, breathe, and die the company, and that afforded her an immense amount of comfort.

Her cell phone rang and she picked up, still smiling, "Stephanie McMahon."

"Hey there stranger."

"Hi Edge," she said happily, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm at this coffee place in New York."

"New York huh? And what are you doing there?"

"Chris is doing a concert tonight," she explained, "So here I am, riding along his coattails once again."

"Remaining incognito of course," he replied.

"You know me," she said, as she unconsciously adjusted her sunglasses.

"I hope you're nice and bundled up."

"It's not too bad actually," she told him, "Well, kind of, compared to Florida."

"So where are you again?"

"Coffee shop, it was like right outside our hotel, and looked nice enough," she told him.

"Good to know," a voice whispered right behind her ear.

Stephanie turned around sharply and was greeted with a gorgeous set of pearly whites. She let out a small squeal and stood up quickly, almost spilling her coffee on herself. She set her cup down and hugged Edge tightly, not believing that he was actually here in New York with her. He hugged her back just as tight.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as he pulled away.

"I was sick and tired of being at home, so I decided to come here and be with my friends. And it was no easy feat trying to track you down."

She laughed, "Sit, sit."

He pulled up a chair and sat down across from her, "So you like your little surprise?"

"I love it," she told him, "Does Chris know you're here?"

"Yeah, I just went up to see him at the hotel. He was in the gym, I guess trying to get ready for his match on Sunday," Edge said, snickering to himself.

"Oh, so of course you know about the match?"

"Well, my brother won't stop talking my ear off about it. He really doesn't want to hurt either of them."

"I know, Chris doesn't want to hurt them either," Stephanie answered, and Edge picked up on the strange tone of her voice.

"But I'm sure you'd love to get your hands on Trish."

"I wouldn't be against it," Stephanie said, "I'm still mad at her."

"You know, I'm not taking sides here by any means, but I think Trish knows she made a mistake and I'm sure she's really sorry about it."

"Yeah, that doesn't change the fact that she did it," Stephanie countered, "You can't understand Edge, you're not a girl, it's different."

"Ok," he said raising up his hands in surrender, "I'm not going to argue with you. I'm just letting you know that she does feel bad about it."

"Thank you for letting me know then," she told him, rolling her eyes, "So you're coming with me tonight to the concert I assume?"

"Yeah, but don't expect me to stay with you all night, no offense Steph, but I'm going to want to check out the girls who are attending tonight. I figure if they have enough sense to like one long-haired, blonde Canadian, they could like another one just as easily."

"So you're just banking off of Chris's appeal?" she joked.

"Hey, whatever works right?"

"Sure," she answered, taking another sip of her coffee, "I'm glad you're here."

"Well, I needed a break you know. And I finally got to do a little traveling, it's been WAY too long since I really got to do anything. I didn't want to aggravate my neck again," he told her, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Perfectly understandable."

"So what do you say you take that coffee to go and we go do a little Christmas shopping or something, I've got presents I need to buy."

"Oh, presents for me?"

"Maybe, but I'm not going to buy one while you're with me, that spoils all the fun."

"Ok, but I'll just drop you subtle hints along the way."

"Yeah, I have a feeling these won't be that subtle."

She laughed and went to get her coffee in a to go container as Edge ordered a coffee of his own. As soon as they were through with that they set out to do a little shopping. Stephanie didn't know what she was going to get Jericho for Christmas. She knew he always said that he would love whatever she got him, but she still wanted to get him something he'd love.

"I don't know what to get Chris," she said, turning to Edge as they walked down the street.

"Hmm," he thought, "I'm sure you could get him some nice lingerie, I'm guessing he'd have no problem with that as long as you were wearing it."

She shook her head, "That will be my present of last resort."

"Oh come on, you're telling me he wouldn't want to see you in some skimpy little nighty or something, you're crazy."

"I'm just saying there has to be something better out there for a gift. Not to mention if I was going to go that route I'd just give him me naked, that's what the end result would be anyways."

"Can that be MY Christmas present?" Edge asked, batting his eyelashes comically.

"Of course, you just wait up Christmas night ok, in your bedroom and wait for me, ok?"

He laughed, "Yeah, and you'll never show up."

"Oh, I would, and handcuff you to the bed and steal all your clothes, isn't that how it works?"

"Glad to know even my own friend is willing to screw me over."

"See, I will be screwing you, just not the kind you want," she winked, "Besides, aren't there tons of girls you've already been bedding?"

"A gentlemen never tells................but I'm no gentlemen and yes, there have been lots of girls willing to give me a little TLC, and not the kind I'm used to."

She just laughed, "You're too much."

"Well, I guess I'm just not cut out to be like Chris or Christian, being with the same woman all the time, I think I'd get tired of it."

"Oh, so you're saying that Chris should be tired of me?"

Edge looked caught, "No, of course not, that's not what I meant, all I meant was, you know, that it's not for me, not that you aren't great, and I'm sure that Chris isn't sick of you or yeah..........feel free to relieve me of my embarrassment at any moment Steph."

"Nah, I'm having fun hearing you ramble," she said, dragging him into a store.

Edge looked around, "This isn't your usual fare Steph, I mean, once upon a time yeah, but, um, what are we doing here?"

"Well, I thought I should dress appropriately for Chris's concert tonight."

"Oh, can't you just wear what you're wearing?"

She looked down to her jeans and t-shirt, "No, I want something sexy and preferably vinyl."

"Ok," he said, "Do you and Jericho have a thing for vinyl? You know what, don't answer that."

She laughed as she looked through the racks of clothing deciding on the perfect outfit for tonight. She knew that Jericho sometimes got a little wild during these concerts and she wanted to look the part. She wanted to knock him off his socks. He'd never know what hit him.

She perused through the clothes, Edge pointing out different things. She found a short leather skirt that looked great on her that she decided to get. She also found a mid-driff baring spaghetti strap tank top. She figured that would be fine to wear tonight considering it would probably get warm in the club. She also found a body-length vinyl jacket that she adored. She also found some knee high leather boots.

"You know, I'm starting to feel like my old self," Stephanie said as they walked out the door.

"How so?"

"Well you know, with me dressing all slutty and stuff, always in vinyl and leather, you know, like how I used to be."

"You mean when Chris hated you," he laughed.

"Well, if you want to put it like that, then yes, when Chris hated me."

"How do you know he didn't hate you because of your clothes, I mean, he did call you a slut. Maybe if you dress like this, he'll think you're a slut again."

"It wasn't because of my clothes, he told me why it was, not to mention that he loved my outfits that I wore, I know that for a fact."

"And that's probably another thing that I could do with knowing the details of."

"I wasn't going to tell you anyways," she said, nudging him on the shoulder.

"Hey, how about we grab a bite to eat before we go back to the hotel?" he asked, looking at the menu to a little Italian place.

"Sure," she said, going inside.

The place was packed, so it had to be popular. Edge and Stephanie waited a few moments before being seated. They ordered quickly, both finding things on the menu that looked appealing. Edge smiled at Stephanie across the table and she couldn't help but feel that he had questions on the tip of his tongue.

"Is something on your mind Edge?" she asked.

"No, well, yeah, I was just wondering how you were doing?"

"I'm fine," she said.

"Ok," he nodded.

"Why do you think I'm not fine?"

"No reason, I didn't say you weren't fine," he answered defensively.

"You're asking because of SmackDown aren't you?"

"Well yeah, and you know the outfits, it's kind of like you're regressing back to your former self or something."

"Since when did you take psychology?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, since I hurt my neck, I've had time to go get my doctorate, so just call me Dr. Edge, lay on a couch and spill your problems," he shot back.

"I'm actually fine, I think for the first time in a long time, I'm really fine with not being on the show. Chalk it up to actually having time to think."

"What about last time you were kicked out?"

"I was too bitter at Hunter to do anything about it," she shrugged.

"And this thing with Chris and Trish, how about that? How are you and Chris?"

Edge was concerned, as any good friend should be. He knew Stephanie had never had it easy, not with anyone. Even with Jericho he wouldn't say it was easy. He just wanted to make sure she wasn't putting on a front. He figured that he was the most neutral party of everyone in their group.

"Chris and I are fine Edge, what are you insinuating? That he would leave me for Trish?"

"No! Of course not," he said firmly.

"Well, that's how it sounded to me!"

"No, I just wanted to make sure things were cool. I'm just looking out for you."

"I'm fine, we're fine Edge," she said testily.

Their food came then and they ate silently, Stephanie glaring at her food. What had Edge meant by what he said? Did he actually think that Jericho would betray her and go for Trish. She stabbed her food angrily, hoping that it wouldn't come to that or Trish might get a fork stuck in her...........

"I'm sorry I brought it up, I know that you guys are cool."

"We are," she said, "We have no reason not to be."

"Ok," he said.

They went back to eating and when the check came, Edge insisted on paying it, even though Stephanie gave in a protest. They took a cab back to the hotel and parted ways, saying they would meet each other in a couple hours to go to the club for Jericho's Fozzy show.

She got up to her room and looked around. She could tell it was empty; it was too quiet. Jericho never did anything quietly and if he was anywhere in the room. She walked over to the vanity and saw a note sitting on top of it. She picked it up to read it.

Steph,

Went to the club, had to go do a sound-check and shit like that, sorry baby, hope you don't mind. Come down later and I will be there to meet you. See ya later, hope you enjoy the show if I don't see you.

Love,

Chris

She smiled to herself as she read it and put it back down again. She was sort of glad that he wouldn't be there. She wanted to really surprise him with her outfit. She just hoped that he'd see it and be left speechless. Maybe she'd go purposefully late and then in the middle of one of his songs he'd just stop singing. She giggled to herself, she wanted that kind of reaction.

She went into the bathroom and pulled out the curling iron. She proceeded to curl her hair the way she knew Jericho liked it. Just like she used to wear it during their business partnership. He had even gone so far as to say she looked like a movie star. She giggled to herself as she finished up her hair and went to do her make up.

She did that quickly, smiling at herself in the mirror. There was the Stephanie McMahon she used to know and love. The reflection in the mirror was a girl she had long thought dead and buried, but she knew she still had a little bit of bitch left in her system.

She went into the bedroom and pulled out her outfit for the night. She put the skirt and top on, smoothing the skirt on her sides, making sure it was perfect and not tucked into her thong in the back or something. She went to appraise herself in the mirror and truly saw a transformation.

"Good to have you back Stephanie," she said to her reflection, "It's been far, far too long."

She grabbed her jacket and went to go down to Edge's room. She knocked on the door and stood there, feeling so much like her old self that a smirk played upon her lips, and she it felt really, really good. Edge opened the door and took a step back, taking her all in.

"Shit, I have a feeling like I'm a couple years in the past," Edge said.

"Maybe you are," she said snarkily.

"You look.........incredible," he told her, seriously.

"You look good too," she said of his leather pants and black button down shirt, "Very rock-star-ish."

"That's just what I was going for. You look like you're ready, shall we?" he asked, extending his arm.

"Of course," she said, looping her arm through his as they walked down the hallway.

She put her sunglasses on in the elevator, and caught a glimpse of herself with the full outfit and jacket on. She really was going to knock Jericho's socks off, and if she didn't, she was going to seriously question if he loved her or not, because there was no way he wouldn't love her in this outfit. They left the hotel and got a cab to the club that Jericho was playing at.

Edge checked his watch, "I think Fozzy started already."

"Oh, that's ok, I don't think we're missing much," she said, tossing her hair back.

"God, I wonder what Chris is going to think of you," Edge commented idly.

"Hopefully he'll need help getting his jaw off the floor."

The cab driver pulled up in front of the club and Stephanie paid him, pushing Edge's wallet away, saying that since he paid for their food, that she would pay for the cab. He complied and helped her out of the cab. She made sure her skirt hadn't hiked up and went up to the club, immediately getting entrance once they found out who she was. She smiled and walked inside to the sounds of heavy metal blasting through the entire place, causing it to vibrate, or at least that's how it felt.

She looked to the stage and saw Jericho in the middle of singing "Crucify Yourself." She smiled as she regarded him in his vinyl pants. Damn how she loved those pants. The ideas they gave her all the time, it was almost unbearable. Hunter had never worn vinyl pants, not that he could pull them off like Jericho did.

She and Edge made their way to the bar where Edge ordered a couple of drinks for them. He returned with her Cosmopolitan a moment later and she took a sip, savoring the way it tasted. She shrugged off her jacket and put it on a chair at the table Edge had found them.

Jericho was up on stage singing his heart out, but he couldn't help but look around, wondering if Stephanie had arrived yet. He hadn't really expected her to show up early, so he was on the look out for her. His eyes darted around the room, but it was difficult to see anything with the stage lights in his face. He guessed he'd have to wait until the show was over to see her.

"Isn't he great?" one girl said as they walked past Stephanie and Edge's table.

"I would so fuck Chris Jericho," another girl said, "He's so fucking sexy."

Stephanie laughed and looked at Edge, "It's true, he is sexy."

"Oh I know, he's so dreamy," Edge said, "Makes me shiver all over with desire."

She rolled her eyes, "Shut up, I'm just saying."

"Oh my God, you know, they said Jericho would do some signings after the thing, do you think that I could possibly entice him to you know..........," some girl said to another one.

Stephanie's jaw dropped. She shouldn't have been surprised that most of these girls would love to sleep with her boyfriend, but it didn't make it any easier to hear. Jericho was hers and hers alone..........and suddenly she felt like letting out a smug, evil little laugh. Hers, all hers, bwahahahahaha.

"Hey, I'm going to go around and mingle, that ok with you?" Edge asked, sipping the last of his beer.

"Go ahead," she said, "I'll be fine."

"Ok, I'll see you later," he said, "Or maybe not, depending on how well I fare."

"Good luck," she laughed then grabbed her jacket and headed to the bathroom.

She walked inside and noticed a few girls checking their makeup and stuff in the mirror. She went into one of the stalls and was about to do her business when she heard a couple of the girls talking about Jericho and she decided to do a little eavesdropping. She was just naturally curious, she guessed.

"I heard he loves to have one-night stands," one of the voices said, a pretty high-pitched on.

"Really?" the lower voice said excitedly.

"Hell yeah, I mean, he's on the road for God knows how many days a year, I'm sure that he has to get some somewhere, and God is he hot!"

"Yeah, too bad you don't stand a chance," the girl laughed.

"Yeah, we'll see."

"Geez, talk about a slut."

"Hey, come on, like you wouldn't jump at the opportunity."

"Whatever," one said as Stephanie heard the door close.

She laughed softly to herself. Where did people get these kind of rumors? The internet probably. Oh, Jericho loves to go out and sleep with as many people as possible. Yeah, he'd have to that when she was asleep or something because she was always with him. She went about her business and walked back out into the club area just in time to hear Jericho talking to the crowd.

"There's a special someone here tonight. She knows who she is, and this one is for her. Love ya baby."

Stephanie's smile widened into an all-out grin at those words. Jericho immediately went into "L.O.V.E Machine." She laughed loudly, causing some people around her to look at her strangely. She stood there and watched him do his thing. She was actually having a lot of fun. She just hoped she would get to see him before the night was over, he seemed so involved in his singing she thought he could be up there all night.

Jericho hoped that Stephanie liked his little dedication to her. Hell, he knew she would, but where the hell was she? There were too many people in here and he couldn't find her. It was almost becoming frustrating. He scanned the crowd again, but again nothing.

Stephanie worked her way to the side of the stage and went up to the guy who was guarding the backstage area.

"Excuse me, I'd like to get backstage."

"And who are you?"

"Chris Jericho's girlfriend," she said.

"Yeah, you and about fifty other girls."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Burke, look it up."

The guy looked at the list, "Oh, I'm sorry, go right ahead."

Stephanie gave him a sweet smile and then went backstage. She wandered down the hall trying to find Jericho's dressing room. She saw a door with a star on it and Jericho's name. She fingered the sign for a moment and then stepped inside, prepared to wait for him. It was quite the impressive little room. It was filled with nice furniture and a vanity table with one of those director's chairs on it. She laughed as she sat down in it. Jericho had a bowl of M&M's sitting in front of it and she popped some in her mouth. She got up and went to look in the full-length mirror hanging on the wall.

"Yeah, that was a great one!" Jericho said as he went backstage talking to his fellow band members.

"Definitely."

"Hey, I'm just going to go to my dressing room for a second. Then I have to go find someone."

He raced to his dressing room, wanting to go find Stephanie, even if he had to brave going out into the club and getting mobbed by people. He opened the door to his dressing room and saw a beautiful women looking in the mirror. He couldn't see their face, but judging from the clothes, that couldn't be Stephanie, she wouldn't wear something like that..........

"Chris," Stephanie said, turning around at the sound of the door.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered, "Ok, I've suddenly time traveled to 2001 and you're Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, and I'm about to get the shit beaten out of me for a sledgehammer. Right Princess? You filthy, dirty, disgusting--"

Stephanie stepped closer to him, "Well, it seems I've rendered you dumb, I can't believe I succeeded."

"Where did you get that outfit?"

"Bought it, I was hoping you'd like it."

"Vinyl jacket," he said, and she could tell he was practically drooling.

She walked over to him and stood right in front of him. She grabbed his hand and put it on her leg. He instinctively ran it up her leg and pulled her closer, pulling her into a heart-stopping kiss. She ran her hand over his pants, loving the feel of vinyl underneath her fingertips.

"Mmm," she whispered, "You know, Edge said something earlier."

"Oh yeah, where is he?" Jericho asked, kissing her neck.

"Trying to hit on girls."

"What did he say?"

"He said we have a thing for vinyl, I think he's right."

"Mmhmm," Jericho said, kissing her again. She pulled even closer to him, deepening the kiss.

"And you know how much fun we can have without the vinyl, because I think somebody deserves a little something for the sweet little dedication I received," she said, sliding her hand into his pants.

"Hold on," Jericho said, pulling away. He went out into the hallway where the band was. They looked at him curiously.

"Just give me a few minutes............I'm.............busy."


	161. Armageddon, December 14, 2003

Jericho was torn about what to do tonight. It was going to be difficult to face Trish and Lita in that match tonight. He didn't want to go through with the match, and he knew that Christian didn't either. It was for a number of reasons really, the first one being they were much smaller in size than they were. They didn't want the two of them to get seriously hurt.

Then there was the deeper issue of who they were fighting. That was the more pressing of the issues they faced tonight. Jericho had gone against friends before, more times than he could count, but this was different. Trish was one of his good friends, and being across from her was going to be hard. Not to mention if he actually hurt her, Christian might go after him.

Or maybe not, Christian was being awfully quiet since last week, and he really couldn't explain it. Not that he wanted to. He was through with trying to explain his friends. It was hard coming that conclusion since he was so used to being involved in everyone's problem. Maybe it was time to step back. Maybe he should just focus on him, Stephanie, and wrestling, the three most important things in his life. Not necessarily in that order.

He laughed to himself. That was probably the first time he had laughed today. This match was not going to be fun, and it would be low on the list of his great matches. He didn't want to be great in this match. He wanted it to be over with sooner rather than later. Maybe he'd let Trish pin him, hell, he had no problem lying down if it meant that this match would not take place.

And on top of all of this, Stephanie was pushing for him to actually hurt Trish. That he was not willing to do. He couldn't hurt her just because Stephanie was angry at her. He hadn't told Stephanie that he wasn't going to hurt her, but he knew that before he left, he'd have to. He didn't want her to go into watching the match unprepared for what she saw.

"Steph…"

"Hmm?" she asked, looking up from the book she had been reading.

"I better get going."

"Oh," she said, putting the book down and getting up, "Let me say goodbye."

He stood there as she walked over to him. She brought her hand around his neck and rested it against his neck. Pulling him closer, she kissed him softly on the lips. He responded to her kiss and snaked his arm around her waist, letting his arm rest on the small of her back.

"That was nice," he said after she pulled away.

"I know, but I wanted to give you something to take with you tonight."

"I like good luck kisses."

"Nah, that was a give Trish hell kiss," she smiled.

"Steph, about that," he started.

"What?" she interrupted with her question.

"I'm not going to go in there and intentionally hurt Trish for you," he said slowly, trying to see how she would react before she reacted.

She simply nodded vigorously. This was not how he figured she would react. He thought that there would be more throwing and cussing. But as he looked at her, he didn't see her with a vase or any other glassware in her hands and he took that as a good sign. Of course, she could break out her screechy voice, which could be just as bad as the throwing.

"Oh."

Ok, he thought, was that a good oh, or a bad oh. Good oh, and he would smile. Bad oh, and then he might actually try to run away as fast as possible. He was the thing directly in front of her and she might kick him or punch him or something. He took a step back instinctively.

"Steph, I just…can't."

"Ok, that's fair," she replied to his surprise, "I shouldn't have asked you do that in the first place."

Now Jericho was shocked. Just when he thought he had Stephanie McMahon all figured out, she went and did something that would make him think that he didn't know her at all. Everyday was something new with her. He was just glad that he understood what he was trying to say here.

"Thank you," he said, "I know you're mad at Trish."

"I am," she said, "But you know what, having her get hurt isn't really what I want either."

"Good, thank God, I was afraid you were going to throw something at me."

She rolled her eyes, "God Chris, do you think that I'm like a three year old who can't control my feelings?"

"If I say yes, you're going to kill me aren't you?"

She laughed, "Get your ass out of here before I do kick your ass."

She shoved him playfully and he pretended to be knocked back. She made a funny face at him as he scooped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. She skipped over to him and gave him a kiss. He smiled and grinned playfully at her.

Christian waited against the wall for Jericho get down to the lobby so they could get to the arena. He wanted to get over to the arena so that he could maybe talk Bischoff out of making the match happen tonight. Or at least modify it so maybe he could pair with Lita and Trish could pair with Jericho and make it a little more fair.

He saw Jericho exit the elevator and rushed over to him. Jericho looked up at him curious as to why he was rushing over like he was being chased. He grabbed Jericho's shirt and started pulling him out of the building. Jericho was about to ask him what was going on, but Christian just pulled him harder.

"You're going to break off the buttons on my shirt!" Jericho complained, trying to pry Christian's hand off his shirt.

"Damn it Chris, what the fuck took you so long," Christian shot back.

"Dude, I'm not allowed to take a moment to say goodbye."

"No, we've got things we need to do."

"What, talk strategy? I don't think I'm going to do that ok? We just go out there and lay down and let one of them pin us. Sounds fair right?"

"I want out of this match. I don't even want to go out there with the prospect I might have to hurt Trish."

"Oh, really, you and Trish huh?" Jericho teased, "You want to get it changed for Trish."

"Like you don't want to do the same thing."

"Ok, yeah, I do," he conceded, "But what can we do?"

"I don't know, but we have to find out."

Trish sat in her dressing room. She wanted to talk to Jericho about tonight. They had the perfect chance tonight to do something to help with The Cause. That's what she had started to call the plan that her and Jericho had hatched. Now that she had her feelings in check, she wanted Stephanie to forgive her. She could use another friend.

"Hey, you ready for tonight?" Lita asked, walking into the room.

"No," Trish answered honestly.

"Oh come on Trish, they deserve to get their asses beat by a couple of girls. It would shrink their gigantic egos."

Trish sighed, Lita had become all about revenge now that her and Matt had broken up. She was justified in her anger, she just thought that maybe it was directed at the wrong person. Of course it was directed at the wrong person, in comparison to what Matt had done, Christian's "lie" was really nothing at all.

"Hey Li," Trish said, looking at the other diva who was unpacking some things.

"What?"

"You're still mad at Matt huh?"

"I wish I could cut his dick off is what I really want to do," Lita spat out.

Trish winced at the visual, "Yeah, so maybe it's him you're really mad at and not Christian."

Trish was really laying it on thick now. She knew that Lita could be happy with Christian if they gave it a chance. Trish had come to realize that her and Christian's time had passed, and if he could be with Lita, maybe then he wouldn't be so uptight all the time, which seemed to be a permanent condition with him as of late.

"Trish, need I remind you what happened the other week?" Lita told her.

"No, you need not remind me," Trish rolled her eyes, "But come on, compare what Christian did to what Matt did. You were with Matt for so long only to have him turn on you, and Christian didn't do anything nearly as awful."

"He wanted to use me for sex! He wanted to win a fucking bet!" Lita exploded, running a hand through his hair.

"But you know, maybe you should look at who you're really mad at, and I really don't think it's Christian."

Lita sat down, "They're both jerks."

Trish laughed, "I can agree with that, I can definitely agree with that."

Christian set his things down. Now he had to go find Bischoff and get this thing taken care of right this moment. That was the most important thing right now. To get this mishap taken care of quickly. He barely had set his things down that he was out of the room and down the hallway to where he earlier saw Bischoff's door. He barged in unannounced, not caring as to what he was doing, but only caring that he had to get out of this match.

"Bischoff," Christian greeted him curtly.

"Christian, what do you want? A stipulation on your match tonight? Maybe I can make it a special match where you guys win by taking off Trish and Lita's clothes?"

Christian scowled, "I want this match changed or gotten rid of right now."

Bischoff laughed heartily, "What are you talking about? This is a golden chance to take those girls down. You two had a bet and they found out, get your revenge."

"I don't want revenge, I want this match to be done with, kaput, go away."

"I can't do that, it's signed and you know that's final."

"Well, make it unfinal!" Christian yelled. He was at the end of his rope.

"No," Bischoff said calmly, "You'll go out there, and you'll like it. And if you don't, then well, you'll suffer the consequences now won't you?"

Christian was fuming at this point. It was no use, he wasn't going to get Bischoff to change this match. He left, slamming the door behind him so hard, that a picture fell off the wall on the inside of the room. He flirted with the idea of going to Foley, but that wouldn't work, Foley would never believe him, and thus wouldn't end the match.

He walked dejectedly back his locker room. Jericho was sitting there and could instantly tell that Christian's little talk with Bischoff had not gone well. Not that he had expected it to, Bischoff was a hard man to sway, even when he was in a good mood AND you were on his good side.

"Didn't go well huh?"

"That man is such a bastard, I swear I should rip that smug grin off his face," Christian said through gritted teeth.

"Now that's no way to talk about everyone's favorite boss," Jericho said lightly, but Christian sent him a death glare and he stopped.

"Look, I'll go talk to Trish ok, we'll figure something out."

"I have to go out there and fight them, I have no other choice; we have no other choice."

"Ok, so we go out there and we put on some stupid match that doesn't make sense in the slightest. It's simple. It'll be ok," Jericho said, now trying to calm his friend down.

"Sure," he said, turning away, "Sure it will be. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me how easy it is to--"

"Look, whatever goes down tonight, we won't hurt them, because you have to promise me that you will take it down a notch."

Christian's head shot up to look at him, "How dare you think I wouldn't."

There was a knock on the door and Christian traversed the few steps to the door and opened it to see Trish on the other side. He smiled lightly at her, before cursing under his breath and brushing past her. She stood there, turning her head to watch him go and then turned to Jericho, who merely shrugged.

"What's with him?"

"He was trying to get all of us out of this match," he explained, "But you know how Bischoff is…"

"Yeah, completely unreasonable," she said, walking in and closing the door, "I So how's Stephanie? Does she want you to kill me in cold blood, perhaps a lead pipe to the back of my head. Or a sledgehammer, it would be sweet justice to have you kill me with the weapon of her ex-husbands."

"She hasn't put out a hit for you," he laughed, "Yet anyways."

"Yeah, I'm expecting on some time soon. She's worse than when I was flirting with Hunter."

Jericho shuddered, "To think, two of the most beautiful women in the world wanted that nose with the body attached, I'll never figure it out."

"Obviously Stephanie and I were taking our delusional pills. We finally got off that addiction, thank God."

"Lucky for me," he winked.

"So she isn't mad?"

"Oh, she's still mad, she just doesn't want you hurt," he pointed out.

"Hell, I'll take it at this point," Trish said, sitting down, "Look, I think tonight we should put this plan into action. It's perfect really. Look, you can pretend to be into me, and all that good stuff, set up the catalyst for all of this."

"This?"

"Us being together."

"Oh, ok, but how will we do that if Christian doesn't want to fight either. I mean, if he wanted to fight, than maybe I could play knight in shining armor to your damsel-in-distress, but not if there are two night in shining armors."

She thought for a moment, "Let him in on it I guess."

"Can we trust him to keep a secret?" he asked, knowing that if anyone knew about Christian's quirks it would be Trish.

"You've got a point there, he's a bit of loose lips," she laughed, "But still, we need something to make him look like the bad guy so that you can shine."

A smirk came to Jericho's lips. If Christian was pissed off enough to be mad at Trish or Lita or both, he probably wouldn't have second thoughts about going after them. Yet, that would be kind of under-handed, using Christian's emotions against him, especially the way that Christian had in mind.

"You know, maybe telling him wouldn't be so bad," Jericho commented.

"Why? What did you just think of?"

"You kissed Rocky last week didn't you?"

"You were there, you knew," Trish said, blushing slightly.

"I'll ignore the blush for the moment because we've got bigger problems," he said, making her blush more, "But if we used that to get Christian angry--"

Trish could sense where this was going, and she didn't like it, "No."

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."

"I will not bring Christian into this like that. No way."

"Trish, he knows you guys kissed," Jericho pointed out, wondering if Trish knew that Christian knew.

"How?" she asked, then her eyes widened angrily, "You told him!"

"No!" Jericho cried, putting up his hands defensively, "He walked by and he saw."

"Oh," she said, "But that's beside the point, even if he knows, I'm not doing that to him. We may be over, but I'm not going to rub his nose in this."

"Ok, I said it was a stupid idea."

"Ok!" she said. They looked at each other and started laughing hysterically. This situation was just so odd, and really, laughter was the only thing they had to guide them through this. It was hard keeping lies and pretending things they didn't want to pretend. But you did what you had to do.

"Now that we got that out of our systems, tonight, what do we do and who do we do it to."

"Well, I'm guessing you'll be doing it to Stephanie as soon as you get back to your hotel room."

He gave her a pointed look, "Very funny."

"Hey, you're lucky, you get to go back to someone, I get to go to an empty hotel room."

"You can always join Stephanie and I," he paused off of Trish's look, "Oh my God, no, not like that!"

She laughed again, "Well don't say things that can be misconstrued then!"

"Ok, first of all, I would be the luckiest guy on the planet if I got to be with you two, but I think I'll have to pass on that one."

"Oh, and I would've been so much fun too," she said, running a finger playfully down his arm.

He shook his head, "We're crazy you know that right?"

"Crazy is the new sane, didn't you get the memo?"

"No! Damn it, I tell Stephanie to make sure she gives me all the mail, and look what she does."

"Oh, I would've sent you a copy had I known."

"It must be buried with the fifty million different Christmas cards we've, or I've been getting."

"'Tis the season for sending out crap to people you see two times a year," she said cheerfully.

"I know, Stephanie is working on those tonight. She's going to do mine for me too. It's kind of convenient to have an unemployed girlfriend. Yeah, maybe this plan isn't worth it if I have Stephanie doing all my errands."

"Yeah, and when she gets tired of doing all those errands…"

Jericho thought about it, "Oh my, full steam ahead to the plan!"

"You know you should ask her to marry you and get it over with."

"Wow, talk about random."

"Just saying. Give her a wedding to plan."

"Yeah, or how about I just knock her up so that she'll have a kid too, that way she'll be so busy that she won't even miss the company."

"Fine, point well taken," she said, "I just think that having something to do would be good for her."

"She does have something to do, she's doing the Christmas cards tonight."

"Fine Mr. Smarty Pants, what about tonight's match?"

"You just follow my lead."

"You mean, I just had an asinine conversation with you about Christmas cards and the whole strategy is to follow your lead?!?"

"Yeah…but I thought you wanted to hear about my Christmas cards, they have little snowmen on them, with glitter. Now the glitter made the cards like fifty cents more, but totally worth it. Stephanie's has Santa's on them, yeah, Santa's as in more than one, and it's like about how they have all these Santas on the roof of this house right, and they're all looking at each other. See, I wanted the Santa's card right, but Stephanie told me that she wanted them, because they were funny and she never sends the funny one, so I'm stuck with the boring snowmen, really I just mentioned the glitter because that's really the best part, cause I'm really reaching on these damn snowmen."

Trish sat there, blinking as he rambled on and on about…Christmas cards. She put a hand on his arm to stop him, but he just kept talking. She gave him arm a little shake and he looked at her curiously.

"You'll get a card of each…I think, Stephanie may not send you a Santa card, I don't want to ruin the joke for you, because it's funny, but since you might not get one, the card says--"

"Shut up," she said, holding in a laugh, "I have never, in my entire life, heard someone talk so much about a greeting card that people look at for two seconds before they stick them on their mantle or something. Nobody cares about the damn glittery snowmen!"

"THAT'S what I'M saying!" he told her, "Nobody wants the snowmen, they want the Santa!"

She put her hand over his mouth, "Ok, when I take my hand off of your mouth, you have to promise to not talk about snowmen or Santa or cards ok?"

He nodded.

She removed her hand and the quiet was blissful.

"I was thinking about sending my picture with the card, you know, me looking like a sexy beast."

"Ahhh!" she screamed, "I'm getting out of here, you do whatever you have to do tonight to make it look like you want me ok? I don't care what, but it cannot involve snowmen!"

"What about Santa? Can I wear a red hat?"

"If you do," she said, pausing for dramatic effect, "I will strangle you with it."

"Well someone's not in the Christmas spirit," Jericho said snottily.

"Go tell Christian what's up," Trish said, leaving.

"I still think the picture thing was a good idea," Jericho muttered to himself before getting up off the couch and leaving.

He walked down the hallways before he spotted Christian warming up in one of the open areas. He walked over, hoping he wasn't going to be much of a nuisance to Christian. Then he thought about how much he wanted to reveal to 'ole Loose Lips over here. Christian stopped his jumping as Jericho approached.

"What's up?" Christian said.

"Look, I need you to do something out there for me tonight."

"What?"

"I need you to look like you want to fight them, seriously fight them."

"No," Christian said, shaking his head vehemently.

"Look, Christian, I can't tell you why, but this is important to me, please," Jericho pleaded.

Christian looked at his friend. He had that look on his face. That look that said whatever this was, it had to do with Stephanie. He sighed and looked down. When he was with Trish, he would've done anything for her. And Jericho would've helped, no questions asked. He guessed he could return the favor.

"Fine, fine, ok, I'll do it."

"Thanks," Jericho said, giving him a light hug in thanks.

They went walking down the hallway, thinking about what they had to do out there, and were practically pulled into Bischoff's office. Jericho made one last attempt to get out of the match, but he didn't even get to finish his sentence because Christian had already gone into the part Jericho had asked him to play. He was silently thankful that he had such good friends who were willing to run this little game back and forth.

They left, thankfully, and wandered around, trying to remain upbeat for what was to come, but as they heard the snickers from other wrestlers, what they were doing reached a fever pitch. Neither one of these men was looking forward to this, and to have people think they did was just another branch to this muddled mess.

"So we should get out there," Jericho said as he glanced up at the schedule and then looking at the monitor.

"Already?"

"Yeah, we're up."

"Shit, I don't think I'm mentally prepared, I need more time."

"The time is now," Jericho said ominously.

The match was never meant to be taken all that seriously. Jericho wasn't fighting for any belts or any titles, he was fighting because Bischoff thought this would be funny. There was really nothing funny about it when it came down to it. That's the thought that came to mind as Jericho and Trish stepped into that ring, facing each other down. Trish smirked and looked at him.

"This is for making me listen to you about Christmas cards," Trish said quietly as she slapped Jericho.

Jericho was shocked, his Christmas cards were a nice, fun topic. Trish looked like she was going to laugh and suddenly Jericho found this match the funniest thing he had ever participated in since his and Stephanie's disaster of a match way back when. He gave her a look and took her over his knee, spanking her playfully, telling her to calm down. Trish was almost in hysterics, but kept in check. This was a match after all. Trish managed to get away and went after him, but then Jericho tagged Christian in and the fun ended. Just like they wanted, Christian put himself into the match looking like the bad guy. She saw the sad look in his eyes before he went after her.

But he did the job he had to do, the job he knew he had to do. He went after Lita as well, despite the growing crush he was getting on her. He hated this and tagged in Jericho, who had no problems man-handling the diva. Christian got tagged in and pulled off Lita's top. He hadn't really meant to, not having known what had come over him. But she did look good without it on, he observed.

Trish was in again and that feeling that rose up into him almost knocked him. He didn't want to hurt her. God forbid he ever hurt her physically, he'd already broken her mentally and emotionally. He let her do whatever to her, only countering when necessary. This was hurting him inside, rather than on the outside. This had to end.

The match was less than ten minutes. Christian had had enough of this stupid match, had had enough of trying to play the bad guy to Jericho's good guy. He rolled up Trish for the pin and recalled that this was really the first time he had touched Trish in a while. He celebrated like he should've while Jericho didn't as much as he did, but that was expected.

Trish went backstage and snuck to Jericho's locker room, coming inside. Jericho was just drying himself off as he saw her.

"Did you like your little punishment," he joked.

"Damn you," she laughed, "I almost died of laughter out there you know. All I could think of were glittery snowmen."

"See, I'm the Master of Manipulation," Jericho said, tapping his head, "I psyched you out."

"Is that what that was?"

"We won didn't we?"

"Because of Christian, who I swear, got a little grabby out there."

"Do you blame him? You did used to sleep with him, it's not like he hasn't touched everything."

"Whatever," Trish said, "I just wanted to say good match, and good…whatever that was out there. I think we're convincing."

"So do I. It was fun actually. A lot more fun than I thought it would be," he admitted.

"Glad I got the chance to slap you."

"Yeah, why did you do that? It really did hurt," he said, rubbing his red face.

"You made me listen to you talk about snowmen and Santa. You deserve a slap after that."

He laughed, "I still think that it was interesting."

"In your own mind Chris, in your own mind," she laughed, leaving him to change and go back to Stephanie.

He walked into the room, still laughing over those damn cards that had taken a life of their own. Now he wanted to go look at them just for the hell of it. He walked into the bedroom to see Stephanie packing up her things. He stopped laughing and stared at her.

"Baby is everything ok?" he asked frantically, figuring that maybe something happened while he was gone.

"Go away," she said.

"Huh?"

"Tonight! What the fuck was that?!? I mean, are you purposefully making yourself look like a fool!?!"

"What?"

"You and Trish, I told you not to hurt her, but I didn't tell you to fucking do whatever the fuck that was out there tonight. God, it's like you have feelings for her!"

"You know that's not true," he said.

"How should I know!" she said, the tears already brimming, "How should I know what the fuck is going on."

He wanted to tell her about the plan, but he really wanted it to be a surprise if they got her, her job back. He also didn't want to get her hopes up in case he couldn't get it back. He walked over to her suitcase and put his hand on top of her trembling one.

"Stephanie! You know me! Come on, be sensible," he told her firmly.

"No! I don't know what's going on anymore. You were flirting with her, you wanted her, I could tell, you practically fucking saved her, and I don't even want to know or hear the logic behind the butt-slapping."

"Stephanie," he said, "I do have an explanation."

She crossed her arms, "Fine, try to explain it to me."

"Look, Stephanie, I DO have an explanation, but I can't tell you it right now."

She nodded her head, almost like she was trying not to lose it, "That's your explanation, that's your fucking explanation. You can't tell me! Damn you Chris Jericho!"

She grabbed some clothes hastily, not even caring about what she got. She stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned Chris Jericho behind her. She raced down to Christian's room, knocking quickly. Christian answered, already in his pajamas. He was surprised to see Stephanie at his door, with clothes in hand no less. He ushered her in before anyone saw her.

"Steph what is it?"

"Can I stay here tonight?"


	162. Raw, December 15, 2003

A/N: Thanks to Jackie, for helping me out with an idea for this chapter. :)

* * *

Jericho tapped his fingers impatiently against the hard wood of the kitchen table. He had been calling around all night last night and then all morning trying to figure out where Stephanie was. He had driven home after the show, hoping that he would find her at home, snug in bed, having let all her anger out, but she wasn't here. The problem with calling people was that nobody knew that she was gone. He didn't want to alarm anyone and make them worry, so he would just casually ask if they had heard from her. But still no response.

He couldn't believe how she had stormed out of her last night. He knew Stephanie, and he knew that she could sometimes be insecure. Chalk up another thing her father probably instilled in her brain. She was always surrounded by other divas, and that could give anyone, even someone as beautiful as Stephanie an inferiority complex. It wasn't her fault.

It was HIS fault that he had lied to her about the whole thing. Ok, so it wasn't really lying, but he was withholding the truth from her, which was just as bad. It was just that he really wanted this to be a surprise for her, maybe even a Christmas present. What would be better than to hand her, her present and for her to unwrap it to find a brand new contract all ready for her to sign?

He sighed and dialed Trish's number, wondering if she would've gone there to maybe pull Trish's hair out or something. He waited and waited for her to pick up, but she wasn't answering. Sudden thoughts of her lying in a pool of her own blood after facing Stephanie's wrath popped into her brain. He shuddered at the thought of that.

He decided to go see for himself if Trish was alright. He wouldn't put it past Stephanie to have actually hit the blonde. He just really hoped she hadn't. He got into his car and drove over to Edge's house, where he knew Trish was staying. Jericho knocked on the door. He heard muffled sounds coming from inside, which was a good sign. Trish answered moments later, still in her pajamas.

"Chris!" she exclaimed, surprised to see him there, "What're you doing here? And isn't Stephanie suspicious?"

"Oh, I," he thought for a moment, "I told her I was coming to see Edge."

"Oh, ok," she said, "What's up?"

"Nothing, so Stephanie didn't stop by here."

"Was she supposed to? Was she going to forgive me?" Trish asked hopefully.

Jericho sighed, another dead end to the whereabouts of Stephanie. He was beginning to think she had dropped off the face of the planet. He then remembered that Trish was standing there, looking at him with such innocent hope in her eyes. He smiled softly.

"No, but um, she wanted to say something to you," he lied.

"Hopefully not about snowmen or Santas," she joked, punching him lightly in the arm.

He laughed shortly, "Yeah, no, not about that."

"Good, I've heard enough about that to last me three lifetimes."

"That's too bad."

"So did you want to come in?" she asked, "It's a mess, I was picking out an outfit for the show tonight in the living room. Thank God Edge isn't a neat freak"

"No, I think I'll stay out here, I want to go soon anyways," he said, trying not to get himself in any more trouble.

"Oh, that's cool, so what's the plan for tonight?" she asked eagerly, "You going to go all chivalrous on me Mr. Jericho?"

"Nah, I at least have to be a little bit of an asshole, or at least you should think so."

"Aww, come on," she said, "At least pretend to be nice for me."

He still wanted to see Stephanie's eyes light up when she found out that he had gotten her job back. He still wanted to be her hero. He always wanted to be her hero. Stephanie had spent far too long under an oppressive husband, and she deserved to have a hero who she could count on. Going against his better judgment, he decided to green light this plan.

"Yeah, we'll start it out tonight," he said, "Look, we have a match, I talked to Bischoff earlier. It's another match just like last night. I can do a whole thing about not wanting to fight you."

"Sounds good," she said, "And Christian?"

"We'll figure something out," he smiled.

"So was Stephanie surprised last night? By the show I mean."

"Oh," he said, not wanting Trish to feel horrible about what had happened, he replied with, "She's cool with it, I mean, yeah."

"Good, I was afraid she'd take it the wrong way."

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"So is she at home?" Trish asked, "Luckily the show is in Tampa tonight so that you guys can feel comfortable and not in a hotel. I'm thankful I'm at an actual residence. I mean, yeah it's Edge and all that, and I'm really used to spending time at Christian's, but it's just as good here. Though Christian hasn't been here all day, which is weird, at least to Edge it is, he said he's usually here stealing coffee while he's at home. But then again, maybe he didn't want to make the drive from Orlando to here last night and he could've come this morning."

"Wow, all that, and I got nothing but the fact that Christian didn't come over this morning," he smirked.

"I was just saying," she yawned, "Sorry, I didn't get here until late last night, Edge insisted that we go stop at some club in Orlando. I swear, he needs to get back to work, he's becoming like the ultimate ladies man."

"Oh, so did he get his claws in you," he said, eyeing her in her pajamas.

Her jaw dropped, "Are you insinuating that we slept together?"

"No," he said, his voice showing his lying.

"Oh yeah, I slept with him just so I could compare him to Christian. You know, on a scale of one to ten, I'd give them--"

"Don't answer that, spare my sanity."

"Well, I could always have sex with you and then put you on the scale," she said, winking in false seduction.

"Sure, you got half an hour," he shot back.

"Yeah, I do," she said, then laughed, "Ooh, I just got a great idea for tonight!"

"Lay it on me."

"You can totally just not participate," she said, hopping up and down, clapping her hands at her ingenious idea.

"Ok, sounds good," he said idly.

"Chris, everything ok? Is that not what you want to do?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"No, I think that's perfect actually."

"Great," she said, grinning, "I should probably go pack and stuff, I only just woke up and I'm a mess. And look at you, all nice and dressed and you're probably ready to go. Ahhh, I need to organize!"

"Trish, just how much coffee have you had today?" he asked playfully.

"Look," she said, shoving a finger onto his chest, "Christian didn't come by this morning and he didn't steal coffee, and so there was coffee left, and I drank it!"

Jericho laughed, "Ok Miss Pointy, you can take your finger off of me now."

She pulled her hand back, "Don't get all high and mighty with me."

"Oh, trust me it was the farthest thing from my mind."

Stephanie looked out the window of the car. Christian had wanted to stop at Edge's before he dropped her off. She had spent the night in his hotel room after the show last night. Then they had set out for Tampa today. Christian had graciously let her have the bed, and hadn't pried into why she had left Jericho's room.

"You ok Steph?" Christian asked as they drove down the familiar streets of Tampa. The familiar streets that she had come to know since living with Jericho.

"Yeah," she said, "Thanks again for last night."

"You're welcome," he said, "I just wish I knew why you were upset."

"It's no biggie Christian, Chris and I just had a fight, it happens."

"Look who you're talking to," Christian scoffed, "I mean, if anyone should know about that, it's me."

"True."

Of course, this was a little more than your average fight. She didn't know what was going through Jericho's mind nowadays. Where it had used to be familiar territory, it was now like a foreign concept to her. She was supposed to know him, everything about him, but he had gone and changed on her so completely. She didn't want to lose him to Trish.

The thought disgusted her to no end. Losing him to Trish, like hell that would happen. Maybe she just had to entice him more. Maybe he was sick of her, and she needed to spice things up a little. Maybe he was looking elsewhere because he was getting bored with her. Maybe she had to change that.

They turned onto the street where Edge lived and drove down slowly, Christian being ever observant of the speed limit. Just as they was approaching Edge's house, two blond people came into view. She squinted to try and get a better look, and then gasped as she realized who those two people were.

"So I better get going ok," Jericho said.

"Ok, see you later," she said, then leaned up to hug him.

Stephanie was seeing red as she saw them hug, especially because Trish was in her pajamas, "Christian, can you just take me back home?"

"But Stephanie, we're on Edge's street."

"Please Christian, I need to go home," she said, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

Christian saw that she was a little green around the gills and shrugged, "If you really want me to."

"I do, please," she said. The faster she was out of there the better.

"Will you make me coffee?" he asked.

"Of course," she said hastily, "Of course."

"Cool," Christian said happily.

They passed by the house, nobody but Stephanie noticing anything. Christian arrived at the house and she got her things, the things she had grabbed, and took them inside, stopping in the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, only to find that there was already some made. So Jericho had been here already. She told Christian to go ahead and grab a cup, which he did before he left, telling her that he'd see her later.

She nodded and closed the door behind him, telling him to return the mug he had used whenever he got a chance. He had to get home and get some fresh clothes before he headed to the arena for the show tonight. Stephanie sighed and leaned against the door. She went upstairs and saw the bed was unmade. So Jericho had slept here last night.

A flash of him and Trish in bed together came to her brain and she got a stricken look on her face. They wouldn't? He couldn't? Or could he? If Jericho was willing to spank her, or whatever that was, then would he take that to the bedroom? No, her mind and heart screamed, not a freaking chance. She went over to the bed and laid down on her side, her head hitting the pillow. Nope, didn't smell like anything except for Jericho's aftershave and her perfume. That was a good sign. She closed her eyes and cuddled up to Jericho's pillow.

Jericho walked into his house, still wondering where Stephanie was. He walked into the laundry room, where all his wrestling attire was hanging neatly, Stephanie having washed them all and hung them all up nicely. He sighed; he missed her. It had been one night and he missed her. He grabbed an appropriate outfit and shoved it in his duffel bag.

Stephanie thought she heard moving around downstairs, but was too tired to go down and see what it was. She hadn't gotten that much sleep last night, her mind working overtime with the scenarios that could be between Jericho and Trish. She hadn't specifically told him he couldn't be friends with her, that wouldn't have been fair, but last night, that was not friendship.

Jericho didn't notice Stephanie's clothes sitting in the hamper. Maybe if he had, he would've realized Stephanie was upstairs, but he didn't and instead grabbed his things, grabbed a piece of toast he had made and left, not knowing that Stephanie was merely a floor away from he was, tucked in their bed.

He got to the arena, the drive short and forgettable. Seeing Christian's car here was a relief. At least he'd have someone to talk to about this. He didn't want to fight with Stephanie. Yet he didn't want to give up this plan to get her, her job back. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. The words were true to a tee for the situation.

He was going to go immediately to Christian's locker room, but decided to wait it off for a moment to gain his composure. He gained it a few moments later and decided that he couldn't wait, he needed to talk to him now. He threw his stuff in his locker room then went to see his friend. He knocked on Christian's locker room, and waited for him to answer.

"Hey man," Christian said as he opened the door to let Jericho in.

"Hey."

"Oh, tell Stephanie that I'll give her the mug tomorrow."

"Huh?" Jericho asked. Christian had talked to Stephanie!

"The mug I borrowed from her earlier, to get the coffee. I told her that I'd bring it back."

"You talked to Stephanie."

"Yeah," Christian told him, "This morning."

"You talked to Stephanie," Jericho repeated, "You knew where she was."

"This morning yeah," Christian said, suddenly remembering that Stephanie had told him not to tell Jericho where she was last night. Damn it, him and his stupid loose lips!

"Where?" Jericho asked, "At our house?"

"Yeah."

"Why were you at our house?"

"Um, well, I needed coffee."

"Edge said you steal his."

"Yeah, I do, but see, I wanted to talk to you about tonight, you know, strategy," Christian said, then smiling proudly at his lie.

"Why couldn't we talk about it here?" Jericho asked suspiciously.

"Because like I said, I needed coffee…home brewed!" he added quickly.

"You were with Stephanie last night weren't you?" Jericho asked, his voice tight.

"No!"

Jericho was starting to get pissed, Christian was not holding in the lies very well and Jericho could tell straight away that this was all a cover. He wanted to throttle Christian right now. He had known where Stephanie was, and Jericho had sat up half the night worrying about her.

"Yes you did! I fucking called you and asked where she was and you said you didn't know!"

"Well, technically, you asked me if Stephanie had come around," Christian said.

"And she fucking came around to you!"

"Well, yeah, but she made me promise not to tell you where she was," Christian said in his defense.

"You fucking knew!" Jericho said, taking Christian by the collar, "Do you know how fucking worried I was! Jesus Christ, I was worried sick, I thought that she had done something rash and you don't even tell me where she fucking is!"

"Dude," Christian said, pushing him off, "I don't know what the fuck you two were fighting about, but she's my friend and she was distraught and if wanting me to keep her a secret will make her happy, I'll do it!"

"Fuck you," Jericho spat, "You should've told me! You're my friend!"

"I'm her friend too!"

"So?"

"So!?! So I'll do as I damn well please, you seem to be doing the same thing with Trish!"

"Look, that is none of your business."

"Isn't it?!? I mean, I don't even know what you two are up to. Hell, I should be just as pissed as Stephanie!"

"Oh fucking please, this coming from the guy that fucked around on her!"

"I did NOT fuck around on her," Christian said, his anger flaring up, "I did not!"

"Close enough right. At least I never did that to Stephanie."

"No, but God only knows it's a matter of time with Trish right?" Christian said, "It's a miracle Stephanie can stand you."

"Shut up," Jericho answered testily, "The fact is that you knew where she was and you didn't tell me."

"Oh get off it Jericho, you deserved to have her leave you last night. You and Trish were acting like a couple of jackasses."

"Oh fuck it, you think whatever the fuck you want!"

"I fucking will!" Christian yelled, "Now get the fuck out of here!"

Jericho stomped out of the room, fury coursing through every single cell. The nerve of him to keep Stephanie from him. How could he have done that? He was supposed to be his friend and he should've picked up on how upset he had been last night and told him where Stephanie was. Some friend he was.

He shrugged off anyone's attempts to talk to him and went to his dressing room. He'd just go out, play all nice for a while, then go home and talk to Stephanie. She was obviously there, and he'd been too stupid to go upstairs and then he would've seen him. Who knows what could've happened, maybe he wouldn't be so pissed, but still this sucked!

He sat there, fuming, until he had to go out for his match. He was still pissed at Christian and they stood, still mad at each other. Trish gave him a secret smile, but he couldn't return it, not right now, not when he was about to rip someone's head off. He and Trish started the match again, but he wasn't into it. He went and tagged Christian before sitting down on the steps. The bastard didn't want to tell him where Stephanie was, then Christian could deal with this himself, he wasn't going to fight. Christian tried to fight the two girls, and he was so mad that he had to take it out on someone and was perhaps a little rougher than he should've been.

Trish didn't think anything of Jericho's antics, they were expected, but Christian was being inordinately mean in this match. And the look in his eyes, he was angry, but at what? She couldn't ask him right here, but she was naturally curious. Jericho helped out once or twice, which was good in her eyes, kind of kept the suspicions up. Suddenly she felt herself taken in by Christian and given the Unprettier. Before she hit the mat, she felt the shock course through her. What the hell had happened to Christian?

Jericho noticed that Trish looked hurt and went to stop the match. It wasn't even an act right now, she did look hurt. The referee ended the match, but Christian was still exhibiting lingering effects from their fight and he and Jericho exchanged words of anger. They had tried to never bring in outside emotions to the ring, but it was just bubbling over tonight.

Christian went away, not even wanting to hear Jericho's lame ass excuse. The asshole could talk his way out of this. He was backstage and saw Trish staring at him as she leaned on a trainer and Lita. He didn't look at her, but went to walk past her.

"What the hell was that out there?" Trish asked.

"Fuck off," Christian said, leaving a gaping Trish behind him.

Jericho came backstage, in a pissy mood. Now he had a fucking match against Kane. Just great, this always happened. He would want to leave early only to get pulled back in. This sucked royally. He was watching friendships crumble around him, and nothing seemed worth it even more. Especially this thing with Trish. He looked around, hoping to find her, but didn't see her. He walked to the trainer's room and saw her sitting there, an icepack on his shoulder, and she was all alone. He walked into the room and she looked up at him.

"What the fuck is Christian's problem?"

"Don't let it concern you," he dismissed her question.

"Oh ok, then, sure, except he gave me his fucking Unprettier," she said, then winced at the cold ice.

"Look, this thing, plan, whatever, it has to end ok? It's totally not worth it."

"Geez Chris, can you waffle on this any more," she told him, "Either we do this or we don't? Either we get her, her job back or we don't?"

"It's not worth it if the person we're doing this for hates me," he pointed out.

"Fine, ok, we'll end it, look just come see if I'm ok later and I'll slam the door in your face," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Look, I want to help her, but I'm not going to ruin things for everyone."

"Whatever Chris," she said, hopping off the table, "See ya."

Fuck, what was wrong with everyone tonight. Had there been something in the water in Orlando that was causing everyone to take their dumb pills. Everyone was acting weird and crazy and he felt like the only sane person left on the planet, and he was only hanging on by a thin strand.

He went back to his locker room for a good sulk. He wanted to just sulk right now and not worry about all the shit his life had crumbled into. It was easier if you just took in the world through rose-colored glasses. He wondered where he could find a pair of those. It would make his worldview decidedly better.

He sat there with his arms crossed, like a petulant child who had just gotten scolded. He didn't want to deal with people at the moment. People and human interaction caused problems; problems he wanted to avoid at all costs. It was only when he remembered he had to do something with Trish that he got off the couch. Still frowning he went to her locker room and knocked, pretending to be concerned. He was about as concerned about her as he was about that spider he had killed the other day, and that wasn't very concerned at all.

Trish didn't have to fake being angry at him. She wanted to do this plan, it seemed the only way that Stephanie would forgive her for kissing Jericho. But no, Jericho had to be a fucking pussy who wouldn't go through a little pain to get to the good stuff. Him and his stupid "end doesn't justify the means" way of thinking. Slamming that door in his face was a very satisfying thing to do. Now if only Christian would come to her door, she'd like to slam it in his face with a hearty little "don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya" on the side.

Jericho, who, by some miracle of God, was even more angry than he was before, went out for his match against Kane. Goody, he got to face this ugly monster. Jericho was so scared of him, yeah, as scared as he was of that spider he had killed the other day, which wasn't very scared at all. Yeah, so he used the damn spider reference twice, he was pissed!

Kane dominated him, unsurprisingly. Jericho was smaller than him, and pissed to boot, which did help him a little. Eventually he put a chair to Kane's head and got disqualified. Whatever, Jericho thought, he didn't even want this match to begin with. He got put into the Tree of Woe after the match had ended. He saw Christian and thought that maybe the other man had let go of his anger. Christian helped him to his feet and Jericho looked grateful.

"Thanks man."

"Oh, you'll thank me alright," Christian whispered, "You're a stupid bastard and I'm glad Kane kicked your ass. This one's for Steph."

With that, Jericho was shoved down and Christian left, going up the ramp and smirking down at his fallen friend. Jericho stared up at him. God, could this night get any fucking worse than it already was? He had a feeling it could. He slowly got up and went to get his things. If he saw Christian, he'd kick his fucking ass from here all the way back to his hometown in Canada.

He threw his stuff angrily into his car and headed home, wanting to see Stephanie. He needed to make sure she was ok, damn his protectiveness. He got home and didn't even bother to bring his stuff inside. As soon as he was parked in the driveway he was out of the car and running for the front door. He had a bad feeling though, and threw his keys on the side table next to the door.

He raced upstairs and went into the bedroom. He stopped short as he saw her, sleeping there and was struck by her beauty. He didn't know what it was, perhaps the moonlight, or how angry he had been earlier that skewed his views, but she had never looked so beautiful that it almost took his breath away. He smiled, feeling the relief, and went to the bed, kneeling by the side to tuck some of her hair behind her ear.

She woke up, "You're here."

"So are you?"

"I don't know why I'm here though."

"Cause you live here," he said lightly, smiling as she looked at him with sleepy eyes.

She sat up, "I shouldn't be here."

"Steph, come on, you can't still be mad," he said.

"Oh, I can't!" she said, "And why can't I?"

"Hey, look, I've already had a bad night, and maybe you should apologize for running out on me last night and making me worry about you all night!"

"Whoa, don't turn this around on me!" she replied, "You were the one playing flirting games with Trish."

"I told you I have a reason!" he shouted.

"Yeah, a reason, oh, could that reason be your with her!?!"

Jericho's eyes widened, "How dare you think I'm cheating on you?"

"Well, what am I supposed to think with you making ga-ga eyes to her every damn second and hugging her in front of your fucking friend's houses!"

She had seen them, "Shit."

"Oh, nice answer there Chris, shit, that's it, shit, this whole thing is bullshit!"

"Stephanie, this is bullshit," he said, gesturing to them.

"Are you saying that we're bullshit?" she said, putting a hand over her heart in shock.

"No! This fight, its stupid."

"Oh, ok, well then, how about I go hit on Kurt, and flirt with him and then we'll see how you feel," she said sweetly.

"Well, looks like you were cozying up to Christian," Jericho said smugly, "He even shoved me tonight, saying that it was for you, so Stephanie, what happened last night IN HIS HOTEL ROOM!?!"

"You stupid fuck, how dare you bring that up!"

"Why, you brought up Trish."

"I don't go carousing in front of millions of people!"

"Oh, but you'll go behind closed doors and do it, is that what you're saying?"

"Bastard."

"Whore."

"Asshole."

"Slut."

"Mother fucker!"

"Filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding trash bag ho!"

"I hate you, you stupid son of a bitch!" Stephanie said, running out of the room before Jericho saw her tears. She ran to the guest bedroom and slammed the door shut, locking it behind her. Jericho stood there, reveling in the remnants of the worse part that he said couldn't possibly happen. He tried to make sense of what had just happened. Yeah, she was right.

"Fuck, I am a son of a bitch."


	163. SmackDown, December 18, 2003

"Now, we've called you all here because we have heard so much whining and complaining in the last few days that we can't take it anymore."

"Yeah, we can't take it," Kurt added.

"And being the neutral parties here," Edge continued, "We always have to hear the brunt of everyone's anger, and we are so tired of it."

"So very, very tired," Kurt added wearily.

"That's why we're here, because you guys need to work whatever problems you have out, once and for all."

Edge and Kurt nodded resolutely at each other before looking at the other four people sitting in Edge's living room. For the past few days, not even past few days, for the past week or so, all they had heard was people complaining and people being mad at each other. It was frustrating for the two of them to have to listen to everyone else's problems.

Stephanie sat on one of the armchairs, her arms folded, looking down at the ground, once and a while sending a death glare in the direction of Trish. Trish was sitting in another chair across the room, checking her fingernails. She was aware of Stephanie's glances and kept her focus away from the brunette. Jericho sat nonchalantly on one end of the couch, his legs stretched out in front of him, appearing to be careless, but he was sending secret glances of worry towards Stephanie, that she failed to see because of her stare on Trish. Christian was on the other end of the couch, studying the fabric of the couch, picking on a loose thread.

"So who wants to start?" Kurt asked, "We all know that you have something to say."

Every stayed silent, save for Christian coughing.

"Ok, look you guys," Edge started, "We hate seeing you like this ok? We're friends!"

"Friends," Stephanie scoffed under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"What was that Steph?" Edge asked, looking over at her.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Ok, so are you guys going to talk or anything, or are we just going to sit here and look at each other."

"Well, I've got better things to do," Jericho said, getting up.

"What would that be Chris?" Stephanie asked, finally looking at the blonde, "Going to go fuck Trish or something?"

"Yeah Steph, that's exactly what I was going to do," Jericho sneered, "Come on Trish, let's go upstairs, I'm sure there's an empty bed."

"Go ahead," Stephanie said, standing up to get in his face, "I'm sure it hasn't been the first time you've done something with her. Oh wait, you spanked her the other week, she probably likes it rough, don't you Trish? You skanky whore!"

"Hey!" Trish said, getting up, "I don't have to fucking take that from you!"

"Oh, I think you do! Go ahead, steal my boyfriend," she said, sitting back down heavily.

"Well, maybe you aren't doing a good enough job of taking care of him!" she shot back.

Christian stood up, "Don't talk to her like that!"

"Oh, this coming from the poster boy of infidelity."

"You know, looking at you now," Stephanie said, "I don't blame him for cheating on you. You probably spread your legs long before he did."

"You bitch!" Trish said, charging for Stephanie.

"Bring it whore!" Stephanie said, getting up and gesturing for Trish to attack her.

Kurt and Edge both ran over to the two women and Kurt grabbed Stephanie by the waist, while Edge grabbed Trish waist just as she reached Stephanie. Stephanie tried to get out of Kurt's grasp and managed to, going after Trish, but Kurt grabbed her by the waist.

"Let go of me!" Stephanie screamed.

"I want to get at her!" Trish also screamed, almost clawing her way through Edge's arms.

"Ok, you two enough!" Kurt said.

"You are adults, you should behave better than this!" Edge told them.

"Whatever," Stephanie said, "You can let go of me now Kurt."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said calmly.

He let go of her tentatively and she dusted herself off, fixing her t-shirt, which had ridden up a little bit after going after Trish. Edge let go of Trish too, who's face had gone red with anger. She saw Christian smile at Stephanie and got jealous. She sat down heavily in her chair, staring at the brunette. If daggers could come out of their eyes, surely the two of them would've been dead by now. Stephanie sat down as well, trying to retain her composure. She looked over at Jericho, who quickly turned the other way.

"Well, there was the whole Jeff incident wasn't there?" Stephanie said, smirking in Trish's direction.

"Yeah Trish," Christian said to her, "As I recall, in the ring, Jeff kissed you while you were with me."

"That was different and you know it," she said, "So different."

"Why?" Stephanie asked kindly.

"Stay out of this Stephanie," Trish spat.

"Whatever," she said.

"Look Christian, you understood that."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," he said quickly, "It's in the past, and we sure as hell seem to be in the past."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked him.

"You broke up with me, you don't want to have anything to do with me, usually that equates in us being in the past."

"I guess," she said softly.

"And we're making a breakthrough here," Edge said, "Now you two can move on."

"Yeah, it's just too bad that she wants to move on with Chris," Christian said, "Isn't that right Trish?"

"You don't know anything!"

"Well, it looks to me that you two are awfully cozy, even for people who might be playing a part."

"Christian, shut up," Jericho said, finally speaking again.

"Why Chris? Why? Because Stephanie came running to me the other week because you made her cry, and I should shut up because why?"

"You don't know about what's going on," he told him.

"What's the big secret Chris?" Stephanie said, "Why are you keeping things from me?"

"Because not everything is about you!" he blurted out.

She looked shocked by this. She knew that everything wasn't about her, but Jericho had humored her for so long on that. He had made everything about her and to hear him say that, it was a shock to her system, though it shouldn't have come as such a surprise. She looked at him, fear in her eyes, fear that she had lost him and she got up and ran out of the room.

"Fuck," Jericho said, getting up.

Christian got up as well, "I'm going after her."

"Dude, she's my girlfriend," Jericho said, his tone almost dangerous.

"You don't seem to act like it lately," Christian said.

"You take that back," Jericho answered, his voice low.

"You're the one that just made her fucking cry!"

"I am going to talk to her!"

"Can't you see! She doesn't want to talk to you!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" Jericho said, "Seems to me you have a thing for my girlfriend."

"Not anymore than you had for my former one," Christian said, staring Jericho down.

"I don't have feelings for Trish!"

"Yeah, sure you don't, I don't even understand you two anymore," Christian told him, then looked at Trish who was sitting with her head down. He looked over to Edge and Kurt who were standing at the ready, ready to break up a fight at any moments notice. Christian looked at them all, "Look, I'm going to talk to Stephanie and nobody can stop me."

"Like hell they can't," Jericho said, grabbing onto his arm.

Christian shook himself from Jericho's grip, and just left. Jericho went to follow him, but Kurt stopped him and shook his head. Jericho looked at him strangely, then tried to get free. Kurt once again stopped him and looked him straight in the eye. Jericho didn't want to see what Kurt was trying to tell him and once more tried to break free.

"Chris, just let him go talk to her, she probably doesn't want to see you."

Those words stung Jericho more than he had wanted to admit. He looked down and sighed. How had things gotten so twisted? He felt like his world was upside down and he was just trying to claw his way back so things would make sense again. Had this really all started because he wanted to get Stephanie her job back?

Christian walked upstairs where he saw Stephanie had fled to. He saw one of the doors closed and figured that's where she was. He walked up to the door and knocked lightly, not wanting to barge in on her. She didn't answer to his knocking and he opened the door slightly, sticking his head in. She was looking at some pictures of him and Edge when they were kids. He smiled a little and walked inside. Stephanie turned her head slightly.

"I thought you would be Chris," she spoke softly.

"I told him to stay downstairs, that he was probably not the person you should be seeing right now."

"That's probably true, I'd probably rip his head off," she laughed, but it was an empty laugh.

"Yeah, and we don't need any bloodshed," Christian joked, then came to stand next to her, "Whatcha looking at?"

"Just these pictures," she answered, "They're you and Edge right?"

"Yup," he said, then pointed to one, "That was the winter I almost caught pneumonia."

"Well thank goodness you didn't."

"Why don't you come back downstairs?" he said kindly.

"You know, I know that not everything is about me," she said, "I know that the world does not revolve around Stephanie McMahon. I mean, yeah, it did take me to age 12 to realize that, but I realized it."

"He was just talking out of his ass," Christian said.

"Maybe so, but the way he said it," she said, shaking her head, "It just reminded me of things………."

"No need to explain any further," Christian said, knowing what, and whom she was talking about.

"Yeah, and it's just that…I feel an ending, and it saddens me," she said, walking over to the window where the sun was beginning to set.

"Steph?"

"I don't know, maybe this is really it, maybe it's all falling apart, crumbling," she said, the waning sun illuminating her face, making her almost glow. Christian thought she looked like an angel.

"You can't honestly believe that."

"I've got no job, Chris and I are fighting, friendships are turning sour, don't you feel it?"

"I feel like you're talking in riddles and I can't understand."

She turned to him and the glow off her face was so magnificent that he felt like he was in a dream. She seemed so calm, but her eyes, that were red from crying, they seemed so sad and lost. She was sad and she was certainly lost. Seconds ticked by and they stood there, neither talking.

"What are you looking at?" she finally asked.

"You look beautiful."

"Don't tell me you're getting feelings for me," she joked.

"No," he said, "The light, it back downstairs."

"Ok," she said, "Sulking up here won't help will it?"

"Nope," he said, extending his hand to hers. She took it gratefully and they walked back downstairs.

Jericho heard the floor creak as Christian and Stephanie descended the steps. He felt jealous, green with envy, as Stephanie smiled at Christian, their hands clasped tightly as they walked back into the room. Stephanie took her seat and only then did she let go of Christian's hand.

"You were gone for a while, fucking him?" Trish asked smugly.

"Yeah, I was, and it was good, too bad you gave that up," Stephanie answered coyly.

Even though he knew she was being sarcastic, the thought that she was actually doing that upstairs, with Christian, made a shiver go through his spine. He was mad at Stephanie for not trusting him, but damn it, he still loved her, and even jokingly, that reference cut through him.

"Yeah, and now I know why you wanted Chris," Trish said.

"Hey!" Jericho said, "There was none of that going on."

"Not yet anyways," Stephanie said.

"Ok, look, Edge and I are going to go pick up dinner, can we entrust you guys to stay here and not kill each other?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," they replied, in differing tones of boredom.

Edge and Kurt nodded, getting up and then leaving out the front door, Edge picking up his keys as he shut the door. Kurt looked back at the house as they left, wondering if anything would actually happen while they were gone. Hopefully they would be able to work things out just a little bit.

"What do you think will happen?" Edge asked.

"Who knows?"

"Well, when you reach the bottom, there's nowhere else to go but up."

"Let's just hope nobody through any of them a shovel."

The four people left all sat there silently, careful not to look at each other for too long. Jericho, tired of this, got up and left the room, going into the kitchen to get a glass of water or a beer. Yes, alcohol might ease his tension.

Trish got up after him and went to follow him. Stephanie's eyes bored into Trish's back, and she could almost imagine Trish falling dead from the death glares she was sending her. She could almost wish that very thing. Trish walked away, knowing Stephanie was watching her like a cat, alert and curious. She walked into the kitchen and sat up on the counter.

"I think I need one too," Trish said.

Jericho grabbed a couple of beers and handed one to Trish, "There."

"Well, this sure isn't the way I wanted to spend my birthday," she said, taking a sip of her beer.

"Oh yeah, happy birthday," he told her, clinking his bottle lightly with hers.

"Yeah, it's been so great," she said sarcastically, "Getting accused of things I didn't do, getting in fights, getting called a whore, having to talk to my ex about why he cheated, my idea of a good time."

"You didn't have to come," he pointed out.

"No, I didn't, but sue me, I held onto the thin shred of hope that everything would turn out alright."

"I thought you were mad at me."

"I need at least one ally in this Chris, and since it seems Christian and Stephanie have teamed up, I'm stuck aren't I?"

"Seems so," he said, drinking some of his beer, "I just wanted to get her, her job back."

"We still can."

"And risk this? Risk me losing her?"

"But Chris, if you get her job back, then she would love you all the more."

"Even if she hates the way I went about getting it back."

"She's Stephanie, she would've appreciated a good plan, especially one that would've benefited her above all others."

"I don't want to lose her," he said, looking over at Trish, "I know I'm crazy, I know that I have put too much into her, into us--"

"There's never too much," Trish said, "There's too little, but there's never too much.."

"Do you believe in fate Trish?" Jericho asked.

"No," she said, "Not in the conventional sense anyways."

"In what way then?"

"I believe that your path is set, but you are given choices along these paths, and that choice is yours alone and can't be pre-determined."

"Stephanie is my path," he said, "She's always been my path. Her and I have been on a collision-course since I set foot in the company."

"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

"Where's that from?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I have a path now," he said, "God, I hate being mushy."

"You want to get her, her job back don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then you might have to lose her…for now."

"Yeah," he said, then finished the rest of his beer, "For now."

"We have to go all-out for this, are you ready?" she said, putting her hand out to him.

He looked at it for a moment. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, a poem he was now applying to himself. He made the choice then and there, for good or for bad, to help Stephanie. If she left him, then it would be no one's fault but his own. He would make the choice. He shook Trish's hand.

He only hoped she would understand, when the time came to understand.

Stephanie sat there, watching the entrance into the dining room, which led to the kitchen. What were they doing in there, she wondered. They came back moments after this thought had finished and she thought she sensed something different about them. Jericho was smiling impishly at Trish and she tried to swallow the bad feelings.

"Trish, can I talk to you?" Christian asked before Jericho and Trish could even fully walk into the room.

"Whatever," she said carelessly.

He took her by the arm and pulled her upstairs, leaving Jericho and Stephanie to the living room. Christian pulled her into a bedroom, not the one he had previously been in with Stephanie, but another one and sat down on the bed, pulling Trish to sit with him. She looked over at him, an air of annoyance surrounding.

"Happy birthday," he told her.

She couldn't help it, her heart melted. The way he had said it, had made her think of all the nice moments they had together, "Thanks."

"Look, I know we're not together, and I can move past that, I'm ok," he said, "But months and months ago, we were walking around downtown New Orleans and we passed an antique store, and I remember you pointed out something that you really liked. A necklace, with a ruby pendant it was. I went back later that night, when you were out with Steph and bought it for you. I was going to give it to you for your birthday, not thinking that we wouldn't be together."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace. Trish's eyes brimmed with tears as she regarded it. She remembered that day, seeing that necklace and looking up at Christian with hopeful eyes. She didn't want to buy it just there, she was trying to look for gifts for her parent's anniversary and couldn't be bothered to shop for herself, but now here it was, given to her by a man who had betrayed her.

"Christian, you don't have to give me this, not after we've treated each other."

"I don't need it," he said, and took her hand, dropping the necklace in it, "I want you to have it. Happy Birthday."

"Thank you," she said, staring down at the necklace and then up at him, "But you shouldn't have."

"I wanted to. I bought this for you out of love, and I think it should represent that."

"But I don't deserve it."

"I don't deserve to keep it," he said, "And come on, you were the one who pointed it out in the first place. I'd look silly with a women's necklace."

"Put it on me," Trish said.

He came over and clipped it on in the back as she moved her hair away to keep it from getting snagged. Touching her should've sent shivers down his spine, but it didn't. He pulled away and smiled, liking the way it looked on her. She looked somehow complete now, as if the masterpiece was finished and he could finally be at rest.

"Perfect," he said, taking her in. And that was it, she was perfect, and she didn't need him any longer.

Jericho sat there, slowly inching his way towards Stephanie. She didn't seem to notice as she was inherently more fascinated with the carpet than with him. He stared at her, almost wishing that she would figure out this plan so he wouldn't have to go through with it. Or not even that, maybe she would just look at him and smile and open up her arms, to which he would rush and kiss her until he forgot his own name.

"Everyone's really talked tonight but you and me," he said quietly.

"Maybe because we're the ones with the fewest things to talk about."

"Or maybe because we have the most," he said, "And we have this cacophony in our brains, and we're so damn confused."

"When did you start talking like a poet?" she asked.

"The second that I knew I needed to woo you."

She laughed, and the sound was beautiful, "Woo? Who uses that word anymore, it's like, are you coming to call on me?"

"If you want."

She looked at him, "No, I don't think I do want that."

"You were in there for an awful long time with Trish," she observed.

"Yeah, I was," he agreed, "You were up there an awful long time with Christian?"

"I was," she said, "He's a good friend."

"So is Trish."

"Not good enough," she sighed, "Not good enough to keep her hands off of you."

"Stephanie," he started.

"Chris," she also said.

They stared at each other and they wanted to speak, but they both faltered. Stephanie stood up and sat down on the couch next to him, taking a hand into hers. He turned his hand over and laced his fingers with hers, squeezing them gently. They stared at their hands, staring for moments, for minutes, for so long that they lost themselves in the sight.

"I didn't know how much I wanted you," he said, "Until you refused to hug me. I felt hurt beyond reason, I couldn't even think straight."

"I didn't want to hug you, I didn't want to fall into the trap of liking you again. When we were business partners I…"

"Wanted more," he finished.

"And you never did."

"I did," he said, "I just didn't know how to get you. I was your errand boy more than anything else."

"I couldn't get close. Closeness will be your death wish. I was glad when you barged in."

"I was glad that I barged in."

"Were you?"

"Yeah, and scared, and nervous, and angry, and so many other things that I failed to notice at the time. I'm surprised I didn't just haul you to me and kiss the life out of you."

"I would've liked that very much."

"I know you would've," he smiled, "We've come a long way from that first time."

"Yes, but then again, you've learned to differentiate between me and a ho."

"Just barely."

She nudged him with her elbow, "Be nice."

"I'm always nice."

"Now I KNOW that's not true."

"Ok, not so much," he said, "But I do try now don't I? For the most part."

"You do try, I appreciate the trying."

"We're…"

"At a crossroads," she said, finishing his sentence this time.

"Yeah, you can say that. But now who's getting all poetic?"

"You bring it out in me."

He had to do this now. He had to do this for her, for everything she loved. He knew it would be difficult, he knew that she might not ever forgive him, but he had to try this, he had to try. It was like he was going into battle unarmed save for a sword and hoped to fend off an oncoming army. He was heading for what might be his last hurrah.

He touched her lips with his gently. Then pulled away, ending it just as quickly as he had started it, not letting himself linger on this any longer than he had to. When he and Trish thought up this plan, he never thought it would have to go this far, but sometimes, plans get out of hand, sometimes things go down in the exact opposite way you planned. Jericho couldn't get her, her job back if Stephanie got mad at him every time he did something with Trish. So it was all or nothing.

One day, he'd give her that gift, that package that held a new contract, and then, maybe she'd look up at him, forgiveness in his eyes.

"I think we should take a break," he told her, looking into her eyes, "Not forever, but for a little while. I mean, this thing with Trish, I know it upsets you, and I promise you, I swear to you, there's an explanation, and baby, I know you want to know, but you can't. And don't try to get it out of me, because I can't tell you. I don't expect anything of you. Just know that I have a reason, and it lies here."

He took her hand and put it on his heart.

"And it lies here."

He took his hand and put it on her heart. She looked down at his hand and then looked up at his face. She didn't know what to say, didn't know how to respond, but she had to trust that what he said was true. He hadn't steered her wrong before.

"And so the end is here."


	164. Raw, December 22, 2003

A/N: Ok, so I totally forgot that tonight was the Best of Raw show, and so here I am thinking that I'd have inspiration and I had to think on the fly. Truthfully, if I had remembered, I probably wouldn't have written a chapter tonight, like I didn't last year with the Best of show, BUT, I didn't want to skimp anyone on a chapter when I made no prior notice, so here's a chapter, don't know how good it is, eh, enjoy anyways. :D

Oh, and there WILL be a chapter on Christmas Day. :)

* * *

"I miss her."

"I know."

"I miss her, I miss her, I miss her," he bemoaned.

Trish looked over at Jericho who was laying on his own couch in the living room. She was sitting on a chair in the corner, reading a book. For the past three hours he had been saying how much he missed Stephanie. He was beginning to annoy here a tiny bit, but she knew it had to be hard for him. He had let Stephanie go, for the benefit of getting her, her job back.

And here she was, sitting with him. She was being looked at as being a home-wrecker, even though Jericho and Stephanie weren't married. They just didn't understand, and though it was difficult, she wanted to see this through, if only because she really cherished Stephanie's friendship and she wanted to help her friend.

"I miss her so much."

"Ok Chris, I get it."

"I'm an idiot," he said, berating himself.

"No, you're not, you're trying to help her."

"She needs me!"

"Chris, think of how good she'll feel when you get her, her job back," Trish reminded him.

Jericho sat up and looked at her, "You don't understand Trish. Stephanie, she…well, sometimes she doesn't have the best days."

She looked at him curiously, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he paused, wondering how he could possibly articulate himself, "Ever since she lost her job, she's been kind of upset some of the time. She looked at me, and all I saw was sadness, and it broke my heart, and she would always tell me that I was the one thing that she could count on to cheer her up."

Trish was thoroughly humbled by his words. She hadn't realized that Stephanie was this torn up about losing her job. Part of her thought that Jericho was getting her, her job back because she had been pestering him to do something for her. But here, looking into his eyes, she realized that the sole reason for Jericho being in on this plan was because he saw a side of Stephanie that no one else had seen, and it had frightened him.

She looked down, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She didn't want anyone to think she wasn't strong," he said, "You know how she is."

"And then I kissed you, great," she said, mentally kicking herself. She was still realizing how much of a mistake that kiss had been, and how she had screwed up a lot of things the moment her lips had touched Jericho's.

"It's ok, that's in the past," he said, "God, I just miss her."

She looked at him sympathetically, "I'm sorry, I really am."

Stephanie sat on the couch in Christian's house, watching television. She didn't want to have to move all her stuff again, so she had grabbed a bag and then migrated over to Christian's. She knew that Trish was staying with Edge and that was the last place she wanted to be. They would only get in a fight if they were in the same house, and then Stephanie would kick her ass all the way back to Toronto.

She and Jericho were "on a break." Whatever that meant. To her it was just some silly line that they used on "Friends." Not something that should be associated with her life, and certainly not with her and Jericho. He was supposed to be her rock and now he was requesting that they "take a break." That didn't even make sense, but he had told her to trust him, and she had to trust him.

She shuddered to think that this whole thing was just a ruse to make it seem like he still loved her, but in actuality had fallen for Trish. There weren't a lot of other reasons why he would want to get away from her. Sure, they had had a fight recently, but it wasn't really that bad to warrant this time apart. She refused to even think of this as a break up, she wasn't going to break up with Jericho again.

"Stephanie," Christian said, "Did you want anything to eat?"

"Nah," she said, "I'm not that hungry."

"You should really eat."

"I ate this morning."

"Stephanie, it's 3:25, you haven't eaten anything since like 8:30."

"I'm not hungry," she told him.

"Stephanie, come on, I know you're upset."

"I'm not upset," she insisted, "I'm confused."

"Why?"

"I just want to know why he would want to be on a break."

Christian didn't know the actual reason, but he could gleam a guess if he were hard pressed. He knew that Jericho and Trish had had a plan to get Stephanie her job back, but he didn't know if that was still going on. If it wasn't, he didn't want to think about what was really going on. Of course, if it was the plan, then he didn't want to let Stephanie in on in, so she'd be even more surprised.

"Maybe he just needs to think about things," Christian suggested.

"What things?" she asked imploringly, looking at Christian as if he had all the answers, which he didn't.

"Like," he thought quickly, trying to think of an answer that would put a smile on her face. She looked so hopeful, and he didn't want to disappoint her, "Maybe he's scared of how much he loves you."

She looked at him, a small smile appearing on her face, then she laughed loudly, "That was so pathetic Christian."

"Hey, I tried, I didn't know what you wanted to hear," he laughed.

"I'd like to hear Chris's voice telling me that he was being an idiot and to come back home," she told him, "Can you make him do that?"

"Oh of course, I'll just use my magical powers to make him materialize right here."

"Ooh, I'd like that very much," she said, clapping her hands together.

"Come on, let's eat, I ordered pizza," he told her, gesturing towards the kitchen.

"Is that who was at the door?" she asked, getting up.

"Yeah."

"Did you get the kind I like?"

"Yeah, I remember Chris told me that you liked extra cheese and mushrooms."

"Mmm, I'm starving."

Jericho was even more pathetic now, Trish observed. He had found one of Stephanie's old shirts and was now clutching it to his chest and moping. She was half-expecting him to put the shirt on just so he could keep it close. She didn't know that he would be this depressed, knowing that Stephanie wasn't out of his reach, he was just trying to help her out. But then again, she didn't know that.

"Chris, do you maybe want to give up the shirt."

"It smells like her," he said, then pouted.

"Ok, Chris, I'm sorry, but you've obviously gone crazy. This is just absolutely sad now. You can't be this torn up over Stephanie."

"I can and I will!" he protested, "It smells like peaches. You know why? Because that's the kind of body lotion she uses."

"Chris, please spare me Stephanie's life story," Trish said, laughing, "Come on, get out of this rut."

"She had to have a special lotion or else she'd get hives."

"Yeah, I know, it happened on the show, totally gross," Trish said.

"Yeah," he said, "I got her the wrong one. I didn't want to go out and get her more, but that face, how could I say no to the face? Oh God, how could I have let her go! Stephanie!"

Trish had had enough. She went to the couch and pulled Jericho up by the collar. He looked at her and she looked right back. She needed to only give him a look before she started laughing. He started laughing too, and it was the first time he had laughed since Stephanie had left. He sat back against the cushions and looked at the pictures over his fireplace. A majority of them were of him and Stephanie.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I've been acting like a complete idiot."

"Yeah, but I forgive you," she said, "You just have to remember that you're doing this FOR her, not to her."

"You're right, I can go through with this," he said, nodding resolutely, "If it's the last thing I do, I will get Stephanie her job back."

"That's the spirit!" she said, hitting him lightly in the arm.

"I think I need to get out of this house," he said, looking around, "It smells like her perfume."

"Ok," she said, rolling her eyes, "Take a LONG walk."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Stop moping!"

"Ok!" he said, getting off the couch, "I'm going."

"Finally."

Stephanie looked at the half-eaten slice of pizza that lay before her. She couldn't possibly eat another bite if it was forced in her mouth. She looked over at Christian who was stuffing his fifth slice of pizza into his mouth. She laughed as she saw how much sauce had gotten on his face.

"You're a mess," she said.

"What?" he asked, "Do I have sauce on my face?"

She looked at his face, which was covered in sauce, "Um, yeah."

He started wiping the corner of his mouth, thinking he had gotten it all, "Did I get it?"

She cringed, "Um, no, you've got a little…"

She tried to make a gesture, but he was succeeding more in smearing the sauce rather than cleaning it up. She took a napkin and wiped his face. He chuckled as he realized that he had actually had sauce all over his face. She pulled away and he smiled gratefully.

"There you go," she said, getting up to throw away the napkin.

"Thanks, sometimes I get a little overzealous when I eat."

"Yeah," she laughed, "Overzealous, sure."

He shook his head, and finished his last slice, "So what are you doing for Christmas?"

She sighed and looked down. She was going to have to have a change of plans now. She and Jericho had been planning on what to do for Christmas for weeks now, and nary a week before the holiday they were suddenly without each other. Just when his mom had started liking her too, of all the rotten luck…

"Chris and I were supposed to spend Christmas Eve in Connecticut with Mom and Shane and then spend Christmas Day with his parents," she explained, "But I guess it'll just be me with Shane and Mom."

"Oh," he said, not believing how stupid that question had been.

"Yeah, it's alright though, not a big deal," she answered, trying to shrug off the hurt she felt, "And you? Going home?"

"Yeah, Edge and I are flying up tomorrow actually, that way we get to spend some real time with our family."

"That's nice, don't run into Trish on the street."

"Trust me, I don't plan to."

"I think I'm going to go out and do some last minute Christmas shopping. I don't have anything for Shane."

"Remember last year," Christian mused, "Secret Santa? How fun was that?"

She grinned, "Oh man, that was so much fun. I had to kiss Edge under the mistletoe. And I still use the day planner Edge gave me."

"Yeah, I still have the photo album you gave me, and filled with pictures of Trish and I."

"I'm glad you got good use out of it."

"Yeah, I guess," he said, "Hey, I'll come shopping with you. I have to pick up something for Edge."

"So we both haven't gotten gifts for our siblings, we're such slackers," she replied, shaking her head.

"Well, what would Christmas be without last minute shopping," he told her, grabbing both their coats.

"Very true oh wise one," she said, shrugging her jacket on. They raced to the door and he held it open for her.

"Let the Christmas madness begin!"

Jericho walked slowly through the outside plaza of the shopping center. He let the Christmas rush commence around him. He felt like going slow. He didn't have any place to go, nobody to go home to, he could stay out as late as he wanted. Yet, that thought didn't settle right with him. He wanted someone to go home to. He didn't want to spend another night in that big, lonely bed alone. He didn't want to smell her scent on the pillows.

Torture, thy name was Stephanie McMahon.

He found that he had stopped in front of a Tiffany jewelry store, staring unconsciously at the pricey baubles that adorned the store window. Stephanie would've loved most of this stuff. He had actually bought her Christmas present a while back, but he didn't feel comfortable giving it to her now. It would hardly be considered appropriate.

He walked inside the place, not knowing why exactly, but just being naturally curious. Or at least that was the story he told himself. Not that he believed that of course. He went over and looked through the endless cases of jewelry, seeing every stone under the sun.

"Can I help you?" a nicely dressed female jeweler asked, standing behind the case he was looking at.

"I was just looking," Jericho answered, smiling up at her briefly.

"For a special someone?"

"You can say that."

"Are you looking to make this a very special Christmas?"

"Well, I don't really know, I just wanted to look around and see if anything caught my eye I guess." This woman didn't need to know that he was looking for jewelry for someone who wasn't even his girlfriend.

"Would you like to see some rings?"

What the hell, it wouldn't hurt anyone if he did, and maybe he could use it for future reference or something, "Sure."

"Ok, come with me."

She walked around to another part of the store and he followed her wordlessly. She stopped in front of a case and he looked down. These were very obviously engagement rings and he gave a little smile. She took a display of rings out and set them on top of the glass. He looked down at the rings, clearly impressed.

"Wow, they're all so nice," he said, not realizing he had said that.

"Yes, I know," she replied, "Now, would you like to look at a gold band or a platinum band."

"Platinum," he answered, thinking back to Stephanie's old wedding ring and wanting something to blow that out of the water. Wait, what was he thinking? He couldn't buy her a ring. They weren't even together. Not to mention that his mother had insisted he give whomever he proposed to his grandmother's engagement ring. But maybe Stephanie deserved to have two rings for going through so much with him. Wait, stop, he told himself, he wasn't even with Stephanie right now.

"Good choice," she said as he continued his inner struggle, "Now did you just want diamonds, or another stone, some woman prefer another gems?"

He thought back to her other ring, which had sapphires on it, this one should be different, "Just diamonds."

"Very well," she said, "How much were you looking to spend?"

This question he didn't even have to think about, "As much as I need to."

She smiled, "You have a very lucky woman then."

"I hope she thinks so."

"I think you'll enjoy this one the most," she told him, "This is our Tiffany setting, notice the smaller band. The cut is beautiful don't you think?"

"That is beautiful," he said, "I would like a bigger stone though."

She raised an eyebrow, impressed that he would want a bigger stone than was on the ring already. She reached for another ring and as he looked through them, he saw one that would be absolutely perfect for Stephanie. He pointed to it and the jeweler picked him up to let him inspect it.

"This one is perfect."

"Wonderful," she said, "Will you be purchasing this today?"

He thought about it. Would this be a mistake if he bought this ring right now? He and Stephanie weren't together, and once he got her, her job back, what if she didn't accept him back, he would be out a lot of money, judging by the size of the rock on that ring. Then again, this was Stephanie, and when it came to her, money was no object.

"Yes, I'd like to," he smiled.

"Would you like an inscription, we can have it done in store today, and you can come pick it up in about an hour and a half."

"Great," he said, thinking of what he wanted it to say, "Can it say 'To My Stephy' on it?"

"Of course," she smiled, seeing how much this man loved whoever this girl was, "Just write it down for me and we'll have it ready for you."

She handed him a piece of paper and he scrawled the message on it. He handed it back to her and she took it to the back. She told him that he could leave and come back and he smiled and nodded, telling her he would come back in an hour and a half. He walked out and then turned to go grab a coffee and that's when he spotted her.

It was Stephanie.

It was Stephanie and Christian.

It was them laughing.

He stopped in his tracks. She sensed someone's eyes on her and she looked up. There was Jericho, standing out in the crowd. She locked eyes with him and Christian noticed that she stopped laughing. He looked over to where her gaze was locked and saw Jericho standing there, also frozen.

"Go talk to him," Christian prodded gently.

"No, I can't," she shook her head, trembling.

"Come on Steph, maybe it was fate that brought you both here."

She looked at him strangely, "You're crazy."

"But don't you want to go over and just talk to him. You wanted to hear his voice right?"

"You're right," she nodded, "Ok, I'm going over there."

He gently pushed her and she started walking. Jericho stood there and watched as she came closer. At first he thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him, that he was just imagining her coming closer. But then, suddenly she was in front of him. She searched his eyes.

"Chris."

"Stephanie," he said, nervously.

"What're you doing here?"

He glanced around, trying to act like he hadn't just walked out of that Tiffany's jewelry store. She looked at him, wondering why he wasn't answering her. She began to shift around, wondering if he was ignoring her now.

"Just looking around," he finally answered.

"Oh, where?" she asked, looking around the stores in the general vicinity, "Tiffany's?"

"Nah, I was looking for a gift for my mom."

"Oh, that's nice. Did you find anything nice?"

"Yeah, I saw a necklace I liked for her, so I'll probably get that."

"That's great," she said genuinely, "I hope that Loretta likes it. Tell her and Ted I said Merry Christmas."

"Why won't you be--" he started to say, still thinking that they would be going to see his parents on Christmas, until it dawned on him that Stephanie wouldn't be joining him.

"I was looking for a gift for Shane and Christian was looking for a gift for Edge," she explained, choosing to ignore his slip-up.

"Oh yeah, because you're going to your mom's for Christmas Eve."

"Yeah," she said.

"What're you doing on Christmas?"

"I'll probably just stay at home," she nodded, "Drink tea, watch a movie, relax."

He didn't like the sound of that. Because he knew that wasn't what she would be doing. She would probably be by herself, and lonely, and worst of all, sad. They were supposed to spend Christmas together, and they weren't. This was going to be their second Christmas and not two weeks ago he had wanted it to be better than last year. So far, it was looking far, far worse.

"My parents don't know about us taking a break," he said.

"Yeah, Mom and Shane don't either."

"Oh, I thought Shane would."

"No, I haven't gotten to speak to him lately."

"I know my mom and dad would love to see you," he said softly.

"I'm sure they'll understand, once you explain."

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked hopefully.

She looked at him, furrowing her brow, "Chris, we're not together."

"Yeah, but I don't really feel like telling my parents what happened, they really like you and I know they'd be really unhappy if you didn't show up."

She thought about it a moment and then smiled kindly, "Ok, I'll go with you…on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You come with me to my mom's, you know she adores you."

"Deal," he grinned.

She bit her lip and shook her head at him, "Ok, well, I've got to get back to Christian, he told me what he got his mom and we need to do some major damage control."

He laughed, "I'll see you on Wednesday morning?"

"Bright and early," she said, jogging away.

He smiled to himself as he watched her go. She ran back over to Christian and gave him a little smile as they began walking to the Sharper Image, where Edge had said he wanted some gadget. Christian stole some glances over at her, and wondered what her and Jericho had talked about. He wouldn't pry though, not right now anyways.

Jericho walked around the plaza, looking at various things, picking up a trinket here and there for his friends. He wondered what Trish would like, and settled on a pair of nice earrings. He also picked up some gifts for Kurt, Edge, Shane, and even Christian, though they were still mad at each other. He also found a nice gift for Linda, even though he had no clue if she would even need it, but he thought the gesture was nice.

After another hour had passed he walked back to the jewelry store and walked inside to pick up the ring. The lady came back over and handed him the ring to see if he was pleased with the inscription. It looked absolutely exquisite and he could almost picture it on Stephanie's finger. It may take a while to get there, but it would get there…he hoped. She took it over to ring it up, and he almost had a heart attack when she said that price. He had expected it to be expensive, but this was bordering on crazy expensive. He hadn't started the day off thinking he'd be spending over 75,000 dollars on an engagement ring. But it was for Stephanie and so he plunked his credit card on the counter.

He walked out of there satisfied. Thinking he had this waiting in the wings made the plan a little easier to handle. He'd show his mother the ring when he and Stephanie went to visit. She knew that she'd have a mouthful to say about it.

"So?" Christian asked as they browsed through various items.

"So what?" she asked.

"What happened?"

"Nothing of note," she replied, "Except we're going ahead with our Christmas plans that we made."

"Really now?" he said smugly.

"Don't get your hopes up Christian, it's mainly because we don't want to have to explain this break or whatever this is."

"Yeah, but maybe a little Christmas magic will show up along the way."


	165. SmackDown, December 25, 2003

Stephanie woke up Wednesday morning to the sound of her alarm clock going off. She yawned and stretched, sliding over to cuddle with Jericho. She opened her eyes to an empty bed and had to remember that she was at Christian's house, and not her own. She frowned a little before she smiled, thinking that she would see Jericho in about an hour.

She got out of bed quickly and ran to the shower, wanting to get ready quickly so she could see Jericho sooner. She took the fastest shower that she had ever taken in her life and dressed quickly, not even taking her usual time to make sure that everything matched. She was pretty sure that she was wearing different colored socks, but she didn't care. She braided her hair simply, and let it fall down her back.

Jericho lay in bed, glancing over at the empty side of the bed that Stephanie usually occupied. This early in the morning, though, she'd probably be still asleep, looking all cute with her hair in braided pigtails, which she said she found comfortable so her hair wasn't all over her face. He laughed as he remembered the nights where she would make him wear his hair the same way, which made him look like such a girl. The things he did to please her.

He looked at his hand, where he was currently twirling the engagement ring he had bought not two days ago. The light shone off it brilliantly, almost blinding him once or twice. You could probably go skating on the size of the rock on the ring. Yet, it was worth it, she was worth it. He didn't mind spending an obscene amount of money on Stephanie, and after seeing how high those rings could go for, he realized that 75,000 was on the LOW end of the price spectrum.

He kept twirling it around, wondering if he was an idiot for buying the ring in the first place. He hadn't even made plans to propose to her, and he still didn't have any plans to. Well, not in the near future at least. Of course not in the near future, they weren't even talking to each other. The doorbell rang and he sat up, wondering who was up this early besides him. He set the ring back in it's box and then got out of bed, not bothering to put his pants on, thinking that his boxers would suffice.

He jogged down the stairs and to the front door, opening it without asking or looking to see whom it was. Stephanie stood there, smilingly sweetly at him, a suitcase next to her on the porch. Jericho was surprised to see her up this early, Stephanie hardly got up early, ever.

"Stephanie, what are you doing here?"

"We're going to my mom's remember?"

"We don't even have to leave for the airport for a few hours," he observed, "It's only 7:23."

"Yeah, I know, but I was so excited that I couldn't stay asleep."

"Excited for what?" he asked dumbly.

"Christmas silly!" she exclaimed, walking in the house.

"Oh," he said, allowing himself a chuckle, "So how many cups of coffee have you had to get you so chipper so early?"

"None," she said, "Christian left last night with Edge, and I didn't want to make any coffee."

"Well, I just woke up, so there's none here."

"That's ok," she said, then yawned.

"Look, you're tired."

"Yeah, I guess I am," she said, that rush of adrenaline at seeing Jericho fading away quickly.

"Why don't you go back to sleep or take a nap or something?"

"Ok, can I go up to our bed?" she asked, "I'd feel more comfortable upstairs."

"You don't have to ask," he said, waving her off, before he went into the kitchen to make coffee.

He was halfway to the kitchen and heard her making her way towards the stairs when he remembered that he had left the ring-box sitting on his nightstand, wide open for anyone to see. And Stephanie was going up there right now! He raced down the hallway, almost slipping on the rug and raced up the stairs brushing past her. She stared at him strangely.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," he said, scratching his head, trying to appear nonchalant, "I just realized I was tired too and I wanted to get a little shut-eye before we left."

"Ok, um, I guess I can sleep in one of the guest rooms," she answered, about to make the turn to the other side of the hallway.

"No!" he exclaimed, then mentally kicked himself, "I mean, there's no need."

"Yeah, ok, because broken up people should really sleep in the same bed," she joked.

"We're not broken up, not technically anyways, there's no rule that says we can't share a bed."

"I just don't think it's the best idea Chris."

"We'll have to do it at my parent's," he pointed out.

She looked at him, "You do have a point, but we're not at your parent's yet, so I really should just stay in the guest room."

"If you say so."

"Ok," she smiled, "See you in a few."

"Uh huh," he nodded, then sighed in relief as she disappeared into one of the guest bedrooms.

He walked back into his room and went to the nightstand looking at the ring that she had so very nearly found. He picked it up and smiled, thinking about the person who he wanted to give it to. She was only a few feet away. He could go into the room, drop down on one knee right this moment and propose. He was very tempted to do just that, but restrained himself. He could just imagine though, imagine what it would be like to propose to her.

_She would be lying on the bed, completely unsuspecting as to his actions. Possibly staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the unburdening of sleep to come over her. Her eyelids would open and close slowly, drifting off into a dream world where they were together, where she could be happy with him. Then he would stand in the doorway, the ring burning a hole in his pocket, and he'd stare at her, willing her to notice his presence._

_She'd look up, suddenly aware that he was watching her. She'd have question in her eyes, and she'd tilt her head to look at him. He'd smile softly, taken in by her sweet innocence. He'd be nervous already, maybe she would see the beads of sweat already forming on his forehead._

"_Chris?" she'd ask, wondering why he was here, but feeling no need to voice the actual question, because he'd know instinctively what she was asking._

_He'd look at her, then gently rub his hands on the sides of his pajama pants that he had slipped on, because he hadn't thought proposing in his boxers would be that nice. He'd wipe the moisture off of them, feeling the nervousness slowly undulate through his body, until he feared he was shaking. She'd notice of course, and slowly get up to see what the matter was with him. He'd wave her off with a hand, telling her to stay put silently._

"_I need to talk to you."_

_Her eyes would turn stricken, because she would only see the outward anguish he was displaying. He'd see it and feel ashamed because she would know think the worst. She'd think that he and Trish were an item, he would feel it in his bones. She'd sit on the bed, fold her hands in her lap and look at them, fumbling with her fingers, anything to not look at him._

"_It's about you and Trish isn't it?" she'd say softly, "That's why you needed a break. You got feelings for her."_

_He'd rush to her and kneel in front of her. She'd never know what was coming. Not in a million years would she ever guess what he was about to do. But that was what would make it a great proposal, the total and complete shock of it all. The look on her face, that would make it worth it._

"_No," he would tell her, his voice firm, "Not it at all."_

"_Then what is it?"_

"_I wanted to get you your job back."_

"_What?"_

"_Trish and I, it's fake, I don't like her like that. We were going to pretend to be a couple and ask Vince to give you your job back. He'd think I was with Trish and had no feelings for you. And by being with her, I could act like it was all her who wanted it and since I was one of Vince's cronies, he would let you back in. He'd know you were safe from me."_

_She'd look at him, understanding dawning in her eyes, "You would do all that for me?"_

"_I'd do anything for you. I didn't want you to hurt, that's why I told you I needed a break."_

"_But I did hurt, I hurt without you," she'd tell him, going to grab his hands and holding them tightly in her own._

"_I hurt without you," he'd tell her, the sincerest he's ever been, "I don't want to hurt anymore."_

"_So?"_

"_I want you back Stephanie, I want to end this stupid break, I want you."_

_She'd smile, he'd melt, "I want you too."_

"_Take me back?"_

"_I always do, don't I?"_

_They'd hug, it'd be beautiful and all that good, mushy stuff. But then he'd pull away and capture her soft, warm lips to his. She'd kiss back, and then, in her fatigue, she'd yawn. He'd pull back and laugh and she'd hit him lightly for laughing at her. Then he'd remember what he came in there to ask, and turn serious again._

"_I remember I was cutting a promo in the ring, about my match with The Rock, and you came out and did my entrance. I acted like I didn't like it, but sue me, I thought it was pretty clever of you to do that. And you said 'SmackDown is Stephanie' and it sounded so funny. You were wearing this see-thru top, lacy type number, and try as I might, I couldn't help but look every so often. You looked so beautiful. I hated thinking that at the time, I mentally kicked myself for even thinking that at the time. I was supposed to hate you, but damn it was hard. Then later when you threw your little temper tantrum at me and Rocky, I laughed, because you were so cute when you were mad."_

_She would laugh, "Why are you bringing that up?"_

"_I don't know, really. You just…surprised me that night. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I just saw you in a different light. I…didn't hate you…as much."_

"_Oh, 'as much,' that's nice."_

"_No, that's not the point. I think the point is. I remember stuff that I did with you. I can vaguely remember things with other people, vaguely, but then when I think of you, it's like, I have all these memories tucked away."_

_She'd look at him and run a hand over his cheek, "I remember too."_

"_I want more memories," he'd start, and that nervous feeling would completely drop to his stomach, which was fluttering wildly._

"_There will be more," she'd reassure, still unaware to his intentions._

"_I want one right now."_

"_Ok, what do you wanna do, have wild sex?" she'd giggle._

_He would take one of his hands away from hers and she'd look at him curiously at the loss of contact. He'd reach around to his pocket, and lightly finger the box laying inside. He'd take it out slowly. Then look up at her face, because he wanted to see her every reaction. He would bring it around to face her and the look of recognition would pass over her._

"_Not quite."_

_He'd open the box and then she'd eye that ring and she would completely understand what he was doing. Then the torrent of tears would begin and he'd smile hopefully, looking up at her as she looked down at the ring. She'd be shocked, reach out her hand as if to touch the ring, but pull back at the last second, not wanting to disrupt such beauty._

"_You know you're going to marry me, so don't keep me in suspense with trying to think of an appropriate answer."_

_She would give him an indignant look, "Say what I wanna hear!"_

_He'd make a face, but of course give in, because it was her proposal after all, "Will you marry me?"_

"_No."_

_His eyes would go wide, and he'd look at her, stricken, already feeling his heart break in a million pieces._

"_Of course I'll fucking marry you!"_

_He'd shake his head and before he could say anything she would tackle him onto the floor and ravish him with kisses. He'd just lay there laughing, managing to slip the ring on her finger while she wasn't looking…_

Jericho shook his head. Ok, so he'd planned that a little too elaborately in his mind. He closed the ring box and slipped it into the drawer before climbing back into bed. He would only get a couple hours sleep, but that was better than nothing. Sleep came to his quickly.

His alarm went off before he knew it and he was getting out of bed. HE could already smell the coffee brewing and knew that Stephanie had gotten up before him. He yawned and stretched, getting out of bed and grabbing his suitcase which was sitting in the chair in the corner. Picking it up, he took it back over to his bed and began to throw clothes into it, planning for the rest of week, which he would spend with Stephanie. He slipped the ring in right before he closed it, still planning to show it to his mother.

He got dressed quickly, tying his hair back into a ponytail. He was going to braid it, but saw that Stephanie had braided it, and he didn't want them to have matching hairstyles. That would just look weird. He zipped up his jeans and took him and his suitcase downstairs. Leaving the suitcase by the door he went into the kitchen where Stephanie was drinking a cup of coffee from her favorite rug as she sat at the kitchen table reading something. He walked over to her and instinctively kissed her head as he walked past.

She smiled to herself, not even sure he was aware of what he had just done. She guessed that it was just force of habit for him. She went back to reading as he headed for the coffee pot. He poured himself a cup and went to sit next to her. He took a sip of the addicting brew and watched her as she read.

"Well, you look right at home," he joked.

"Yeah, this place reminds me of this place I used to live," she said, shaking her head as if thinking hard.

"What're you reading?"

"It's called the newspaper, it's been around for quite a while. It gives you things called articles that inform you of what is going on in the world."

He shook his head, "Thank you for enlightening me, I was a little hazy on the concept."

She patted his hand, "Always glad to be of assistance."

"So you're all packed I assume?"

"I'm always ready and neatly packed. I can just imagine your suitcase, I'm sure you just threw stuff in there without even folding it."

She had him pegged; that was for sure. He smiled impishly at her and shrugged, trying to act all innocent. Truth be told, he was truly just happy to be here with her, like this. He was glad that this break hadn't broken her, no pun intended. But he had asserted that they were NOT broken up, just taking a sabbatical, so to speak.

"I'm not telling."

"Why don't you just let me pack for you?"

"I'm not three, it's fine."

She frowned, "Fine."

"Don't get mad," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Do you want to head to the airport?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Before long they were on a plane to Connecticut and Stephanie was looking out the window happily, looking out on all the clouds that they were flying above. Jericho took the final sip from the beer that he had ordered and gave it to the flight attendant as she passed with a garbage bag. He then glanced over at Stephanie, smiling as he caught the smile on her face. He took her hand in his and she glanced over at him.

"Weren't we fighting not a week ago?" she asked.

"I can never stay mad at you," he admitted, "You're too pretty."

"And here I thought it was all charm that kept you from completely giving up on me."

"That too of course."

"So are you practicing up for how we'll act around our families," she said, looking pointedly down at their clasped hands.

"Nah, I figure, we're still together on some level."

"But we're still broken up," she pointed out.

"Yeah, fine, we're broken up," he said, taking his hand away from hers.

"I didn't say I didn't like that."

He took his hand back in hers, "Oh really?"

"Hmm, hot guy touching me, nope I don't have any problems with that one."

He laughed, "How much longer are we stuck on this plane?"

"Well, since you slept half the time anyways, we're almost there, the captain said we'd be landing in like fifteen minutes," she informed him.

"Oh," he said, "And then it's straight to your mom's?"

"No, I wanted to stop at my house first, you know drop off our stuff, and check things around there, we don't need to be at my mom's until 5:30."

"Ok, and we're having dinner there."

"Yeah, my mom is preparing something, it'll be great. You didn't get to spend last Christmas with me. But then I wasn't feuding with my father, so it wouldn't have been good if you had just shown up."

"Yeah, last Christmas was fun though," he said, "This Christmas will be more subdued I think."

"Yeah," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder, "And sad I think."

"Why sad?"

"Well, my dad won't be there, and you can always feel that void around the holidays."

"Yeah," he said, taking her by the arm and holding her closer, trying to give her support that he knew she'd need.

"Then you know, there's us, and how we're just faking being together so that our families don't worry about us," she said, with a strange tone that belied her sadness.

"Hey, look at me," he told her as she turned her head to look up at him.

"Yeah?"

"I still love you more than I love anybody in this world ok. You are still everything to me. I just…I don't want you to have to…trust me on this one Steph, it'll work out between us."

"I know," she said, and she did know. She trusted him and believed him, because he wouldn't lie to her like that, he wouldn't betray her feelings, "I just wish I knew what was up, because I get the feeling I'm not getting the entire story."

He kissed the tip of her nose, "You're not, but don't worry about that right now."

She gave him a suspicious look, "Fine, I'll try not to."

"Good."

The plane touched down shortly thereafter and they got off the plane, putting their sunglasses on, as if that would completely belie their identities. Stephanie's car was still at the airport, in the long-term parking area, since she had left it there a while ago. She had no need for it up here, since she lived in Florida and had bought another car, but it sure did come in handy right now. They went to get it and she climbed in the driver's seat, starting the trek home.

"I feel like it's been forever since I've been home," she told him.

"It hasn't been that long."

"I know, but I come up here so infrequently now. I mean, before, when I still had a job, I'd come up every now and then to do business on my off days, but now, it's like I'm cemented in Florida."

"Because of me," he said, grinning like a kid.

"Yes, because of you, and how that happened I'll never know. It seemed one day I was living here and the next all my stuff is in Florida."

"I brainwashed you into moving in with me," he told her as she reached across to slap him lightly, "Hey, what was that for?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess my brainwashing is wearing off."

He stuck his tongue out at her and pretended to sulk on the other side of the car. She just laughed to herself as she continued the way back to her house. They arrived and she pulled the car into the garage before getting out of the car. Jericho got their bags from the backseat and then they went inside through the garage door.

"Home," she said softly.

"Oh, that's good to know that you didn't consider my home yours."

"You know I consider that my home too," she nudged him with her shoulder, "It's just this was first."

"Fine, fine," he gave in, "I'll take these bags up to the rooms alright."

"Good, you're already being my good little lackey."

He took the bags upstairs and almost put both of them into Stephanie's bedroom. He corrected himself and then put his own suitcase into a guest room right off of the master bedroom. Jericho remembered the first time that he had stayed there, he had wondered if Stephanie and Hunter had shared the bed, because he said he'd feel uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed that Hunter had occupied. She said they had and he remembered how they had spent the night on the couch together, squeezed onto this little space. He wondered why they hadn't taken one of the guest rooms, but it had been more fun with them all scrunched up on the couch.

He went back downstairs and found Stephanie sitting on one of her barstools and looking through the overflowing mountain of mail. She leafed through all the junk mail and then read a few bank statements. He sat next to her and leaned his chin in his hand and just watched her.

"Are you going to sit there all day?"

"No, just until I find something to do until we go to your mom's."

"Oh."

She went back to her mail and he got off his stool and went into her living room to watch television. He flipped through various channels before stopping it on some meaningless cooking show. There was nothing good on. Stephanie joined him a little while later and sat next to him as they watched television together. Time went by slowly until Stephanie wordlessly stood up beside him and went upstairs. He watched her leave the room and then went back to watching television. He didn't know how much time had passed, but it had to be a while because the sun was starting to set.

Stephanie came back down and walked into the living room, trying to put on an earring as she walked in. He looked at her, and declared her beautiful. She was wearing a crème-colored turtleneck sweater and neatly pressed brown slacks. Her hair was down and wavy and she just looked good.

"Wow," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said wow," he told her, "You look incredible."

"In this?" she looked down, "It's nothing special."

"You still look great."

"Thanks," she smiled, then eyed his jeans and t-shirt, "Are you wearing that?"

"I wasn't aware this was a dress-up type thing," he joked.

"Funny, go get dressed so we can go."

"Aye aye captain," he saluted as she swatted his butt as he passed, "Hey, hands off lady!"

"Get your butt dressed!"

He laughed and went upstairs to obey her orders at him to get dressed. He put on a pair of nice black pants and a blue button down shirt which he rolled up to the sleeves. He grabbed his leather jacket that Stephanie had given him last year for Christmas and went downstairs where he saw Stephanie waiting impatiently at the door, her own leather jacket already on and a short stack of presents in her hand.

"We match," he told her, putting on his jacket.

"Yeah, yeah, come on," she said, tapping her foot.

"Geez, someone is impatient," he noted.

"You know I hate being late."

He sighed, "I know."

She opened the door, "Ok, let's go."

"Hold on, I forgot some presents."

"You got them presents?" she asked, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Of course I did."

"That's so sweet."

"I wasn't going to be rude," he told her.

She laughed and waited for him to go upstairs and grab the gifts he had gotten for Linda and Shane. He smiled a little as he looked at the ring box tucked neatly away in one of the pockets of his suitcase. He wished he could give that to her tomorrow, but alas, life always got in the way. He ran back downstairs and she already had the door open and he walked out.

They made the short drive quickly, since Stephanie was known to be a bit of a speed demon on the road. They pulled into the McMahon mansion and parked in the long driveway. Jericho got out of the car and went to help Stephanie out of the car. She smiled graciously and he also gathered her gifts for her. She smiled as they walked up the drive and rang the doorbell.

"Chris, Stephanie!" her mother exclaimed as she opened the door. She embraced both of them and ushered them inside the house, "How are you?"

"We're great Mom," Stephanie said, grinning as she gave her mother another hug.

"And you Chris? How are you?"

"I'm fine Linda," he said, "Is there anywhere I could drop off these presents?"

"Of course, come into the living room," she told them and as they walked in they caught of a glimpse of the spectacularly large Christmas tree, perfectly decorated that sat next to the picture window.

"Wow Mom, this place looks great."

"Yeah, it's beautiful," Jericho added, "We didn't even have time to decorate our house."

She laughed, "Well you two are so busy. Here, let me take these."

Linda took the presents from Jericho and went to put them near the tree. Jericho took off his coat and then gestured for Stephanie to take off hers. He helped her get it off and he took them into the foyer to go hang them on the coat rack next to the door while Stephanie walked over to her mother.

"Where's Shane Mom?" she asked.

"Oh, he's around here somewhere."

Jericho turned around to walk back into the living room when he spotted Shane, who was leaning in the entryway into the family room, off of the foyer. Jericho was startled to see him there, and noticed that Shane had a displeased look on his face, and his arms were crossed over his chest.

"What's up Shane?"

"I should ask what's up with you," Shane responded.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was talking to Kurt yesterday and he alerted me of a little situation that was going on between you and Stephanie," Shane said, raising his eyebrow.

"And how much do you know?" Jericho asked.

"I know enough. I know that you and Stephanie are no longer together, and it makes me wonder why you're here to begin with," Shane said testily.

"Look Shane--"

"No," he said, cutting Jericho off angrily, "I told you what would happen if you ever hurt my baby sister. I warned you that if you hurt her, I would kill you. I want you out of my mother's house right now, because you don't deserve to fucking be here."

Now Jericho was starting to get perturbed. He had no clue as to what the situation was, and how dare he order him out when he was with Stephanie, when Stephanie had wanted him to come. He took a few steps closer to Shane, who in turn, straightened up and stared him down. Jericho stared back.

"You don't know anything about this," Jericho said.

"Like hell I don't."

"Shane, I'm dead serious, you don't know anything about what's really going on."

"Are you and Stephanie broken up?"

"No, we're on a break," he said.

"And what's the difference?"

"Look, I have a reason for doing this."

"Trish Stratus apparently," Shane smirked.

Jericho pulled him into the other room, "Ok, you know what, fine, think what you want, but I'm not with Trish. I love Stephanie!"

"Then what the fuck are you thinking breaking it off with her!?!"

Jericho thought about it, Shane would NEVER get off his back if he didn't tell him the truth, he was like a little rabid dog who would constantly nip at you, "I didn't break it off because I wanted to ok!"

"Then why did you?"

"Look, I'm about to tell you something that you cannot tell anyone, and you have to swear that you won't tell, and I mean swear. This cannot get back to Stephanie."

Shane looked apprehensive for a moment, not knowing if he should keep something from Stephanie, especially when it seemed so important. Yet, he wanted to know Jericho's explanation, and if it wasn't good enough, then he'd throw the blonde out on his ass.

"Fine, I swear."

"Seriously swear?"

"Seriously, I swear," Shane said, well, seriously.

"I'm getting Stephanie her job back, or at least I'm trying to."

"What does that have to do with breaking up with her?"

"Trish and I, we're going to look like a couple, so then maybe, when we talk to Vince about letting Steph come back, he won't question my feelings towards Stephanie. I'll still be enough of a friend to Vince that he would probably let me have a favor, and I can blame it on Trish for wanting Steph back because Trish is such a good human being. That's the story, the whole story. I just don't want Stephanie to be upset week in and week out because she thinks that something is going on between Trish and I."

Shane stood there, "Wow…solid plan."

Jericho laughed, "Trish thought it up actually."

"Wow, I'm impressed," Shane nodded, thinking about it, "Sounds pretty good."

"Yeah, but if Stephanie knew, I don't want to get her hopes up, because it's still up to Vince, and I want it to be a surprise, you know, I just want to give her a gift and have it be a new contract, that's why it's a secret, that's why I'm doing this. I love Stephanie, I don't want a break, but I don't want to hurt her."

"Ok," Shane told him, "Fine, but I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope so too."

"You two still seem chummy."

"Shane, we're not broken up, we still love each other."

"What are you two boys doing?" Stephanie said, sticking her head in the room, "Come on, Mom says dinner is ready."

"Coming baby," Jericho said, smiling at her as she disappeared around the corner, then he turned back to Shane, "Thanks for not throwing me out of here."

"You were lucky this time," Shane said, clapping him on the back as he left the room.

Stephanie came back in and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and leaned into his chest. He stroked her hair down and wrapped a finger around one of her wavy, brown locks. She smiled up at him and leaned her chin on his chest.

"What were you and Shane talking about?"

"Your dad," Jericho lied.

Stephanie made a face, "Yuck, of all the bad topics to talk about."

"I know, that's why we didn't invite you," he told her, pressing his lips to her cheek.

"Come on, let's eat, I haven't eaten anything since those stupid pretzels on the plane. I hate pretzels."

"I know, that's why I ate half of yours."

"They're too dry."

"Complain, complain, complain."

They walked into the lavishly decorated dining room and sat down at the table to eat the wonderful meal. There was lots of laughter and joking as the four of them sat there, eating and drinking. Jericho would occasionally glance at Stephanie and smile a secret smile at her. She would simply blush and look down, the candlelight accentuating her rosy, pink cheeks. The looks did not go unnoticed by either of the other members of the McMahon family, and they looked at each other knowingly.

Time came to open the presents and Jericho sat down on the couch, as Stephanie sat down on his lap. Since she was the youngest, she got all the presents first and giggled happily as she gathered up some presents from her mother and brother. Jericho explained that his present would be coming tomorrow, and she looked a bit surprised that he had even gotten her a present.

He leaned up to her ear and whispered, "Of course I got you a present."

She turned to him so they were shaded by her hair falling around her face, "But our situation?"

"Fuck the situation, if I wanna give you a gift, I'll give you a gift," he smirked.

"I got you something too," she smiled, then leaned down to kiss him.

He had got approximately six days without her lips touching his, which wasn't that long, but God how he had missed this feeling that crept up inside him. He tucked her hair back around her ears as they kissed, and only broke apart when Shane cleared his throat, telling Stephanie to open her presents.

She opened up the gifts and got off Jericho's lap to go hug her mother and brother, thanking them each for their lovely gifts. She showed Jericho the diamond tennis bracelet from her mother, and the matching earring set from her brother. He smiled at her enthusiasm. Jericho was next to open his gifts from Shane and Linda. He received some nice gifts from them and thanked them, smiling in their directions seeing as how Stephanie wouldn't give him back his lap so he could thank them properly.

Once all the presents were opened and everyone had had some coffee, Stephanie and Jericho decided to head on back to Stephanie's house. Him and Stephanie hugged Linda and Shane hugged Stephanie before they left for the night. They drove back to Stephanie's house and as they pulled into the driveway Jericho looked over to see Stephanie curled on the seat and asleep. He smiled and got out slowly, then headed over to her side and gently took her out of the car, carrying her into the house, managing to open the door with one hand before bringing her up to her room.

He laid her down on her bed and started to undress her so he could put her into her pajamas. He had to restrain himself when he started to undress her, because she was so breathtaking he was afraid he would lose his cool on this one. He managed to change her successfully and tucked her under the covers.

"Come to bed Chris," she mumbled, half asleep.

"I'm going into the guest room Steph," he told her quietly.

"Why?" she asked, obviously thinking they were still together like that.

"Because that's where I belong."

"Did I make you mad?"

"No, but if you wake up with me tomorrow, you'll regret it ok?"

She didn't answer because she had fallen back asleep and so he kissed her on the cheek and began to leave. He took one last look at her before going to his own room, wondering why he hadn't just given in and gotten into bed with her. It wasn't like he was hurting anyone. He yawned and went to his own bedroom, thinking about seeing his family tomorrow.

The next day dawned bright and early and saw Stephanie and Jericho hustling and bustling about trying to get ready to leave for Jericho's parent's house. She grabbed a muffin that she had taken from her mom's house last night and handed it to Jericho before grabbing one of her own.

"Are we ready to go?" she asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, I think so," he said, mentally doing a check-list.

"I can't believe we overslept!" she told him berating herself.

He took her by the shoulders and made her calm down, "Shh, it's ok, we won't be late, everything will be fine."

"Ugh, I hate how you're so calm," she frowned.

"Yeah, I know," he said, kissing her forehead, "I think we have everything so we shouldn't worry ok, so stop worrying. We'll make it in plenty of time."

That fruition didn't come true as Jericho and Stephanie found themselves racing down the terminal, dragging their bags behind them as they raced for their loading gate. Stephanie was lagging a little behind him due to her heeled shoes and he slowed down to make sure that she kept up with him.

"I hate you!" she called to him as they ran.

"I didn't know that security would want to search your bag," he called back.

"Ack, we're not going to make it!"

Jericho grabbed Stephanie's hand in his free one and he practically dragged her to the gate just in time to make the plane. They practically collapsed into their seats, breathing heavily as people around them stared at them strangely. They caught their breaths as the plane started to take off.

"Told you we'd make it," he wheezed.

She glared at him, "Just barely."

"Hey, we made it didn't we?"

"Yeah, whatever."

He smirked and leaned over to kiss her gently, a kiss she returned eagerly. He pulled away and smiled, running a finger down her cheek and letting it come to rest just under her chin.

"We made it, so don't worry."

She smacked his hand away, "Yeah, but I almost had a heart attack in the process."

He laughed and sat back to enjoy the rest of the plane ride to Winnipeg. They arrived in Canada and got out of the plane with their bags. They walked down to the baggage claim and out to the taxi-stand where they picked up a taxi to go to Jericho's parent's. Stephanie sat and looked out the window before turning to Jericho.

"You know, I'm a lot less nervous this time around."

"Maybe because you know my parents love you," he said knowingly.

"I know that. It's a better feeling when you know you're liked," she laughed.

"Yeah, I can see how being liked is better than being hated."

She giggled and waited as the cab pulled into their destination. Jericho paid for the taxi and got the bags as Stephanie walked up the walkway and knocked on the door. Jericho caught up to her and stood next to her as the door flew open. Jericho's mother ushered them inside, seeing that they looked chilled.

"Oh, we've been waiting for you two!" his mother exclaimed happily.

"Hello Loretta," Stephanie said, smiling warmly.

"Look at you," his mother said, "You look wonderful, that Florida sun does wonders, we should move down there Ted."

"I'm not sure Chris would appreciate having us in his business all the time," Ted said, chuckling as he came in from the dining room where he had been setting the table.

"Nonsense, he'd love to have us there wouldn't you Chris?" his mother teased.

"Oh yeah, definitely," he deadpanned.

"How are the two of you?" Loretta asked, taking their coats and hanging them up in the front closet.

"We're fine," Jericho answered, "Tired from the plane ride, but fine."

"Now that you have your coats off, I can properly hug you."

Jericho opened his arms to his mother, but she made a bee-line for Stephanie and hugged her first. Jericho looked a little bit surprised that his mother had hugged Stephanie first, and put his arms down sheepishly. His dad came over and gave him a half-hug as his mother came over to him to hug him at last.

"You went to Stephanie first," he pouted.

"Oh hush you," she said, slapping him gently on the arm, "You can wait your turn."

"She likes me better," Stephanie said, smiling widely.

"Why does everyone like her better?" Jericho said petulantly, but with a tone of amusement in his voice.

"She's nicer to look at," Ted said, wrapping his arm around Stephanie.

"Hey! I'm gorgeous!"

"He is gorgeous," Stephanie put her input in.

"See?" Jericho said, hugging his mom again, "Do you need any help in the kitchen Mom?"

"Offering to help me!?!" she asked incredulously, "Stephanie, you're even better than I thought you were. You've actually given him manners."

"It was tough, let me tell you."

"Ha, I'm glad I'm the butt of so many jokes."

"Of course you can help me," Loretta said, "Why don't you put your bags upstairs first?"

"Ok," he said, grabbing them, "I'll be right down."

Jericho grabbed the bags and took them upstairs to his old room. He set them down on the ground and then turned his own suitcase on the side to unzip it and grab the ring so he could show his mother. He hoped that she liked it, she'd be crazy if she didn't like it, he thought as he gazed down at it. He went back downstairs and saw Stephanie and Ted sitting on the couch talking to one another. Jericho was glad that she would be distracted so that he could talk to his mother uninterrupted.

He walked into the kitchen and saw his mother working on some mashed potatoes. She wiped her hands on a dish towel and came over to him. She took him by the hand and brought him over to the chopping board and ordered him to start chopping. He did so dutifully for a few moments before he stopped and turned to his mother.

"Hey mom, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course you can," she said, turning to face him, "What about?"

"About something I did," he told her.

"What did you do?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I kind of bought something," he said, trying to hide his smile.

"What, like a car?"

"No, like, um, something for Stephanie," he told her, "Can you keep it a secret from Dad?"

"Yes, now what is it?" she asked again.

He reached into his pocket and took out the box. He gave it to his mother and she took it, opening it slightly and then all the way. She gave a loud gasp and looked from it to Jericho, to the ring again. She stared at it for a moment, a small squeal of surprise coming from her. Jericho watched her and she looked up at him, her mouth agape.

"Christopher, this is a--a you know what!" she exclaimed.

"Shh, Mom," he scolded, "Do you want Stephanie to find out about this?"

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe it," she said, launching herself into her son's arms, "Oh my baby!"

Jericho laughed and hugged her, "So you're not against this?"

"Not in the slightest," she said, pulling away, "Oh, I can't believe you're going to--oh I want grandkids soon!"

"Whoa, Mom, calm down, I haven't even asked her yet, and I actually don't plan to for a while."

"Why?" she said, hitting him in the arm, "You should ask her tonight, it would be romantic and then you could have a spring or summer wedding, and it'll be perfect, maybe by this time next year she can be pregnant."

Jericho took a step back, his mother was working a little too fast for him. Suddenly he was having kids and he just wasn't ready for that right now. He laughed and put a hand on his mother's shoulder, "Mom, that sounds nice and all, but I'm not asking her tonight. I have to wait for the right time."

"I suppose," she seceded.

"I just wanted you to be the first person who knew about this, and saw the ring."

"When did you buy it?"

"Monday. I don't know, I was just looking around and went inside the store and I don't know, walked out with this. I know that I have grandma's ring, but I kind of wanted to give her something I had picked out."

"Oh, that's so sweet," she gushed, "That ring is gorgeous, the most beautiful ring I've ever seen."

"Yeah, the moment I saw it, I knew it was perfect for her."

"It's huge too," she laughed, "How much did it cost?"

He laughed uneasily, "It's not important is it?"

"How much did it cost Christopher?"

Uh oh, she had called him Christopher, which meant she was being very serious. If he didn't answer her, she might get mad at him, and he was still afraid of her. She was his mother after all. She could still punish him if she wanted, not that she would.

"A lot Mom."

"Can I get a round figure? You can even round down if you wish."

He mumbled a figure.

"I didn't hear that."

"Um, 78,000 dollars," he said a little clearer.

His mother started coughing, not thinking that he had actually said the correct price, surely he meant somewhere like 7,800, not 78,000, that was just, that was a lot of money. She knew her son made very good money, but that was a LOT of money to spend on a ring. She cleared her throat and gripped the counter for support, actually in shock over the amount.

"Did you say it was seventy-eight THOUSAND dollars?"

"Yeah, that's how much it was," he said, shrugging.

"Chris! My God, that cost more than this house when we first bought it," she told him.

"I know it's a lot Mom, but I saw it and I couldn't help it, I bought it, I didn't know the price until she rung it up. Not that I would've taken it back or anything, but I got it engraved too."

She took the ring gingerly out of the box, scared to actually touch something that had cost this much. It was truly a beautiful ring. She looked on the inside of the band and saw a delicate script engraved into it, saying "To My Stephy." She had to give a small smile as she saw it. Her son was crazy about Stephanie, and obviously enough so to spend this much on her.

"I'm sure it'll be worth every penny," she told him as she put it back into the box.

"I know it will be, but you know what?"

"What?"

"78,000 was on the low end of the price scale, they went up to a million dollars."

"If you had gotten her a million dollar ring, then you better stay with her forever," his mother laughed, "Go get your father and Stephanie and tell them that dinner is just about ready, I just need to cut those herbs you were working on before you dropped that bombshell on me."

He laughed, "I'm glad you like it."

"Like it? I love it. If you're father had spent that much money on me, I don't know what I would've done, fainted maybe."

"Maybe. Hey Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for not hating Stephanie anymore."

"She's a nice girl, I should've given her the benefit of the doubt when I met her and saw how much she loved you. Not only that, but, I've seen the way you look at her. A mother always knows, and who am I to keep my son from his true love."

Jericho put the box back in his pocket as his mother went back to the food. He walked into the living room and sat down next to Stephanie as she still sat there talking to his father. He leaned his head on her back and he could feel her breathing and it was comforting. He loved her so much. She reached around to grab his hand as she kept talking. Before long his mother came in to tell them that dinner was ready.

Stephanie let go of Jericho's hand and let Ted escort her into the dining room. Jericho followed silently, patting the box in his pocket, making sure it was still there and hadn't fallen out of his pocket where she could see and find it. He sat down next to her as his parents sat down on the other side. The dinner was much like the meal they had had at Linda's last night, laughter all around.

Jericho's mother kept sending him looks across the table, looks that were telling him that he should ask her tonight. He frowned at her, as she laughed at his expression. Seemed that proposal wasn't going to be happening tonight. After dinner they went to exchange presents, everyone adoring what they had received.

Later, Jericho and Stephanie were in his bedroom and she had just changed into her pajamas. He was already laying on the bed and she stared down at it, as if afraid to get in. Jericho could see her apprehension, her hesitance to get in because they were supposed to be partially broken up. Except today, it hadn't felt like they were on a break, it just felt like a normal day. And so, in spite of the situation, he grabbed her hand and pulled her roughly onto the bed.

"Hey!" she screamed as she fell face first onto the mattress.

"You weren't getting in," he told her innocently.

She grabbed a pillow and whacked him on the chest yelling, "Jerk!"

He grabbed his own pillow and hit her against her side. That's when the all-out pillow fight broke out as they hit each other everywhere. Jericho hit her against her head and she went down low and hit him against his thigh. They were laughing hysterically as they fell against the bed. Jericho scooted up on the bed and Stephanie straddled his lap and looked down at him, slapping his bare stomach lightly.

"You didn't get me a present," she pouted.

"Now where did you get that idea?"

"I didn't get anything from you," she said, "I gave you those new earrings for your ears and I didn't get anything. I guess I shouldn't expect anything because we're, well, you know, but I looked like an idiot without anything from you. I think even your parents noticed."

She looked down quietly, and he tilted her chin, "Buck up little trooper, I think there may be something for you yet."

She looked at him quizzically as he gently pushed her off of him. He got up off the bed and took her by the hand. He led her downstairs to where the Christmas tree was. The only lights were coming directly from the tree, making the room glow with hues of red and green. He sat her down on the couch and went over to the old record player that sat in the corner. He took a record from the case and put it on the turntable, but didn't turn it on just yet.

He turned to her, beckoning her to come over. She got up and went over to him, standing a little bit behind him. He put his hands over her eyes and took her over to the tree. She laughed as she stood there. He took his hands off of her eyes and looked at the tree. Among the many colored ornaments there was one silver ornament that caught her eyes. Not because of the color, but because of what was dangling off it. There was a brilliant necklace and she went over to look at it.

"That's yours," he told her.

She took it off the tree delicately and looked at it, "This is gorgeous."

Indeed it was. It was a silver chain with a teardrop pendant with diamonds dotting the surface of the pendant. She looked up at him, smiling as she looked at it. Leave it to him to present her with a present in an unconventional way.

"It belonged to my great-grandmother. See, my mom always wanted to give it to her daughters, but she never had any. We both agreed that you were like her new daughter and that you should have it."

"Really?" she asked, touched that they thought of her in such a manner.

"Yeah," he told her, "She said that her grandmother had told her to give it to someone who takes all your tears away so the only tear you have is the diamond one you wear across your neck. I guess that's what you do for me."

She got teary-eyed as she regarded him, "That's probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

He reached out to grab it and turned her to put it on. He took her in, the diamonds shining from the dim light. He reached over and turned the record player on and the first few strains of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" floated into the near-empty room. Jericho held out his hand to her and she took it, letting him pull her against him.

He sung the lyrics softly in her ear, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light, from now on our troubles will be out of sight."

She sighed, "I love you…still."

"I know," he said, "I love you still too."

"Our second Christmas together," she said, "It was our second Christmas."

"Just one among many."


	166. Raw, December 29, 2003

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. :D The New Year's chapter will be up a little later than my usual time due to the fact it's New Year's, but they'll be a chapter. :D

* * *

"Thanks for inviting me along."

"No problem, I could use the company."

"Lonely?"

"You can say that," Christian said as he sat down on an armchair.

Stephanie nodded, "Yeah, I'd be lonely too, if I went back home to Connecticut."

"But your mom and Shane are there?"

"Yeah, but they're still with the company so they work long hours. Then I'm all alone, at home, in my robe, eating gallons of ice cream and getting fat, and not taking showers until I become that woman that lives alone with millions of cats. I'll be the cat lady!"

Christian laughed and went to sit next to her, grabbing her hand, "Stephanie, you're not going to be the cat lady. You're going to marry Chris, and have lots and lots of kids--"

"We don't want a lot of kids," she interjected.

"Ok, you'll have some kids," he corrected, "Live happily ever after with no problems except for the odd plan. You'll both rule the WWE and make it better than even your dad imagined."

"That is a nice thought."

"Yeah, it's me who'll be the crazy cat man who lives by himself," he chuckled.

"Oh please Christian, you'll find someone too, you're too cute not too," she smiled.

"Thanks," he said, "But I'm not doing too well in the love department as of late so I'm thinking of taking a break for right now."

"Yeah, I'm already on a break," she said.

"So how was your Christmas?"

Stephanie thought back to the last week and smiled to herself. She had had more fun with Jericho than she could ever remember having before. It was full of laughter and smiles and she hadn't felt like they were on a break once. They were so content with one another it felt weird thinking that they probably wouldn't be talking to each other for a while.

"It was great."

"I'm glad, no awkwardness?"

"None," she said in a surprised tone, "As crazy as that sounds, seeing as how we're…well, you know."

"That's good though, haven't lost the magic touch," he said, touching her shoulder to get the affect of magic touch.

"Yeah, he even got my mom and brother gifts."

"That's nice, what did he get you?"

She pulled out the necklace from her shirt and smiled as she thought about how he had given it to her. Christian didn't miss the smile and wondered just what it was that made her smile so sweetly. She held up the necklace and he looked at it, impressed by it. Jericho had such a knack for getting beautiful things.

"It was his grandma's," Stephanie explained with a slight smile on her face.

"Nice," he told her, "Very nice."

She dropped it so it fell on her shirt, "I know, and that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"About his grandma?" he asked, confused by the statement she had made.

"No," she said, rolling her eyes, "About Chris and I."

"I wasn't aware there still was at the moment."

"There isn't," she sighed, "And I want to know why."

"I don't know," Christian said quickly. He knew that they had some sort of plan, that much he knew. But he didn't know the logistics of it, and for all he knew, that plan was off since Jericho had broken it off with Stephanie. Why would he want to help someone he wasn't even with? He was just as much in the dark as Stephanie was.

"Yeah, I figured as much, since Chris and Trish are pretty much mad at you."

"Yeah, can you believe that? Am I such a bad guy?"

"No, I like you, but then again, I'm mad at Trish, so it's a whole little web of hatred going on."

"Yeah, that's for sure," he scoffed.

"So there has to be something going on. Chris thinks that he can pull the wool over my eyes, and I'll give him props for trying to, but I know him better than that," she said, "I know him much better."

"Stephanie, maybe he just needs time to sort things out. I mean, you two are on the verge of bigger, and better things and maybe he's scared."

"Oh come on Christian, don't spout that bullshit with me. He keeps reassuring me that there's nothing going on between him and Trish, that he has to trust me. And I do trust him, but I'll be damned if I don't want to know what the fuck is going on. I want my boyfriend back!"

Christian put his hands up in defense as Stephanie's tone of voice got screechy with each word, "Ok, I get you Stephanie, I get what you want. How do you know that there is something going on though?"

"Did you not just hear what I said," she laughed, "He's practically telling me he's up to something. He's almost daring me to find out what it is."

"Ok, I get it now, you don't have to spell it out for me twice."

Stephanie looked at Christian and smirked at him. His face dropped, because he knew exactly what that face meant. It didn't take more than a second to pass before her smile turned into a grin. That grin scared him, same as it would scare any human being other than maybe Jericho. He looked around quickly before going back to looking at her.

"Stephanie," he started, giving a nervous smile, "You wouldn't be thinking about ways to get him back would you?"

"Well, that's not the only thing I'm thinking of," she smiled nicely, "And would you be willing to help me?"

"Why me? Why not Edge or Kurt?"

"Because Chris isn't mad at them, and they're not on Raw where all the action is," she answered simply.

"Stephanie, is your whole life one big scheme that only you're in on?"

"Yeah, pretty much," she said sarcastically.

"Thought so…so what am I going to have to do?"

She smiled, "Wow, you're a lot than Chris is when I want to do a plan."

"Well, see, I know how much Chris protests and how much you don't let up, and I don't want you to nag me until I agree, so I just thought I'd agree right away and save myself the trouble."

"I do not nag!" she screamed indignantly.

"Oh, did I say nag? I meant that you gently prod, yup, gently, very gently, where you don't hurt anyone," Christian said hesitantly.

"Yeah, sure you did," she told him.

"Ok, so what are we going to do?"

"Make Chris jealous," she told him with a smile.

"Ahh, the oldest trick in the…wait a second, you want to make Chris jealous by pretending to be with ME?!?"

She nodded profusely, "Yeah. Brilliant huh? Chris is already mad at you, and he knows we've been spending a lot of time together."

"Stephanie, you're crazy!"

He really did think she was crazy. Of all the half-baked ideas she had had, this was just insane. Jericho would murder him in cold blood if he thought that he was with Stephanie. He pictured it now, Jericho coming after him and just snapping him in two. They said that in some situations of emergency people could develop super strength. Jericho would develop super strength and then he'd snap him like a twig. He shuddered.

"Why?" she asked, "It would work."

"Yeah, until Chris killed me!"

"Oh come now, he wouldn't," she brushed his worry off.

"Stephanie, have you met your boyfriend before. He has this little thing, oh I don't know, called a TEMPER, a violent one at that. Why did you think they used to call him Lionheart?"

"Lionheart means like brave and stuff," she told him.

"Yeah, or he could tear me to shreds like a lion!"

"Christian, come on, please," she pleaded, "I don't want to have to beg."

"YOU would BEG?" he asked incredulously. He had been under the impression that Stephanie never begged.

"I don't beg," she said, and he laughed thinking about what he had just thought, "But I'm willing to beg if it means I can get Chris back and find out just what he's up to."

"Ok, so we have the Chris jealous part," Christian told her.

"So you're willing to do it?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes," he said, giving in to her, "But that--"

He was cut off by Stephanie throwing herself into his arms and hugging him tightly, thanking him over and over again for helping her. He smiled, much to his dismay, but she was just so happy that he couldn't help but be happy too. He hugged her back, wondering what he was getting himself into. She finally pulled away and he saw that she had a huge grin on her face.

"Thank you so much."

"No problem, IF Chris believes us."

"We'll make it believable, trust me," she nodded.

"Ok, but this still doesn't explain how we find out what he's up to."

"Well, as your fake girlfriend of sorts, I can come to Raw with you and nobody would care!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, aren't we going a little too far here. You're fired."

"Yeah, but I'd be returning as your girlfriend and nothing more, and that way I can do some snooping."

"Ok, how about we hold off on that one for a little while, I don't want to get in serious trouble for bringing you back."

"Fine," she said, "So the rest, it's a go?"

"It's a go."

Jericho sat on the couch of his room. He missed Stephanie…again. He had just seen her yesterday, but that was a whole day ago. A whole freaking day that he was without her. Oh God, he thought, he had become one of those guys. One of those mushy, soft guys who lived for a girl. When had that happened? He stuck out his tongue and shook his head. That was crazy. Stephanie wasn't going anywhere.

Or at least he hoped she wasn't going anywhere. Since he and Trish would eventually, be together, for this plan, Stephanie would think she was free. If Stephanie thought she was free, then she could go out there and find someone. Someone better than him, yes, more than a year they had been together and he still didn't think he was good enough for Stephanie McMahon, and yet…he needed her more than anyone else in his life.

He took out her engagement ring again. This little ring afforded him so much comfort. It was almost as if his entire future was wrapped up in this little ring. In a way it was though. This ring could potentially cement the greatest thing to ever walk into his life. He laughed, if you had told him four years ago, or even two years ago that Stephanie McMahon would be the best thing to ever happen to him, he would've slapped you upside the head for your stupidity. Then he would've washed his mouth out with soap to get out the bad flavor.

"Christian!" a voice squealed from the hallway, "I just wanted a soda!"

That voice sounded oddly familiar to Jericho. Not even oddly familiar, that voice sounded too familiar. He got up and thought for a moment that he was just hearing things, but that couldn't be the case because he heard the squeal again. He had heard that squeal before, which brought a snicker to his lips. He went to the door and opened it, sticking his head out to look both ways. The picture he saw startled him.

Stephanie was riding piggy-back on Christian! Jericho had to do a double, triple, quadruple take to make sure he wasn't dreaming or something. But there it was, right to the left of him. Christian was running down the hallway as Stephanie laughed madly heading for the vending machines. He stood out in the hallway as Stephanie and Christian fell into a laughing heap on the ground.

"That was so much fun!" Stephanie said genuinely.

"Yeah, but you didn't have your hair getting in your mouth," he laughed, pretending to spit out her hair.

"Sorry," she laughed, then reached into her pocket for some bills, "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure, get me an iced tea."

"Ok," she said, pulling herself up as Christian watched her from the ground. She put the money in and got the drinks, bending over to pick up the drinks from the machine. He averted his eyes, not wanting to stare at her ass.

He stood back up, "Your chariot awaits."

"I didn't know you made round trips," she giggled.

"Hop on Steph," he said jovially.

She obediently got on his back as she held him around the neck and he grabbed her by the legs. He started running down the hallways again when he was stopped short by an intimidating figure standing in the middle of the hallway. Christian looked up and saw Jericho. He hadn't expected to see him still at the hotel. He and Stephanie had really just been having fun as they got something to drink.

Stephanie slowly got off of Christian's back and stood next to him sheepishly, almost forfeiting her and Christian's plan right then and there. Then she remembered she wanted Jericho to see stuff like this and got the guilty look off her face. She looked up at him and he practically had steam coming from his ears as his gaze switched from Christian to Stephanie.

"Steph, what are you doing here?" Jericho asked as calmly as he could muster.

"I'm here with Christian," she said, gazing over at Christian and smiling.

"Oh, with Christian huh?" Jericho said, looking over at his friend, "Isn't that nice."

"Well, he invited me," she told him.

"Oh, he invited you?"

"Oh, can you stop repeating everything she says," Christian shot at him, then wrapped an arm around Stephanie's waist, "I don't think she appreciates it."

Jericho's eyes darted to Christian's arm like a robot finding his intended target. He had never seen red before, but right now, his world had taken on a nice shade of crimson as he looked at Christian's arm, hoping he would get laser vision so he could cut that arm right off.

"I didn't know you two were so chummy," Jericho said snidely.

"The things that you don't know would amaze you," Christian said smugly, "Didn't want to leave Stephanie all alone in my big house with no one to protect her."

Stephanie giggled; this was going so well. She could practically see Jericho's mind working overtime. He eyed her and she shrugged, going along with Christian's story. Jericho's breath was coming out in short gasps now and she could tell he was about to blow up.

"Well, this is a new development, I had no idea you two were even that 'friendly' with each other."

"I guess living together will do that to you," Stephanie shrugged, "But if you'll excuse us, I have to make sure that Christian is off for the show."

"Yeah," Christian said, "She takes good care of me."

Stephanie climbed back on Christian's back and he ran to his room down the hall as Stephanie giggled and whispered something in Christian's ear. Jericho's nostrils flared and he stormed into his hotel room and slammed the door behind him. He wasn't even going to try to process what had just happened. He would just go about his business. He threw his things angrily in his bag as he stormed to his car to go to the arena.

Christian walked into the arena. He was actually having fun with Stephanie. It was nice to have someone who he knew wouldn't think of him as just that guy who cheated on Trish. Since Trish had kissed Jericho with more than friendly intentions, Stephanie had had Trish's number, and that worked to Christian's advantage. It was nice to have a friend again.

Jericho stormed into his locker room, throwing down his bag. He paced back and forth, thinking about what he had seen. When had this developed? Oh God, what if it had developed because he and Trish were faking being together. He had told Stephanie, time and time again that he and Trish weren't together, but what if she didn't believe that? What if she and Christian had been getting closer and he hadn't seen it? These thoughts boggled his mind as Trish walked in.

"If it isn't my favorite boy," she smiled, then frowned as she saw him, "Chris, you're as pale as a ghost."

"Whatever," he muttered.

"What's wrong, did something happen with Stephanie?"

"No, worse," he said, collapsing on the couch.

"Worse, Chris, what is worse than something happening to Stephanie?" Trish asked, thinking nothing could top Stephanie in Jericho's universe.

"Stephanie and Christian."

He was about to cry, he could feel his heart constricting as he said those names in the same sentence. They sounded so wrong, he almost got a bad taste in his mouth as he said, almost had to spit it out. It was an abhorrent really; the thought of them…together. He hated it.

"Oh what about them?" Trish laughed, "Are they fighting too? Or are they like suddenly together or something?"

She had meant it in jest, but when she saw the reaction Jericho had to that statement, she was stunned into reality. Surely he had to be joking about this, the thought of Christian and Stephanie had, well, it…she stopped…it made sense. They had both been dumped and naturally they would run into each other's arms. Oh God, she and Jericho had driven them together.

"This is all our fault!" she cried as she collapsed right next to Jericho.

"Huh?"

"We drove them to each other. They were both jilted by us and of course they'd find solace with each other. This is our fault!"

"It is," Jericho said, "Oh my God, I've lost her."

"No!" Trish said, gripping him by the shoulders, "No you haven't."

"She's with Christian!"

"No, you can still get her. We get her, her job back and she'll come running back. Christian can't replace you!"

"What if he does?" Jericho asked, stricken.

"We need to be firm about this!" she said sternly, "You'll get her back."

"How do you know?"

"Because I said so! Even if I have to reclaim Christian, you will get Stephanie back. The plan is a green light!"

"Ok," he said, "But do you want back with Christian?"

"Truthfully, no, not really, but if I have to for you, then I will, you've been too good a friend to not do you a little favor."

"Oh, yeah, cause I'm sure it would cause you misery to be with him."

She rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

"I have to get Stephanie back," Jericho said, "Or my mother will kill me."

"Why?"

"She thinks I'm proposing to Stephanie soon," he told her, not telling her the whole truth."

"Oh, mother's, what can you do?" she asked.

"Yeah. Oh, which reminds me, I got you a Christmas gift."

"Aww, you did?" she said, "That's so sweet of you."

He went over to his bag and got her gift from it. He handed it to her and she smiled coyly at him. It was so pretty, she didn't really want to open it. But then maybe she didn't have to open it right now. She handed it back to him, and he looked at her with confusion, thinking she was refusing his gift.

"Give it to me later," she told him.

"What? Why?"

"Come on Chris, you're trying to get into my good graces. Give me the damn gift later, and I'll like refuse it or something because I 'hate' you. It makes for good plan development. We hate each other, but then I give in to you and we live happily until we get Vince to give Steph her job back."

"Yeah, good idea. I'm sorry, my brain is kind of on overload right now."

"Not a problem," she told him, "Look, I'll just do the thinking for the both of us."

"That doesn't sound too good."

"Oh, it's not, but for now it'll have to do."

"I need to go think for a while," he said, setting her gift down.

"Ok, I have to go change for my match later."

Jericho left the room and walked down the hallway, hands stuffed in his pockets. His anger had dissipated into sadness and he sighed as he looked around. He wondered if anyone could possibly be as sad as he was this very moment. Christian wasn't sad, and neither was Stephanie, that much he knew. He wanted to rip Christian's head off and spit in it, but he thought better of himself. Seeing Stephanie laughing and giggling today, maybe Christian could give her what she needed right now. Maybe he couldn't right now.

He bumped, or rather, saw Christian in the hallway he was walking down and scowled. Even if Christian was what Stephanie needed, that didn't make it any easier on him right now. Especially coming face to face with his competition. What the hell had happened to all of them? It was like, the great, big switcheroo or something, him "with" Trish, and Christian with Stephanie. It was sick and wrong.

"Hey Chris," Christian said in a chipper tone. Jericho looked down. Keep talking, Christian thought to himself, make him jealous. He'd have to make Jericho hate him, it was the only way to get him to really believe that he was with Stephanie.

So Christian hit Jericho where he knew it would hurt. Right into Jericho's new toy, Trish Stratus. He knew it was a low blow, especially since Christian was "with" Stephanie, but he knew that whatever was up with him and Jericho, that Trish was in the thick of it, and whatever Jericho had to do for whatever plan he had, Trish was the weak spot. Jericho did indeed get angry, but he figured, since this was what he wanted, he should just go with it.

The conversation never mentioned the names of the girl they were talking about. The way Jericho had said he would never ditch Christian for a girl implied the betrayal that Jericho was feeling at the hands of Christian. Christian fucking knew how much Stephanie meant to Jericho and for him to betray him. This conversation cut so deep that both of them could feel the wounds of the encounter.

Jericho caught up to Christian after he left, "How could you?"

"How could I what?"

"Steph, how could you?"

"Oh fuck off Jericho, she's not yours," Christian said, "Stop making her your fucking puppy dog, lapping at your heels. At least I treat her like a human and don't go running off with my girlfriend at all hours of the day."

"Only cause Trish dumped your ass after you cheated on her," Jericho shot back.

"Look, get off my fucking back ok? If Stephanie wants to be with me, that's her fucking decision. I can give her what she wants."

"No you can't!"

"Yes, I can. I can give her a real relationship," he said. Hey, he was good at this lying thing.

Jericho grabbed Christian by the collar and shoved him up against the door. He got nose-to-nose with him and gave him a deep stare that said that he meant business, "If you hurt her, I swear to God Christian, if you hurt her or cause her any pain at all, I will kill you, and you better believe that I will kill you. If you so much as cause one tear to fall from her eyes, I will beat your ass so hard, your mother won't even recognize you."

Christian pushed him off of him, "No, I leave making her cry up to you."

Jericho threw a punch at Christian, but Christian ducked at the last second, causing Jericho to hit the wall. He cried out in pain and Christian left in a hurry, sensing Jericho's anger. Jericho grabbed his wrist and cursed himself for throwing a punch. He left as well and went back to his locker room to ice his hand.

Trish got ready for her match, but was too preoccupied with what happened with Jericho earlier. It just didn't make sense that Christian and Stephanie were together. She had tried to remain positive for Jericho's sake, but it just seemed out of place. She hated this. She barely paid any attention as her tag partners conspired about their match. She just nodded absently and stared off into space.

"Hey," Lita said as she sat down next to Trish, "Don't tell me you're worrying about Jericho again?"

"No, I've got bigger problems."

Lita wrapped a companionable arm around Trish's shoulders, "You know I'm always here to talk right?"

"I know, but this goes beyond anything you can help me with."

"It's not bad is it?" Lita asked, concerned for her friend.

"Oh, nothing like that, it's just…you kind of have to know things to get it, and you don't know things about it."

"Oh," Lita answered, thoroughly confused, "If you say so."

"Yeah."

"Well, our match is coming up soon, so stop thinking about it and let's go out and kick butt."

If only it were that easy, Trish thought. She got up slowly and walked out of the room. She was wandering down the hallways when Jericho walked up to her. She sighed and put her so-called "game face" on. It was time to play her part. Her designated part for a woman that may or may not be sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. Oh, the turnaround around here. She had to place the blame on Vince McMahon. Everything was his fault, that seemed about right, she thought to herself.

She refused Jericho's gift, though she knew she'd get it later. She did wonder what it was, but nothing could top the gift she had gotten from Christian in the form of the ruby necklace. At the thought of that necklace, she looked at Jericho's own necklace. She knew that Stephanie had given that to him. How sweet of him to keep up hope like that, to give her a little sign of his affection, although it may not be returned.

Jericho slipped Trish's present into her bag, wanting her to have it. He went and got his things together and left, wanting to go back to his hotel room and possibly drink himself to sleep. Or curl up in the fetal position and rock back and forth. Whatever took the least about of energy. Ok, now he was just being silly. Stephanie wanted to play that game, she wanted to move on, or whatever with Christian, well, he'd do the same thing, or at least pretend to.

He'd give this damn plan his all.

"Chris has so fallen for it," Christian said as he walked into the bedroom of his hotel room. Stephanie was sitting on her bed, watching television.

"He did?"

"Yeah, he even gave me the 'hurt her and I'll kill you' speech."

"Yes!" she said, giving him a high-five, "This is going great."

"It's kind of fun getting under his nerves," Christian admitted, "Kind of like revenge."

"That's a good way of thinking about it."

"Yeah, well, we'll see how far we can take this," he said, "I plan to have lots of fun."

"Me too."

Plans, counter-plans, plans trying to figure out plans…

It was going to be a fun new year.


	167. SmackDown, January 1, 2004

"So how did you guys spend your New Year's?"

"Together," Stephanie answered.

"I still don't get what the hell this is?" Edge asked as he grabbed another box of Chinese food, only to open it to find lemon chicken, which he couldn't stand at all.

"That's called Chinese food," Christian supplied for him, "You eat it with a fork, you know, that thing with the spikes used to stab your food. Or if you want a challenge, you use chopsticks, see they're two sticks--"

Edge glared at him, "If you weren't family, I'd kick your ass."

"Yeah, and I'd kick it right back," Christian said.

"Boys, come on, let's get along, there are too many hard feelings as it is without the two of you going off on each other again," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, I still don't get what the hell is going on," Edge sighed.

Christian and Stephanie looked down and then at each other, before bursting into spontaneous laughter. They were always laughing, and Stephanie hadn't really felt so free as to just laugh all the time with her father and everything. Christian had the ability to make her laugh, which was great, considering she was still smarting over what had happened with her and Jericho.

"We're together," Stephanie shrugged, then looked at Christian who laughed.

"Are you guys like together, together?"

"Well, I do like, like him," she answered, "I mean, Christian, the way you looked at me during history last week, I knew that we had some sort of connection with each other."

"Did you get the note I left you in your locker?" Christian asked with doe eyes.

"Yes, and I circled yes when you asked me to go with you to the movies."

"You two are annoying," Edge said, getting up, "I'm getting a beer, you guys want?"

"Sure," Christian answered, "You can get Stephanie a Sprite."

"He already knows my favorite drink," Stephanie said coyly.

"Oh dear God," Edge muttered as he left the room to get the drinks.

"So I think this is going well," Stephanie said as she saw Edge leaving the room.

"Yeah, it's fun annoying Edge," Christian said, shaking his head in amusement

She sat back, amused herself. They had decided that their plan should be a secret from everyone else, lest Jericho find out. They wanted him to fall for this, hook, line, and sinker. It was the least he deserved for whatever he was doing with Trish. And on the slight chance that he was actually with Trish, well, then this would be his comeuppance, the way she'd get back at his lying ass.

She grabbed a box of eggrolls and grabbed one for herself, taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully. She had spent New Year's with Christian, watching stupid old movies and the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on television. It had been quiet and fun. He had offered to take her out somewhere, but she had declined. She wondered what Jericho had done for New Year's, and she hoped to God that he hadn't shared a kiss with Trish at midnight.

Jericho sat on his couch, cross-legged as he wrote out another song for his band. He kept crossing off things and writing in new things. He had wanted to write a song about Stephanie. Yes, he was so pathetic as to write a song for her. That was how much he missed her. He thought about the woman he lost and wondered what she was doing right now. He wondered if she had kissed Christian at midnight, and shuddered to think that she had. His lips were supposed to be on hers.

He sighed and wondered if maybe Edge would want to do something tonight. That would at least get his mind off of Stephanie for a while. Trish was supposed to be flying in later tonight to stay with him for a while, and plan out what they should do for the plan and what they should do with coping with the new Stephanie and Christian relationship. He got off the couch and trudged his way into the kitchen grabbing his phone. He dialed Edge's cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Edge, it's Chris."

Edge looked around uneasily, "Hey man, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just sitting around the house."

"You sound miserable," Edge told him.

"Maybe because I am," Jericho answered.

"So what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you were busy tonight," Jericho said, "We could go hit a club or something, you can find all the hot chicks you want and I can wallow in some drinks. I'm just absolutely bored over here."

Stephanie giggled loudly as Christian chased her into the kitchen. She dumped the plates in the sink and grabbed the faucet in the sink and aimed the nozzle at Christian spraying him. He lunged for her and she squealed, trying to evade him. He managed to grab her by the waist and she squirmed in his arms.

"Christian, let me go!" she screamed.

"Say the magic words," he commanded.

"Christian is the best," she said sweetly.

"Nope, that's not it. Try again."

"Christian is the best guy in the entire world!"

"Uh uh, you better tell me or incur the punishment," he said, starting to tickle her.

"No! Stop!" she screamed, "Christian is the best guy and wrestler in the whole wide world!"

He let her go, "That's better."

She shoved him away, "Ha! Lied!"

She ran out of the room, Christian hot on her trail. Edge rolled his eyes at the two of them. Stupid new relationship quirk where everything under the sun was comical. Then his eyes widened as he realized who had been on the other end of the phone. He stared down at his cell phone, then eased it up to his ear. This was not going to be pretty.

Jericho sat there stoically, having heard every word that had been said. Not only that, but, since he couldn't see them, he could only imagine what they had been doing. His mind was not conjuring up the best images at this point in time. In fact, the images that he was thinking of made him want to punch several holes in his wall, and then possibly punch a hole through Christian.

"So where are you?" Jericho asked.

Edge gulped, "I'm over at Christian's."

"Oh," was Jericho's only response.

"They invited me over for dinner and to watch SmackDown with them…"

"Oh, so they're a they now?"

"Well, I thought you knew…"

"Oh yeah, I was one of the first to know actually," Jericho said, "I was just fortunate enough to see him giving her a piggy-back ride down the hallway of the hotel we were all at."

"Look, I'm sorry man," Edge told him.

"For what? Unless you pushed them together, there's nothing to be sorry about," Jericho said, then paused for a moment, "You didn't push them together did you?"

"Of course not!" Edge said vehemently, "You know I wouldn't do that. But, I mean, she has been staying here."

"Damn it, why couldn't she have stayed at your house?" Jericho lamented.

"I don't know, because she didn't want to. Look Chris, I know this is hard, and I know that this is going to be hard to hear, but," he took a moment to collect his thoughts, "They look happy. I know that's not fun to hear, and I know it sucks, but it's the truth. I mean, they're always smiling and laughing and you of all people should know they both need that."

Jericho did know, but that didn't make it any easier to accept what was going on. He should've known it would come to this. With them always spending time together, it was bound to happen. Wasn't that part of the reason he and Stephanie had hooked up? They had just spent so much time together, had so much past that it was inevitable. Could this have been the same way? Could he have contributed to this?

"Yeah," Jericho said, "It makes me happy to hear Stephanie laugh. I just want to be the one who makes her laugh."

"Why aren't you then?" Edge asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Dude, come on. I don't even know why you broke it off with her," Edge said, "I don't think any of us really know beyond you needed a break."

"It's long, and it's complicated."

"Ok, here, I'll leave the two of them, they're annoying anyways, we'll go out and get a drink and you can tell me all about it, because I think I need to know some things."

"Ok, come over in about ten minutes."

Stephanie sat on the couch, turning on the television to SmackDown. She actually felt like watching it. How crazy was that? Maybe time really had healed all wounds? Or maybe she had bigger things to worry about than her show. Yeah, that had to be it, she couldn't think of another explanation.

"Kurt called me and told me he's coming back tonight," Stephanie said idly.

"Really?" Christian asked, "That's cool, it's been a while."

"Yeah, I know, hey, maybe that's the reason why I can watch the show," she said, turning to him, "I mean, before this it really hurt."

"I know," he said wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "Chris would tell me."

"Yeah, but maybe Kurt's kind of like my life line or something," she told him.

"That's a good way of thinking about it."

Kurt walked down the hallway, just taking it all back in. It had been far too long since he had been backstage. Yet he fit right back in as if no time were lost at all. This was his second home, the excitement of it all, the adrenaline flowing through every person, it was a truly exhilarating feeling.

"Kurt!"

He turned around to see Dawn Marie running down the hallway. Ok, so she wasn't exactly running, not in the heels she was wearing, but she was walking very quickly. Kurt smiled. Dawn had called him quite a bit while he had been gone and he found that very endearing. He stopped to let her catch up and she threw her arms around him as soon as she was near enough to him.

"Happy New Year's," Kurt said as he hugged her back.

"You too!" she answered enthusiastically, pulling away from his muscular arms.

"So what've you been up to?" he asked.

"Nothing, just keeping my job the only way I know how," she told him, "It's not easy being bitchy all the time."

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect it to be easy," he smiled.

"I'm so glad to see you," she grinned, "I have to admit I've missed you around here."

"I'm glad I was missed," he told her.

"Oh, you were definitely missed," she said suggestively, "So are you wrestling tonight?"

"Nope, just came to make an announcement," he told her.

"Great, so this means I can have you to myself for a while?"

"I don't see why not," he answered.

"Wonderful," she said, leading him off to God knows where.

Edge ended his call with Jericho and walked into the living room where Stephanie and Christian were what appeared to be cuddling, but may have just been him having his arm around her. They were watching television, SmackDown, he saw upon closer inspection, and speaking in low tones. He stood in the doorway, clearing his throat at they looked up at him.

"You guys, I'm heading out," Edge told them.

"But you were supposed to stay and hang out with us," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, I know, but you two look so cozy already and I feel like I'm intruding, so I'm just going to go."

"If you want," Christian said, "But you're not intruding."

"Yeah, I know, but I feel like I am, so I'm going to head out."

"Ok, bye," Stephanie told him.

"Yeah, bye," Christian added.

Edge gave a little wave and let himself out as Christian whispered something to Stephanie causing her to giggle. He knew he was going to get the third degree from Jericho as soon as he went over there and he steeled himself for the barrage of questions as he drove the short drive from Christian's to Jericho's. He got out of his car and knocked on the door. Before he could knock a third time, the door flew open.

"Ok, so let's go," Jericho said, quickly, pushing past the other blonde and going to his car, letting himself in.

"Geez, someone needs a drink," Edge muttered to himself.

He walked back to his car and got inside. They drove to a club, Paradox, that Edge liked. After getting in, Edge looked around, admiring all the women there that night. Jericho headed straight for the bar, ordering a beer from the bartender. He planted himself on a stool, and vowed to stay there all night. Edge came a few minutes later and sat next to him. They sat in silence, drinking their beers, but Edge knew he wanted to ask.

"Look, I know that you have a ton of questions for me," Edge told him.

"What happened?"

"They were just doing couple-y things," he said, "I mean, I don't know how to elaborate more than that."

"And they were happy?"

"Looked like it, but come on, I need to know what's going on in YOUR head, not what's going on in Christian and Stephanie's heads."

"Or in their bed right," he grumbled.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I know they're in separate bedrooms."

"How do you know that?" Jericho asked, turning his head to look at the blonde.

"I asked my brother," Edge shrugged, "He shoved me, and told me that he wasn't doing that with Stephanie."

"Well, that's a relief at least," Jericho said, nursing his beer, "Let me tell you what's going on with me."

"Finally…"

"I'm getting Stephanie her job back, come hell or high water," Jericho answered.

"That's nice of you, but how exactly were you planning on doing that?"

"Trish and I, it's a plan, a set-up, not real, just for show."

"Oh, and part of the curtain opens and reveals the puppeteers," Edge said.

Jericho looked at him strangely, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing, go on," he urged.

"We're 'together' because it makes me look less suspicious for when I ask Vince to give her, her job back. If I look like I'm wrapped around Trish's finger, he'll see that I'm not interested in Stephanie."

"Good plan," Edge said.

"Yeah, that's what everyone who knows about it says," he told him, "I just don't want Stephanie to be jealous or think that I'm cheating on her, so I told her I needed a break. I don't want to be on a break, I love her, I need her…"

"Why don't you just tell her what you're planning?"

"And let her get her hopes up?" Jericho said, "What if my plan doesn't work, what if she gets all excited about getting her job back and I can't deliver, I don't want her to suffer another disappointment like that."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Edge told him, "Well, look, maybe this Christian and Steph thing is just a fling, or you know, maybe you're misinterpreting it."

"Yeah, but Christian pretty much spelled it out that they were together," he told her, "So there's that aspect."

"Ok, well, I don't think she can love Christian like she loves you."

"Whatever," Jericho said, crestfallen as he motioned to the bartender to get him another beer, "I…bought a ring."

Jericho didn't know why he had just told Edge that, but Edge wouldn't tell, he could trust him with the secret. A secret he wanted to tell one of his friends, to at least make them believe that he really did want Stephanie, and wasn't really pining after Trish. Edge looked at him, shocked, not fully coming to terms with what Jericho had just told him.

"A ring? Like a wrestling ring?"

"Yeah Edge, I bought a wrestling ring," Jericho said sardonically, "NO! I bought an engagement ring."

"Oh, wow, that's even scarier," Edge said, "Well, I can see how Christian and Steph could put a wrench into that plan."

"I bought it on a whim," Jericho explained.

"How much did it set you back?" Edge asked, sipping from his drink.

"78,000," Jericho answered.

"Shit!" Edge said, "Dude, flash that in her direction, and she will be yours forever."

"Yeah, hopefully someday."

Stephanie watched as Kurt walked out and then into the ring and smiled excitedly, actually clapping her hands giddily. Christian just laughed at her as she gave him a dirty look. Kurt smiled as he got into the ring and started cutting his promo. Stephanie sighed happily, glad to see Kurt back.

Kurt talked about his trip overseas to see the troops and how he had met a young man there who had never seen his daughter. He embellished the truth a little to pull on the fan's heartstrings and mentioned that he too, had a baby girl. It wasn't the truth, but what the fans didn't know couldn't hurt them. He knew that he had to get as much backing into this before he announced his intention to enter the Royal Rumble. He felt that the whole thing worked as the fans cheered for him as he smirked and left. Dawn was sitting backstage, waiting for him with a confused expression on her face.

"I didn't know you had a daughter," Dawn said.

"Yeah, I don't," he answered.

"But you just said you did," she answered, more confused.

"Well, you know, anything to get the fans behind you. I mean, Triple H did it when he wanted the fan's sympathy, making Stephanie out to be the devil."

"But she lied about her pregnancy," she said as they walked back to Kurt's locker room.

"Yeah, and I faked a kid, we do things to get things, that's how life works."

"Who are you and where is the Kurt Angle with integrity," she joked.

"Hey, even good guys have bad streaks in them every now and then," he smirked as they went back into his locker room, "I want to stick around for the rest of the show, but did you maybe wanna go out later for a late dinner."

"I'd love that," she smiled.

"Great, just meet me--" He was cut off by his cell phone ringing, and he rooted through his bag to grab it, "Hello?"

"You have a daughter!"

"Hey Steph," he smiled.

"What?!?"

"I don't have a daughter," he said, "I was just playing up for the cameras."

"Jesus, don't do that to me again, I was freaking out!" she said, putting her hand over her heart.

Kurt laughed, "Sorry Steph, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's not a matter of being scared, it's a matter of 'why the hell didn't you tell me about this before.' I would've been very hurt if it had been true," she told him.

"I know, but I will let you know if I ever knock someone up," he told her.

"You better! So are you through tonight?"

"Pretty much, but I wanted to say, you know, just being in the building during a show is a rush."

As soon as the words had left his mouth, he knew it had been the wrong thing to say and as he heard Stephanie sigh on the other end, he cursed himself for saying it. She was sure to miss it and here he was bringing up how good it felt to be on a show again. He slapped his forehead at his stupidity.

Christian had been watching Stephanie and saw that sparkle fade from her eyes as she sighed deeply. He could see a tear fall down her cheek and he wondered what Kurt had said to her. He hugged her to him, she looked like she could use a hug right about now. She let him embrace her for a moment before pulling away and wiping at her eyes, futilely wiping away the tears.

"Stephanie, I'm so sorry," Kurt said apologizing over and over.

"It's ok Kurt," she said, trying not to sound like tears were clogging her voice.

"I'm an idiot, I'm an ass," Kurt said, admonishing himself, "Look, it's really not all that fun. I'm bored, almost missed my cue because I fell asleep. It's all a big bore. I just yawned!"

Stephanie laughed softly, "Don't feel bad for being happy you're there Kurt. You deserve to be happy. Don't worry about me, I have Christian here and he'll keep me occupied."

"Christian?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, since I'm staying over here, don't worry Kurt, I'll talk to you later."

"Ok," Kurt answered, a bit puzzled still by her being at Christian's, "We need to talk later."

"We will, don't worry," she answered, "Bye."

"Bye."

"She ok?" Dawn asked as he hung up.

"She'll be ok," he answered, his lips pursed for a second, "Oh, meet me at the end of the show."

"Ok," she smiled, "I'll se you then."

Jericho downed another drink as Edge was off somewhere with some redhead he had met. He was on his sixth beer, but he was only beginning to feel the numbness he had wanted to feel. A pretty brunette sat next to him and he sighed again. She regarded him for a moment.

"You look sad," she said.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked, looking at her hazily.

"Sorry," she said, "I was just saying."

"Nah, I'm sorry. I am upset, but don't worry about it."

"So you came out to drink away your sorrows too?" she asked.

"You can say that?"

"So what's your problem?"

"My ex-girlfriend just hooked up with one of my best friends," he told her.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. At least my boyfriend got with someone I didn't know," she sighed as she sipped on her Cosmopolitan.

"That sucks."

"Yeah, I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"I'm Chris," he said, holding his hand out.

"Stephanie," she answered.

Jericho groaned, "Nice name."

"Uh oh, don't tell me that was her name?"

"One and the name."

"Well, everyone calls me Amy anyways," she said, "My middle name, you can call me that."

"Nice to meet you Amy."

"So why don't you tell me all about this girl?"

Stephanie sat there, still watching the show, smiling at how kind Kurt was to help people, just like he was helping Eddy right now. Christian watched her attentively, looking out for any tears that might fall unknowingly. He had been watching her for the past twenty minutes. Stephanie looked over at him.

"You're just like Chris, waiting for me to break at any moment."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"I'm fine Christian," she replied, "Don't worry, momentary lapse."

"Now I know how Chris felt whenever he said how much he worried about you."

She smiled, "It's nice that you worry."

"You're my friend, I worry…do you miss Chris?"

"Do you miss Trish?"

"I'm guessing the answer to mine is the answer to yours."

"If it's yes, than it is."

Kurt walked away from the situation as best he could. He was going to go out with Dawn and have a good time and not worry about other people's problems, especially when said problems weren't even with people he really liked. He went in search of Dawn and when he found her, she was just exiting Heyman's dressing room/office. Kurt cringed.

"Sorry," she said, "Business."

"Business sucks huh?"

"You have no idea," Dawn said, "Can we get out of here?"

"Yeah, let's go and get you away from that boss of yours."

Jericho finished up his sad, sad story, having left out some of the important details, like who he worked for and things like that. The girl had never mentioned recognizing him, so he imagined it was safe to tell her about it. She sat there, giving him sympathetic glances.

"I'm sorry about all that," she said, "It sounds rough."

"Yeah, and all I want is to propose to her, but she's with my friend, and he's still my friend and what if they're happy."

"Yeah, but I guess you have to make a choice."

Jericho was quite drunk at this point and said, "You wanna dance?"

"Sure," she smiled, letting him lead her onto the dance floor.

If Jericho squinted his eyes a little, this girl almost looked like Stephanie. Not to mention her name was Stephanie. In his muddled brain, he could almost believe he was here with Stephanie. He and the other Stephanie began to dance, which escalated quite quickly into some close moves, their bodies rubbing against each other. Jericho, inebriated, pulled this girl closer and was almost about to lean in to kiss her…

"After Hunter broke my heart, when he humiliated me after I had stood by him for so long, I didn't want to give my heart to anyone, because they could so easily crush it like he did, but then you came along, and I don't know how, but you make me believe in happy endings Chris, and I wanted you to know that."

Jericho pulled away quickly, letting go of this girl, almost dropping her in the process. He raced to find Edge and grabbed him by the sleeve, pulling him away from some girl and pushing him out to his car.

"What are you doing?" Edge said.

"I need to go see Stephanie right now!"

"Dude, calm down!"

"No! If you won't take me, I'll take a cab."

"Fine, ok, fine, how much have you had to drink?"

"A lot, so drive," Jericho said, getting into Edge's car.

Edge rolled his eyes and got in the car, driving over to Christian's house. He was no sooner in the driveway that Jericho was out of the car and racing to the front door. He knocked loudly, hoping that they weren't off doing something illicit or anything. Stephanie answered moments later, surprise in her eyes as she saw Jericho standing there.

"Chris," she said softly, "What are you doing here?"

"I want us to have a happy ending. You said I made you believe in happy endings, I want to have a happy ending with you."

"Chris, that's so sweet," Stephanie said, "But we're not together."

"I know," he said, "I know you're with Christian, and I know you're happy, but I swear to you Stephanie, here and now, I don't care if you fucking marry Christian, or whoever, I swear, you and I…"

"We'll what?"

"We will have that happy ending. I don't care if it's tomorrow, or if it's 20 years from now, we will have that happy ending."


	168. Raw, January 5, 2004

A/N: The world has gone topsy-turvy because H cracked me up tonight. Seriously, it was so H of old, God, so funny! Dear God, did I just admit to being entertained by H?!? There must be a full moon tonight or something. ;)

* * *

"I think it sounds romantic."

"Yeah, you're the only one who thinks that. Even I think it's stupid," Jericho said, running a hand through his hair.

"Come on Chris, it couldn't have been all that bad," Trish said, putting a hand on his arm.

"I told her that I wanted to have a happy ending with her," he said dully, "I mean, come on, does it get any cornier than that?"

"I think it's sweet," she told him, "It's something sweet."

"I don't know anymore, maybe Christian tells her stuff like that all the time."

"You worry too much about this," Trish told him, "You need to put your focus on what we're doing, and who we're doing it for, regardless of the circumstances at the moment."

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you still want her to get her job back?" Trish asked, wondering if he had changed his mind because of the new developments that had come up between Christian and Stephanie. Maybe he didn't want to help Stephanie since she had just turned around and hooked up with Christian.

"Yeah, because regardless of what happens between us, I want to give her this," he said resolutely.

He had humiliated himself last Thursday, had made a complete fool out of himself in front of Christian, Edge, and most importantly Stephanie. For a moment he thought he had seen something in her eyes, that gleam, that gleam that he had become so accustomed to seeing. Then Christian had come to the door and as Christian took Stephanie's hand right in front of him, that gleam disappeared as she looked at him.

Then she had turned her gaze to Christian and there was that gleam as she smiled, telling him that everything was ok. He felt like an idiot at that moment. He had suddenly turned into the odd man out in this sordid tale. Instead of Chris and Stephanie, it had become Christian and Stephanie. Sure the only difference on paper was a mere tian, but in life, the simple was never as such.

"She'll be happy, no matter what happens," Trish reassured him.

"You know, I never asked you how you really felt about the two of them," Jericho said, looking at her intently, "I mean, I know that it must hurt a little."

"It's…strange, more than anything else. It's like, you take the two people who you would never figure as a couple and throw them together and that's what I feel this is. It's like, you don't think they would even have much to talk about and yet, there they are."

"Yeah, and here I am, sleeping alone. And the funny thing? I sleep on my side of the bed. I've become so used to having her on one side that I can't even go over to the other side of the bed."

"You get used to it, trust me," she said knowingly.

"Yeah, I may get used to it, but I don't think I'll ever like it."

"If you and Stephanie don't ever get together again, if this is it for you, you will find someone else."

He looked up at her harshly, "Are you kidding me? She ruined me. I'm ruined, nobody will ever compare to her, ever again. I'd be kidding myself to think that there was someone out there who I loved as much as I love her. She's the measuring stick and she set such impossible standards."

"How do you know that's true Chris?" she asked, "How do you know that you haven't met your perfect person yet? For all you know, she's walking around out there, wondering where the love of her life is, hoping that she'll find love, and you're it. And she'll be better than you and Stephanie."

"Don't say that!" he told her.

"Because it may be the truth. That maybe Christian is not my perfect person, that Stephanie is not your perfect person, that maybe they're made for each other."

Trish knew he didn't want to hear this, but he at least had to know the truth, or at least a possibility of the truth. He couldn't live in the dark, thinking that Stephanie was pining away for him when she might not be. She knew it broke part of his heart to hear this, but he had to know, for his own well-being.

"I don't want to think about that," he replied, shaking his head as if to get the thoughts out of his mind.

"But you may have to. There may come a day when you'll have to come to it face-to-face."

"No!"

"Chris, do you love Stephanie?"

"What kind of question is that? Isn't it obvious?"

"It's a simple question Chris, yes or no, do you love Stephanie?"

"Yes."

"Do you want her to be happy?"

"Yeah," he said sullenly, knowing where this was heading and trying to steel himself for what she was going to say. He knew it wouldn't be something he wanted to hear, but maybe, just maybe it was something he needed to hear.

"Then you may have to let her go," she said softly.

Stephanie laughed at some show she was watching as Christian walked into the room, sipping on a water bottle. He glanced at the television and then at Stephanie, who was still laughing. He plopped himself down on the edge of her bed and lay back, looking at her as she sat with her back on the headboard.

"What're you watching?"

"Some blooper thing," she answered, "You know those things where people make mistakes. It's hilarious."

"Yeah, I'm well-aware of them," he answered, "You know we never talked about what Chris told you the other night."

"I didn't realize there was anything to talk about. He came over…drunk, I might add…and basically spouted off about happy endings."

"I don't think you were listening very closely, he said he wanted you two to have a happy ending no matter how long it took."

"He was drunk, he didn't mean any of it," she said, "He probably didn't remember anything the next day."

"He sounded pretty serious to me."

"You didn't smell him," Stephanie told him, "He reeked. Obviously he was off his rocker."

"Why won't you accept the truth, that he loves you and wants to be with you, no matter what it takes?"

"Christian, if I accepted that, I would still be all alone. I would still be without him. I don't want to think about it, because it doesn't bear thinking about," she answered, folding her arms in front of her.

"You know, maybe he has something cooked up," Christian suggested.

"Yeah, I think so too, but that doesn't excuse him."

"I think you're just punishing him."

"Maybe," she shrugged, "But that's for me to know and you to stay out of."

"Hey! Aren't I the one helping you with this plan?"

"Yes, and I appreciate you for that." She sent him a smile, which he rolled his eyes too.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" he asked, "You staying here?"

"I guess."

"Why don't you go out?"

"And do what?"

"Well, shopping, you like that don't you? I mean, Chris would always stop by my house if you were out shopping, which seemed like a lot of the time, so I'm figuring that's what you like to do, which is cool, I mean, there's probably some great malls around here that you can go to."

"You ramble too much," she observed.

"Yes, but it had a point!"

"Not really, you were just talking about shopping."

"I'm just saying that you can go shopping."

"Would you give me your credit card? Chris always gave me his credit card."

"He would?"

"Yup, said I could buy anything I wanted."

"Well, I guess that I…" He started as he pulled his wallet out of his pants.

"Oh my God," Stephanie cried, "Would you have actually given me your wallet?"

"Well, yeah."

"Christian! You're not really my boyfriend! You don't have to do that for me!" Stephanie said, "That's so sweet though."

"Oh," he said sheepishly, "I just figured it would help you feel better."

She leaned down to kiss his cheek, "Thanks for the offer."

"No problem. Did you want to come downstairs with me, I was going to sit out on the patio for a while before I had to leave?"

"Sure," she said, "Maybe we'll catch Chris."

He stood up as she stood up as well. He grabbed his bag off the floor and escorted her out of the room and down to the ground floor. Right outside the entrance of the hotel, there was an outdoor patio, heated on colder days and Christian took a seat in one of the chairs. Stephanie smirked and sat down in his lap, making herself comfortable.

"Stephanie, I like you, but not like that," Christian smiled up her.

"All those other seats are uncomfortable," she giggled.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, I've got a hot, rich chick on my lap. It's all good."

"Just using me are we Christian?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd give me your credit card to go shopping. I bet that you have no limit on that baby."

"Oh, I do, be a good boy and I may let you use it," she winked.

"I'll be the best boy."

Jericho shouldered Trish's bag along with his own. Since they were still "fighting" as part of their plan, he only walked her to the elevator, letting her take the first one down. He waited for his own elevator and as he stood there, he thought about Stephanie and if she was in the building. If she was, he wondered what room she was in. Maybe he'd fill with flowers like he did at Fully Loaded. No, Christian would probably kick his ass if he did that. He got on the elevator and waited for it to go down so he could leave.

Trish didn't spot them, her hair falling in her face at the most inopportune moment. She brushed it away and walked out, oblivious to the laughing couple sitting on the patio. Jericho, however, was not so lucky. He didn't know what it was, but he felt Stephanie whenever she was around. It was like an extrasensory type thing, he knew her presence. He looked around briefly, wondering if she was in the vicinity. The sight that greeted him was not pleasant.

He could see them through the window. Surely they couldn't see him, not with the reflective panels on the windows, but he could see them clear as day. His heart sunk to somewhere around his ankles as his eyes fixed upon them. Trish was right, he should've listened to her, because then maybe this pain, this numbing pain wouldn't be such a shock to his senses. In that moment, he felt like he lost a part of himself. A part of himself that had someone manifested itself into Stephanie. He had invested so much into one person, and he shouldn't have done that. Hindsight was a bitch.

She was sitting on his lap as they talked close, their foreheads almost touching. She laughed at something he said and threw her head as she smiled, hitting him lightly in the shoulder. He had his hand on the small of her back, holding her steady so she didn't fall back. It was such a small gesture, but it spoke volumes. He turned away, as if the image burned, his mind telling him to turn away before he turned into a puddle of mush.

He walked out and Stephanie saw him leaving out of the corner of her eye. She pressed her lips to Christian's quickly, taking him by surprise until Christian could see Jericho walking past them. Understanding, he quickly returned the kiss. Stephanie was a pretty good kisser, he observed. Her lips were soft, now he knew part of the reason Jericho was always being touchy-feely with her.

Jericho turned last moment, though he tried desperately to stop himself. He almost threw up as he saw the one thing he had feared. He hadn't had to see them kiss yet, and he was thankful for that, because it kept one part of Stephanie to him and him alone. But there it was, the wall breaking down. His face looked stricken as he willed his feet to keep moving forward, though they didn't want to, they wanted to stay rooted there, staring, gaping, forcing him to realize…

Stephanie wasn't his anymore.

Stephanie pulled away breathless. They had to keep kissing in order for Jericho to get the full affect. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as Christian did the same thing. They looked at each other and stared for moment, into each other eye's. One would say it looked euphoric, that is, until they started laughing and making disgusted faces at each other. Christian even pretended to spit out the bad taste in his mouth.

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!" she told him.

"No, you're not actually, I could use another one of those," he joked.

"Yeah, maybe later sugarpie," she drawled.

"Do I get the whole shebang later?"

"Oh yeah, you know that you can come home and get me naked any time you want," she cooed.

"Wow, who knew this plan would have such perks?"

She got off of his lap, "Get out of here, I'm going back up to the room?"

"Seriously Stephanie, go out, go shopping or something, don't wallow around here. Maybe next week, you can come with me to Raw, but just go out and do something right now."

"I guess," she said.

"Just don't go drinking," he told her, "We don't need you showing up at Chris's door making stupid comments."

"Geez, you're right, note to self, stay away from the alcohol at all costs."

Christian shook his head as she made a scrunched up face at him. He picked up his bag and sent her on her way before heading down to the arena. He got there and went straight to his locker room, not really feeling up to seeing anyone at the moment. Ok, so partly, he didn't want to run into Jericho, but that was a formidable enough reason for him to stay locked up in his dressing room all night.

"Christian," Teddy Long said, barging into Christian's dressing room.

Christian groaned, "What is it? Make it quick!"

"Now, now, let's not be hasty to see me leave, I just wanted to offer you a match for tonight."

"Fine."

"Great, you won't be disappointed," he said smarmily, "It'll be against Rosey and Hurricane. You up for that playa?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, a handicap match?" Christian asked.

"No, I ain't playing it like that, you can pick your own partner."

Long gave a little wave before he left and Christian scowled as he left. This had Bischoff written all over it. Bischoff knew exactly what he was doing making that match. He knew that him and Jericho were fighting and he knew that Jericho was his regular tag team partner. That bastard wanted conflict because he knew that Christian was going to have to ask Jericho. He probably planned it so everyone else would turn him down. Christian cursed to himself and laid back on the couch.

He didn't want Jericho mad at him. Especially because if he was going to find out just want the hell was going on around here, he would have to reconcile with Jericho. Right now, he didn't see that happening, not with everything that had been going on with him and Stephanie. But, he guessed, it didn't hurt to try. The worst Jericho could do was say no. Wait, Jericho had seen him and Stephanie kissing, the worst Jericho could do was kill Christian. He'd just have to take his chances.

He got up off the couch and went in search of Jericho's locker room. Might as well as him now, and as he checked his watch, he realized he had been thinking for a long while now and according to the schedule he had just passed on his way, his match was coming up very soon, and if he didn't have a partner, he was screwed.

"Hi Christian," a soft voice said before him.

"Hi Trish," he returned, his own voice soft.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I'm…great actually." Strangely enough, that was mostly true.

"Yeah, I mean, you and Stephanie, that's huge."

"It's really not," Christian said, downplaying the entire thing.

"I just want to say I'm glad you're happy now, I'm glad that you found someone."

"You too, I mean, with whatever is going on with you and Chris."

"Oh, um, yeah, thanks."

"Well, nice to see you Trish," Christian said, brushing past her.

Trish was almost surprised by their interaction. Gone was that yearning in his eyes, that sadness to his voice. She was glad that she hadn't had to hear it, no she wasn't, a sick part of her wanted Christian to be forever contrite for what he had done to her. So what if it was cruel to think that, she just felt like he should still be wanting her.

Jericho was trying very hard not to throw anything into his bag. He picked up the ring that he had bought her and he wanted to throw it against the wall, or flush it down the toilet, no matter how much it had set him back. He just wanted to be rid of it, to be rid of her. Why did she have to take over his thoughts? He read the inscription carefully, "To My Stephy." What a crock that was! She wasn't his; she was Christian's. He put the ring back in his bag, not wanting to see it anymore.

He saw Christian out of the corner of his eye. His first instinct was to hit the man and make him suffer like he was suffering, but he saw apology in his eyes, as if he would apologize to Jericho for being with Stephanie. Yeah, like that would happen. Jericho tried to be mad, but then he thought of Stephanie's face and he came to see that Trish was right.

Stephanie had to be happy, that's all he wanted, for Stephanie to be happy. If that meant being with his friend, then he'd have to accept that. Christian came in and asked for his forgiveness, though he didn't exactly say for what, hell, they both knew what was on each other's minds, and it had to do with a certain blonde and a certain brunette, both of the female persuasion. Jericho apologized too. Maybe, if he and Christian were friends, then he could be around Stephanie again.

He considered what Christian said and it sounded alright to him. Christian apologized knowing that this was the right thing to do. He was actually surprised when Jericho apologized. Maybe he was apologizing for making a fool out of himself to Stephanie when he thought they were together. Whatever the reason, the two of them, they had history. They had been friends, tag team partners, partners-in-crime, and most importantly, someone Jericho could trust with the biggest secret of his life.

They walked out of the room and Jericho turned to Christian, "So you asked Teddy Long for a match? But how did you know I'd accept?"

"I didn't, he came to me, told me to find my own partner, and I saw an opportunity."

"Before we go out there," Jericho said, "I really want to apologize for last week. I made a fool out of myself."

"It's cool, don't worry about it, we've forgotten about it."

That "we" stung a bit, "I just want her to be happy, and as your friend, I want you to be happy too."

"That's big of you," Christian said.

"Trish made me realize that maybe I had to let her be happy."

Poor fool, Christian thought, Stephanie was happy with Jericho, and only Jericho, "Maybe we can double date sometime with you and Trish."

Jericho shook his head, "Don't push it."

They waited at the gorilla for their match as Jericho headed out. Christian came out as well, and then the match was underway. Christian and Jericho hadn't lost any of their edge as a tag-team as they worked together against their common enemy. They even used their old diversionary tactics. In the end, Rosey and Hurricane didn't stand a chance. Jericho pretty much dominated Hurricane, eventually throwing him into the steps so he became a non-factor in the match. As the referee's back was turned, he slammed Rosey into the post as Christian looked on. Jericho moved away and let Christian get the win with the Unprettier.

They hugged and it felt good to have his friend back. They walked backstage, still celebrating. Jericho and him hugged again, and it felt good to have his friend back, even if said friend was with the woman he loved. He was glad that Stephanie was with someone who was a good person, even if it hurt him.

"Hey," Jericho said, "Maybe you should go celebrate with Stephanie or something, I know that it gets…boring when she waits in the room."

Christian was shocked that Jericho had actually suggested he go out and celebrate with Stephanie. This was Jericho, and the girl was Stephanie, yet Jericho was telling him to willingly go off with her. Wow, he knew about acceptance, but this went above and beyond. Maybe this was a trap, maybe Jericho was going to low blow him as soon as he turned around.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Go, I'm sure she'll wanna see you," he smiled.

"Ok, bye."

Jericho let him walk off, walk to the woman he loved. Though it was difficult, it was the right thing to do right now. He sighed and walked the other way, to Trish's locker room to discuss things with her. He walked in unannounced and looked around. He didn't see her. Damn it, where was she when he needed her?

"Trish!"

"What?" she asked, walking out of the bathroom.

"I managed to let her go."

"You did?"

"I told Christian to go celebrate our win with her."

"Wow, I'm impressed."

"Yeah, so about tonight, we have any plans."

"Well, let's see what we can come up with."

Christian dumped off his bag on the couch and saw the numerous shopping bags around the room. Seems Stephanie had gone shopping, and seems she had spent a lot of money. Thank God she hadn't actually taken his credit card.

"Stephanie?"

He walked into the bedroom and saw a tissue in her hand as she watched Raw. He looked to the screen to see Jericho getting flashed by none other than Mae Young. Why would this make Stephanie upset? He looked at her and went to sit next to her, not talking, just watching her, and being there for her.

"Stephanie, you can't possibly be upset because Jericho saw Mae Young's tits."

"No," she said, "Just stuff he said before to Trish. I'm ok."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Ok, but you know, if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

"Thanks."

Jericho ran out of there, his eyes, his precious eyes had been compromised. Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts! What could possibly combat the horrors he'd seen when he saw Mae Young's, well, assets, which had considerably dropped in the last century or so that she'd been alive. Image's of Stephanie's breasts came into his mind, and well, what do you know? That cheered him up immensely. He ran into Trish in the hallway.

"Why was Mae Young in your shower!?!" he asked, gripping her by the shoulders.

"Oh, I don't know, she had too much to drink or something and was talking incoherently so I just let her use it," Trish shrugged, "I just went and used Lita's shower."

"Well, you could've told me!"

"Why?"

"Because I had planned to go do a little apologizing you know, so we can really get together kind of thing, I go in there, pour my damn heart out and then Mae fucking Young showed me her you know whats!"

Trish's face contorted into disgust, "Oh eww!"

"You're telling me, I had to see them!"

"Oh, Chris, I'm so sorry!"

"You should be."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, that image…God," he shuddered, "That was…I don't even know, the scariest things I'd ever seen in my entire life."

"I would imagine so."

"I don't think I'll ever be the same again."


	169. SmackDown, January 8, 2004

He ran into her at the store. Of all the damn places he ran into her, he ran into her at the fucking grocery store. He was just wandering through the aisles, looking for the Oreos and he had turned into an aisle and there she was, bending over to pick up a 24 pack of Coke. She lifted it up and put in her cart, straightening herself and standing up straight. She was about to push her cart when their eyes locked.

The first thing that came into Jericho's mind as he saw her was the vision of her kissing Christian on Monday. He had been reliving that moment ever since it happened. Sometimes it would just appear in his head, powerless to stop the onslaught of emotions that one picture could elicit. Now he was here, looking at her. She smiled and walked over.

"Chris, hi!" she said enthusiastically.

She missed him when he wasn't around, and they hadn't seen each other since, well, she hadn't seen him in a while, and she left it at that. She was glad to see him here, even if it meant only seeing him for a few moments. A few moments was certainly better than not seeing him at all. She figured, though, that after what he had seen on Monday, that he might not want to ever talk to her again.

"Stephanie," Jericho said, his voice soft and savoring every syllable of her name.

"What're you doing here? I mean, I know what you're doing here, in the sense that you're shopping, but I mean, yeah, how are you?" she asked, laughing as she stumbled over her words.

"I'm good, good," he said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible. Might as well make Stephanie think that he was ok. He didn't want her to worry about him, if she would still worry about him, he didn't know, and didn't care to analyze in case the results were not what he wanted to hear.

"Great," she said, "So how's Trish?"

That had been so hard for Stephanie to say, but if she wanted to figure out what the hell was going on, she was going to have to get on the inside, not just leave it all to Christian. She had to root around for the truth and get to the bottom of why Jericho didn't want her anymore.

"She's good, a little sore after that attack on Monday, but overall she's good."

"That's good to hear, I'm sure that made you very relieved."

Jericho was amazed at the composer she was showing at the moment. Not a hint of jealousy towards Trish, not a harsh word directed at her. It was almost as if Stephanie didn't care that he was supposedly wooing Trish. It was almost as if she didn't care about him, and that hurt beyond anything he had felt before.

"Yeah, I didn't want her hurt."

"I figured as much."

"So you're shopping?" he said dumbly, then cursed under his breath at the stupidity of the question.

"Well, that's what you usually do in a grocery store," she told him, biting her lip a little to hold in her laughter.

"Yeah, that was a dumb question huh?"

"Yeah…so is Trish here this weekend?"

"Yeah, she is," he told her, though the only reason Trish was here was because they had been planning things that they could do and how they would go about getting Stephanie her job back.

Stephanie suddenly got a sick feeling in her stomach as she thought of Trish in her home. It was still her home after all, all of her things were still there. She had only grabbed some of her stuff when she went over to Christian's and when she knew Jericho was out, she'd go and get some more clothes. Even more unsettling was the thought that Trish may have been in her bed, with HER Chris.

"Wow, that's cool," Stephanie choked out, though she wanted to lunge at Jericho and throttle him for answers.

"Yeah, you know, just trying to get to know each other," Jericho said, resisting the sickening, disgusted face he wanted to say at that comment.

"Well, I think you two know each other pretty well, since you were friends before. Like we were…" she finished off quietly.

Jericho sighed softly, "Yeah, I do know a lot about her, but you know, there's always more."

"Yeah, I think the same goes for me and Christian," Stephanie said, combating fire with fire. If Jericho had to talk about Trish, she'd talk about Christian. It was only fair after all.

Jericho bit the inside of his cheek, "Yeah, I definitely get what you mean."

"Don't you love that new relationship feel?" Stephanie said, sighing dreamily.

Jericho looked at her strangely, a mixture of confusion, disgust, anger, and sadness. He didn't want to know what she was picturing right now, because he knew what he was picturing, that damn kiss again. He wanted to scrub his brain out to rid himself of that image.

"Yeah, it's the best. When everything is just great and special and full of laughs," he said, looking at her pointedly.

"Yeah, I mean, with us, we were totally in the 'old married couple' stage."

Jericho wanted to be in that stage with her. He wanted her to be his wife, to be with him forever, but life is strange that way. The person you thought was your one true love, well, turns out they may not be, and that made him sad. There were probably more eloquent ways to put it, but he was just sad. He looked down momentarily, pretending for a moment that Stephanie was his again, then looked up.

"Was that a bad thing?" he asked. He had to ask, he had to know if she thought they weren't worth it. It would make everything clear if he knew that she really thought there was nothing there but the routine.

"Of course not," she said truthfully, then reached out to touch his arm, "We were so good."

He reveled in the sensations her touch was giving him right now. He didn't want her to stop touching him, but she pulled her hand back moments later, bringing it back to rest on the handle of the shopping cart. He frowned momentarily before directing his attention back to her.

"I'm glad you thought that."

"Did you think the same thing?"

"I did think we were good."

"Well, who knows, maybe we'll both find what we're looking for out there," she told him, "Hell, we may have it right now."

He didn't know if she was referring to the two of them or to the other people in this equation. He wanted so desperately to believe that it was the two of them that she was talking about. The way she tilted her head just slightly as she looked at him, the soft, caring look in her eyes, he had to believe that she was talking about the two of them. He had to believe.

"Maybe we do," he said, staring at her intensely.

"So what are you doing tonight?" she asked quickly, feeling herself falling into that blue abyss called his eyes.

"Um, I don't know actually."

She blurted out something she had no intention of blurting out, but she was just trying not to focus on those eyes, "Come out to dinner with Christian and I. You and Trish."

Jericho looked at her in shock, she hadn't honestly suggested a double date had she? As he saw the look on her face, he could tell that she had meant it, the question in her eyes gave it away. He cringed slightly as he tried to respond, respond in the negative because there was no way that he could stand a dinner with them.

"Sure," he said, then mentally slapped himself silly. What the hell had he done?

"Great," Stephanie said, nonplussed at why she was asking him to go out with her. How could she want that? She didn't want to see Trish and Jericho together, "Come over at seven, we'll find someplace then."

"Ok," he said, "See you then."

"Bye!" she waved, then walked past.

Jericho wanted to sink into the floor. He couldn't believe that he had agreed to go out with the two of them. A few aisles over, Stephanie was running her hands through her brown locks, berating herself for asking such a stupid thing. She was so stupid, how could she be so incredibly stupid?

She got the rest of the groceries and drove back to Christian's place. She opened the door with her key and walked inside and to the kitchen, the bags in her hand. She heard thumping as Christian bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen, heading straight for the grocery bags and rooting through them. He triumphantly pulled out a bag of potato chips and ripped the bag open before stuffing his face.

"I'm so glad you're around," Christian said as he chewed.

"Why?" she asked as she walked around, putting things away.

"I hate grocery shopping, and with you here, I don't have to be the one to do it," he grinned.

"Glad I could be of service to you," she said dryly.

"I'm glad too. And you got good stuff too, you're awesome!"

"I ran into someone at the store," she said as she put the last of the groceries away.

"Who?" Christian asked curiously.

"Chris," she said leaning back against the counter.

"Ouch, how'd it go?" Christian asked.

"Not good, not good at all."

"Uh oh, what happened?"

"We talked, and that was fine, but it was something I asked him that was the real stupid part."

"Oh my God, you asked if they had sex didn't you?" Christian asked, "AND THEY HAVE!?!? Oh God, please tell me that is not what you asked!"

"Eww," Stephanie said, trying to get the bad images out of her head, "Dear God NO! But great, now that's what I'm thinking they're doing! Thanks Christian!"

"Sorry, it just popped into my brain, I didn't mean to," he said, "I'm glad that's not it, because frankly that'd be creepy."

"I asked him and Trish out to dinner with us tonight."

"You…excuse me?" Christian asked, dumbfounded by her words.

"I said we should do a double date tonight and he agreed," she said, giving and apprehensive smile.

"Just great. And Chris said no right?"

"He said yes."

"Fuck! Stephanie, this is terrible," Christian said, sitting up on the counter, "It's going to be all awkward and shit."

"I'm sorry," she told him, "I don't know what came over me and it just happened. They'll be here in a couple of hours."

"That's it?!? No time to prepare, no time to steel myself against seeing them together? Geez Stephanie, you really know how to lay it on thick."

"I didn't mean to!" she shouted, "I was just so upset and thinking about them, and everything that's going on, and I don't know, I snapped ok! I fucking snapped!"

Stephanie sunk down to the floor, drawing her knees up to her chin and burying her face into her knees as she covered her face. She cried silently, thinking about the situation. She hated not being around Jericho, she hated this, all of this. She hated her whole damn life sometimes. Christian went to her side and sat next to her, rubbing her back slowly, not knowing how else to cure her tears.

"Shh, it's ok Stephanie, we'll call and cancel," he whispered.

"I can't," she told him, "I just, I want to see for myself."

"Why torture yourself sweetie?" he asked curiously.

"Maybe I'm just a masochist."

"Nah," he said, "I get why you want to, but it would be so easy to just cancel on them. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"I want to see him, but I don't want to see them," she told him.

"Hey, you'll have me to help you through it ok, and if you want to leave at any point and time, all you have to do is tell me and we'll be out of there so fast, I promise," he said, crossing a hand over his heart.

"Ok, I can do this, I really can."

"Of course you can.

Jericho winced, "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Obviously you weren't!" Trish screamed, pacing around the room, "How could you? I don't want to see them."

Jericho looked up from the couch, "And you honestly think that I want to see them?"

"No, that's not what I meant, I just…Chris, of all the dumb, idiotic moves you've ever made, this is like the worst ever."

"I know! You think I want this? Nothing is further from the truth."

"Ok, well, we'll cancel."

"I don't want to, I just want to see her."

"But she'll be with Christian. I know, but she'll be there. Sue me, I just want to make sure that she's happy."

Trish sat down heavily next to him, "Then we'll go, but I promise that if you want to leave, we'll leave."

Stephanie looked at herself in the mirror. She thought that she looked good. She wasn't trying to impress Jericho, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't want to look a little bit good for him. She was just dressing casually, a pair of jeans, and a tight, low-cut t-shirt, with her leather jacket to top the outfit off. She slipped on her clunky, black boots and swept her hair over her shoulders.

"Hey you ready?" Christian asked, sticking his head in the door.

"Yeah."

"You look great," he complimented.

"Thanks," she smiled then walked out of the room.

"You sure you want to do this right?" Christian asked as he buttoned the last button on his shirt.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she told him, "We'll be fine."

"Yeah, of course we will be."

The doorbell interrupted their conversation and both of them looked warily at the staircase. Neither of them wanted to take that step forward to go answer the door. Stephanie actually looked stricken and frozen. Christian knew he would probably have to do this so he took the lead and grabbed her hand, dragging her with him downstairs.

"We can still run away," Trish told Jericho as she pulled down the sleeve of her jacket.

"I'm ok," Jericho said, though the nervousness in his voice was plain enough for her to hear clearly.

"We'll make it," she said reassuringly.

Christian opened the door at that second and Jericho and Trish turned to the door. Stephanie and Christian were standing there, him holding her hand, giving it the occasional squeeze. Stephanie had, by this time, plastered a smile on her face, though she was starting to break it when she saw Jericho and Trish.

"Hey you two," Christian said, trying to sound upbeat and peppy.

"Hey," Trish said, "You guys look nice."

"Thanks," Stephanie said, "You guys too."

The tension was so very obviously thick and as the four stared at each other, they were just standing there. Stephanie and Jericho were staring at each other, eyes locked, unmoving. It was almost unnerving. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the phone rang inside the house.

"I'll get that," Stephanie said quickly, rushing away from the other three. She went into the kitchen and answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Stephanie?"

"Kurt?"

"Yeah, why are you answering?"

"You know why Kurt, I'm staying over here, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember now. Sorry, I tend to forget while you guys are playing swap the boyfriend/girlfriend over there."

"What did you want?" Stephanie asked, ignoring the snide remark.

"Nothing, I was bored, wanted to see what you guys were doing. I'm at the arena right now and nothing to do."

"Oh yeah, the show's tonight," she laughed, "Can you believe that I actually forgot about the show?"

"You are making much progress young one," Kurt said, deepening his voice.

"Oh Kurt," she said, "I'd love to chat with you, but I was just heading out the door."

"Oh," he said, disappointed, "Where are you going?"

"Out with Christian…and Chris and Trish."

"That's nice…wait, you're going out with all of them, wow, I'm pretty shocked that you would go out with Jericho and Trish, are you crazy?"

"No, I just, I'll explain later."

"Kurt," Dawn said, "What's going on?"

"Oh hey Dawn, I'll be with you in a second," Kurt said, then turned back to his phone, "Stephanie, Dawn just got here, so I'm going to go hang out with her for a while."

"Ok Kurt, good luck, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Kurt hung up his phone and turned to Dawn, "What's up?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how fun last week was when we went out," she smiled.

"Yeah, it was fun," he said, "Now that I think back to it."

"I was hoping we could do it again sometime," she said suggestively.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Stephanie walked back to the front door where Christian was standing awkwardly with Jericho and Trish. She went up to Christian and kissed him on the cheek, the look of anger on Jericho's face not getting noticed by either of the two. Stephanie pulled away from Christian and smiled coyly at him.

"You guys ready?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah," Trish said, hooking arms with Jericho, "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking about this Italian place," Stephanie said, "If you guys are in the mood for Italian."

"Of course," Trish answered, sensing the fact that Jericho was not in a talking mood.

"Great, Chris knows the place we're going, Paul Joe's."

"Yeah, I know it," he said, thinking back to many a night they had gone to dinner there.

"We'll meet you there then," Christian said, "Or should we take the same car?"

"Separate cars," Jericho said immediately.

"Ok," Stephanie said, her and Christian rushing towards their car, "Last one there is a loser!"

Stephanie laughed as she hopped into Christian's car and peeled out of the driveway. She was glad to get away from that situation for a little while. Even seeing them for a few minutes was disarming. Christian drove to the restaurant as Stephanie directed him there. They got there and parked the car, getting out to get the table. They were seated and they waited for Jericho and Trish to arrive, which happened moments later.

Stephanie leaned over, holding her menu in front of her, to Christian. He brought his menu up as well, creating a shield from Jericho and Trish. Jericho looked up and could hear the giggling coming from Stephanie. He wanted to rip the menus out of their hands and see what they were doing. He glared at the paper that separated them.

"What're you getting?" Stephanie asked, as she looked at the menu with Christian.

"Um, I don't know, the raviolis sound good," he told her, "What about you?"

"Oh, I love the eggplant parmigiana," she told him, "Best I've ever had."

"Cool," he said, putting his menu down, "I'm going to get the raviolis and then maybe we can share."

Stephanie laughed as Christian played the part, "Oh, of course, and you can have some of mine too."

Christian leaned over to Stephanie and kissed her softly, pushing her menu down so Jericho and Trish could get a better view of what they were doing. Jericho lowered his menu, deciding what he wanted and he looked up to see Christian and Stephanie kissing. He gripped the sides of his chair so hard he thought the wood would turn to sawdust.

"Mmm, that'll be dessert," Stephanie said, kissing Christian quickly before pulling away.

Christian smirked, "I'd love that."

Jericho bit his tongue, "Fuck!"

"What's wrong?" Trish asked alarmed, putting her hand on Jericho's arm.

Stephanie looked at him concerned, but he couldn't tell as the blood poured from the bite. He could taste the coppery blood and drank some water swishing it in his mouth. He managed to stop the bleeding and looked sheepishly at the table, not meaning to cause a stir.

"Sorry, I just bit my tongue," he admitted.

"You poor thing," Trish said, now it was her turn to one up Christian and Stephanie, "Come here."

Jericho leaned over to her, wondering what she was doing when she kissed him quickly. She moved her tongue along his pursed lips and he tried to relax, but he felt like he was cheating on Stephanie right now and that feeling went down to his core. He returned the kiss though, as Stephanie looked on in, fury in her eyes.

"Much better," Jericho said as he pulled away.

"I knew that would help," Trish smiled.

The waiter came to take their orders and they found themselves just sitting there. Stephanie stared down, playing with her napkin as Jericho watched her. Christian kept taking sips of his water, as Trish studied the pattern of the plates.

"Hey you," Christian whispered in her ear, "You doing ok?"

She turned to him, "Yeah. Awkward though."

"Well, if you hadn't opened your big mouth," he joked.

She giggled, "Stop, I'm supposed to be having a horrible time."

"Oh, ok then, I'll leave you to look at the napkin since you were finding it more interesting."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, "You're more interesting."

"So you two?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, us two," Christian said, wrapping his arm around Stephanie.

"I never would've expected it."

"Neither did we?" Stephanie said, "It just…happened."

"Oh," Trish said, "Well, you know what they say, opposites attract."

"I wouldn't call us opposites, would you?" Stephanie asked.

"Not really, I think we have more in common than people think."

"And besides, who always wants to be with someone that you're like. It's fun to try out different things, to be with new people," Stephanie shrugged.

"Yeah," Trish said, "I can understand that. Just be careful with Christian, he has a wandering eye."

"Trish, do we have to go there?" Christian said snidely.

Trish didn't know why this was getting to her. It shouldn't have, because she felt like she was really over Christian, but this was different, it wasn't some random girl, it was Stephanie and that made a huge difference to her. It was her friend, a friend who knew what had happened with them.

"I'm not worried Trish," Stephanie answered, "I trust him."

"Good for you," Trish said coldly.

"Look, I came here for a nice dinner, not to be put on trial," Christian said.

Stephanie looked up at him and ran a soothing hand down his cheek, "It's ok, don't let yourself get worked up."

Jericho needed a drink, bad. He motioned for the waited and got a scotch on the rocks. He needed something strong to get the two of them out of his mind. If he got drunk, then he wouldn't remember. When the waiter came back with his drink he took a few big gulps as Stephanie and Christian whispered to each other.

"I'll be right back," Stephanie said, "I just want to go wash my hands."

She got up from the table, but not before pressing a kiss to Christian's temple. Jericho was buzzing with hurt. He quickly excused himself to go after Stephanie, leaving Christian and Trish at the table. Trish folded her arms and practically burned a hole through Christian.

"What's your problem?" he asked.

"I don't have one," she said testily, "I would just rather be anywhere else than sitting here with you."

"Look Trish, I don't know what's gotten into you tonight, since you're not usually such a bitch, but please don't give me any shit tonight ok?"

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes.

Jericho caught up with Stephanie at the phones in the back. He grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him. He suddenly felt like he was back, back in the past, and she had just defied him in some way, ruined a match for her. She gave him her "oh shit" look and he hauled her to him, kissing her deeply. She didn't want to pull away, but she had to and so she did, pushing him off of her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked angrily.

"I didn't mean to," he said, looking down at his feet, "I just couldn't take it anymore."

"Take what?"

"Seeing you and Christian, I'm not ok with it Stephanie!" he told her, pleading in his voice, pleading with her to break it off with Christian.

"That's not your choice."

"But I love you!"

"Chris, stop making a fool out of yourself. Obviously you have a reason for breaking it off with me, but if you expect me to just sit back and not do anything but wait for you, you're wrong."

"Stephanie," he paused, so tempted to just tell her the truth, "I'm sorry, for kissing you, that was out of line."

"I'll say it was."

"It'll never happen again, I promise."

He walked away quietly and she stared at him as he went. She whispered to herself.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."


	170. Raw, January 12, 2004

A/N: For those of you who read my other fics, they'll be a little bit of updating tomorrow. :)

* * *

Enjoy this chapter, I had so much fun writing it! :D

"So last week wasn't awkward or anything."

"Shut up Christian," Stephanie said to him, "You weren't even there when the shit went down."

"What?"

Stephanie sighed to herself. She had kept the kiss a secret from Christian since last Thursday. She supposed that a part of her wanted to keep it all her own. Or maybe she was embarrassed that she had let Jericho get to her again. Or even worse yet, maybe she just didn't care anymore. She looked down and then back up at Christian.

"He kissed me."

"Chris?"

"No Christian, Ric Flair! Of course Chris!"

"Oh, ok, because I was going to say, if it was Flair, that's really kind of gross…and then inevitably I would have to ask if he said 'Whoo' after it was over."

She laughed, "Don't make me laugh!"

"Oh, is that in the rules or something. I meant to go over them the other day, but I'm telling you 'The Guide to Dating Stephanie McMahon' was so long, I don't know if I can stick to all those guidelines. I mean, I fit in the Canadian one, and I used to have the long blonde hair rule, and the cocky bastard rule I can definitely do, but I don't know what you meant by the 'must be willing to let me do anything in the bedroom' rule. I mean, really, what do you do in there?"

Stephanie tried to hold in her laughter, because Christian couldn't know that he made her laugh so easily, but she just bust out laughing anyways, "Where is that rule book? I may have to clarify that."

"It's in my bag actually, but I mean, can you trim it down just a little bit? I don't think I'll ever live up to the ideal man for you. Unless I changed my name to Chris Jericho, but even then, I'm sure I wouldn't live up to the standard."

"Aww," she said, giving him a sympathetic smile, "You are the most perfect fake boyfriend I've ever had in my entire life."

"And who else has been your pretend boyfriend? I wanna know where on the scale I fit in."

"Well, let me see," she said, tapping her chin as she thought, "Well, damn it Christian, Chris was my fake boyfriend when he was working for my father."

"Great, just when there's a category I thought I could beat him at, he has to go and do that better than me too!"

"I know, that bastard," Stephanie said, shaking her fist comically, "We'll have to bring him down to our level."

"Yeah!"

"I don't know how you manage to make me forget about my problems?" Stephanie said seriously.

Christian shrugged, "I think I confuse you so much that you just don't know what that hell is going on."

"You know, I think you may be right," she laughed, "But don't you think that you should get going to the show."

"Must I? I'd rather just stay here, hang out with you and maybe go to the city and have some fun tonight, we deserve it for the disaster that was Thursday night."

"Afterwards," she promised, "We'll go clubbing all night long."

"Promise?" he said.

"Yeah, but why do you wanna hang out with me? You aren't falling for me are you?" she asked, studying him carefully.

"You caught me Stephanie, I've had a burning passion for you for such a long time, and now that I finally have you all to myself, I just want to ravish you over and over again."

Stephanie laughed and then screamed as Christian tackled her to the bed. She laughed as he playfully tickled her sides. She laughed loudly, almost out of breath from his onslaught. She was about to get the upper-hand when someone knocked on the door. Getting off the bed, Christian went into the other room to open the door, only to come face to face with Jericho and Trish. Jericho noticed that Christian was a little out of breath.

"What're you guys doing here?"

"Oh, well," Jericho started glancing over Christian's shoulder, trying to see Stephanie, if she was there, "Well, I was about to leave, and wanted to know if you needed a ride."

"Yeah, sure," Christian said, "Trish, are you coming too?"

"Um, no, I'm going with Lita," Trish said, "I was just with Chris when he wanted to come here."

Stephanie walked out of the bedroom and was adjusting her shirt that had gotten pulled up a bit from rolling around on the bed. She giggled as she thought about rolling on the bed and then Christian. If she had said she was rolling on the bed with Christian, everyone would think they had been having sex or something. She pulled her shirt down and looked up to see Christian staring out the door at Jericho and Trish.

Jericho was still glancing over Christian's shoulder as he talked to Trish about why she was with Jericho. He just wanted to see if Stephanie was there, just for a second, even if for a moment. He felt like such a dope after kissing her last week, but he couldn't help himself. He knew it would be hard to stay away from her, but he never knew it would have so much agony attached to it.

He saw her, and for a moment, his heart melted. Then he saw what she was doing, and where she had just come from, and then thought back to how out of breath Christian had been when he answered the door. He put two and two together and actually had to put his hand on the doorframe to stop from hyperventilating. Stephanie was adjusting her shirt down and her face was flushed, not to mention her hair messy, where she had just come from the bedroom. He felt his heart contract and it felt as if someone was shoving a knife into his gut.

Stephanie walked up to the trio, just as Trish was excusing herself to leave. She ducked under Christian's arm, which was resting against the wall next to him and he let his arm drop around her shoulders. She looked at Jericho, and he seemed to be a little green around the gills.

"Chris, are you ok?" Stephanie asked, the concern evident.

"Yeah," he said slowly, having to push that response from his body forcefully, because he was anything but fine at this moment.

"Steph, geez, you think you can comb your hair once in a while?" Christian said, lightening the mood as he could feel the tension reaching dangerous levels.

Stephanie touched her hair and realized it was a frizzy mess from having been on the bed, "It's your fault jerk."

"Hey, it's not my fault," he said, "It's your hair."

She laughed, "It is too your fault, so get your stuff and get out of here."

"Fine, pushy tonight aren't we?"

"Yes, because the sooner you come back, the sooner we get to go have fun."

Obviously Jericho had been forgotten about. That was the only explanation for him having to listen to this. They couldn't be doing it just to torture him; that wouldn't be right at all; they wouldn't do that. But they were torturing him, the sweet words, the loving stares, it was sickening. He cleared his throat purposefully, hoping to stop this agonizing conversation.

"Oh, sorry Chris," Stephanie said, turning to him finally, "We were just discussing our plans for later."

"Oh," Jericho responded.

"Yeah, so I'll see ya babe," Christian said, not knowing where the pet name came from, but it seemed appropriate for the situation.

"I'll be waiting."

"You know, maybe next week, you can come to the arena," he told her, "You can keep me company."

"We'll see," she smiled, then leaned up to kiss him, hoping that Jericho saw and got mad.

It didn't disappoint as Jericho's face turned beet red, the anger stirring inside of him. It was times like this that he really regretted having a temper. He balled up his fists, waiting for the display to end, and when it finally did, he was already walking away. Stephanie smiled up at Christian.

"He totally hated that," Christian said.

"I know, that was funny, he looks like a tomato," she whispered back.

"Yeah, too bad I don't get anything out of those kisses, then I'd be all over you," he winked.

"Again with the confusion."

"Til later," he called back as he ran with his bag to catch up to Jericho.

Christian ran up to Jericho and walked stride for stride with him towards the elevators. Jericho had wanted to be friendly earlier, but after seeing that, knowing that Christian got to get all of Stephanie, he wanted to rip Christian's heart out and squish it until it became a bloody pulp. They stepped onto the elevator quietly, and walked out to the car quietly, and drove silently, until Christian decided to make conversation.

"Stephanie told me what happened last week," Christian said somberly.

Jericho froze up, he didn't expect Stephanie to tell, but he figured that she would, "Oh, about that, I'm really sorry."

"It's ok, just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"How can you be so nonchalant?" Jericho asked. When Stephanie had kissed someone else, well, when someone, namely Charlie Haas had kissed her, he had broken up with her.

"Because," he shrugged, "I'm sure it was just built up tension from when you were together. I mean, it's not like she hid it from me, and I like to think that I'm a forgiving person."

In actuality, Christian didn't care that much. Stephanie could go out and sleep with someone else and he probably wouldn't care all that much. Well, no, that wasn't right, he would care. But only because he believed that Jericho and Stephanie would find their way back to one another, sooner or later.

"You have a lot more understanding than I do."

"I pride myself on that," Christian joked.

Jericho laughed, though shortly, "Yeah, good luck with that."

They arrived at the arena and went their separate ways to their separate ways. Jericho went to his locker room and unsurprisingly found Trish inside. She had already seen the schedule and figured that Jericho could do a little interfering in her women's match if there was a place he could fit in. That wasn't that uncommon around here, so it should be believable.

"Hey, I was thinking," Trish said, "You could try to interfere in my match ."

"Fine," he said, not at all interested in this conversation.

"You know…I hate having problems. I hate having plans," she said, "Don't you?"

That struck a nerve, "I do too! I hate this!"

"It's ok Chris, to not like what we're doing, but talk to me about it, because I can help you get through it."

"Can you get the picture of Christian and Stephanie going at it out of my mind?"

"What are you talking about?" she said, starting to laugh than catching Jericho's face, her tone turned grave, "Chris, what are you talking about?"

"Didn't you see it? Stephanie…walking out of the bedroom," he had to pause as the image assailed him, "Adjusting her clothes."

"Oh come on Chris," Trish said, waving away his concern, "You were imagining things."

"Trish, when Christian came to the door what was he doing?"

Trish thought for a moment, indulging Jericho's delusions, that is until she remembered what Christian had come to the door looking like. He had been out of breath, his clothes were sloppy and disheveled. Then Stephanie…Trish's eyes widened when she realized what they must have walked in on.

"Oh my," she said under her breath. Stephanie and Christian? Like that!?!

"Fuck!" Jericho said, finally letting his anger get to him as he threw a table over, then punched the wall, not even feeling the pain shoot through his hand, the pain at seeing what he saw overwhelming every cell.

"Chris, maybe we're interpreting this wrong," Trish tried to be rational, but in the face of what she saw, it was hardly possible, "They could've been doing any number of things."

"Like what?" he said dully.

"Well," she was hard pressed for solutions, "They could've been wrestling, you know, trying to teach Stephanie some moves."

"Why? She's not even with the company."

Damn, he was right, she thought, "They could've been, jumping on the bed."

Jericho looked thoughtful for a moment, "Then why would her clothes be pushed up?"

Another theory down the drain, "Look, don't worry about it Chris."

"Tell me how to do that Trish, why don't you just hit me with a frying pan so I'll somehow get selective amnesia. Then maybe I could forget all about Stephanie, you know, that would probably be best. Or how about I just crawl into a hole and let myself die, that sounds like a better option than everything I'm currently going through."

"Look to the goal," she said, "Just keep looking to the goal."

"It's too hard," he said, running his hands through his hair.

"The goal Chris," she said firmly, "That's all you have to think about."

"Ok," he nodded, "I think I can do that."

He didn't even believe himself with that one.

Christian saw he wasn't doing anything tonight and cursed. If he had known that, he would've just stayed behind with Stephanie. That would've been way more fun than sitting around here all night. And he couldn't even go back to the hotel, since he had driven here with Jericho. He figured he'd go find out when or if Jericho had a match and that way he could know when he would be getting back to Stephanie.

Trish was walking down the hallway, trying to shrug off the images of Stephanie and Christian going at it. That image was enough to turn her off for the rest of the evening. She scowled and made a face before she spotted Christian coming down the opposite direction.

"Christian," she said shortly.

"Oh hey Trish, do you know where Chris's locker room is?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to know if he had a match."

"He doesn't," she said curtly.

"Ok, great, I'll go talk to him about leaving early"

"I don't think he'd be in the mood to see you right now though, so you might want to keep your distance."

Christian looked at her, perplexed as to why Jericho wouldn't want to see him, "Did he say that?"

"Not in so many words, but you could tell. I just think this whole thing with you and Stephanie is getting to him."

"I thought he was cool with it."

"Would you be cool with seeing me with one of your friends?!?" she erupted, then brought her voice back down.

"I already do, you're like with Jericho or something," he answered, "I don't really mind."

"Of course you don't, you're with Stephanie!"

"Yeah, so? I thought this was a free country."

"You just don't get it Christian!"

"Look Trish, if Chris didn't want anyone to date Stephanie, he never should've broken up with her, it's as simple as that. I can't help that we got close."

"But you knew!"

"I know that I like being around Stephanie ok, so get off my damn back!"

"You have no fucking clue about anything," Trish spat out, "If you only knew…"

"It goes both ways Trish, don't go on rampages when you don't know the fucking outcome."

"You are such a bastard," she told him.

"Don't get all sanctimonious on me Trish, let's not forget that you kissed Chris when he was still with her."

"Fuck you," Trish said angrily as she stomped away.

Christian smiled smugly as he continued on his way. It bugged him that she was being so critical when she had no room to judge. If she and Jericho were playing a game, than so were he and Stephanie. It was like some complicated physical chess match, trying to see who would come out on top, who's play would finally cause the other side to stumble. He wanted his side to win.

He arrived at Jericho's locker room and opened the door, walking in unannounced. Sue him, but he wanted to see Jericho wallowing and depressed. It served him right for whatever he was putting Stephanie through. He didn't know what Jericho was up to, but he knew that Stephanie was hurting, deep down inside, and he hated to see it, not if he could prevent it in some way. To his delight, Jericho was sitting hunched over, thinking.

"What's up man?" Christian said happily.

Jericho sniffed audibly and didn't look up, "Go away ok."

"What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Nothing!" Jericho snapped, "I'm just not in the mood to talk."

"Have a lover's spat with Trish?" Christian asked mockingly. He was glad he had such a mean streak in him. It really came in handy.

"No, I'm just tired."

"Oh too bad. You should get one of those sleep number mattresses or something, you know, so you can adjust to how hard or soft your bed is. I'm a 43," Christian laughed.

"Whatever," Jericho said, wiping at his eyes.

"Ok, I was just wondering if you had a match or something."

"No," he said idly.

"Cool, so are you staying for Trish, because I was hoping to get back to Stephanie."

Jericho shuddered at the thought of why he wanted to get back to Stephanie. He couldn't take it, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight as he thought about what they would be doing while he lay alone in his bed, in his lonely hotel room. If he could prolong the inevitable, maybe Stephanie would be too tired to do anything and he wouldn't have to worry for one night.

"Yeah, I'm staying, probably until the end of the show," Jericho said, still looking down.

"Fuck," Christian muttered, "Ok, I guess I'll have to stay then."

"Ok."

Christian left Jericho to his thoughts and finally Jericho looked up, the tears spilling over. Damn it, he hated crying. Crying was for the weak, wasn't that something Stephanie had said. He looked up to the television that Trish had turned on before she left and saw that the show had started and Trish was already out there. He wiped his eyes, not caring if he looked like shit and hadn't shaved that day. He got up and went out to the gorilla and hoped that he could find an appropriate place to interfere. Maybe Stephanie would be watching and he would make HER feeling jealous.

The opportunity arose when he saw Trish getting assaulted. He ran down to the ring and broke up the beating she was receiving. Of course this didn't come without penalties on his behalf as he got manhandled by Mark Henry. He got knocked down pretty hard, but it was worth it, if it made Stephanie jealous that he had been there to protect Trish, when he hadn't been there to protect her from her father. Ok, now that he thought about it, he felt really bad about that now.

He and Trish went to the back, separately, of course and he went to his dressing room to contemplate the meaning of his life some more. Or maybe he'd just go to catering and stuff his face full of food. Either way, he wanted to do something that wasn't thinking about Stephanie. He opted to just lay on his couch and listen to the show with his arm over his eyes.

It came as no surprise to him that he had a match against Mark Henry. Let him get beat, he didn't really care right now. Maybe he could psych himself up later, but right now, there was nothing doing. He just laid there, pathetic, that's what he was, just plain pathetic.

"Yeah, him and Trish are pissed about something," Christian said into his phone.

"What? Us?"

"Yeah, but they're exceptionally pissed. Did we do anything to make them angry?" he asked.

"Not that I remember," she said, "I mean, we didn't even see them that much."

"Yeah, they're crazy anyways, and now Chris has a match," Christian said, "God knows when I'll get out of here."

"Well, just come back here and we'll leave immediately, it's only like an hour to New York, and I wanna stay out all night if we can, so it doesn't matter."

"Fine with me, should we invite Chris along, or him and Trish, you know, maybe to get them off our backs or something."

"Ugh, not the both of them again, maybe just Chris since he's your ride."

"Ok, sounds good," Christian said, "So what're you doing?"

"Watching the show and thinking about what I want to wear tonight."

"Good stuff. I'm bored."

"I'm sorry, anything I can do?"

"Phone sex?"

"Yeah, in your dreams buddy," she laughed.

"Damn, and that would probably be the only way I get some anytime soon," he said, sighing loudly.

"Oh, poor Christian, you want me to flash you when you get back?"

"Yes please," he said quickly.

She laughed, "Get your ass out of the gutter and go do something."

"Fine, fine, I'll just sit here and watch the show."

"Ok, later."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone and got up to wander around the arena. He ran into Matt Hardy, who stopped him for a moment. Christian wondered why Matt would want to talk to him. They had never had a really great past together.

"I just wanted to tell you how much fun it was watching you beat on Lita a while ago," Matt said.

Christian scowled, "I didn't really like it."

"Sure," Matt chuckled, "Thanks for making my job easier."

"Look, I don't want to get into this, but," Christian didn't finish his sentence as he walked off, looking for kicks elsewhere.

Jericho slowly got ready for his match. If ever anyone had gone in slow-motion in real life, it was him right now. It was like time had slowed down and so had he. Or maybe he didn't really have any motivation left. Or energy for that matter. But he would go out there, like he did every week, and he would work his hardest because that was what he did. He worked because he loved it, and just because one important thing had escaped him, he didn't need to let wrestling escape him as well.

He walked out and got the match underway as best as he possibly could. Mark Henry wasn't a good wrestler by any means, but he had the size advantage for sure. He was three times Jericho's size and used sheer power to try and beat Jericho. Of course, since Henry was fat, Jericho had the speed advantage and used that to gain the upper-hand a couple of times.

Henry got him in the back breaker and Jericho screamed in pain. But that was only physical pain and it couldn't stop the mental pain that Stephanie was affording him. He almost welcomed this kind of pain because it took his mind off of Stephanie. The same thing happened when he was put in the bear hug, pain, but not the kind of pain that really hurt him. He saw Trish out of the corner of his eye and was glad that she had shown up, this would work well for them, and make Stephanie jealous.

He finally got Henry in the Walls, and thought he had won, but indeed it was too premature and pretty soon he found himself writhing in pain, and with a big L for loss waving over his head. He got up slowly, painfully, and slowly drug himself backstage, heading for his locker room. He wanted to shower and leave, even at the expense of letting Christian go to Stephanie.

Trish was sitting in her dressing room, just thinking, when Stacy came up to her. Stacy went on and on about Jericho, and Trish had to stifle a laugh as she pretended that she was really thinking about going to Jericho. He so had to hear about this one, hopefully it would make him laugh. He looked like he could use some laughs right about now. She got up to go to him.

Jericho left with Christian. Christian was going out, so that meant Stephanie was going out, so that meant that they would be having sex while he was alone. Not if he could help it anyways. He would go out with them and keep an eye on them so they couldn't get close and then they would be too tired to do anything tonight. He wouldn't let them leave his sight. They went back to the hotel and Jericho said he'd meet them in fifteen minutes.

He showered and practically ran back downstairs, not wanting the terrible twosome to have any time for hanky-panky. He knocked loudly and the door swung open to reveal Stephanie in a pair of navy blue jeans and a three-quarter sleeve shirt that was low-cut in the front. She was wearing a leather jacket over that.

"Hey," Stephanie said, smiling, "Christian, let's go."

"I'm coming," Christian said, "Hey man, that was quick."

"Yeah, I didn't want to make you wait," Jericho lied.

They went down to the car and Christian drove as he and Stephanie chit-chatted, with Jericho sitting in the back, watching the exchange. Stephanie kept laughing and he couldn't stop the smile that spread as he heard that wonderful sound. He occasionally spoke, but mostly let them talk to themselves, just observing.

Before they knew it, they were in a trendy night club and ordering their first drink. Stephanie got a Fuzzy Navel and Christian and Jericho settled for beer. Jericho noticed that Stephanie hadn't ordered her usual drink, but said nothing. She downed the drink and got another. Jericho did the same.

Christian was the only one who wasn't really in the mood to drink, mostly due to the fact that he saw how much Jericho and Stephanie were drinking. It was like they were trying to outdo one another. Or they were trying to drown each other out, either way, he saw what they were doing, so it didn't surprise him when they went out to dance.

Stephanie was dancing close to Jericho, so close that her breath mingled with his, creating quite the alcoholic stench. He pulled her closer by the waist, both of them too inebriated to realize what they were doing. She let the contact go as she rubbed her breasts up against his chest, causing a little gasp to rise from his lips.

"Like that?" she slurred.

"Always."

"Good," she said hazily, the music floating through her, or at least that's what it seemed like.

"Stephy," he said, tilting his head to look at her.

"Yes Chris?"

"Why are you with Christian? Don't sleep with him Princess," he said, begged, pleaded, all of those together.

"Silly boy," she said, caressing his cheek, "Such a cute, silly boy."

They had gotten progressively closer to each other, and they were pushed up against each other, the passion rising until it was almost visible to anyone. Their breaths were coming out in gasps. Christian stood up and walked over to them, putting a hand between them, not wanting them to have sex right here.

"Ok, you two, I think we've had enough," he said, taking Stephanie's arm.

"Christian," Stephanie whined, "It's not all night."

"Yeah, but it is 3 am, and I think you two have had enough and we should get you two to bed."

Neither gave a real protest, too drunk to really care where they were. Luckily Christian had only had half a beer or else he would've been too drunk to drive back, but he was fine as he drove back to their hotel, arriving at about 4:30 am. He directed Jericho to his bedroom, before taking Stephanie back to theirs. He laid her down on the bed, and went to brush his teeth and change. When he came back out, Stephanie was gone. He sighed; he couldn't let her go out there in her condition. He pulled on a t-shirt and some shoes to go looking for her.

Stephanie stood in the little indoor garden that hung off the main lobby. It was lit, but not by much and she stood there, feeling free as she could smell all the familiar garden smells. She didn't notice the person coming up to her until they were next to her.

"Hey."

She turned to see who was with her, "Hey, tonight was fun."

"Yeah, I guess it was."

"I'm drunk."

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't care?"

"Not really."

She looked at him, "You're so good to me."

"Thanks."

She leaned in and kissed him softly. Though he tried to resist, he really couldn't and kissed her back. He knew she was drunk, he knew she wouldn't remember this in the morning and that made it a little easier to swallow. She wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with the collar of his t-shirt. He pulled her closer, tasting the alcohol, but not caring. He pulled away and looked into her eyes to see nothing but passion and lust.

"This is wrong."

"Shh, nothing's wrong," she said, "It can't be wrong if we both want it."

"But what about--"

"Let's not think about him, I'm not," she admitted.

"Ok," was his only answer.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs, going into the room quickly. They made a mad dash for the bedroom and laid down on his bed, kissing and touching each other fervently, not stopping only to take each other's clothes off. She didn't care about anything or anyone this moment, not her problems, not anything, but these lips on hers, his skin on hers.

She woke up hours later, hung over, but feeling the light seeping into the room, beckoning her to wake up. She had a headache forming already, and she cringed as she thought about how bad it would become. She stretched her body and her arm hit someone and she turned to her side and gasped as she looked at who was beside her. She gasped again as she looked under the covers to find herself sans clothes. Not to mention, he was without clothes too.

"Shit, what have I done?"


	171. SmackDown, January 15, 2004

A/N: Dani, I did mean to make the last chapter as hard as it looks. ;)

* * *

Kurt sat on the couch of his hotel room, not really doing anything important, just sitting around. He figured he had nothing better to do than just sit around. He wasn't needed at the arena for a little while longer, and nobody was really around, so here he was sitting on the couch doing nothing. It was kind of sad actually, when he thought about it. And then when he thought about it, it made him kind of lonely.

Now that Stephanie was gone, and Edge still out with his injury, he was all alone. Granted, he had been having fun with Dawn Marie lately. When she wasn't being Heyman's personal bitch, she was actually really great to be around, and sweet too. He really didn't expect to like her as much as he did, but maybe he was just so lonely he didn't care who he hung around with.

All his friends were either injured, not with the company, or on Raw. So he was the lone SmackDown guy, all by his lonesome. It was definitely a sad perspective, being all alone, knowing stuff went down with his friends that he wasn't there to help with. He had no clue what was going on anymore, with any of his friends. Everything seemed to be jumbled up beyond recognition.

First there was Jericho and Trish, though what the hell was going on there, he had no idea. He knew that it had been a plan…at first. Now he didn't know what the hell it was. After Jericho had broken it off with Stephanie, taken a "break," as he put it, it appeared as though Jericho and Trish were actually going to be a couple. That thought was weird to him. Stephanie and Jericho, that made sense, but Jericho and Trish, it just didn't click with him. When he pictured the future, he saw himself being the best man at Jericho and Stephanie's wedding, seeing their kids running around, then eventually running the company. What he didn't see was Trish replacing Stephanie in that picture.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, there was the thing that was going on between Stephanie and Christian. He couldn't even believe that in the slightest. Not even as a rebound relationship did that make any sense. Stephanie and Christian were more preposterous than Jericho and Trish, and yet here it was. It was like somebody was rolling dice with the four of them, and they had ended up paired together solely based on luck, rather than feelings.

He didn't want to think about these things, but it was hard not to when it was all staring you right in the face. The entire system was breaking down and he couldn't stop it, no matter how hard he wanted to, and wanted to he did. He was an Olympic Hero, and he guessed he wanted to be a hero for his friends.

His cell phone rang and he reached over to the side table and grabbed it, "Hello?"

"Hey Kurt."

"Jericho."

"Yeah," Jericho said sullenly.

"Ok, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Don't forget that you called me," Kurt said, "So obviously something is on your mind."

"Well, yeah, something is on my mind, but I don't know if you want to hear it," Jericho said.

"Ok, well, I'm not doing anything, so I've got time."

"Christian and Stephanie."

Kurt should've known that was what all this was about. Jericho had that tone in his voice that made him sound pathetic, and that could only mean one thing. Something was wrong with Stephanie. Jericho was so predictable sometimes that Kurt knew what he was talking about before he said it.

"What about them?"

"I'm having trouble dealing with them," Jericho said, "Now I know that I said I was cool with it al, but I'm really not. I only said that because…I didn't want Stephanie to know how much I was hurting."

"Chris, you have Trish," Kurt pointed out.

"I know," Jericho sighed, and Kurt could tell he wanted to say something more, but that he was hesitant as to what it was.

"I mean, I know that Stephanie was your ex, but you do have Trish so you can't feel as bad as you think you feel."

"I just miss Stephanie sometimes," Jericho admitted, "I mean, I was with her for a really long time, and I got attached."

"Really? After a year, you got attached, you don't say," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Shut up, and now, Kurt, you didn't see what I saw on Monday," Jericho said softly, Kurt had to strain to hear what he was saying.

Kurt could only imagine what Jericho saw. He almost didn't want to know in case it was something that he didn't need to know about his friends, "What did you see?"

"I saw, ok, I kind of interrupted them, well…I mean, you know, you KNOW," Jericho stumbled, and not for lack of knowing what to say. He was just having a hard time saying it. The words still choked in his throat as he thought about what he had seen when he was talking to Christian on Monday. That hurt at seeing Stephanie walk out of that room still reverberated through his empty heart. He'd never be able to get that image out of his mind.

"I know what?" Kurt asked, not getting Jericho's point, but this was Kurt after all, sometimes things went over his head a bit.

"They were…you know," Jericho said, giving a slight rise in his voice to emphasize the final two words.

Kurt's mind cleared, "Oh."

He was actually shocked by this revelation, or whatever it was. Now that mess he had worked up earlier with his friends was getting even more tangled. Now he KNEW Christian and Stephanie were serious, because after Jericho, Stephanie had to have really loved Christian to sleep with him. Poor Jericho, he thought to himself. He was kind of glad he wasn't in this mess.

"Yeah, I saw her, and she was pulling down her shirt and her hair was messed up and she was flushed, and…God, Kurt, I'm never going to be able to forget it."

"Wait, so you don't know if they actually had sex?"

"Well…no, but I have to say that the evidence was pretty much there."

"Yeah, but I mean, you don't really know if they did."

"No, but Kurt, I know what I saw," Jericho protested, "I mean, really, what else could they have been doing in the bedroom and come out looking like that."

"Plenty of things," Kurt answered.

"Like what?"

"Well, I mean, you and Stephanie loved to jump on the beds, that could've been it," Kurt said.

"But why would her shirt be up like that, enough to have to pull it down."

"Well, maybe she just changed her shirt and that's why she was pulling it down, and the messed up hair was just the result of pulling her shirt over her head," he reasoned.

"I never thought of it like that," Jericho said, "But then Christian was out of breath when he came to the door, and it was like seven steps from the bed to the door so he couldn't have been tired from that."

"Well, maybe they were horsing around…innocently," he added, "You know, like friends do, I mean, I've horsed around with Stephanie, tickled her and what not, maybe that's what they were doing."

"Yeah," Jericho said slowly, "I guess you're right, but it still doesn't discount the fact that the chances of them having sex are very high. They share a hotel room."

"Have you seen the bedrooms, are there two beds?"

"I didn't see," Jericho confessed.

"See, you may be worrying over nothing."

"Yeah, and I did spend like all night with the two of them on Monday, so I know they couldn't have done it that."

"What did you guys do?"

"We went into New York and went clubbing. I barely remember any of it, I had so much to drink. I have a feeling I talked to Stephanie and asked her not to sleep with Christian, but I have no idea now," he said, shaking his head, still trying to remember what had happened that night.

"Nice Jericho, I'm sure getting drunk is just what you needed."

"Stephanie was drunk too, trust me, after all that she drunk, I don't think she remembered anything from that night either."

"You guys are nuts, you know that right," Kurt said, "I mean, it's just crazy. So you don't remember anything that happened?"

"Vaguely, I just remember Stephanie, I swear, I asked her something, I don't know, I probably made a fool out of myself…again. I just remember the lights, the club, Stephanie, and then waking up alone the next morning in my bedroom, with a hangover like you wouldn't believe."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about you guys anymore ok? Just focus on your wrestling ok, and don't let Stephanie get to you," Kurt said.

"Thanks Kurt, I feel marginally better now," Jericho said, "I'll let you go."

"Bye," Kurt told him.

"Yeah, see ya."

As soon as Kurt hung up the phone, there came a knock at the door. Seemed he was quite popular today. He set his phone back down on the side table and then got himself up off the couch. He walked to the door and opened it. Standing in front of him, much to his surprise, was Stephanie. She gave him a nervous smile and he looked down to see her suitcase with her. He looked back up at her curiously.

"Stephanie, what are you doing here?"

"I just needed a friend right now," she told him.

"Seems like I was wrong earlier, I'm right smack dab in the middle of everyone's problems," he said to himself as he moved out of his way to let Stephanie in the room, lest someone see her here and tell Vince.

"What're you talking about?"

"Nothing, I was just talking to your ex on the phone," he told her.

"Chris called," she asked nervously, "Did he say anything interesting?"

Stephanie looked at him furtively, and he noticed that she had a nervous energy about her. He wondered what was going on with her. Not just with her behavior, but what exactly she was doing here in the first place. He didn't expect her to be here; he expected her to be in Florida with Christian. But since he had just been thinking how lonely he was, she was welcome company.

"Not really, I mean, he did tell me how you guys went out on Monday and got really, really drunk."

Stephanie bit her lip, "Yeah, we did, I mean, he and I did, I mean, well, Christian didn't get drunk, he's the only sane one around here."

"So I'm not sane, is that what you're saying?"

"No, I mean, you know what I mean," she said, laughing slightly, "So Chris didn't say anything else."

"Why do you care?" he asked suspiciously.

Stephanie's eyes widened before she got defensive, "No reason, I just wondered, I knew he was really drunk the other night, I mean, he had to be…"

"Why?"

"Because we were dancing," she answered quickly.

"Oh, did he embarrass himself?"

"I think he did, my memory is a bit hazy, damn alcohol!" she said, then went to busy herself with her things.

Kurt looked at her disbelievingly. She was hiding something, he could tell that just by looking at her. She pulled out a book and started reading. Kurt took the book out of her hand and set it down on the table. Stephanie looked up at him, a look of anger on her face, but that wasn't all. He could see something else in her eyes, yet he couldn't quite pinpoint it at the moment.

"Stephanie, what happened?"

"Nothing, it's just," she paused, "Nothing you should worry about Kurt ok?"

"Obviously it's something, or you wouldn't be running away from Florida. Something happened on Monday didn't it?"

"Chris just, he said something," she told him, swallowing audibly.

"What'd he say?"

"He told me not to sleep with Christian," she said, "I mean, I don't know why he cares--"

Kurt looked at her pointedly, "You don't know why he cares!"

"Ok, I do," she replied, "It's just, I don't know, it seemed a weird question at the time, you know, out of the blue."

"I'm sure he just said it because he was drunk."

"More drunk than I think he even realized," she told him.

"Just like you were."

"Yeah," she scoffed, "Last time I have too much to drink."

"I have to go to the show Stephanie, are you going to be alright here by yourself?"

"Wouldn't be the first time, or the second time, or the third time, so I guess that means that I'm ok with it, I just…I need a break you know," she said, making a face, "Just need to not be Stephanie for an evening."

"I know what you mean beautiful," he said, lightly tapping her chin with his fist, "Order up whatever you want ok, it's all on me."

Stephanie hugged Kurt tightly, "Thank you Kurt, you have no idea how much I love you as my friend. I think sometimes you're the only one who really understands me for who I am."

"That's my job Stephanie," he said, hugging her back, "You have fun tonight."

Kurt grabbed his back and gave Stephanie another hug goodbye before leaving. He drove himself to the arena, still thinking about how Stephanie was acting. She still had some sort of detachedness about her, but he didn't want to pry into her personal business and would much rather let her work things on her own. If she didn't, then she would just bury them further.

He walked into his locker room and set his things down. He was interrupted by a stagehand, letting him know that Chavo wasn't there tonight. Why he had been told puzzled him, but he figured that he was supposed to be the one that told Eddy this news. He had been trying to be Eddy's friend for a little bit now, mostly because he had no one else to turn to, so he really had to find new people to hang out with, and Eddy was there.

He got up and went in search of Eddy. He smiled as he saw Dawn Marie standing with a clipboard, writing something down, every so often chewing on the end of her pen. He walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump a little before turning around, a smile coming to her face as she saw Kurt.

"Kurt, you're here," she said happily.

"Yeah, I just got here a little while ago," he said, "Do I have anything tonight?"

"Sorry Kurt," she told him, "Nothing tonight."

"That's cool, I'll just hang around then, so are you hard at work?" he asked, gesturing towards her clipboard.

"Just doing Paul's bidding like usual," she sighed, "I mean, I have no reason to complain, the job isn't that difficult, it's just, I hate having to pretend to be nice to that man, when I really can't stand him."

"Doesn't it suck when you have to pretend to like someone?"

"Yeah, especially when it's a slime like Heyman," she said, "But it pays the bills ya know?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "I guess that means you have to do it."

"I do," she said, "But after the show, I'm not doing anything, if you wanted to go out or something."

"Normally, I'd say sure, but I've got a guest staying with me tonight and I kind of wanted to spend it with her," Kurt told her.

A look of jealousy passed over Dawn's features, which didn't go unnoticed by Kurt. Kurt was well aware that Dawn had feelings for him. He returned those feelings somewhat, but something was holding him back with Dawn Marie. He figured it was because she was so different from him, they were so different on the outside, that he didn't know if he could have an emotional attachment to her. But he did know that Dawn really liked him.

"It's Stephanie," Kurt told her.

"Oh," Dawn said, a lilt of relief evident in her voice, "What's she doing here?"

"She just wanted to take a little vacation," he told her, "She's had it rough for a while and I think she just needs to take it easy."

"Dawn, I don't pay you to stand around talking to the wrestlers!" Heyman said walking over to her and Kurt.

"Sorry Paul," Dawn said, "I'll get back to work."

"That's right, you get back to work," Paul told her.

Dawn sighed as she started to walk away, Kurt watching her go. She looked over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes playfully as Heyman walked beside her. Kurt felt bad that she was stuck with that asshole. Kurt worked for Vince, which was trying, but Heyman seemed even worse, if that was even possible.

He looked to the side and realized that Eddy's locker room was right around here and figured he would go talk to the other wrestler about what he had heard tonight. He started to walk when he was informed that Chavo's father was in attendance tonight to apologize on Chavo's behalf. Kurt took that tidbit of information and went into Eddy's locker room.

The conversation did not go as Kurt would've hoped. He knew that this was all a touchy subject for Eddy, but he didn't realize how deep the wounds went. Of course, he had never really been at odds with his family members. He sympathized with Eddy and his family issues and figured the issue should be a moot point from now on. Maybe he needed to learn how to mind his own business.

But if he minded his own business, he figured his friends would all fall apart, like they were doing now. Him and Edge, they were really the only rocks in this entire thing. Shane wasn't around too much, having to work all the time, so Edge and Kurt were always the shoulders to cry on. Edge had to deal more with Christian and Trish, while he took care of the Jericho and Stephanie side of things. Well, at least Edge was somewhat normal compared to their kooky friends.

He went back to his locker room to watch the show by himself. He wasn't much in the mood to go see anyone, and Heyman probably wouldn't let Dawn come see him, that stupid bastard. He tried to act like a slave-driver or something. Maybe he had a complex or something. He picked up his phone and called Stephanie to see how she was doing.

"I'm fine Kurt," she said into her phone.

"Just checking up on you."

"I know you are," she said, "And as much as I appreciate it, it's unnecessary."

He was still getting the vibe that she wasn't telling him something, "You know Stephanie, if you wanted to tell me something, I wouldn't tell anyone else."

Stephanie sat there, thinking about Monday night, and then Tuesday morning, "Kurt, I'm fine, I promise."

"I don't believe you," he told her, "I know something's up with you."

"Kurt, I'll just tell you this, something happened," she said, then sighed deeply, "It was…I don't know what it was. But it was something, I still need to think about it."

"Stephanie, it's nothing something bad is it?"

"No," she said, even though she didn't even know if that was true, "It's not that bad, it just screws things up a bit."

"For you and Christian?"

"Kurt, can we drop it please?"

"Fine, but this isn't over Stephanie," he told her, "Because I want to know what's going on."

"Whatever Kurt," she answered tiredly.

Kurt looked up at the television screen and cursed. On the screen was Eddy, Chavo Jr., and Chavo Sr. And things were about to get a little bit hairy. He ended the call with Stephanie, resolving to find out what was going on later, and went out to the ring to help with Eddy. He went down to the ring and scared off Chavo and his father, then looked to Eddy. He left shortly afterwards, feeling a little out of place now and went back to his locker room.

He figured that he would go soon, because he really wanted to find out what was happening with Stephanie. Call it concern, curiosity, whatever you wanted, but he just wanted to know what was going out with her. He wanted to help her, if something was troubling her. And if she wouldn't let him, then he'd just be there for her, like a good friend should be. Before he could get all his things together though, Eddy came in and Kurt looked at him warily, ready for another fight with the man who seemed to have a worse temper than him and Jericho combined.

To his complete surprise, Eddy was thanking him for seeing the light. Kurt wasn't expecting this, but was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events. Maybe he wouldn't be so alone at the shows anymore. That put a good thought into his head and made going back to Stephanie a bit more jovial. He gathered his things, congratulating himself on a job well done, at least with this one. It was almost like, one down, one to go.

The other one was sitting at the table in his hotel room. She looked uncomfortable, her legs propped on the table as she leaned back on her chair, but she looked to be fine. He looked to her and dropped his bag, making a loud noise which she responded to by putting her book down slowly.

"Well hello to you too," she said.

"I left early."

"Isn't that against the rules of Heyman or something?" she asked.

"If it is, who cares, I'll leave whenever I want to leave."

Stephanie laughed, "Ooh, you're such a rebel."

"So how was your evening?"

"Nice and quiet, just what I needed."

"Good, because it's not going to be quiet anymore."

"And you say this because?" she asked.

"I want to talk, you and me, nobody else, just us."

"Kurt, I told you I don't feel like talking," Stephanie told him tucking her hair behind her ears to get it out of her face.

"You may not want to, but I do."

"Kurt…" She said warningly.

"Stephanie, are we best friends?"

"Yes," she responded without hesitation.

"Then tell me what's wrong, because I can read you like a book, and there's something wrong with you," he reached out to grab her hand as he sat down in the chair adjacent to hers, "Let me help."

Stephanie looked at him, "I don't know."

"Of course you do, tell me everything."

"It's a long story."

"I've got all night."

"Well, it started like this…"


	172. Raw, January 19, 2004

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews, you still like my story, yay! :D

Again, look for updates to a couple of my other fics tomorrow. :)

* * *

"I want to tear Jericho and Trish apart."

"I thought you wanted to find out what they were doing," Christian said.

"I know, that was then, this is now, and I want them away from each other," Stephanie said, smirking evilly.

"Why?"

"I have my reasons," she answered simply.

"Does this have anything to do with why you suddenly left and stayed with Kurt until yesterday?" he asked.

She sighed and looked down, it was part of the reason why she was doing this, but not the entire reason. She had a secret now, and she didn't know how to handle it. She felt uncomfortable around everyone, and she wanted Jericho back at all costs, and she wanted him back now. She just couldn't do this with Christian anymore. She wanted the man she loved.

"No, I just, I'm tired of all this lying and pretending, and I want Chris back, so I think we should, um, step this thing up."

"Stephanie, does this have anything to do with what happened last week?" he asked, "I mean, I know that--"

"Christian, I just want Chris back," she said, "It has nothing to do with what happened, but I just, I can't take this anymore, I want my Chris!"

Christian took Stephanie's face in his hands and looked her straight in the eyes. She darted them around the room, then paused to look at them. He could see the desperation in her eyes, and it broke his heart. He pulled her into a hug and she rested her head against his shoulder comfortably, letting him comfort her. She held him tightly and closed her eyes.

"Shh, it's ok, I understand Stephanie, but you need to calm down. We'll just take it day by day ok, it'll get easier, things won't be so bad."

"I miss him," she told him, her voice muffled as she buried her face into his neck.

"I know you do babe," Christian said, trying to calm her down, rubbing her back gently, "I know you must miss him after last week."

"Christian, can we not talk about last week, it only brings up memories of you know what," she told him.

"Oh yeah, you know what, well I'll keep my mouth shut about that one," he said, pulling away and winking at her.

"Don't do that! You make me feel like a whore or something," she giggled.

"You're not a whore, you just slipped up, I'm sure he doesn't even remember it."

"I sure as hell hope not."

She hadn't meant to slip up and blow the plan like she did, but she had and she just hoped the Jericho didn't remember anything that she had done, that they had done. Christian understood, once she told him, and he had comforted her, assuring her that nothing was lost, and they could proceed with the plan as usual. But she couldn't help but feel like it would be her fault if Jericho saw through their ruse. Of course, alcohol was into play.

"Ok, so how do we go about trying to keep them apart?" Christian said deviously, giving into Stephanie's whims.

"I don't know."

"Oh, so you just come up with the idea, and I have to think up the actual details to it, is that it?"

"Yup," she nodded, "Sounds about right."

"Well, what better way to keep them apart than to make them think the other doesn't want them?"

"Brilliant!"

"Yes, but how do we do that?"

"Last week we went out didn't we?"

"That's correct sir," Stephanie nodded.

"Well, we just have to find out if Chris told Trish anything about that night last week," Christian told her, "If he didn't, than I've got the perfect set-up."

"You do?" Stephanie asked, intrigued by whatever was going through Christian's mind.

"Yes, I think I've learned much from you Stephanie, you really are a great teacher," he smirked, "I mean, that's not the only thing you've taught me is it?"

"Eww," Stephanie said, shoving him, "You're disgusting."

"No more disgusting than you and Chris dancing last week. You know, I had to break you two up because I was so afraid you were just going to start having sex on the dance floor."

"Yeah, too bad you broke us up though Christian huh?" Stephanie said sarcastically.

"Oh was it?" he said, grinning, "Was it good Stephanie?"

She blushed, "Christian, can we please not talk about it?"

"No repeat performance then?"

Her face turned beet red, "Ok, that's enough, end of conversation. Can we just talk about what you have in mind?"

"And I was having so much fun," Christian said, shaking his head, "I'm going to call up Chris and we're going to go have a little fun for lunch."

"How is lunch going to be fun?"

"You'll see babe," he told her, ruffling her hair, "You need to learn to trust me Stephanie. I haven't steered you wrong yet have I?"

"No…" she answered reluctantly.

"Don't give me that apprehensive answer," he smirked, "All you have to worry about tonight is looking hot for Raw."

"Raw?"

"Yup, because you're coming."

"I can't come."

"Why not? You're my girlfriend, and I can bring you if I damn well please," he told her, "And a little birdie told me that Bischoff won't even be there tonight, so no worries k?"

"Fine," she said, "I don't see what purpose it would serve though."

"You'll want to be there for my greatest display yet Steph," he said, raising his eyebrows, "Now I'm going to go find Chris."

Christian left a stupefied Stephanie behind as he went downstairs to inquire about where Jericho's hotel room was located. After the desk clerk recognized who he was, it was pretty easy. He went up to Jericho's hotel room and knocked, tapping his foot as he waited, smirking to himself. Jericho opened the door and Christian looked up at him.

Jericho did not want to see Christian. Every time he saw him or Stephanie, it brought those terrible images to his head. Christian also had a smirk on his face, a very knowing, very "I just had sex" kind of look on his face, and Jericho thought he was going to be sick to his stomach again. He kind of scowled at Christian, trying to give off a vibe of nonchalance, but it didn't seem to be working.

"What?" Jericho asked.

"Hey man, no need to be so angry," Christian said, "It's a beautiful day!"

"Yeah, what's so beautiful about it?" Jericho sneered.

"Ooh, did you have a lover's spat with Trish?" Christian asked, smirking to himself. He had a lot to smirk about these days.

"Whatever Christian, I just want to go back inside."

"No can do my friend," Christian told him, "Grab your wallet and your jacket and come with me, we are going to go have some fun."

"Fun? In the middle of the day?"

"Did you tell Trish anything about last week?" Christian asked.

"I haven't talked to her."

"Ooh, she must be mad at you or something. Thank goodness Stephanie isn't mad at me, you know how bad that can be," Christian laughed arrogantly, "Don't need that. Was Trish mad that you went out last week, or the fact that you tried to take my girlfriend to bed right on the dance floor."

Jericho looked up quickly, seeing Christian's smirk turn to one of anger. Jericho looked down, so he did make a full out of himself with Stephanie. He figured as much. He cursed himself, now he was going to have to be extra nice to Christian since he had practically jumped his girlfriend. He sighed, he really needed to stop drinking alcohol, it was getting him into a lot of trouble.

"Where do you want to go?" Jericho complied.

"We're going to a little place I like," Christian said, grabbing Jericho after he had grabbed his jacket and wallet, barely giving Jericho time to put his jacket on before dragging him downstairs and practically throwing him into the car. Jericho could only sit back and watch the sights as Christian drove some place. Jericho wondered briefly where Stephanie was.

"So where's Stephanie?" Jericho asked, voicing his thoughts.

"The little lady is back at the hotel, told her to get herself pretty for me," Christian said, snickering to himself over that quip.

"Oh," Jericho said, swallowing the bile creeping up his throat.

Christian pulled up to a fancy type place called "Glimmer," and Jericho took a closer look, then his eyes widened. Why had Jericho just pulled up to a strip club, in the middle of the day, when he was with Stephanie? He glanced over to Christian, who just gave a smile and got out of the car. Jericho felt his anger mounting. Why would Christian need to go a strip club when he could see Stephanie naked whenever he wanted? These girls would certainly pale in comparison to Stephanie. Was this Christian's way of punishing him?

"Come on man, this is my treat to you for being so cool about Stephanie and I," Christian said.

Jericho slowly got out of the car and followed his friend inside. At least it was a nice strip club, he observed, though he did feel kind of like a pervert for being in a strip club on a Monday afternoon. Is this what his life had been reduced to? Christian pointed to a table up near the front and Jericho sat down reluctantly, not exactly enjoying the show presented in front of him. Sure, it was a really pretty girl dancing naked in front of him, but they were nothing special, at least not to him.

Christian walked up to a waitress and slipped her a few dollars, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Depends," she said.

"Just keep the drinks flowing at that table right there," he said, pointing to where Jericho was sitting, "And maybe talk up the guy sitting there, if you catch my drift."

"I don't do that," she said, "If what you're thinking is what I'm thinking."

"No, you know, just flirt, tell the other girls to flirt too, just enough to seem suspicious," Christian said, "Look, I'll make it worth your while."

"Fine, but what's wrong with your friend, he shy?"

"Nah," Christian said, "Just think of this as revenge."

The girl smirked, "Sounds good to me."

Christian nodded, handing her a couple hundred bucks before going over to sit with Jericho. He could tell that Jericho was disinterested in any of the girls, and he couldn't be sure it if it was because he was picturing Stephanie or Trish. He sincerely hoped it was Stephanie on his mind and not Trish. The waitress came over a few minutes later with their beers and she flirted heavily with Jericho who was polite enough to seem interested in the conversation. Unbeknownst to Jericho, Christian took his picture with the camera on his phone.

"Insurance," Christian whispered to himself.

Every time a waitress came over to Jericho, Christian managed to take a picture. He even managed to get a picture where it looked like Jericho was going to touch the waitress's breast, even though he was really just putting a tip onto her tray. Christian laughed to himself as he felt he got enough pictures.

"Wanna go man?" Christian asked, "I want to get my stuff for the show."

"I've been ready," Jericho said dully.

They got up and left, but not before Christian thanked the waitress who smiled at him. She really was quite striking when he looked at her. They went back out to the car and drove silently back to the hotel. Jericho didn't even say goodbye as he left for his room. Christian laughed as he went to his own room. He saw Stephanie putting on some hoop earrings as he walked into the bedroom.

"Hey, you're back," she said.

"Yeah," he told her, "And I managed to find Chris."

"Great, what did you guys end up doing?"

"Wait until you see this," Christian said, then walked over to Stephanie with the camera in hand.

He flipped open his phone and went through the pictures, not realizing that Stephanie might not want to see them. Stephanie's eyes grew wide as she realized where these pictures had come from, and each one seemed worse than the next. She gasped as she saw the one that looked like Jericho was going to cop a feel.

"I don't want to see these anymore!" she cried.

"Stephanie, it's cool," he said, remembering Stephanie wasn't the best one to show the pictures to, "He wasn't doing anything, and you could tell he didn't want to be there. He was probably thinking of you."

"Then why was he about to touch that woman?"

"Trick photography," he told her, "Trust me, there was nothing going on, this is just to make Trish believe there was."

"You mean, you're going to show her these pictures?" Stephanie said, raising a curious eyebrow.

"You know I am, and drive the wedge between her and Chris even farther."

"Genius," she clapped, "Pure genius."

"I thought so," he smiled proudly, "So are we ready to go?"

"That we are," she said, giving him a little twirl, "I want front row seats."

"Well then may I offer you my arm," Christian said gallantly.

She linked arms with him as he picked up his stuff, then she kissed him quickly on the cheek, "Kurt may be my best friend, but you are certainly working your way up the ladder."

"Wow, I must be doing something right, I get kisses from beautiful ladies," he winked.

"Maybe more than kisses," she said, nudging him playfully.

"I'm glad we got over that awkwardness," he told her seriously as they walked to his car, "I mean, you know what I mean right."

"Yeah, I know," she told him, "And I feel the same way."

He helped her into the car and then got in himself. He wondered what everyone would think when he brought Stephanie into the arena, on his arm no less. He was sure it would shock some people around there. He found that he liked that feeling of shocking people, kept people on their toes. They got to the arena and he got out, then went to help Stephanie again. They walked together inside the arena and they could already hear the whispers as they walked down the hallway, Stephanie's hand firmly in his.

Jericho could hear voices talking in surprise and he wondered what was going on. He went to his door and stuck his head out to see what the commotion was about. He saw Christian and Stephanie walking together down the hallway and she was beaming up at him. God, couldn't he get away from them for one second? He was surrounded by them, and he hated it.

Stephanie spotted Jericho in the doorway, "Hello Chris."

"Stephanie," he said curtly.

"How are you?" she asked, wondering if he had any memory whatsoever of last week.

"I'm well."

"That's good to hear. Well, I hope we'll get to talk again soon."

Seemed he didn't remember, which was a good thing. He just scowled and looked at the two of them. Christian leaned down and kissed Stephanie deeply, letting his hands rest on her hips. Stephanie returned the kiss eagerly, running her delicate hands up his neck and letting them rest on his shoulder-blades. Christian pulled away and licked his lips before smirking at Stephanie.

"Oh Christian," Jericho said through gritted teeth, "We have some kind of meeting in a little while, so don't go anywhere or do anything time-consuming."

"Well damn, that puts my plans out the window," Stephanie said, running her hand into the back of Christian's jeans, just enough so Jericho could take notice, and she figured he did when his eyes almost popped out of his skull.

Christian laughed as he felt Stephanie's hand in his pants. He hadn't expected that and it was just really funny at the moment. He pulled her away quickly, then cracked up as soon as they were in his dressing room. Stephanie laughed and looked at Christian, who was laughing so hard he was crying.

"Don't ever do that again, I thought I was going to have a heart attack not laughing," he said, "I can't believe you put your hand there!"

"Well, I just wanted to see Chris's reaction, it was priceless."

"I have never seen someone turn simultaneously green and red, he looked liked living Christmas tree."

"I didn't know whether he wanted to vomit or kill you," she said, still cracking up.

"Oh, tonight is already going great," he said, putting a better t-shirt on, which happened to be a Royal Rumble shirt, "You stay here ok, I'll be back in a few minutes, I just have to see what this meeting's about."

"Ok."

"God, I'll probably start laughing when I see Chris," Christian said, shaking his head.

"Good luck."

Christian walked out of the room and saw a few people standing there as if expecting some large fireworks show. He nodded at them and went into the locker room where the meeting was being held. He saw Christian and started laughing a little before Matt Hardy came up to him.

"I heard you were hear with Stephanie."

Jericho listened in jealously.

"Yeah."

"Are you fucking the boss's daughter?"

"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about," Christian snapped defensively.

"Sorry," Matt drawled, "Didn't know you cared about her."

"Well I do…but I'll tell you, you know how she's a perfectionist? Well, it extends everywhere," he said knowingly.

Matt smiled smarmily and patted Christian on the back. Jericho bit his cheek. So that pretty much confirmed his worst fears. Christian and Stephanie were sleeping together. Christian got to see Stephanie, all of her. That was supposed to be for him, not Christian. He was supposed to be with Stephanie like that, he was supposed to love her and touch her, but he wasn't. He wanted to fucking cry, but this was neither the time nor the place to do that.

The meeting was short and sweet. Jericho wanted that last spot in the Rumble, and even tried to cash in his favor, but to no avail. He'd just have to earn it, nothing was going his way tonight. So he'd leave his favor for another day, another thing, not that he cared. All he could think about was what Christian had said. That's the real reason he wanted to use his favor, if he used it, then maybe he could just go back to the hotel and not have to deal with matches and people and especially that brunette who haunted him.

Christian walked back to his locker room and found Stephanie sitting there, chin in hand, contemplating. He smiled at her and then went to sit next to her. She smiled at him and went back to thinking. He briefly wondered if she was thinking about what had happened last week. She shouldn't feel guilty for what happened, she was drunk, and it wasn't like, well, it wasn't a bad thing, when you thought about it. He wrapped his arm around her.

"I have a match right now," he told her.

"Good luck," she said, smiling at him.

"Thanks, the winner gets to be in an over the top match later for the number thirty spot in the Rumble."

"Wow, even better," she said, "Go out there and win."

"Chris is in this too," he told her, "Still rooting for me?"

"Of course, you are my boyfriend," she told him, "Go out there and make me proud."

"I'll try."

Jericho watched as Christian left his locker room. He wanted to talk to Stephanie. Christian walked around the corner and he furtively went to the locker room and knocked quietly. Stephanie looked at the door curiously and went to open the door. She stared at Jericho as she opened the door. He stared back for a few moments.

"Hey Steph," he said, "I'm sorry about how rude I was earlier, can I speak to you?"

"Sure," she told him, fearing that he would figure things out, and remember last week.

He walked inside, but didn't sit down, even when she sat down on the couch. He didn't feel right being near her anymore, knowing that Christian had been intimate with her. Christian had touched his Stephanie, and things would never be the same again, not now, not ever. He reached into his jacket pocket where his wallet was, and opened it slightly to feel the ring he had placed there, her ring. The ring he'd probably never get to put on her finger.

"I just wanted to apologize for last week."

Oh God, she thought, then spoke, "What're you talking about?"

"I know I made a fool out of myself," he told her, "I know I did, with what I said, and then what we did."

"You remember?"

"Well, no, but Christian told me what I did, and I'm just ashamed of my behavior. I think I'm just still getting used to the fact that you're with Christian."

"It was something I wanted to, we were both drunk."

"That doesn't excuse my behavior. I should've stayed away from you," he said.

"Chris, it's ok."

"And then Christian knows, and I'm just…"

"Christian told you he knew?" Stephanie had asked him to keep it a secret, lest it ruin what they were working for.

"Well, yes, I mean, he was there that night, I think he would've known."

"Yeah, but he wasn't exactly there there," she said, laughing, "I mean, we were there, but he wasn't there by any means."

"What do you mean?" he asked, "He was sitting right there at the table."

"No he wasn't," she said. That would've been creepy if Christian had been there.

"He saw us dancing."

Stephanie's mouth shut tightly. Ok, they weren't talking about what she thought they were talking about and she guessed that he still didn't know. Granted, he was more drunk than she was, or at least he had been enough to be out longer than she was. She was just glad that he didn't remember what had gone on between them.

"Oh, yeah, well, he doesn't care, he knows we were both drunk."

"It doesn't excuse my actions," he told her, "I'm just very sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about."

"I get the feeling we were talking about two different things."

"No," she said a little too quickly, "But for the record, how much of that night do you remember exactly?"

"Not much to be honest, I just remember…well, you," he told her, "And I think I said something stupid."

Yeah, you said something more than stupid, and did something more than stupid, "Chris, it's over, Christian and I are fine, no worries."

"Yeah," he nodded sadly, "Yeah, I saw you guys, and I'm glad you're happy."

"And I'm sure you'll find happiness with Trish."

"Oh, we haven't talked."

"Oh, I hope everything is going ok with you," she said sympathetically. Or as sympathetically as she could muster at the moment, since she hated the fact they were together.

"Yeah, I guess, um, I mean, it's hard you know, bridging that gap, and stuff, you know, with all the obstacles and stuff, I just feel like it's not…there," he said, lying through his teeth. He and Trish were just thinking of ways to proceed with their plans, except everyone else thought they were dancing around their feelings.

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something," she said, "Christian and I did."

"Yeah, so I heard, I hope he treats you well," Jericho said.

"Yeah, in every way."

"Good. Well, I better go."

"Yeah, Christian just lost and I'm sure he's upset, and I better comfort him."

"Yeah. That must be nice for him."

Jericho got up before she could answer and left the room, taking a deep breath. Why did it feel like his world was caving in every time he talked to Stephanie? He walked down the hallway, thinking about her, and how their conversation seemed odd for a little while. He racked his brain and gasped as he realized what she seemed to be talking about. How could he have not remembered that? And Christian knew? Oh dear God, he had made a huge mistake.

"Jericho, you're up!" someone yelled at him.

He went out there, going through the motions of a match. His uncertainty led Grenier to get the upper hand a couple of times when Jericho was sure to have the match won easily. But that was only the case if his head was in the match, which is certainly wasn't. He managed to just beat Grenier with the Walls, and he was glad that he hadn't blown his chance because of wandering thoughts.

"I think Chris knows," Stephanie said as Christian walked sullenly in the room.

"Knows what?"

"What happened?"

"Oh," Christian said, "But I thought he couldn't remember."

"He can't not remember forever Christian," Stephanie told him, "I guess it was only a matter of time."

"Ok, we'll be fine, nothing will go to pot, I'll just be a little angrier towards Chris than usual, and maybe use this to my advantage at the same time," Christian thought aloud, "I think I've got something in mind."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, and this can give me a whole new dynamic at getting back at Trish," he smiled.

She hugged him, "What would I do without you?"

"I'm guessing you'd be back in Connecticut watching this alone at home."

She laughed, "You're probably right."

"You wanna come see the show?" he asked.

"Always."

They latched hands and left to go search for Jericho, who had just won. They found his dressing room, easily enough and Christian walked in, leaving Stephanie in the doorway to watch the show. He walked despondently to Jericho and then proceeded to ask for Jericho's spot in the match later. Jericho looked at him indecisively, Christian knew, and he SHOULD give Christian the shot, after what had happened between him and Stephanie, but he couldn't. If he didn't have that spot, he just wanted one thing to go his way, and so he couldn't. He left quickly after saying no, only to come face to face with Stephanie in the doorway. He turned back to Christian, who not only looked disappointed, but angry as well.

"I'm sorry man, I just can't give it to you."

"After what you did, maybe you should," Christian said.

"Look, I didn't mean to, I swear," Jericho answered, "But this has nothing to do with Stephanie, this is wrestling, and I earned that spot."

"Yeah, you did, of course, you know, I earned my place in Stephanie's heart, and I get the feeling you're trying your damnedest to make sure you're not replaced."

Stephanie was a little taken aback by Christian's words, but they were hitting the target sentence after sentence. She had to give him props with this, he was really putting Jericho in a tight spot. Jericho looked apprehensive and sad, and part of her wanted to reach out and hug him, but she couldn't, not right now, on the verge of making him crack. Maybe then he'd tell her what was really going on.

"I'm not!" Jericho said.

"Really? That's why you went out and asked MY girlfriend not to sleep with me, when it's none of your goddamned business!"

"Look, I just, I'm sorry," Jericho said, "I'm just, really sorry."

"I don't blame Stephanie, she explained to me what happened, but you, I expected better from you," Christian said, shaking his head, "And to think that you did that behind my back."

Jericho looked like he wanted to cry, "I'm sorry, I just…I have to go."

He brushed past Stephanie and ran into the hallway. Stephanie scoffed in disbelief as she went. She couldn't believe that Jericho, the almighty Jericho had run off like a coward. Of course, what he thought was truth, wasn't, but the way he reacted to his perceived truth was amazing. She looked at Christian, who almost had a look of regret.

"Wow, I didn't think he'd get so upset."

"He really believes us," she said.

"Yeah, I mean, if this wasn't what we wanted, I'd feel bad."

"I do kind of feel bad."

"So do I," he said, "I mean, I can't believe that he doesn't love you anymore, because that man is crazy about you."

She looked at the empty doorframe where Jericho had just rushed out from, "I wish I could believe that."

Jericho hid out for much of the show. He had never felt more shameful than he had then with Christian. He was a terrible, horrible person, and the worst part was he deserved to have everyone hate him, and he didn't deserve to have Stephanie. Not after the stupid plan, not after everything. He took out her ring and stared at it, part of him wishing he had never bought it. He read the inscription. How had he ever managed to have her? She should be with Christian. He stuck the ring back in his wallet and then leaned against the wall, sitting there, wallowing.

Later on, Christian saw Trish and the perfect opportunity for the rest of tonight's plan to break this little Jericho and Trish alliance. He showed her the pictures from today, citing that it was really from last week. Trish looked a little sick to her stomach and Christian kept rubbing it in, hoping that Trish would give whatever she was doing up in the face of these pictures.

Trish couldn't believe her eyes. Jericho around other women? When he so passionately loved Stephanie. He was drunk, he had to be, this was just too crazy for him to be sober. Then again, he hadn't looked too happy in those pictures. Maybe that was due to the fact that it was Christian who had drug him to this place. Why Christian wanted to go to these places puzzled her. He was the one that had Stephanie. Maybe this was too rub it in Jericho's nose. Or maybe Christian was going to show these to Stephanie to drive her even farther from Jericho. Whatever it was, she didn't like it.

"She hated them," Christian said, "Mission was a success."

Stephanie gave him a high five, "Are we good or are we good?"

"We're good."

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, "You are so fun to be with Christian."

"Yeah, I know," he smirked, "But don't tell me that you want a piece of me now because I'm as devious as you are?"

"Haven't I already had a piece?"

"Well, you haven't had all of me yet," he winked.

"Oh, well, that'll be my next goal."

Jericho was fuming. Mark Henry bugged the shit out of him, and then he went on to insult Trish. Trish was the only one he actually understood around here. His life was topsy-turvy and it was with this thought in mind that he went out for his match for the number thirty spot. All in all, he didn't do too badly, but he didn't win the match, getting eliminated when there were four men left. He cursed as he left, but then remembered that nobody who had ever picked number thirty had won, and that made it a little easier to swallow.

He walked backstage where he saw Stephanie and Christian giggling to one another as she leaned against the wall and he was leaning in close so their noses were touching. Were they purposely doing this so he'd see them? They were always around and it was frustrating.

Stephanie saw Jericho out of the corner of her eye and giggled louder, leaning up to kiss Christian softly. He kissed her back, also seeing Jericho. They had chosen this spot because they knew that Jericho would see them on his way to his dressing room. They were going to get the most out of tonight. Christian decided to poke a little more fun at Jericho.

"Yo Jericho, a word," Christian called out.

Jericho groaned to himself, "Look, I just want to get out of here."

"You know, I don't think that's acceptable. I mean, first you don't give me your favor, when I have not beaten you into a bloody pulp for what you did and now you won't talk to me."

"Fine, what?" Jericho said, walking into his dressing room and letting the other two inside.

"The rumble is coming up and well, I was thinking we could help each other out."

"What? How?"

"Maybe letting me eliminate you?" Christian said, "I mean, we'll make it believable of course, but I could use a little less competition."

"I can't do that, that's not right," Jericho said, "I mean, I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's too bad, do I need to mention again what you did," Christian said.

"I'll think about it, ok!" Jericho answered.

"Good choice Chris," Stephanie said.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened, but she was there too."

"I thought you were Christian," Stephanie shrugged, "Who did you think I was?"

"You said that you didn't want to think about Christian!"

"Oh, really, see, I thought you were Christian and I didn't want to think about you after what you said to me that night about not sleeping with Christian," Stephanie said innocently.

"I have long hair, Christian doesn't!"

"Well, he used to have long hair and I was drunk," Stephanie shrugged, "Easy mistake."

"Look, I didn't mean to, I was…very drunk, but do I need to be punished."

"You slept with my girlfriend!"

"I didn't mean to! What can I do to make this up to you guys?"

"Chris, you can tell me what the fuck is going on around here with you and Trish?" Stephanie asked.

Jericho froze, he would not under any circumstances let them know what was going on. He couldn't, he couldn't get Stephanie's hopes up like that, and he couldn't let her know how much he still loved her. A confession of the truth was out of the question, totally and completely out of the question.

"I like her."

"Oh, that's how it is," Stephanie said, "Well then…"

"That's fine, we'll think of some way you can make it up to us."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "There has to be some way."

"I'm really sorry."

"We know," Christian said, then he and Stephanie left, much to Jericho's relief.

"Well partner," Stephanie said, "Looks like the ball is in our court finally."

"Yes, yes it is partner. And we will get to the bottom of this."


	173. SmackDown, January 22, 2004

"So they're sleeping together."

"So what if they are?"

Jericho looked over at Trish, who was sitting across the booth from her. He was treating her to lunch since she had come to stay with him this weekend. He needed moral support, especially after Monday. It had been absolutely brutal on him, emotionally and physically. The physical part he could deal with, going out there, getting his ass kicked, he could deal with that just fine, because he could kick ass if he wanted to as well. But the emotional hurt, that would take longer to heal. Thinking about Christian and Stephanie, having those few confrontations with the two of them, it had been brutal to his senses, to his mind, and he found himself suddenly in a complete rut.

That's where Trish came in. She could reassure him of anything, especially what they were doing. How many times had he faltered with this plan? Too many, but Trish, she managed to pull him back in. This time though, it would be harder because he missed Stephanie all the more and thinking that she was sharing her bed with another man, it made his skin crawl. Knowing that man was one of his best friends, it made him shudder to his soul. He didn't know whether to cry or kill someone, namely Christian.

"That's what you have to say! Could that be any worse? Why don't you just drive the knife in a little deeper?" Jericho said, banging his head against the table.

Trish looked around nervously, seeing people looking over at them, "Chris, tone it down a little ok, people are starting to stare."

"I don't have to stop, I'm in emotional pain over here," he bemoaned.

"I know Chris, but I don't think the entire state of Florida needs to know that," she pointed out.

"Well, there's one person in Florida who I wouldn't mind them hearing what I have to say."

"If this bothers you so much, why don't you tell them it bothers you?" she asked thinking that the rational solution to her friend's problem, "Look Chris, if this really is so hard on you, just let her know what's going on. Stephanie's a big girl, she'd understand that you're not a miracle worker. If you can't get her, her job back, she wouldn't throw a hissy fit."

"Yeah, but she could have a nervous breakdown."

"Chris, Stephanie is not the frail, little girl you think she is."

"You don't know everything about her Trish, you don't know her like I do."

"I may not know her as well as you do, but Chris, I do know her, I was, or am friends with her, and I know that sometimes things get hard on her and you think she'll break any moment, but what is the next thing she does? She surprises you and becomes even stronger than she was before," Trish said, answering her own question.

He nodded slightly, "You may be right, partly, but I don't like seeing her upset, or down, or whatever. I want to wipe that all away for her."

"Like I said Chris, you're not a miracle worker, you'll never be able to take away all her sadness, and why would you want to? People are allowed to be sad once in a while, it's just life."

"I don't like to see her sad," he said truthfully.

Trish put her hand over Jericho's, "I'm sure that she loves you for that. Chris, if you're so worried, just tell her, that doesn't have to stop the plan, it'll just make more sense to her. You don't know that she didn't get with Christian just because she couldn't have you."

"Yeah, but what if she's happy? What if I humiliate myself for nothing?"

"But she loves you."

"I'm not so sure anymore."

Stephanie giggled as she twisted the spaghetti around her fork sloppily. Christian just stared at her as she shoved a huge roll of spaghetti into her mouth. He laughed loudly as she looked at him innocently with strands of spaghetti hanging out of her mouth. She slurped them up sloppily, causing him to laugh even more. She chewed and swallowed her food before wiping her mouth.

"Are you laughing at the way I eat?" she asked.

"Never, but you just looked like such a little kid a second ago."

"Little kid, I'm only three years younger than you are," she pointed out.

"Still those are three pivotal years Stephanie, I mean, I was already walking, talking, and going to the bathroom by myself when you were born, it's like a whole lifetime apart," he said, mock seriously.

She rolled her eyes, "So what do you think Chris is doing right now?"

"I love the subtle change of subject, it was such a smooth transition that if I didn't know you, I wouldn't have realized it at all."

"So? Answer the question."

"I figure he's wallowing, or thinking about what he did wrong," Christian shrugged, "I mean, I don't know, I don't have a crystal ball to look through, or that water in the Lord of the Rings, you know what I'm talking about right, where Frodo looks in the water and they have the visions for the future, remember…man I love that movie," Christian mused.

"Christian, off track, come back to the normal conversation," Stephanie reprimanded gently.

"Oh, sorry, I do tend to get off track don't I?"

"More often than you think."

"You know, you're like the straight man to my comedy, like Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis, and either Abbott or Costello to well, the one who wasn't funny, do you get what I mean?"

"Tangent," she said.

"That's what you should do from now on," Christian told her, "If I start babbling incoherently, you just say 'Tangent,' and then I'll shut up immediately!"

"That's the first thing you've said that made sense all day," she pointed out.

"So does that mean that I talk too much or talk too little?" he asked.

"Whatever you want it to mean," she deadpanned.

"What's got your thong in a twist this lovely afternoon?" he asked her.

"Nothing, I'm just wondering about Chris you know? I mean, he really looked upset the other day, when he saw us, and when we fought."

She had tried to remain upbeat, because she and Christian had the upper-hand now, they controlled this little game that was being played. Only the game wasn't so fun when people's feelings were involved, especially when she could see that Jericho was hurting. She didn't want to make him hurt, but…she had hurt when he had told her they needed a break.

"I thought that was what you wanted."

"It is, somewhat, I just didn't think he'd be so torn up about this, I mean, with Trish and all that."

"Stephanie, if you don't like what's going on, why don't you just talk to him about it, I'm sure that he'd tell you the truth, I don't think he's capable of lying to you."

"He hasn't told me what he's doing."

"Yeah, but that's just withholding information, that's not lying to you," he told her.

"I guess so, I just wish that I knew what was going through Chris's mind right now."

He couldn't stop thinking about Christian's words to Matt Hardy on Monday night. About Stephanie being a perfectionist everywhere, including the bedroom. He didn't like how crass he had been about Stephanie, about what she was like in the bedroom. He almost made her seem like a common whore who everyone talked about loosely. Stephanie wasn't like that and she didn't deserve to be talked about like that.

"Was Christian good in bed?" he blurted out.

Trish actually spit out her water onto the table, wiping her mouth crudely with the back of her hand, "Excuse me?"

Jericho looked her straight in the eye and said, "Was Christian good in bed?"

"Whoa…why do you want to know?" she asked weirdly.

"I mean, you know, I just want to know if Stephanie and him, and if you think he's better than I am."

"I've never slept with you," she told him, "And I don't plan to just to make the comparison."

"I know, I was just wondering, I mean, is he competition? I just, I don't like the thought of him and Stephanie, naked, in bed, touching each other and him being on--"

Trish reached across the table to cover Jericho's mouth, "Ok, now I'm never going to be able to sleep again."

"I'm sorry, it's just, I've been thinking about it. I know, it's none of my business, and it's kind of gross, but I love Stephanie."

"I know Chris, but you know what, maybe Christian was just saying that stuff because he wanted to impress Matt, God knows why he would want to do that, but maybe that's the reason he did."

Jericho put his head on his arms and mumbled, "Why did I ever want to do this stupid plan?"

"Because you love Stephanie," Trish told him plainly.

"I do love her."

"I know you do, and deep down, she knows you do too."

"I hope she does."

Stephanie drank some of her water, the cool liquid sliding down her throat. The weather was beautiful outside and that brightened her mood immensely. She couldn't help but be thinking about Jericho right now, as he was never far from her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about him, ever, and it just hurt to have her be away from him. Were other people's lives this complicated? Probably not.

"What're you thinking about?" Christian asked as he worked on his chocolate cake that he insisted upon having.

"What else?"

"Oh," he said, "I really do think that you should talk to him."

"What's the point Christian? He'll just withhold the truth from me because he thinks that I can't handle it."

Christian laughed a little, "You can't handle the truth."

She rolled her eyes at him," You know what I meant."

"I know, but I'm sure Chris realizes that you're a strong person and you can handle whatever it is he were to tell you."

"What if he wouldn't take me back because he thinks we're together, what if I've blown it?"

"Then that's his loss."

"Of course I'm the one who'd be suffering."

"No you wouldn't, you'd have me," he said proudly.

"Sorry to break it to you Christian, but I don't think we're ever going to get together, I know you'll be heart-broken, but I just don't see an us in the cards."

"No! Don't break my heart like this Stephanie, please, I know there's a chance for us, somewhere, someday," he said, grabbing her hand and started singing, "And I…will always love you!"

Stephanie looked around, giggling as a couple of people turned to look at them, "Christian, stop, people are staring!"

He kept singing, going from one tune to the other, "I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you…so that nobody hurts you, I'll stand by you."

Stephanie blushed and looked down. Being around Christian could be so embarrassing sometimes, but at the same time, it was so much fun. He was hardly ever serious, which was a refreshing change from her serious life, and he just had this knack for making her laugh. He would make some woman very happy one day. She was beginning to wonder why Trish didn't take him back. She knew that he had cheated on her, but how could Trish not just want him back.

"I wasn't disappointed," Trish said, "And that is ALL I'm telling you."

"That's all I wanted to know. I didn't want you to go into specific detail or anything," Jericho replied.

"Good, because I wouldn't tell you."

"Are you jealous of Stephanie?" Jericho asked probingly.

Trish thought for a second, "Not really. I really think that I'm over Christian, or at least I think I do."

"That's good, at least we're both not depressed."

"Yeah, because then how would I deal with you," she pointed out.

"I'm so jealous of Christian."

"No really?" she asked sarcastically.

"I mean, I just," he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say, and he stumbled through his sentences, "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, you know, and now, it's like, there's this realization I've come to that she might not want to spend the rest of her life with me."

"Oh Chris," Trish said sympathetically, "If I had known how hard this would be on you, I never would've suggested it."

"No, it's not your fault Trish, if it's anyone's fault, it's Vince's fault for firing her in the first place. I don't know how I can simultaneously hate and love one man so much."

"You love Vince?" Trish asked, confused as to why that would be the case.

"He gave me Stephanie, how could I not love him for that? He gave me a job that led me to find the woman I love, I can't hate him completely for those reasons."

"Those are good reasons not to hate him," she told him, smiling at her sweet words, "But I'd have to agree that it is his fault to a degree."

"I was going to ask Stephanie to marry me," he mused, "I mean, seriously was going to ask her."

Now Trish was starting to feel worse than she already was. He really knew the buttons to push to make her feel like a terrible person. He sighed and reached into his pocket. She regarded him inquisitively as he pulled open his wallet and pulled out a ring. He handed it over to Trish and she took it and gasped. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen with her own two eyes. This was a serious engagement ring if she ever saw him. That rock was huge and she looked at the inscription and smiled, then looked up sadly at Jericho.

"This is beautiful," she told him.

"Thanks, I thought so too."

"How much did this set you back?" she asked, inspecting it again.

"78,000," he told her.

She coughed, "Wow…can I marry you?"

He cracked a smile, but not much more, "Looks like that's the only consideration of marriage I'll ever receive."

"When did you buy this?"

"Before Christmas, I just found myself looking at rings and bought it."

"This is…incredible. Now I feel even worse for playing a part in this plan. I feel like I've delayed a marriage."

"She was probably already gone."

Stephanie walked down the sidewalk with Christian, window shopping as they walked along, "I did think he'd propose, eventually."

"So did I? I thought it would be a lot sooner."

"Really? Like when?"

"Your one year anniversary," he told her, "I figured that would be a good time, either that or your birthday."

"Yeah, well, he did sort of propose, he promised me he would propose. I guess that doesn't mean much now, but well, it was a nice idea at the time."

"Hey, don't give up on that dream."

"I'm not, I'm just putting it on hold for a while."

"That's good."

"A long while. Maybe it's just not the right time and place for Chris and I, you know, like how they say that thing, where you just meet too early. Maybe Chris and I are just destined to get together in some other far-off time."

"Don't get all gushy on me Stephanie," Christian told her, grabbing her by the waist, "You two will get married, I bet you."

"Bet me? How much you wanna bet?"

"I bet you…200 hundred dollars that you and him will get married," he told her, "You in?"

"Is there a time stipulation on this?"

"No, it's from now until the day you die. If he marries you on your deathbed, I will pay you 200 dollars on the spot," he smiled.

"Fine, you're on," she said, shaking his hand firmly.

Trish gave him the ring back, "Why do you carry it with you?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "Maybe I'll just pop the question to her one day at random, you never know when an engagement ring might come in handy."

"Especially one engraved to Stephanie. Basically that's for one person, unless you manage to meet someone else named Stephanie that you want to marry."

"I did meet a girl named Stephanie once," he told her, "But she wasn't my Stephanie."

"Ah, the fatal flaw," she told him as they walked out of the restaurant, "God forbid any of us try to live up to the great Stephanie."

"Shit," Trish said, looking at her watch, "I promised that I would call my mom, I have to get back to your place, my cell phone is there."

"Ok, let me drive you home," Jericho said.

"No, it's cool, "I'll just take a cab, you take a walk or something, I think you need it."

"If you're ok with taking a cab?"

"I'm not a baby," she said, jogging down the street, trying to hail a cab at the same time.

Jericho turned the other way and started walking down other way, "Just me, myself and I again."

"Oh wow, look at those shoes," Stephanie said, pulling Christian by the hand to a shoe store.

"They're red."

"They're cute, I'm going to buy them," she said excitedly.

"Are you going to go shopping now?" he asked, making a disinterested face.

"I was thinking about it," she told him, "Why? Oh yeah, you don't like to shop that much. You can go home."

"But we came in one car."

"You can go ahead and take the car, and I'll just take a cab back home."

"You sure?"

"No biggie," she shrugged, "I'm a big girl, I can take a cab."

"Ok, I'll see you later Steph," he said, hugging her as she walked into the store.

Stephanie walked into the store to purchase the shoes she had bought. She smiled as she gazed at herself in the mirror, her shoes looking really nice with her jeans. She paid for them and walked out with them on her feet. She wasn't looking where she was going and turned the corner, not realizing who had spotted her up ahead.

Jericho shoved his hands in his pockets as her saw her. He stopped in his tracks, watching silently as she looked at her feet. He wondered why she was looking at her feet. She looked up and stopped, seeing him across the way. She wanted to go run to him, but that would be foolish. Who did she think she was? Scarlett O'Hara or something, she wasn't about to look like a damsel in distress, running towards her Rhett Butler. No, she had to keep her cool.

Then she thought about what Christian had said. She had been told to talk to him, and she knew that was probably what she should do right now. She held her chin high and started walking towards him, ignoring that peculiar feeling building in her stomach. She had to fight the awkward feeling right now.

Jericho could see her walking towards him. He thought back to what Trish had said to him about talking to Stephanie, telling her what was on his mind. It had sounded like such a good idea at the time, but now that he was faced with the actual prospect of doing it, he got butterflies in his stomach. He was a manly man, that shouldn't happen to him over a woman. But Stephanie was more than just some woman.

"Chris," she said warmly.

"Steph," he said quietly.

She reached out to him in an awkward hug, "How are you?"

"I'm ok…you're friendly today."

"I have no reason not to be, it's a lovely day, I just bought these beautiful new shoes, life is looking good," she smiled.

She was happy, and that cut through his chest, "Where's Christian?"

"Oh, he didn't want to go shopping with me, the big baby, so I told him that he could go home if he wanted to. I'd rather shop alone than with someone who doesn't want to be shopping."

"Oh," he replied, hoping that she would've said she kicked Christian to the curb. No such luck.

She was having trouble forming the words that her mind wanted her to say, and she kept saying chit-chatty acquaintance things to him. Why was it so hard to form words that needed to be said? She should just spit it out and hope for the best. The same torment was racing through Jericho's mind. The words were there, but saying them was proving more difficult a task than he imagined.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you on Monday, it was pretty rude of me."

There that was a start.

"It's ok, I pretty much deserved it I think, I did sleep with you."

"Yeah, but we were both drunk, and it's just as much my fault as it was yours."

"I'm the one the found you and went to talk to you."

"I'm the one that let you kiss me."

"But I took you to my room."

"And I let myself sleep with you," Stephanie said, "Chris, it happened, it wasn't the first time that's happened to us, it was more like the thousandth time."

He laughed, "Something like that. We were pretty…active."

"How could I not be with you in my bed?" she winked.

This was awkward, but at least they were talking to each other, and that was really all that mattered at this point. Perhaps this was all that was there for them. At least they could still be civil to each other. Jericho smiled and looked down, covering up the grin slowly spreading across his face.

"I miss you sometimes."

"I miss you too," she admitted, "But obviously there are things you need to work out."

Say it! His mind was screaming at him, so was his heart, but somewhere along the way, the words became muddled and indistinguishable, "I guess so."

"I hope you work them out," she said sincerely, then looked down, "I better go now."

"Ok," he said dumbly, not wanting her to leave, but not wanting her to stay in case he made a fool out of himself, "I guess I'll see you Sunday at the Pay-Per-View."

"Maybe," she told him, "Bye Chris."

She walked away, pausing once to glace over her shoulder, sending him a wistful smile. He shoved his hands back in his pockets, mostly out of defeat. He sighed to himself, irritated that he couldn't tell her the truth that she so desperately wanted and needed to hear.

"Fuck Jericho, just tell her already."


	174. Royal Rumble, January 25, 2004

A/N: Yay, I'm happy Jericho got to the final four, along with Kurt, that's the farthest Jericho has gotten, hee! And Benoit won, yay! :D

"You know you're always welcome to come."

"I know, but I don't think that's the best idea."

"Why not?"

"Everyone's going to be there. I mean, my dad might be there, and when he sees me..."

"We'll deal with that…together," Christian told her, giving her a supportive smile. She smiled back at him and his sweet words.

"Why are you so nice to me Christian?"

He amazed her sometimes. She knew that he had his own problems, but he was all about helping her. It really endeared her to him. He was probably the only believable person that she could've pretended to date. Jericho never would've believed that she had gotten together with Kurt, or even Edge, but Christian, well, it was pretty obvious that Jericho believed the ruse that had put up.

"Because you were nice to me," he shrugged, "I can't think of one time you've ever been a bitch to me."

"I'm sure I have."

"Yeah, but I forget those times," he winked.

She laughed, "I guess I'll come tonight, consequences be damned."

"That's the spirit!"

"Oh you," she said affectionately, giving him a little shove.

"Besides, how else are we going to make Chris deathly jealous?"

"You think more about the plan than I do."

"Someone has to…now help me find my shit."

Jericho gathered his things slowly. Last year he had been so psyched, wanting to eliminate Michaels from the Rumble, and then wanting to win. He had accomplished the format, but not the latter. Yet, this year he could care less about the actual show. He didn't care about going far in the Rumble. Sure, he gave the impression that he cared, but it was simply a front, because he had WAY more on his mind than a stupid match that he probably wouldn't win anyways.

"Chris, you ready?"

"Yeah Kurt," Chris sighed.

"Oh come on," Kurt said, "You need to cheer up."

"Why?" Jericho snapped, then looked at Kurt, "Sorry, I'm just testy."

"You don't say!"

"I'm not in the mood Kurt."

"Well, get in the mood, we've got the Rumble tonight."

"Good luck with that," Jericho told him, his voice lackluster.

"Ok, if you don't get over this, I'm going to eliminate you tonight."

"So be it."

Kurt took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Jericho seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood. It was annoying enough as it is, with him not being around Jericho, but now that he was around him, Kurt was reaching his breaking point. Kurt did the only thing he could do, he slapped Jericho across the face.

Jericho's head whipped to the side from the force of the blow. He recovered quickly and got in Kurt's face, his breathing coming in angry gasps. Kurt smirked, self-satisfied that he had gotten some emotion out of Jericho that wasn't moping or sadness.

"What the fuck was that for?" Jericho demanded angrily.

"Got your mind off Stephanie didn't I?'

Jericho scowled, "Asshole."

"Come on Romeo," Kurt said, slapping Jericho's chest.

Jericho shook his head, partly in disgust, partly in amusement, and followed Kurt out of the room. He hoped that he didn't run into Christian or Stephanie, or even worse, both of them together. That was the last thing he needed tonight. For now, he'd just focus on the Rumble and his part in it.

Stephanie grasped Christian's hand nervously as they walked in the building. If she thought it was bad last Monday, it was about a thousand times worse tonight. She was so nervous that she was shaking. Christian stopped her just inside the entrance and took both her hands in his. She looked up at him warily, then glanced around nervously, wondering if anyone could see them.

"What's wrong?"

She said shakily, "It's just everyone is here tonight, I mean, I'm not supposed to be here, I'm not supposed to have anything to do with the company and I should just go back to the hotel."

"Hey, hey," he said, shaking his head, "You're my guest tonight alright? Nobody ever said I couldn't bring my girlfriend to the show, there are no rules against that. Just because my girlfriend happens to be Stephanie McMahon, it shouldn't matter because you're here with me."

"My dad can fire you," she told him, her face becoming more worried by the second.

"He wouldn't, because he'd have no grounds in which to fire me from," Christian said, "So take my hand, and we'll walk down the hallway and go to my dressing room, and you can finally breathe."

She took a deep breath, "What if we see Hunter!"

"Then we see Hunter, I'll protect you Steph."

"It's a nice thought, but Hunter is so much bigger than you are," she pointed out.

"Yeah so?" Christian said, "I'll outrun his fat ass."

She giggled, "I guess you could."

"Now come on," he said, tugging on her hand.

They started walking down the hallway, ignoring everyone while giving each other secret little glances. She smiled at him, thankful that he was making her so comfortable. Finally she just started laughing and he smiled at her giggles. They both didn't notice Jericho and Kurt walking in behind them and seeing them walking away. Jericho looked down immediately, trying to ignore that stabbing pain in his chest.

"You know, I think you may need to slap me again," Jericho muttered.

"I will gladly slap you again," Kurt laughed, "Come on, look up, it's not so bad."

"Too you maybe, but you don't have to look at them and think the same things I think about."

"Yeah, but I do know that you slept with Stephanie the other week, so obviously she's not as over you as you think she is."

"So you know about it?"

"Of course, Stephanie told me."

"Can you tell me what happened? I don't exactly remember anything after we slept together, I just know that we did."

"Geez, how drunk were you?" Kurt asked.

"You don't want to know."

"She left you early in the morning, hoping that you wouldn't see her. I'm guessing that you didn't and she went and told Christian and they had a long talk and he forgave her and that's about it."

"Oh, so nothing…so it meant nothing to her, I mean, she couldn't even stay until I woke up. Thanks for trying to cheer me up Kurt, but obviously, it's not working," Jericho said blandly.

"Get over yourself Jericho," Kurt told him, rolling his eyes, "Can you blame her? She spent all this time trying to get over you, because for some reason you decide that you need some break and you go gallivanting around with Trish, and you expect her to stay with you, when she was probably embarrassed in the first place."

"I don't want to talk about it," Jericho said.

"Then what do you want to do? You miss her, but you won't get back with her, but you don't want Christian to be with her. So basically, you want her to be as miserable as you are. Make up your own damn mind Jericho, or else you're just going to loser her forever."

Kurt walked away, tired of talking to Jericho, who did nothing but complain anymore. There was only so much of that one man could take. At this point, he didn't blame Stephanie for wanting Christian instead, if Jericho kept acting like that, he'd probably be alone for the rest of his life, talk about a complete downer. It was all he could do to not knock some sense into Jericho's brain.

Jericho watched yet another person walk away from him. Could it be he really was being such an ass that nobody wanted to be around him? Maybe it was just the fact that Stephanie brought out the best in him. Some days he wondered how he had gone thirty years without her. He couldn't imagine the rest of his life passing by without her in it.

He just had to keep his resolve about him. The end justified the means, in this case, because seeing Stephanie get her job back, because of him, it was all he wanted right now. Even though she had no clue that his life still revolved around her happiness, he knew and that had to propel him with this damned plan. Or else he'd break down and nobody wanted to see that.

Christian and Stephanie were laughing and having a good time, much to her surprise as they went to his dressing room. There jovial nature was cut short as they turned the corner and came face to face with her father. His eyes almost bugged out of his head as he saw her for the first time in months. Stephanie felt like running away, but her hand in Christian's kept her rooted to one spot. She looked down, trying to calm herself down, but nothing was working.

"I thought I got you kicked out of this company," her father hissed, walking over quickly, "I'll have security drag you out of here!"

"Vince!" Christian said loudly, stopping the man. Stephanie looked over at him, like he had grown two heads. He was standing up to her father, was he crazy? She put a hand on his arm, as if to stop him, but she knew deep down, that it would be impossible.

"Did I ask you to speak," Vince said, turning to Christian, a fire in his eyes.

"No, but I'm going to speak anyways, Stephanie is here with me tonight."

"She is not allowed here!"

"Why not?" Christian shot back, "You have never barred any of the other guy's girlfriends from coming to the show, what should make this time any different?"

Vince's eyes darted between the both of them, his mind trying to register Christian's words, "You and…Stephanie?"

"Yes, you heard me, Stephanie and I are dating, and I asked her to come with me tonight. There are no rules saying I can't bring my girlfriend, and so here she is, with me."

"You two are dating?" Vince's eyes momentarily softened, but once Stephanie saw it, it had disappeared.

"Yes Dad," Stephanie said stoically, "Though it's not any of your business."

"I don't like you being here, how do I know you won't try to get on television? You'll probably try to sabotage the show."

"I leave that up to you," Stephanie answered.

"Stephanie is here as my guest, like any other guest. Get out of your delusions and realize that she's not here because of you, or because of the damn show, she's here because she wanted to be with me," Christian said to Vince.

Vince scowled, "If I see you anywhere on this show, I will take immediate legal action."

"Go for it Dad," Stephanie sneered, "I'll just sue you for pushing me out of the company when I never officially gave up in that stipulation match."

"You're mother gave in at your behest."

"No, she didn't, I would've fought you to the death," Stephanie said lowly, "And I would've won, don't ever doubt that Dad, and I will win, someday, the day will come and I will win, rest assured."

"Over my dead body," Vince said through gritted teeth.

"I plan on that being the case," Stephanie smirked, "Come on Christian, I'll help you prepare for your match."

Stephanie practically dragged Christian away from Vince. Christian was supremely impressed by Stephanie. He knew that she could be a bitch, but that, that was an award-winning performance right there. She had stood up to her father in the best way and hadn't backed down at all. She was so amazing.

"And you were afraid of seeing your dad," Christian scoffed.

Stephanie gave him an incredulous look, "I don't know where that came from. I guess I just had that pent-up or something."

"Seemed to me someone was looking for trouble."

"Are you kidding me?" she laughed, "The last thing I need right now is trouble."

"You sure about that," he replied, raising an eyebrow, "Because I think that you could go out and kick some ass right now. You want my number in the Rumble."

She grinned, "Why you think I could win and go on to WrestleMania?"

"With those guns," he said, squeezing her arms, "Absolutely. You been working out or something?"

"Oh yeah, you know, pumping iron and all that," she nodded.

"Oh God, you're just going to beat the information out of Chris aren't you? Just put him in a back breaker or something and demand to know what's going on," he laughed.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," she told him, laughing, "I might have to do that."

"I would pay to see that, I'd have front row seats, with popcorn and soda in hand."

"Go get ready," she said, shoving him into his dressing room.

"Oh my God, it's started," he said, holding up his hands in defense, "Help! Stephanie's going to kick my ass! Call the police, I'm going to be assaulted!"

"Oh, I'll assault you alright."

"Ooh, that sounded mildly sexual, I'd like that kind of assaulting," he told her, opening his arms widely.

"Well baby, I just might have to take you up on that," she said, coming over to him slowly.

He hugged her to him, "You can assault me anytime."

"You wish."

"Wow, I DO wish. And wishes sometimes come true."

"You know what my next plan will be…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to find you a girl, because you need one," she said, then gave him the once over, "Desperately."

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Oh, you know it's true," she said, "I mean, look at your brother, he's got girls hanging over him all the time."

"Yeah, because he has the time to have girls hanging on him all the time."

"Go double-dating," she suggested.

"And cheat on my girlfriend, I could never do that!" Christian said, feigning shock.

She hugged him tighter, "I wouldn't cheat on you either."

"You already did."

Stephanie gave a guilty look, "Oh yeah, silly me, I guess I just pushed that to the back of my mind."

"Good thinking," he told her, "Now, as my girlfriend, I think that entitles me to ask for a few favors."

She gave him a look complete with raised eyebrow, "What kind of favors?"

"Not that! I was just going to ask you to go grab me a water bottle. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, I'm sure that braving everyone out there may be difficult, but for me," he pouted, "Please."

"If you weren't you, I wouldn't, but I think I can."

"I don't think I got that."

"I'll go," she said, "I won't be happy about it, but I'll go."

"Yay!" he said, clapping his hands, "This way I can concentrate on my chi."

"Your chi?"

"I don't know, isn't that the inner stuff, that centers you or something?"

"I'm not well-versed in those kind of things, so I'll just stick to getting your water."

Stephanie laughed as Christian started doing weird breathing exercises. She left the room, slowly closing the door behind her. She looked around apprehensively before starting down the hallway, looking around curiously for catering. She saw a poster-board on the wall telling her which way to go and before she knew it she found it and walked inside. She could hear a few people gasp as she walked in and she tried to just go about her business. Let them talk, it wasn't like half of them didn't know she was "dating" Christian anyways, and by the end of the night, she was sure that everyone from both rosters would know.

She went over to the large coolers sitting by the wall and found the one holding the water bottles. She pulled up her sleeve a little and dug into the freezing water and ice. She found one rather quickly and pulled her arm out, shaking the excess water off. She let her arm dry for a moment before making her way out of the room, still amidst hushed words and curious glances. She walked down the hallway, back to her locker room, but then found out that she wasn't alone as she looked to her left.

There was the smirking face of her ex-husband.

"Go away Hunter."

"Stephy, I thought that you could do better than you've done. Talk about downgrading."

"What are you talking about?" she asked testily.

"Christian, I heard through various sources that you and the peep-master are fucking each other. I mean, really Stephanie, I thought you could do better."

"I did do better," she told him, "Because the last thing I need now is an idiot like you."

"You would die for this again Stephy."

"Yeah, I'd die alright, die before I ever touch you again."

Hunter backed her up against the wall and she frowned up at him. He leaned his arms on either side of her head, looking down at her, with that stupid grin of his on his face. She resisted smacking him across the face, but just barely. Instead, she gave him a cold look, colder than the ice she had just had her arm in.

"Don't you have a match coming up soon?" she asked.

"That can wait," he said, "I mean, it's like half an hour away. I still have time to catch up with my ex-wife."

"There's no catching up needed, because I have nothing to say to you."

"Of course you do…how's it feel to be unemployed."

"Fine and dandy," she told him, "Because it gives me lots of time for pleasure, and Lord knows Christian brings the goods that you couldn't."

Hunter's nostrils flared, "So that's the game you want to play."

"I'm not playing any games," she said to him, "I leave that up to you. But it seems the Game's gone lame, and gained just a wee bit of weight." She poked him in the stomach for added effect.

"You still want me, look at you, can't even keep your hands off of me," he told her, leaning in close to her so his nose was pushing into hers. Of course, his mouth was a still a good few inches away from her, seeing as how the nose covered quite a bit of distance.

"Hunter, just leave me alone ok?" she said dully, "I'm really not in the mood."

"I've heard that too many times from you."

"Yeah, and you're going to hear it again."

"Maybe she doesn't want to smell your stank-ass breath anymore," a new voice told Hunter.

Hunter turned his head, "Oh look, it's the helper to all the poor little girls who can't take care of themselves. Since you couldn't get Trishy to forgive you, are you moving onto Stephanie?"

"Just leave her alone jackass," Jericho said, walking over, "I mean, I know you're desperate and all, but cornering girls, isn't that a little bit low, even for you?"

"Funny Jericho, but at least, I'm not on my hands and knees every week begging some chick to love me," he said, mocking Jericho in the process.

"Just get out of here and go let Michaels kick your ass."

"Yeah, I seem to recall a Last Man Standing match a few years ago, do you remember that one Jericho? You should, since I kicked your ass and won. All for the honor of you," he said, turning to Stephanie, "I should've left well enough alone. See you two later."

"Not likely," Jericho said, watching his retreating figure, "You ok?"

Stephanie looked up at him, "I'm fine, I didn't need your help."

"Well fine then, I try to do one nice thing for you."

"What is your problem?" Stephanie said, "Every time I see you, you're either hot or cold."

"I'm just trying to help you and you act as if I'm the devil or something," Jericho answered.

"Well, thanks, ok, is that what you want to hear?"

It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he couldn't really tell her what he wanted to hear. He looked at her, why did she always have to look so beautiful? Just once, couldn't she just look terrible? Who was he kidding, even terrible she looked gorgeous to his eyes. Stephanie looked at him strangely, it seemed every time they talked he'd zone out. She slapped him lightly across the cheek.

"I kind of lost you there," she said as he looked at her.

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't apologize, can't help it if you have a lot on your mind."

"Yeah, I do."

"I figured. I can still read you like a book."

If she could, why couldn't she just see that he was dying inside without her, "I'm not sure that's so good."

"It's not, but I'll keep all my findings to myself. And I really do thank you for dealing with Hunter for me. I think that one more confrontation tonight would set me on Edge."

"One more?"

"I saw my father earlier," she explained, "It wasn't fun, but Christian and I handled it. I think we shocked my father."

Just like they were supposed to shock her father once upon a time, he thought to himself. He looked down and then back up at her slowly, taking her in. She was in a pair of black boots, gray pants and a deep crimson blouse that had three-quarter length sleeves. His eyes trained on her neck though, where the necklace he had given her at Christmas shined brightly under the fluorescent lights.

"My necklace," he commented, looking at it for a moment longer before looking at her eyes.

"Oh yeah," she said, looking down at it. Truth be told, she had barely taken it off since he had given it to her, "I wear it all the time."

"I didn't think you would, considering."

She looked at him longingly. How could he ever know that it was the link that she kept to him? As long as she had this, the tears she shed had meaning, the aching in her heart was not for naught. She wasn't sure two people could be bonded through a necklace, but sometimes you have to believe in the nonsensical, sometimes to have you hold onto hope where none exists.

"I love it," she said, meaning much more than the necklace, "I'll always love it."

"I love it too, on you, I mean, I love it," he told her, staring deeply into her eyes.

"Good," she replied softly.

"Yeah," he told her, quietly.

She looked into his eyes and saw a twinge of hopefulness in them. Something she had never seen before. She tilted her head to the side a little, staring contented at his face. He looked back, wanting to lean in closer to her. He did a moment later, slowly, time seeming to stand still as he inched closer. Her eyes widened momentarily before staring at his lips, already feeling them on her own. She was so distracted by them that anyone could've walked by at the moment and she wouldn't care. The water bottle in her hand slipped and landed with a rather loud bang on the floor. Startled, she pulled away.

"Shit," she said, looking down, "Christian is waiting for his water."

"Oh," Jericho said dumbly, "I better go, the Rumble is coming up in a little while and I'm not even ready."

"Yeah, um, good luck, or something," she said, furrowing her brow.

"Um, yeah, sure," he said quickly, rushing away from her.

Stephanie almost ran back to Christian's dressing room. She dashed inside, breathing heavily. Thankfully, Christian seemed to be in the bathroom and she set the water down on a table before sitting down in one of the folding chairs. She rested her head in her hand, her long brown hair fanning around her face, keeping the outside world out. Christian came out a moment later and she sat up quickly, trying to appear nonchalant.

"That took a while."

"Ran into Hunter," she answered shortly.

"Shit, and I wasn't there," he said, biting her lip.

"It's ok, I dealt with him just fine."

"Oh," he said, "Kicked his ass did we?"

She managed a laugh, "Don't I wish?"

"I wish too, but that's because he's a scum, and how he managed to get you to stay married to him, I'll never know."

"I think that the drugs he gave me took a couple years to fully wear off," she answered, "But then who's arms did I run right into?"

"Kurt's if I recall correctly."

"No! Chris's, that business partnership, what was I thinking Christian? If I had just not said anything, if I had kept my big mouth shut, I wouldn't be where I am today."

"Do you think you would've been any happier?"

She thought about it a second, "No."

"Didn't think so," he smirked.

"I'm going to go find Kurt," she said, "He'll just listen and not add his two cents."

"You know you want my two cents!" he called out laughing.

"Only when I don't have any change of my own."

"You're crazy!"

"Just about you sweetcheeks," she giggled.

She walked down the hallway for the second time tonight and went to Kurt's locker room. She had noticed it earlier when she and Christian were walking to their own locker room. She knocked on it lightly, hoping that Kurt was there. He answered a second later, enveloping her in a hug upon sight of her. She sighed happily and hugged him back. He actually pulled her into the room, not bothering to check to see if the door was all the way closed.

Jericho was walking down the hallway and had seen Kurt hug Stephanie and pull her into his locker room. Jealousy ran through him as he saw the both of them. What he wouldn't give to at least have that with Stephanie. He bit his lip for a second and pushing down his conscience he went up to the door and stood by it, hoping to hear their conversation.

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Kurt said, hugging her again.

"You too!"

"You're much better company than Jericho was earlier."

"Really?"

"Yeah, all he is, is mopey. He misses you Stephanie," Kurt said seriously.

"Don't lie Kurt, I don't think he does all that much. Not as much as you think he does."

"If you say so," he told her, "I mean, I can see it, but if you want to keep ignoring it, than go right ahead."

"Ignorance is bliss right?"

He shook his head, "Please, since when do you not want to know what's going on with everyone at all time?"

"Since now," she told him, "Since I'm not in the mood to hear about it."

"Fine, so how are you and Christian?"

"Great," she answered with a smile."

Jericho scowled, it felt like more salt in the wounds.

"Good to hear," Kurt said, "I don't think I told you this, but I'm really glad that you found him."

Jericho bit the inside of his cheek. How could Kurt say that? Kurt knew how much he still loved Stephanie and yet he was telling her that he was happy for her. That was so wrong, he was supposed to be his friend, but he was going on and on about how it was good and all that other crap. Jericho could feel his anger rising.

"Thanks Kurt, I know you're friends with Chris, and I understand we've put you in a tough spot with all of this."

"Yeah, but I can see that you're happy with him, and I want you to be happy, and if that's with Christian, than I want you to be happy with Christian."

"I am pretty happy."

"Good, than I guess its good riddance to Chris?"

Jericho had heard enough. He stalked away from the door, his eyes flashing with anger. Now he was very much into the Rumble, but it wasn't for the title, and it wasn't for the glory of winning. His mission was to eliminate Kurt and Christian from the Rumble, that was it, that was all his mind was prepared to think about. Title be damned, it was personal now.

Stephanie sat with Kurt for a while, laughing and talking comfortably with him. She occasionally glanced up at the television screen, giggling happily as she saw the bloodied Hunter getting taken away on a stretcher. That sight alone made her entire night. Maybe she should go to the trainer's room and make fun of him a little bit. She'd have fun doing it. Instead she went back to her locker room, since Kurt wanted to warm up.

"You sure you don't want to tell me your number?" she asked coyly.

"No," Kurt said, "We're not supposed to tell."

"Christian told me his," she said.

"That's Christian, he's your boyfriend."

"Fine, bye Kurt, good luck."

"Thank you," he smiled.

She went back to her own locker room, just as Christian was walking out, "You leaving me already?"

"Yeah, gotta be prepared," he told her, "I don't wan to miss my cue."

"But you're in the last third, you have enough time to hang out with me?"

"But I want to watch the match, and that will be hard when I'm joking around with you," he told her, "No offense of course."

"None taken."

"Good luck ok? Don't get hurt," she said, hugging him tightly, "Try to win."

"I will try my hardest. I want a main event spot."

"I'll be rooting for you."

"Along with two other guys right?"

"Yeah, along with two other guys, but," she turned her voice to a whisper, "You have the slight edge."

He grinned, "Now I really want to win."

He left her then and she walked back into the room, sitting down to enjoy the Rumble match. Guy after guy came in, in succession as had always been the tradition. None of the people really grabbed her though, considering they weren't the three men she wanted to keep her eye on. Finally, at number nineteen, Kurt came out and she officially got into the match. She clapped for Kurt whenever he got a good move on.

Christian was the next guy she wanted to see at number twenty-two and she watched keenly as he went after Benoit, trapping him in a corner. She frowned slightly as they panned to show Foley and Orton. She didn't want to see them; she wanted to see Christian. She hoped he was doing well and not getting pummeled or anything. She got nervous whenever he was looking like he would be eliminated, especially when Big Show got in the match.

Finally, at number twenty-five, Jericho got into the match and though she didn't want to, her eyes remained focused on him for the duration of the match. He immediately, without even thinking about it, went after Kurt, and she watched horrified as he started to beat on him, Christian joining in. It was almost surreal to see them fighting against each other.

Jericho ran down the ramp, his eyes trained on the two men who he wanted to eliminate. He was glad they were both still in the match and all he could smell was victory over both of them. First he went after Kurt, his eyes trained on him as he beat on his friend, or so-called friend, who didn't even care about him. He beckoned Christian's help, lulling him into false security. They were broken up a moment later and Jericho just went after Big Show, but kept this eyes on both Christian and Kurt, looking for the opportunity to eliminate them.

Christian looked over at Jericho and saw that he looked especially angry. He didn't know why, but it probably had to do with him and Stephanie. He watched Jericho closely, monitoring his actions and saw him go after Benoit. With his back turned, Christian thought that Jericho was vulnerable and remembering Stephanie's words to him earlier, he tried to toss Jericho out of the ring.

Jericho was pissed now. First this guy had stolen his girlfriend and now he was trying to eliminate him. It was these thoughts, that flow of adrenaline that kept him hanging on to those ropes. Christian came towards him and he gave him a shoulder to the mid-section. Then seizing the opportunity, he flipped Christian over the ropes. He looked down on Christian, hatred in his eyes, and he had no remorse whatsoever. The only words coming to his mind:

One down, one to go.

Stephanie was kind of shocked to see Christian eliminated by Jericho, but then again, she wasn't so surprised. She knew that Jericho had it out for Christian. She tried to root for Kurt, but her heart was telling her to root for Jericho, and she had no choice but to root for him. She waited for Christian to arrive in the room, which he did, a few minutes later as her eyes remained trained on the television.

"I'm sorry you lost," she said, glancing over at him.

"It's ok, Chris had it out for me, I could tell."

"Yeah, I could tell too," she said, then kept quiet, trying not to look at the screen.

"Go ahead Stephanie, you know you want to cheer him on."

Jericho was being beat up periodically and couldn't get to Kurt. He pushed off beatings and saw Kurt going after Benoit across the ring. Like a dart to a dartboard he made his way to Kurt and gave him a suplex. It wasn't even about elimination, it was about hurting him, that's what he wanted out of this, to make them hurt like he hurt.

Kurt couldn't believe that Jericho kept beating him up. Sure, Kurt had joked around that he would eliminate Jericho earlier, but he figured that Jericho knew he was kidding. It was like Jericho was out for blood or something, and what made it worse was that he was out for his blood. He tried to think of something that would set Jericho off like this, but nothing was coming to mind at the moment, so he just kept fighting.

Jericho wasn't even caring if he got eliminated, as long as he got this aggression out. He wanted Kurt gone, if anyone but Kurt won, he didn't care, as long as it wasn't Kurt. That wouldn't happen if he could help it. The match dragged on and Kurt and Jericho tangled a couple more times, with Jericho trying to eliminate Kurt, and Kurt trying to eliminate Jericho. In the end, it was Big Show who eliminated them both. Jericho limped backstage, having landed on his ankle.

Kurt followed a little bit later and went up to Jericho, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Leave me the hell alone," Jericho mumbled, pushing the hair out of his face, "I heard what you said to her, good riddance to me huh?"

"Chris, you took that the wrong way, you didn't even hear what she said," Kurt told him.

"Didn't need to, you know, I don't need any of you," Jericho said, "I don't need you guys, so you can all just leave me the hell alone!"

Jericho limped away, wanting to grab his stuff and go. He didn't exactly know how he was going to get back to the hotel now, but he didn't care. He'd just call a cab if he had to. There was no way he'd ride back with Kurt, not now, and not ever. He was so wrapped up in his anger, he didn't see Stephanie stand in front of him, until he saw her shoes.

"Are you ok?"

He looked up, "I'm fine Princess."

"You're limping."

"What's it to you?"

"Now who's being ungrateful," she said.

"I don't want to talk to you so leave me the hell alone. Go fuck Christian for all I care alright."

"Chris!" she said, giving him a dirty look, "What is wrong with you?"

"I just want to be left alone ok, so all of you can just fuck off."

"No."

"No?" he said, "I think yes is the answer to that."

"No."

"Go away Stephanie, you've caused me enough troubles for three lifetimes, just go away."

"Fine," she said, "I don't know why I bother."

"Yeah, I don't know why I bother either."


	175. Raw, January 26, 2004

A/N: Warning: Smoochy Mini-Rant

Is it just me, or was the hesitant hug between Jericho and Stephanie better than the hesitant hug/handshake between Jericho and Trish? I'm not trying to debate or anything, so all the Jericho/Trish fans, don't hunt me down and try to mob me. I totally respect your opinion in liking the two of them. I just watched both scenes, and I just think that Jericho and Stephanie played it off better, with her actually like expecting a kiss or something while Jericho did the whole head tilting "I'm going to kiss you now, whoops, I better not, no wait I'm going to kiss you, no, wait, I should hug you, yeah, I should hug you" thing. Then Stephanie with her, "Is he going to kiss me? I better pucker up, wait, he's not going to kiss me, wait, I'll just giggle to cover up the fact that I wanted him to kiss me" thing. Then with her whole grinning over his shoulder thing with the back patting.

Sorry for the mini-rant, I'm really not trying to start World War 3 over this. If you don't agree with me, please don't get all mad at me, I totally respect other people's shippers, so don't go all ballistic on me if you don't agree. Or, if you do want to go ballistic on me, IM me so I can at least defend myself. ;)

Enjoy the chapter. :D

* * *

"I don't know what's going on with him honestly."

"Do any of us know what's going on with him?"

"It's like, one minute, he's fine and then the next minute, he's angry, it's almost like, make up your mind, are you going to be angry, or are you going to be happy, I just don't get him sometimes," Stephanie said, brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Obviously this whole thing is bothering him, which is what we wanted. We want to divide him and Trish. You know what might work better?" Christian said.

"What?" she asked, looking up at him as they hatched their plans for the evening.

"Divide and conquer."

"What do you mean by that? We're not like countries going to war Christian, we're just people."

"I know, but if we split up and give them a tag team effort, we may be able to crack them, and get the truth."

"Tag team effort?" she asked, raising a curious eyebrow, "Is everything in wrestling terms to you?"

"Not everything," he said defensively, "But I thought that it sounded appropriate for the evening."

She smiled kindly, "It was appropriate, I just find it funny is all. You always know how to make me laugh."

"Good, at least I can do something right around here?"

"Oh, you do a lot of things right."

"I didn't win last night."

"Yeah, but you have to admit, it was pretty amazing watching Benoit go the distance," she said.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool, I'm pretty happy for him, he deserves it. He really is the best guy who's never gotten the title."

"Yeah, I mean, he's so talented."

"You think Jericho's better don't you?" Christian smirked.

Stephanie refused to give into his little game and sat on the couch in their locker room and folded her arms. Christian just nodded his head, getting all the answers he needed from Stephanie's silence. He laughed to himself and sat on the couch next to her, propping his feet up on the low table in front of him, just relishing the silence.

"I knew it," he muttered.

"I love him, of course I think he's the best," she answered finally, "I thought the same thing when I was with Hunter."

"Poor you, having to lie like that."

She giggled, "He was good…once upon a time."

"Yeah, in a galaxy far, far away," Christian added.

"I'm starting to think you're jealous of my ex-husband, but don't worry Christian, you have me all to yourself now."

"Yeah, just your body, but your mind belongs to Chris…wait, I have your body, I got the good end of the deal."

"You are impossible sometimes, you're like the most unserious guy I've ever met."

"You obviously haven't know me for a long time if you think I'm unserious," he said, "I'm about as serious as they come."

Even he couldn't keep a completely straight face after that statement and started chuckling lowly. Stephanie joined in his laughing, and they were both laughing a few minutes later, enjoying each other's company. It was nice to have a friend always around that you could just laugh at and be silly with. It was probably something the both of them needed.

"Christian, part of the reason you did this plan was for revenge wasn't it?"

"Revenge for who?" he asked.

"Trish," Stephanie answered, "I mean, a part of you has to kind of resent her for you know, not ever taking you back."

"I don't think I expected her to take me back in the first place and that was fine with me you know. I can live with the fact that Trish wasn't the one for me," he shrugged, "You move on, unlike some people who don't know what's good for them and break up with the one person they ARE meant to be with."

"Are you referring to me or are you referring to Chris?"

"Chris, because he's the one who gave you up. You know, if I was attracted to you, I would've tried to get you as soon as you were available."

"Yeah, you seem to be the only one."

"Stephanie, you know guys would be falling at your feet for the chance to date you."

"Like who? I haven't gotten any prospects."

"Oh, could it be because you were with Chris and then hopped right on over to me. It seems that you just hopped from one bed to the other."

"Well thanks for not making me sound like a slut."

"Hey, Chris thought so for a long time."

"He was wrong and he knew it."

"I just call it like I hear it."

Chris sat down after putting his tights on. He felt so detached from the real world right now. He had acted impetuously last night and brushed off everyone he cared about. He felt so lost right now, like he didn't have a friend in the world. He knew that Trish was probably still his friend, but at the moment he didn't even want her as a friend. He really did want to be left alone with his thoughts. Of course, he and Trish had this stupid plan going that wasn't even working in the first place.

Maybe he should just give up on the plan altogether because his heart just wasn't in it any longer. Or maybe it was because his heart was off somewhere with Christian doing God knows what. Had he actually told her to go fuck Christian last night? He knew he had and he cursed under his breath at those stupid words. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

Trish walked down the hallway, a little stunned after seeing the match that she had for later. She didn't know who's bad side she had gotten on, but it must've been really bad because she had a match with Kane. She bit her lip in worry, there was no way that she could face that man and win. He would decimate her, leave her in a blonde heap on the ground.

"You look like you got a lot on your mind."

Trish looked up and frowned, "Why do you care?"

"Pretty lady looking upset, it seems that this would be the perfect moment for me, Randy Orton, to step in."

"I'm fine."

"Is it because I'm not Chris Jericho? I could always grow my hair out and dye it blonde, dropping down a few inches might be a little tough though."

She didn't know whether or not that was a joke, but judging from the look on his face she knew it was a joke and she allowed herself a small laugh, "No, it's not because you're not Chris, it's because you're a jackass."

"Wow, a woman who's blunt, I really enjoy that."

"Well, enjoy it with some other woman."

"Trish, I wasn't trying to put any designs on you," he gave her a glance and saw the look on her face, "Ok, I wasn't trying hard to put any designs on you. I can't help that I wanted to talk to you."

"Yes you could, it's called not talking to me," she said.

"Now where would the fun in that be? I happen to enjoy getting shot down very much. I've never had so much fun being shot down before."

"What do you want from me Randy?" she said, crossing her arms to look at him.

"The pleasure of your company, it's not really a difficult request as much as it's a noble request. I know you have the hots for Jericho, but come on, you know you can't resist a cute smile," he said, pointing to his own over-done grin.

She laughed, "You're a smooth talker, I'll give you that, but how do you know I'm not with Chris right now."

"Because he'd be with you, I just can't imagine a guy dating you and not spending every second of every day with you."

"Wow, what a line, that ever work?"

"You tell me?" he said giving her an impish look.

"It may have," she gave in. She couldn't help it, this guy was extremely cute, and the words he was saying were very flattering. It had been so long since a guy was genuinely interested in her. She didn't know if he was being truly sincere, but something in her told her that he was.

"If you ever get over Jericho, and I'm sure you will," Orton pointed out, "Let me know ok, I'd love to hear it from the source."

"Who's to say I'm not over him right now?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I like that, but Bischoff does have something up his sleeve, I can't tell you what, but he does."

"Why aren't you arrogant like you seem?" she asked suspiciously, suddenly looking around the hallways, expecting the rest of Evolution to pop up and start goading her or something of that nature.

He shrugged casually, "Even I can be a human being once in a while."

"News to me and the rest of the world, with what you've been doing with Mick and everything, it's not that cool."

He leaned in close to her, "Trish, don't always believe everything you see. Even the most arrogant people are usually just following the crowd."

He walked away, letting Trish absorb his words. She liked the way he talked to her; she didn't get a bunch of bullshit like she did with other guys she had known. She liked that in a guy. She also like that familiar fluttering in her stomach; a feeling that hadn't been around since she had first fallen for Christian. She needed to talk with Jericho right now, she needed to discuss something with him.

She walked quickly down the hallway to his locker room, letting herself inside quickly. Jericho looked up and sighed as he saw her, something in his eyes telling her that he didn't want to see her. She went to the couch and sat down next to him. She didn't say anything, but instead put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"Go away," he mumbled.

"Chris, what happened?"

"I'm just not in the mood to be around people right now," he answered, gaze trained to the ground.

"Why?"

"I'm just not ok!" he snapped.

"Jesus Christ, you don't have to act like a spoiled, little kid," she told him, starting to get up.

"I'm sorry," he said genuinely, "I'm just, I'm not sure what I'm doing right now."

"With what?"

"With everything," he admitted, "I don't know up from down anymore, it's just all so confusing. I want to help Stephanie, but then I don't. I just don't know."

"Chris, about that, I need to ask you a favor, and you don't have to agree," she said, "I just, I wanted to ask you something, but you definitely can say no if you want to."

"Say no to what?" he asked, bracing himself for whatever it was she was going to say. He could tell it wouldn't be good.

"Can we kind of put the plan on hold for a while?" she asked hopefully.

Jericho gaped at her. It had been her idea in the first place to have this plan, and now she was bailing out on it. Great, there goes another thing he had put so much into. Now what did he have to go on for, Stephanie would never take him back now. Everything was just falling apart before his eyes. Suddenly he wanted to run away and never come back again.

"Why?"

"It's just, um, I really like someone right now, and they think that I like you, and it's just, I don't exactly want him to think that," she said, "And I mean, if you don't want to put it on hold, I understand, but I just wanted to know if you would."

"Who's the guy?"

"Um, Randy," she said, "Now, there's nothing going on between us, but he was just really nice to me, and I really did feel like I could like him, and I just didn't want to bail on you with no reason--"

"Just go Trish, it's fine, we'll pull something later, you can just come tell me you want to be friends or something," he said without feeling, "It's fine, go have fun with Randy."

"Chris, are you sure, I don't want to leave you high and dry," she told him.

"You're not, because I'm not sure I want to go through with the plan anyways. I'm not sure Stephanie's worth it anymore."

"Does this have anything to do with her and Christian?"

"It has everything to do with that. You know, it's just, let him get her, her job back, it seems he's better than me in every department anyways. If he's so good for her, let him get her job back for her. I'm sure she'd love him even more after that."

"She's in love with him?!"

"It's only a matter of time. So go ahead ok."

"Ok," she said slowly, "But if you need me, you know where to find me."

"Yeah, I think I'm better off alone for now."

Trish left him, not wanting to hear that voice anymore. It sounded so sad to her ears and she just wanted to give him a big hug, but she figured that he wouldn't be up for any human contact at the moment. Not unless it was provided by Stephanie herself and that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Look, Chris is on television," Christian said, causing Stephanie to look up from her magazine.

Indeed, he was on television, making his way down the ramp. He looked so devoid of emotion that it almost brought her to tears. She hoped beyond hope that she wasn't the one to bring that sad sorry look to his face. It broke her heart seeing him trying to put on this brave front. She just wanted to rush out there and hug him until that gorgeous smile of his shone through.

Jericho decided if he couldn't have friends and he couldn't have Stephanie, he'd settle for the next best thing, the World Championship. At least if he had that, he'd have something going for him. He called in his favor for Bischoff and demanded the match. He was so pissed inside that he could probably beat Hunter into a bloody pulp.

Bischoff came out and basically ripped on him, telling him what a disappointment he was. Jericho wasn't even phased by his words, having suffered disappointment after disappointment for the past few weeks. Who really cared if Bischoff had a hissy fit about him not winning the Rumble? It hadn't even been about winning for him personally. It had been about revenge.

Bischoff gave him a choice about what to use his favor for and his eyes widened in horror as he saw the match that was supposed to come later. Trish and KANE! There was no way he could let that happen. He didn't love Trish of harbor any romantic feelings for her, but she was his friend, and as one of his good friends he couldn't let that happen. But who's to say that he couldn't go out there if Trish did go through with the match. He could always interfere on her behalf. This was a title shot he'd be giving up.

As he was contemplating his decision, it seemed like Bischoff made up his mind for him and cancelled the match with Trish and Kane, even though he hadn't said anything. He was about to tell Bischoff that wasn't the decision he wanted, but thinking back to how Trish had been such a good friend to him, he let it slide this one time. So much for favors. Then he found out that wasn't the only surprise of the night, he had to team up with RVD against Evolution minus Hunter. That was just what he needed right now.

He waited there for his partner to come out. It was comical that he was teaming with RVD, simply for the fact that they had once had a long going feud. Of course, who had been at the center of that feud, surprise, surprise, Stephanie McMahon. He had sure fought against her cronies a lot. He guessed it was that raw passion they used to have, until he had gone and screwed things up.

Once again, this becoming a familiar thing for him, he fought the match distracted by other things. He started off the match with Flair and the two fought for a pretty good amount of time before Orton was tagged in. Jericho fought him too, thinking about what Trish could possibly see in this guy besides looks, he didn't seem like the nicest guy in the world. He tagged to RVD and waited for the tag back to him.

The match had been going on for a while and despite the disadvantage he and RVD were faring pretty well. That was until he decided to go after Batista, who caught him and slammed him to the ground, where his head hit with a sick thud, and then it all went blurry for a moment, and he fell into a comfortable numbness. This was wonderful, why hadn't he visited this place before, it seemed so wonderful.

Suddenly there she was, her long brown hair with the blonde so wonderfully tied in, cascading around her face framing it perfectly. They had gotten their hair dyed together, he recalled, and laughed the entire time at the almost ridiculousness of them together getting their hair done. She was kneeling over him, wondering if he was ok, her beautiful face marred with concern.

He smiled lazily as her hands came to his face and gently caressed them, looking deeply into his eyes. He could hear her voice, though far away beckoning him to answer if he was ok. He nodded slightly, the pain flaring up, but not caring because Stephanie was there with him. Her perfectly manicured nail pushing his hair away from her lovely face, until he just wanted to stay in this moment for the rest of his life because it was so much more wonderful than whatever world he was forced to spend the rest of his time in.

"Chris, are you ok?" he heard a voice, and for a moment he thought it was Stephanie.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"You sure?"

His eyes snapped open and looked up to see the trainers staring at him. He looked around groggily, where had Stephanie gone? She was just here, wasn't she? But now she was gone, and he realized it had only been a figment of his imagination. Stephanie was in the back somewhere, probably making out with Christian and not even caring that he had gotten hurt.

Stephanie was on the edge of her seat, her face trained on the television screen, cursing every time they didn't show what was going on with Jericho. She had seen that hit he had taken and then his face as he lay there, holding his head. Why were the trainers out there faster? If she were the boss, she'd give him a lecture on the timeliness of them getting to injured people. She sighed gratefully as the trainers left without Jericho and he was able to continue the match.

Jericho had to continue, because that dream world where Stephanie was with him, it threatened to consume him, and as much as he just wanted to pretend for a while, he couldn't because the cold slap of reality would be too bitter for him to handle, better that he got it out of his system now, when he could forget it.

He focused that energy on the match at hand and as soon as he was tagged, he cleaned house and focused his attentions at kicking Batista's ass. It was hard, the man was almost twice his size, but Jericho, he had never cared about those kinds of things. He tried to get him in the Walls once, but hadn't been able to, but the second time, he was successful. He held on for dear life, picturing Christian beneath him, twisting his legs up and breaking them. He even managed to duck Orton's attempt at him, but was unable to duck the second blow and hit the mat and was covered for the pin. RVD came to check on him and he shooed him away, not wanting sympathy. He hobbled back to his dressing room, still holding his head.

"I should go see him," Stephanie said to herself. Christian had gone somewhere during the match, citing the fact that he could help their cause in a certain way. She didn't know what he was up to, but she had a pretty good idea. Ok, that was a lie; she had no idea whatsoever.

"I don't think you should Stephanie," Christian said, walking in after hearing her as he had walked in.

"Why not?"

"I just don't think it's the best idea."

"So what, I'm just supposed to sit here and be worried?" she asked.

"Look, I've got to talk to Chris anyways, and I'll check up on him for you alright?"

"You will?"

"Of course I will. I know you don't want him hurt. I think he just got a little bit shaken up is all. He's tough, you know that."

"I also know that you're just trying to make me feel better," she pointed out.

"Sure, but whatever works right?"

"Please, just go find out for me," she said, her eyes imploring him to go.

He complied and went down the hallway to talk to Jericho. He had just gone to Bischoff and had orchestrated a tag match for next week. Christian had thought Jericho had wasted his favor. Not that he didn't appreciate it because part of him still cared for Trish, but it was far easier to just interfere later than give up something as important as a favor.

Jericho saw Trish come in and played along with whatever she was telling him, even managing to act somewhat surprised when she said she wanted to be just friends. Hadn't they always been just friends after all? He had never wanted Trish like that, and this shouldn't bother him and it didn't. What did surprise him was Christian's arrival. That one he wasn't expecting.

Jericho gave him a dirty look and like most of their conversations as of late, it ended with an argument. Things were never going to be the same between them again, that was just the facts of the situation. The moment Christian and Stephanie had hooked up, that signaled the end for his and Christian's friendship. It might be said, but it was true. Christian told Jericho get over his teenage crush, and to get his head out of his ass, and it sounded like it reached much farther than this little thing with Trish. If he didn't know better, it sounded like he was referring to Stephanie.

Yeah, easy for Christian to say, he was the one that had Stephanie, he could gloat all he wanted. Jericho was the one who was suffering. Jericho frowned as Christian left. Why couldn't that guy get it in his head that he didn't want to see him? Every time he came round Jericho was this much closer to ripping him to shreds. He was flaunting his relationship with Stephanie in the worst way.

Christian was glad that Jericho appeared all there for the most part, that would make Stephanie happy to hear. As he walked down the hall, he hear a familiar laugh and looked around. Down one of the side hallways, Orton was talking with Trish, and Christian looked on for a moment.

"Geez Trish, going for the trash now are we?" he muttered to himself before walking on.

Trish laughed as she looked up at him, "You didn't have to be so mean to Chris."

"It's a match, of course I was mean," he told her.

"Well, I just told him about the friends thing, so that should mean I'm over him right?"

"Wow, you really do want me?"

"Only cause you wanted me first."

"Now who said that?" he asked, playing innocent.

"Oh, that's the game you want to play is it? Well then, I'll just leave the rest of this conversation for another day," she told him, walking off with a demure smile. Orton just shook his head as he watched her go. Maybe he didn't just have to be the legend killer around here.

Christian walked back into the dressing room where Stephanie was looking at him anxiously, "He's fine."

"Good, I mean, they showed him, but you never know right?"

"Yeah, but he's fine, even got mad at me, so he must not have been as out of it as I thought."

"Yeah…"

"I don't have anything to do for the rest of the night, do you want to just go out on the town or something?"

"I wish the Hershey factory thing was open, I could go for a vat of chocolate right about now."

"You swimming naked in chocolate, yeah, I could get used to that, definitely," he nodded enthusiastically.

"Get out of the gutter," she told him.

"Never! You can't make me," he protested as his cell phone rang, "Damn, let me answer that and we'll go."

"I want to go talk to Trish actually," Stephanie said, "You know, you're divide and conquer thing."

"Oh yeah, go do that," Christian said, then answered his phone, which Stephanie gathered to be Edge before she left.

She smirked to herself. She had no intention of going to see Trish. She walked stealthily down the hallways and to Jericho's locker room, going inside quietly. She could hear the shower running and decided to just wait. She sat down in a chair next to the door to the bathroom and waited. She didn't know exactly why she was here, but she knew that she had to check on Jericho herself, with her own two eyes.

Jericho turned the shower off, wringing out his wet hair. His head was beginning to throb and he knew he was going to have a killer headache later. He couldn't be too sure if it was from that hit he took or from Stephanie and Christian. Either way, he wasn't looking forward to being alone tonight. He stepped out of the shower and slung the towel around his waist loosely, going to walk out and get dressed.

Stephanie sat there as he walked right past her, not even bothering to look down. Her eyes widened as she saw how nice and wet he was, the water sluicing down his back, going beneath the towel. It didn't help that she knew exactly what was beneath that towel. She saw him bend over to grab some clothes, but then stop as he grabbed his head.

"Chris, are you ok?" she asked, concerned, standing up.

Jericho yelped and stood up quickly, dropping his towel along the way.

Stephanie bit her lip, taking a step back as he stood there. He grabbed his towel quickly and wrapped it around himself, his face turning about fifty different shades of red. She just stood there, not that shocked by what she saw, because she had seen it before, but trying to hold in her laughter.

"Stephanie, don't do that!" he admonished.

"You're the one who didn't see me," she said, "Though I did appreciate the show."

He wasn't amused, "What are you doing here?"

"I had to make sure you were alright? I didn't trust anyone to tell me but you."

"Why do you care?" he said, going into his defensive mode.

"Because I care about you," she said softly, looking at him with a world of compassion in her eyes, "I can't help it."

His eyes softened as he berated himself for acting so harshly to the woman he loved, "I'm sorry, thank you for your concern."

"We may not be together, but I still lo--care about you," she said, catching her almost slip up.

"I know you do, and that makes me happy," he said, "I'm fine Steph."

She stepped closer to him, so close that drops of water from his hair were falling onto her blouse creating dark spots on the fabric. She reached up to his head and felt around, feeling a bump on the back of his head. She rubbed it gently, and for some reason, the pain went away for him. Her touch, he closed his eyes, how did she do that? She kept rubbing gently.

"I saw you," he whispered.

"When?"

"When I hit my head," he said, letting his heart do the talking, ignoring the part of him that was telling him to shut his mouth before he embarrassed himself.

"What did you see?"

"You were hovering over me," he answered, "You were concerned, you kept asking if I was alright, you wanted to be by my side, just to make sure. Then I opened my eyes and you weren't there. I wanted you there and you weren't."

"I'm not allowed on WWE television," she told him, smiling sadly, "Daddy would've killed me if he had seen me."

"Yeah," he said, the pain still gone, his thinking only being skewed by how close Stephanie was standing to him. He took a chance and wrapped his arms around her waist. To his surprise and great relief, she let the contact go and let him hold her as she kept easing his aching head, and though she didn't know it, she was easing his aching heart.

"I would've been there if I could."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh," she nodded.

He went a step further and pulled her into his body. She went to him quietly, laying her head upon his chest, hearing the peaceful rhythm of his heart, the sound that lulled her to sleep on many nights. He closed his eyes, wondering if he really had gotten a concussion and this was all some silly dream he was having. If it was, then he wanted to stay concussed forever.

"You look so beautiful," he whispered almost inaudibly.

She couldn't help herself and kissed his chest softly, "Thank you."

"Stephanie, why are you here?"

"You were hurt, I needed to see you," she answered, though that wasn't exactly why, but she didn't care at this moment.

"I'm not hurt," he said, then took her hand off his head, holding it in his own, "I'm ok now."

"Sweetie?"

Jericho's heart leapt at the word, "Yes baby?"

"Why are you torturing the both of us?"

He thought back to his plan, that plan that had fallen by the wayside. The plan that was on hold. He wanted to tell her, was desperate, could feel it on the tip of his tongue. He could just say it and end it here, end it right now. Then he could have his heart back, then he wouldn't go day in and day out without her, when everything ached inside him.

"Stephanie, there's something--"

"Steph! Where are you!" Christian's voice was ringing through the hallways.

"I've gotta go," she said quickly pulling away, "Christian is expecting me, I wasn't supposed to be here."

She rushed out of there quickly, not even looking back. Jericho reached out for her too late. One second earlier and he would've caught her arm. He let his arm drop to his side, feeling the sting in his legs wanting to go after her, but he was only in a towel. There was something left for them, he could feel it despite her running away. He whispered into the empty locker room, finishing his interrupted sentence, except she wasn't there to hear it.

"There's something I have to tell you."


	176. SmackDown, January 29, 2004

A/N: Thank you guys for all the reviews, I really appreciate them, especially for my "SmackDown" chapters, mainly because I really don't like not writing about the shows, but it'd be really hard to just do a Kurt-centered chapter. So thanks for still reading these chapters. :)

* * *

"Christian, you interrupted at the most inopportune moment! I've said it a million times."

"And I'm saying this a million and one times, you should be thanking me!"

Stephanie scoffed and then laughed sarcastically, "Thank you, why should I thank you when Chris was on the verge of confession?"

"What if he had said something you didn't want to hear? What if he had said that he and Trish were really together, not just dancing around their feelings? What if he confessed that he had liked her while you two were still together?"

Stephanie looked at Christian, stricken by the words he was saying. She had never thought of the negative things he could've told her. She figured they had to be positive, the way he was talking, and holding her. That tone of voice that he had used, it was loving, she was positive of that.

"I think you're wrong," Stephanie said firmly.

"How do you know I'm wrong?"

"Because of the way he said it, he was holding me, and he called me baby too, I mean, why would he call me baby and then just break my heart?" she implored.

"Maybe he was trying to be nice," Christian told her.

Stephanie looked at him suspiciously, "Why are you so against this? You should want Chris and I together, this could've been the conversation we'd been waiting for and then you had to blow it. Why are you acting so weird about it?"

"I'm not acting weird Stephanie," Christian said, "I just don't want you to get hurt any longer, and if that means that I have to be the negative one, then that's what I'll do."

"But you don't know that it was negative! You weren't there, you didn't see the look on his face, you didn't hear his heart beating so fast, and it only does that when he's nervous. You didn't hear him say my name, or the way he held me in his arms, you don't know!"

"Stephanie, calm down," he said, taking her by the shoulders and making him face her, "I know I didn't see that, but I can't be sure that he wouldn't have hurt you and I don't want him to hurt you."

"I appreciate that Christian, but that wasn't his intention," she sighed, "I know Chris Jericho, and it wasn't."

"Fine Stephanie, then maybe I was wrong, but back off for a little while, just let us make him jealous and that way we'll have a sure-fire plan, alright?"

"I don't get you Christian," Stephanie said, "I want to, but I don't get you."

"Fine, but how do you think he'll feel when he finds out we were faking the entire time?"

She hadn't thought of that. Truthfully, she didn't know what his reaction would be. On the one hand, he could be thankful and laugh it off as another one of her brilliant plans. On the other hand, he might become angry at her that she would do something like that to him. Maybe he wouldn't understand why she had done that. She didn't want that to happen, and so she sighed and looked at Christian.

"You're right…you're right, I'm sorry, I don't know where my head went, I guess I was just so excited that he may confess I didn't think of the repercussions."

"Good, now that that's settled, why don't you go grab some food in the kitchen while I make a phone call."

"Who're you calling?" she asked.

"I was just going to call Edge and ask if he wanted to come over and have dinner with us, if he doesn't have a date that is."

"Ok, sounds good," she said, "I don't think we have anything, should I just go order something or something?"

"If you want, I'll use the phone in my office with the other line so you can order whatever," he called out.

"Is pizza alright with you?"

"It's cool Stephanie."

Trish wrung out her wet hair and pulled it into a ponytail. Since she was at home, she'd just let it dry naturally instead of running to the blow-dryer. She went downstairs to get some ice cream. She knew that probably wasn't that good a meal to be having for her dinner, but she wasn't in the mood to make anything, and ice cream sounded really good right now.

She went into her kitchen and pulled open the freezer. She saw at least five varieties of ice cream, she was kind of a fiend about it. She barely got through a day without having at least a bowl of ice cream. She pulled out some Ben & Jerry's and closed the freezer. Then she went to grab a large spoon from her silverware drawer. She popped the top open and dug right in. It wasn't as if anyone else would be eating the stuff.

She took her first bite and closed her eyes at the wonderful taste. Sometimes she just had to pig out. True, she worked very hard on her figure and to stay limber for wrestling, but every once in a while it was nice to let loose and just splurge on something you loved. Ice cream and a night of watching movies in her favorite pair of pajamas, sometimes life was perfect. She took another bite and just as she was licking the spoon, her doorbell rang. She looked towards the front hall with a peculiar curiosity, wondering who would be coming to see her on a Thursday evening.

She wanted slowly towards the door, continuing to eat her ice cream. She had the spoon in her mouth as she opened the door. To her complete surprise, Randy Orton was leaning on her doorframe, that self-serving smirk on his face, and the Intercontinental title over his shoulder. He was in his usual attire, a nice polo shirt and neatly pressed black slacks. That was a complete contrast from Trish and her cotton pajamas. She stared at him for a moment, spoon hanging precariously out of her mouth.

"Happy to see me?" he asked.

She took the spoon out of her mouth, sticking it in the pint of ice cream, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I had so much fun talking to you on Monday, I wanted to continue our conversation."

"So you FLEW to Toronto to see me?"

"Well, when you're part of Evolution, you get fringe benefits, I can fly anywhere I want to, no problem," he winked.

Trish was still puzzled, "How did you know where I lived?"

"That's my secret."

"Yeah, and this is my property, do you want me to call the cops on you for disturbing the peace?"

"You know, I like a girl who stands up for herself."

"Don't try to sweet-talk me Randy, I deserve to know how you found out my address," she prompted an answer from him.

"Ok, since I don't want to have to see your beautiful face from the restraining ordered fifty feet, Hunter told me what it was, seems you two had something for a while, and he knew it, happy now?"

"I never had anything with Hunter," she said, "He was just teaching me moves and stuff, I never slept with him or anything."

"Well, so says you, and Hunter said something different, but I think I'll take your word for it."

"Ok," she said, "So why are you here for real?"

"I just wanted to come see you, is that such a crime as to warrant me standing out here in the cold."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, realizing she had been terribly rude, "Come in."

"Thanks, I was afraid I'd have to spend the night out there," he said, wiping his feet before he came in.

"I'm not cruel Randy."

"I never thought you were."

"So do you carry that thing around with you everywhere?" she said, gesturing towards his belt.

"Would you know it, they actually surgically attached this to my shoulder," he shrugged, "I guess they knew I'd have it for a very long time."

"Oh get over yourself," she laughed, "Let me take your coat…and belt."

"How do I know you won't steal it?" he said, giving her a look.

"Well, are you under some sort of 24/7 rule, because then I might just have to pin you and win it myself."

"I'd let you pin me."

Trish scowled; she really had just walked into that one. He let her take his coat and the belt and she went to put it in her front closet. She watched as Randy awkwardly stood there, looking around, wondering if he should go into another room or something. She hung up his things and set the belt on a side table.

"Why don't we go into the living room?" she said, pointing towards an entrance into another room.

"Ok," he said, starting to walk in that direction.

The phone rang as she walked behind him, "Shoot, I should get that, you can go in there and make yourself comfortable."

"Cool, thanks," he said, disappearing into the other room.

Stephanie looked over the menu, wondering what pizza they should get. She wandered to Christian's office to ask him what kind he wanted. She opened the door and saw him just picking up the phone to dial. She stood in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt his conversation.

"Hey," Christian said, then paused, "Yeah, I told you earlier."

Stephanie kept looking over the menu. Did she want vegetarian? Nah, she wasn't in the mood for that. She kept perusing the menu, hoping that Christian would get off the phone soon. She wondered idly what Jericho was doing right now. Was he hung up over what had happened on Monday? Maybe she should go over and talk to him, finish that conversation. Despite what Christian had said, she really wanted to know what was going through his mind at the moment.

"It's fine, do that, yeah, I took care of it," Christian said, "Don't worry about it, it's not your fault, ok, talk to you later, bye."

"So what did Edge say?" Stephanie asked as Christian put down the phone.

Christian literally jumped up in the air before twirling around, "Jesus Stephanie, could you scare the shit out of me anymore?"

"Sorry, I just knew that you were on the phone and I didn't want to disturb your phone call."

"It's fine, Edge can't make it, he's busy," Christian shrugged, "So it's just us."

"Ok, that's cool, I came in here to ask what kind of pizza you wanted?"

"Um, get me sausage," he told her, "Is that all you wanted?"

"Pretty much, I'll go order," she replied, leaving the room.

Randy sat down on the couch, waiting for Trish to get off the phone. He got up off the couch and went to look at the pictures that Trish had sitting on the mantle. Some were of Trish's family, he smiled as he saw the younger versions of her. He came to the last picture and found it odd. She was standing there with Christian, his arms wrapped around her and her arms around him as they were pressed cheek to cheek in front of some garden. That wasn't the part that puzzled him, he knew that Trish and Christian were together for a really long time.

The part that puzzled him was the couple they were with. There, plain as day, in the exact same pose was Stephanie McMahon and Chris Jericho. At first he had thought his mind had been playing tricks on him, but upon second look, he was certain that's who was staring back at him from the picture. That was really weird, because as far as he knew, they weren't a couple.

"What're you looking at?" Trish asked, coming into the room.

"I was just looking at your pictures, can I ask you about one?"

"I guess," she said, wondering what was up.

"This one," he pointed, "Stephanie and Jericho are in it, and they look like a couple. When was this from?"

Trish froze, her breathing becoming erratic. That picture had been taken last summer. Stephanie and Trish had dragged the boys to a garden estate in Vermont, which they hadn't been to happy about. That was, until they got there, and Stephanie and Trish showed them all the sights, and she did mean all the sights. That had changed their moods pretty quickly. They had taken that on the tour of the estate, she remembered, where they had asked an older man to take the picture. She had loved how it turned out so much that she had it framed.

Now Randy was asking questions. How could she possibly answer that without giving away top secret information? She thought quickly. She couldn't reveal Stephanie and Jericho's secret, even though they weren't together anymore. Randy would tell Hunter, and Hunter would be so pissed, and then he'd possibly tell Vince, and then Jericho would be screwed over.

"It was from, I think, October or September," she said, as if she had to actually recall it, "Don't you remember, Stephanie and Chris dated for a while there."

"They did?"

"Remember, she used to come with him to the shows and all that."

"Oh yeah," he said, remembering they had gone out for a little while, "And since Chris is friends with Christian, that's why they're there, I get it now."

Trish's heart rate calmed to normal levels, "Yup, I just really liked the picture."

"So you loved Christian?" Randy said, his voice taking an odd tone.

"I did," she told him, "I still do, on some levels, but we both know it's over."

"May I ask what happened?"

Trish didn't know if she could trust Orton. His character was on the fence most of the time, and she didn't know if telling him would be the right thing to do. He had those three other guys around him all the time, and they could try to pry information out of him, and then humiliate her with their findings. She wasn't sure she was ready for that, and she didn't think she was ready to tell Randy the truth.

"You know Trish, I can be human and keep a secret," Orton told her, "I don't go running my mouth off to the rest of Evolution."

"How do I know that?"

"Would you like to take my belt as collateral?" he asked, "I know you think I'm a jerk, you know what, I am a jerk, but at least I'm self-aware enough to realize that. I'm not trying to bullshit you by coming here, and I have no grand design to have you sleep with me. I honestly just enjoyed your company and had thought I found a friend who didn't want to go looking for chicks all the time. I don't want to be a jerk all the time, and that's what the rest of Evolution is about. You can choose to believe me or not, but sometimes I really need to get away from those other guys."

"Between you and Hunter, I don't really know who's worse, but boy are you good actors," she said, "And this can all be an act."

"Then if you think that, I'll leave right now," he said, then muttered, "I knew it was too good to be true."

"What did you just say?"

"Trish, you're gorgeous, and you're really smart. The chicks we meet on the road, they're all sluts who want to sleep with us, well most of us, not so much Ric," he laughed at his observation, "But you're different, God, now I'm talking in clichés. Look Trish, I just like you is all, and I wanted you as a friend."

He sure did sound sincere, and he was talking normally, not with that arrogance that usually followed him around everywhere he went. She guessed she could take his words to heart. He did seem like a nice guy, standing here in his living room, and all that pretense of only being a jerk had certainly fallen away with those monologues of his.

"Christian cheated on me," she shrugged, "And so I broke up with him."

"I'm really sorry," Orton said, truly sympathetic.

"It's fine, you know, it might've been for the better really," she said, "I still consider us friends…somewhat."

"Oh, well that's good," he answered.

"Yeah, but you know, it's different now, that trust is gone."

Trish was finding Orton's presence very comfortable. They sat and talked for a while, just about things, and she felt that she was smiling a lot more than usual. He actually made her laugh a lot of the time too, especially when he would momentarily go back into his jerk mode.

Stephanie had told Christian that she was just going to pick up the food and she went out to her car. She was going to pick up the food alright, but not before she went to Jericho's and had a talk with him. She giggled to herself, she felt like a spy or something going over to enemy territory. She drove over there quickly, hoping that she wouldn't arise Christian's suspicions and cause him to come looking for her.

Jericho sat reading his newspaper, occasionally glancing over at the television, noting that SmackDown had started. He had the television pretty low, but not low enough that he couldn't hear it. He was just curious to see what was going on at the other show. He saw Vince there, and frowned. It was all his fault that he was in this mess to begin with. If he had just not gotten involved with Sable, none of this would've happened and maybe, just maybe, he and Stephanie would be engaged right now, instead of apart.

The doorbell rang and he got up to answer it, maybe it was Edge coming over to hang out. That would be better than sitting here by himself, not that he wasn't used to it. To his secret delight, Stephanie was at the door, a hopeful look on her face that he would answer the door.

"Stephanie?"

"You know who I am, that's a good sign," she said, "You haven't forgotten me."

"I saw you Monday."

"Yeah, but you could've gotten hit over the head with a frying pan since then and completely forgotten who I was!"

"I could be hit a million times, and I don't think I'd ever forget you."

She smirked, "Well, that's nice to hear."

"Shouldn't you be over at Christians?" he asked, "Or did you leave something here that you needed to pick up?"

"Well, I left something, but I don't need to pick it up," she said meaningfully, "I came to talk."

"You did?"

"Yeah, we never got to finish our conversation on Monday."

"You ran off with Christian," Jericho pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but I shouldn't have, because I wanted to finish what I started with you," she said, "You said something to me, and I wanted to hear the rest of it."

Jericho looked at her. Would he finally be able to tell her what was going on? It seemed that was so and he let her in. She inhaled the familiar scent of the house, of Jericho's distinct cologne wafting through the air. She turned and smiled as he led her into the living room, his hand on the small of her back. She turned to him abruptly and hugged him. He was shocked for a second, but hugged her back tightly.

"What was that for?" he asked as he pulled away.

"I don't know, a just because hug I guess."

He smiled a little, "Sit, please."

She sat obediently on the couch, "So what did you want to tell me?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you about us and how we're not exactly an us right now."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you're with Christian."

There was that little snafu yes, but that could be easily remedied, she figured, if what Jericho had to say was good news. And by good news she meant that he would want her back, or they would want each other back. Something good had to come out of this conversation; it just had to. The way he had been acting on Monday, they were headed in the right direction, right back into each other's arms.

"Yes," she said hesitantly.

"And I want to be happy for you, I really do..." he said, frustrated with the way he had been acting.

"That's nice."

"But I can't."

She looked up at him suddenly, a small smile already coming to her face at his words, "You can't?"

"I hate it Stephanie. I hate thinking that he's touching you, and I hate thinking that he gets to kiss you, and sleep with you. I hate thinking that I'm jealous of him, jealous enough to just want to rip you from his arms. I want to be happy for you, and for him, he's one of my best friends, and you, I want you to be happy, but I'm not happy."

She reached out to caress his face, "What will make you happy?"

He pressed his hand to hers, keeping it on his face, "You already know."

"We're playing a dangerous game here Chris, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know, and if Christian found out."

Her cell phone rang, "Damn it, hold on."

Jericho sighed as she reached for her bag. Just when he was on the verge of telling, they were interrupted again. It was like they were deliberately being stopped right before anything serious happened. She answered the phone as he watched.

"Stephanie?"

"Christian is that you?"

"Yeah, where the hell are you?"

"Oh, I'm picking up the food."

"It's been like forever, and I'm starving, drive faster."

"Christian, there's a line here, so it may take awhile."

"I'll come down and keep you company then," he told her.

"Oh, no, no, you don't need to do that," she said quickly, glancing over at Jericho, "I'm sure the line will move quickly and I'll be right back home so we can eat."

"Ok, you sure you don't want me to come down there, I really don't mind, it's only like a ten minute drive."

"No!" she practically screamed, "Christian, I swear, I'll be right there, just be patient."

"Fine, if you say so, but my stomach is getting louder by the second."

"Oh, is that the noise I keep hearing," she laughed, "I thought you had gotten a dog or something."

"You just know all the right things to say don't you Steph?"

"When it comes to you Christian, there's really only a few things I need to say."

"Is one of those things that you'll sleep with me?" he joked.

"Oh get over yourself," Stephanie laughed, "I don't think you'll be hearing that from me any time soon."

"Damn it, what will it take to get you to sleep with me?" he whined.

"Um, let's see a name change, about six more inches of hair and a new personality."

"I'll get to work on that ASAP," he said, "Now please get the food so I don't die of hunger."

"You won't die," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, "You'll only think you're dying. See you in a while."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up and looked over at Jericho, "I'm sorry, I have to go."

"But you said…"

"I know, but Christian will get suspicious, and I can't let that happen," she said, giving him a sad look, "Look, this isn't over, I want to know what happened between us and I will find out, alright?"

"Stephanie, please don't go."

She was torn. Here was Jericho, the man that she loved, practically pleading with her not to go, and she didn't really want to. But Christian, he was right earlier, she still had to work some explanations out before she could tell him the absolute truth about everything. She grabbed his hand and kissed it.

"It's not over Chris, I swear, we'll talk soon."


	177. Raw, February 2, 2004

Jericho was not a happy camper at the moment. Or any moment since last Thursday. In fact, one could say that he was downright pissed. Yeah, that was right, he was absolutely pissed at what had happened last week. First of all, he and Stephanie were making some real progress, and then they had to get interrupted. It was like the fates were toying with them or something, teasing them by just about getting them back together and then pulling it away again.

He was just about ready to give up on this little plan. Who was he kidding anyways? The plan was such a stupid idea and never would've worked in the first place. It was just too far-fetched, and involved too much sacrifice for one man to take. Maybe he should just give it up. Vince probably wouldn't have given her, her job back anyways. It was all a pipe dream. He had to realize what was really important in his life.

Ironically, both options involved Stephanie. But one of them included having her in his arms. That was the one he missed more. He missed Stephanie and that's all his clouded mind could think of at any given moment. It was time to end this charade and go back to doing what he did best, and that was love Stephanie. He wanted his girlfriend back, he wanted to propose to her. He was going to talk to her…

Tonight.

He resolved himself. He didn't care if he had to lock himself and Stephanie in a room, he didn't care if he had to kidnap her and runaway to some exotic island, he and Stephanie were going to finish that talk. He needed to let her know what was really going on with him. She deserved to know the truth; she had been in the dark far too long and he couldn't let her go again. When he got her back, this time he would never let her go.

"Ok, so I'm totally in with this plan," Trish said, walking into his hotel room.

Jericho's head shot up and looked at her. She walked in, her face aglow and grinning and he wondered briefly if she could read his thoughts and realized that he was faltering with this entire thing. It had just been far too long and was just going nowhere, and she needed to realize what he had already realized, this was a bust. He wanted his girlfriend back.

"Trish, how did you get in here?" he asked.

"You left your door ajar," she said, "I figured it would be alright to come in."

"Yeah, it's fine, what can I do for you?"

"I'm back in, this whole break from it thing be damned."

"Trish, I don't want to do this anymore," he told her simply, hoping she wouldn't be too mad or disappointed. It had been her idea after all.

"Chris, what are you talking about?"

"I want Stephanie back Trish, and I don't care about her job, because I don't think she cares, and if she doesn't care, than why should I be without her."

Trish mulled over what he said for a moment, the synapses going off in her mind, "Then maybe you should tell her."

"Good, I'm glad you agree."

"Of course, there's Christian standing in your way," she answered, "I mean, you know they're together and all that, do you really want to break them up when they seem so happy."

"Yes."

She had to laugh at that, he was being terribly blunt. She gave him a kind smile, "But what if she's really happy with him?"

"I don't care, she'd be happier with me."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that!" he shouted, "I know we're meant to be together, I didn't spend years teasing her for nothing. I didn't enter a business partnership with her for nothing. I didn't welcome her back when she became GM for nothing, and nothing I've ever done when we were together was for nothing!"

"Chris, calm down," Trish said, coming over to put a calming hand on his arm, "You need to think rationally about this. Look, I know that last week I said I wanted to take a break with this, but I think, and just hear me out. I think that if we play this out slowly, right now, acting as if we're friends, acting as if I'm converting you to the side of good, then it won't compromise our original idea, and it won't compromise whatever it is I have with Randy."

"You have 'something' with Randy?" Jericho asked, giving her a look.

Trish blushed slightly, her cheeks tinged with a light pink hue, "I didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"Sure you did," he said, feeling a little better now that he had something else to think about, "So what exactly is going on with you two?"

"I don't know, he flew to Toronto to see me, did you know that?" she asked, still incredulous that he would do that.

"Wow, for no reason but you?"

"Yeah, just me," she said, "I couldn't help but be a little flattered."

"I would be too," he said, "I can't do the plan if that will hinder something with you."

"No, no, look, we act like friends, and let's say," she thought for a second, "Let's say you want to be with me or something, but we just take it slow. Look, Randy understands things, I'll tell him I'm just trying to get farther in the business. If he asks that is."

"Trish, I don't think I want to go through with it again. I really want to talk to Stephanie and confess."

Trish bit her lip, "No, I don't think you should do that, I think that you should just play it safe for now. I don't think that Christian and Stephanie are that serious--"

"I don't care if they're 'serious,' I just want her back," he pointed out.

"Chris, don't you think she'll be kind of mad when she finds out?"

"How so?"

"Well, you know how Stephanie hates being out of the loop…"

"But you know that she would appreciate a plan that benefited her."

"That's true," Trish said, "But I really think we should just go with what we were doing. You're starting to go nice now, and people believe it, and if people believe it, Vince will believe it and then you're home free."

"Ok Trish, you win," he said in defeat, "You win."

Stephanie gathered Christian's things for him as he went into the bathroom to change. She was still a little upset that her and Jericho hadn't finished their conversation the other week. She was really very curious to know what he was talking about, if it was something good or bad. Of course, Christian had interrupted again, and she was getting frustrated now.

"Christian, if I see Chris tonight, let me talk to him alright."

Christian didn't answer for a moment and she wondered what he was doing in there. Actually, maybe that was better left to the imagination. She sighed and picked up a stray shirt off the ground throwing it on his bed. He was so messy sometimes. She giggled and zipped up his bag.

"Christian did you hear me?"

"What?" he called out.

"If I see Chris, I want to talk to him, don't interrupt this time."

There was a pause, "Fine."

"Thank you, finally the truth can be let out," she said, laughing to herself.

"If you say so," Christian said, walking out of the bathroom, all nice and changed.

"What took you so long?"

"Can't a guy dress in peace around here without getting pummeled with questions?" he joked with a smirk.

"Nope, I don't think he can," she said, tossing his bag to him.

"Ok, let's get out of here shall we?"

"Sure," she said, excited about tonight; excited about seeing and talking to Jericho.

Jericho looked at the schedule tonight. He was finally getting to do another Highlight Reel, finally something worthwhile for him to do. He smiled at his guest, his old buddy Chris Benoit, this should be fun if all went well. Then later he had that tag match with Christian. He frowned a little when he thought about Christian and his inability to stay out of people's business especially Jericho's. The man needed to learn to butt out. Jericho was beginning to really dislike Christian, which was a shame.

Trish was delighted to see that she had a match for the Women's title. She didn't even know she was in line for it, but that didn't matter, she was just happy to have a title match. Maybe she'd get the title back, that would be so awesome to be the champion again, she'd be serving a purpose.

"Congratulations on your match."

She turned to see Randy and a smile unwittingly came to her face at seeing him. After last week she had been thinking about him non-stop. She liked him, cocky bastard and all. She knew he was different too, he wasn't such a jerk all the time, though he portrayed one to most people. He had told her that he merely found a formula that worked to success.

"Thanks," she smiled, "And what are you doing tonight?"

"Match against Michaels."

"Ooh, big one Mr. Legend Killer," she teased.

"You know it's true," he smirked.

"Well, I don't know about that, but I guess everyone has to have some sort of gimmick."

"It's not a gimmick," he said indignantly, but with a hint of sarcasm laced in.

"You know you could get in trouble for talking with me?"

"I can? Do tell me how so I can avoid it."

"Well, isn't the mean man who likes to hurt other people senselessly not supposed to associate with one of the good girls?"

"I don't see any good girls around here," he answered, looking around.

Her jaw dropped slightly and she shoved him with an arm, "Meanie!"

"Oh that was mature," he said, giving her a look.

"Oh and you toting that belt around everywhere you go is any better?"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. As for associating with you, as far as I can tell, we live in a country where I can associate with any pretty woman I want to."

"But your buddies?"

"Screw them," he stopped and leaned in close to her, "On second thought, don't screw them, just screw me."

Trish's mouth dropped a second time and she pulled away, seeing the joking look on his face. She still gave him a little punch to the stomach, which just made him laugh even harder. Jericho walked by them and smiled a little, it made him happy to at least see one of his true friends happy. He walked on to his dressing room, going to wait for Stephanie, hoping she'd show up tonight, and not make it like the one night she missed.

Christian and Stephanie settled into their dressing room. Stephanie was already antsy, being barely able to sit still. Christian rolled his eyes a little at her display. Her hands were literally shaking as she sat there, trying to fold them in her lap. Christian finally just went over to her and steadied them himself.

"Geez, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

"I don't know exactly," she replied, "I guess I'm just really nervous about talking to Chris."

"Why? Are you afraid that he'll tell you something you don't want to hear?"

"Maybe," she said, giving him a look filled with fright, "I mean, what if he says something like that? Something like, he doesn't want to be friends with Trish."

"I don't know, then you'll just have to deal with it, I guess."

"That's great," she said sarcastically, "I'll just deal with the man I love being in love with another woman."

"He thinks you're in love with me," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah," she said quietly.

"But you'll never know if you don't talk to him right?"

"That's right."

"Yeah, I know, so maybe you should go find him or something," Christian told her, "I need to get dressed anyways, and if you haven't noticed, there's no bathroom in here, so I'm going to have to change and I'd rather you not be in here."

"You're kicking me out," she said, acting indignant.

"Sorry sweetheart, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he told her, "I mean, I have important things to do."

"Oh, cause changing is important."

"Oh, you never know what I may be doing," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, I'm outta here," she said, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," he said smugly, "Hope you get to talk to him."

"Me too," she called out, halfway out the door.

Stephanie walked down the hallways slowly, almost delaying going to see Jericho. She just wanted to gather her thoughts before she actually went to talk to him. That and mentally prepare herself for whatever it was that he might say, good or bad. If she did that, then a rejection might not feel so bad in the end. She found his door and took a deep breath before knocking.

Jericho looked up at the door, hearing a light rapping upon it. He got up and answered it. He was both relieved and excited to see Stephanie at his door. She looked stunning tonight, and he let her come in. She was shaking again and she turned to look at him, a serene look on her face. He closed the door behind him, and then turned to Stephanie. She gave him a tense smile and he returned it with one of his own. He didn't want to scare her away with just jumping her and kissing her. She might not take too kindly about that.

"I came to finish our conversation from last week," she told him.

He remembered what Trish had said earlier, every single word. The funny thing was that he didn't really care about them at the moment, they all seemed to fly right out the window the minute he saw Stephanie. He just wanted her, that was it, and the plan, well, he didn't care about it right now, not staring at her face. He was going to tell her the entire truth right now.

"Yeah, I was hoping we would get to do that."

"Good," she nodded, "I was hoping that you would want to finish it too…you know, since we were interrupted last time."

"I understand, I mean, Christian is your boyfriend and all that," he said, a note of sadness in his eyes.

"Yeah, about that Chris," she said.

"Stephanie, I just need to tell you this one thing before you say your piece."

"What?"

"I want you to be happy, and if you tell me it's with Christian, I will," he gulped, "Accept that. Or at least I'll try to. Are you happy with Christian?"

"Well, the thing is, yeah, he makes me happy--"

"Ok, that's all I needed to hear," he nodded, his face crestfallen, "I hope you will be very happy. You wanna hear something funny, I was going to--"

"One of these days will you let me finish my sentence?" Stephanie asked, cutting into his speech.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"You make me happy too," she said.

He looked up at her, his face wishful, anticipating her next words, "Yeah?"

"Of course Chris, you've always made me happy."

"That's good, because Stephanie I hate seeing you with Christian, it just isn't right, you should be with me!"

"Then why aren't we--"

Trish waltzed into the room, then stopped short, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

Jericho bit his lip to keep from screaming out a profanity, "What is it Trish?"

"If you're busy, I don't want to intrude," she said, glancing from Jericho to Stephanie and then back again, "But this is important."

He sighed, "Go ahead."

"The show is starting in like ten minutes, and you're expected to be at the gorilla because the Highlight Reel is the first thing scheduled."

He couldn't keep from going to work because of this conversation. He had said that he would do anything he had to, to finish this conversation, but this was his job and if he wanted to keep it, he needed to go out there. He gave Stephanie a look of apology, and she just nodded and let him go out there. He wasn't happy leaving her there, turning to give her one more look before he left.

He walked down to the gorilla with Trish at his side, "I'm sorry if I interrupted anything."

"It's ok, you were just telling me I had to go to work," he said, "You couldn't have done anything about it."

"Yeah, but you two looked like you were having a serious conversation."

"We were, but we can finish it later."

"Ok, as long as I wasn't interrupting or anything," she said, "Good luck out there."

"Thanks," he told her, "I'll talk to you later."

"Of course you will," she winked, wandering off somewhere, probably to go flirt with Orton some more.

"Jericho," a distinctly Canadian voice said from behind him. He turned to see Benoit walking over, seemingly coming out of the shadows, "Looks like I'm going to be on your show tonight."

"Yeah, lucky you," Jericho said cockily, falling into a familiar repertoire with Benoit.

"Whatever," Benoit said, "You know, you should go over to SmackDown, they could use a guy like you, and with all the problems with you over here."

"Yeah, I'd like to, but what's life if it's not interesting."

"I saw Stephanie around here," Benoit said, "I was surprised, since her father kicked her out and all that."

"She's dating Christian," Jericho choked out.

"Well that explains it, though I'm sure it makes you unhappy to hear eh?"

Jericho looked around, "What makes you say that Chris?"

"Nothing," Benoit said smugly, "Next time you're around her though, try to keep the sad, puppy faces away."

"Look, just because you know stuff doesn't mean you have to go spouting off about it or anything," Jericho said.

"Oh, ok, I'll just keep it to myself next time," Benoit answered as Jericho's music hit and he went down to the ring for his Highlight Reel.

Jericho knew that Benoit was an observant son of a bitch, and that he probably knew a lot of what went on around here. Not to mention he knew about Jericho's feelings for Stephanie. Oh well he thought as he lounged on the set of the Reel. He waited for the show to start before going off on his little spiel and then introducing his guest.

The show was pretty routine, nothing that out of the ordinary until Flair came down to get in Benoit's face. Then Bischoff had to run his mouth once again, but this time he at least came bearing good news for Jericho. Instead of a #1 Contender Match, he and Christian would be getting a full, blown-out title shot. He smirked to himself and went to talk trash with Flair. After the show was over, he went backstage, hoping to still find Stephanie in his dressing room. To his disappointment, she wasn't there, but that didn't mean he couldn't go find her.

He walked around, into catering, trying to locate her. Not seeing her there, he went to Christian's dressing room, but she wasn't there either. He was getting a little bit frustrated now, and wondered just where she was. She couldn't have left so soon, he and Christian hadn't even had their match yet. Maybe there was an emergency, maybe she had gotten hurt or something, maybe she was sick. He became frantic and walked around quickly trying to find her to make sure that she was alright.

"You're crazy," Stephanie said as she and Christian sat on a couple of crates.

"Why? This article really is fascinating. You know I'm a really big fan of the Beatles."

"That's nice," she said, banging her heels against the crates, "Do you ever get the feeling that the fates are just screwing around with you?"

"No," he told her.

"Oh…I do," she told him, "I feel like they're trying to keep Chris and I apart, I mean, we just can't seem to get it right."

"That's too bad."

"You're not even listening to me are you?" she asked.

"I'm listening."

"No, you're not! You're reading that article," she said, poking the magazine with her finger to try and elicit a reaction out of him.

"So what if I am? Stephanie, I'm reading I don't bug you when you read."

"Fine," she shrugged, "I'll just go look for Chris."

"What's your favorite Beatles song?" he said quickly, turning to her.

"Um, I don't know," she answered.

"Oh come on, I'm sure you can think of one."

"I guess it would be…'The Long and Winding Road,'" she replied.

"Good choice, good choice."

"What's yours?"

"Too many to think of. Let's see, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' is awesome, and then one of my favorites is 'Across the Universe,' and then 'Got to Get You Into My Life' is another favorite."

"Interesting," she said, though nonplussed.

"Yeah, such a great band," he said, shaking his head.

Jericho walked around, still looking until he found Stephanie and Christian looking at some magazine while sitting together. He was going to walk over and talk to them, or to her rather, but something stopped him. Something about the way she was looking at him, it was strange. He didn't know quite what it was, but he felt like he'd be intruding in a moment and so, like the coward he had become around them, he turned and walked right back to where he had come from, his dressing room, his sanctuary.

Christian got up after Stephanie deciding she'd rather go watch the show than watch him read. She walked away and he followed her slowly, still reading the article, glancing up to see that she made it to his room with no distractions of confrontations with anyone that might make her upset. He was just about to walk away when he saw Trish walking towards him. Deciding to have a little fun on her behalf he started talking to her about the Beatles and her comparison to Yoko Ono.

Trish knew that Christian was a huge Beatles fan, and she knew that his views were lies. He was just trying to purposefully rile her up, for what purpose she wasn't interested in finding out. The threatening he did to her surprised her, hadn't they once loved each other, and now because they had been torn apart he decided to be an ass to her. Maybe her little thing with Jericho was causing jealousy to abound everywhere. Maybe even inside Christian.

She watched as he walked away, but then he came back, a little smirk on his face, "I hope that I didn't scare you."

His tone was menacing, but she wasn't about to be intimidated by him of all people, "You never have."

"You just better watch yourself Trish."

"I watch myself all the time, I think it's you who has to watch themselves."

"I don't think so, I do my job very well thanks," he said, smirking even more.

"Are you saying I don't do my job?"

"Well, you know, I don't see a whole lot of success on your part," he pointed out.

"You just wait Christian, I'll show you what I'm made of, in the ring and out of it."

"I can't wait Trish, really I can't."

"Don't be jealous that I've suddenly become better friends with Chris than you, but maybe that's because I'm not screwing the woman he loves."

"He gave her up, I'm sorry that he's hurting, not my fault, you know what my job is, to keep Stephanie happy, and that's just what I'm doing, she wants me."

"And Chris wants me," she said, raising an eyebrow, "And I don't need you anymore."

"Well fine," he said.

"Fine."

They gave each other snide little smirks and went on their ways. Trish went down to the gorilla for the match, thinking about the conversation with Christian. No way would he even dare put his hands on her. Not in a million years. She waited for her music to hit and then went out to the ring to wait for Molly to show up. To her dismay, Bischoff was off and running and telling her she wasn't worthy of a title match, or some such nonsense. No matter, she'd just wrestle whoever he scheduled for her.

Jericho was sitting there thinking, when he heard the loud pop of Kane's pyros. He thought that Trish had a match and was horrified to realize her match was now against Kane. Without thinking about his friend, or the consequences, he ran out to the ring just as Kane was hoisting Trish up for the chokeslam. He hit Kane's knee causing him to drop Trish who he told to get out of here, wisely she agreed as he went after Kane. All was for naught as Jericho found himself lying on the ground, grabbing his knee.

Stephanie's eyes were glued to the television, tears in her eyes as she saw Jericho get hurt. What she wouldn't give to run out there and be by his side. Last week he had wished it, and now this week she wished it, but she couldn't, not with her father breathing down her throat. She looked for Christian, but he was nowhere to be found. She got up and ran out of the room, her brown hair flowing behind her as she raced down the hallways looking for Christian. She nearly ran him over and if it weren't for his strong arms grabbing her, they both would've ended up on the ground.

"Steph, what's the matter?"

"Chris," she huffed, "He got hurt by Kane, I don't know, his knee, I don't know."

Christian tried to make sense of her words, "Chris hurt his knee?"

"Yeah, I have to see him," she said, "I have to, where's the trainer's room?"

"I'll go check on him for you."

"No, I want to."

"Stephanie, I don't think that's wise, not with the camera's that are sure to be around," he said, rubbing her shoulders, "I'll check."

She didn't appear pleased by this, "Can I at least wait outside?"

"Sure, let's go," he said, taking her hand.

They walked together towards the trainer's room, and Christian went inside as Stephanie stood outside. She could hear a bit of screaming going on. Christian saw Trish in there and gave her a look that was difficult to interpret. She looked at him with a self-satisfied smirk, like the cat that ate the canary. He didn't mean to come off as mean as he did, but Jericho just went off on him. Maybe it was the way he had talked to Trish.

Jericho had just about had it up to here with Christian, and he was starting to dislike his former friend. Yes, former, he couldn't be friends with him as long as he was with Stephanie. He got in Christian's face, his teeth gritted as he said to not talk to them like he was. Though he knew nobody would get it but the people involved, he meant Stephanie as well. He didn't want Christian around Stephanie, and it pained him. Christian just smirked and left, sending Trish a smirk, which she returned with a dirty look.

"Damn it," Jericho muttered, "He always has to ruin everything."

"Yeah, this is one time," she started then shook her head, "He needs to stay out of our business, we were this close."

"I know," he sighed, "Next time we get this going."

"Yeah, next time," she said, still mad at Christian, "I'm going to go get dressed in my street clothes."

"Ok, I'll just sit here icing my knee," he sighed, "Until my match that is."

"Good thinking."

Christian was reassuring Stephanie that Jericho was ok as Trish passed. She sent them both a look and Stephanie scowled at her. Christian led Stephanie away from the trainer's room reluctantly. They went back to their dressing room, and she declared she was going to go get some coffee. He nodded and she left, then snuck back to the trainer's room, going inside quickly.

Jericho looked up, seeing Stephanie enter, "What are you doing here?"

"You keep getting hurt, and I just keep having to check up on you," she said, walking over to him.

"It's no big deal," he waved her off.

"You're icing it."

"Well, it's sore," he told her.

She walked a little closer to him and gently took the ice off of his knee. It didn't look too bad, but she inspected it anyways, her head down, and her brown hair shrouding her face. Jericho reached out and ran his hand in her hair, pushing it away from her face so he could see her better. She looked up at him, her eyes adoring and he stared back at her.

"It's look fine," she said.

"Yeah, it's just a little sore."

"You keep getting hurt."

"I know, maybe I'm doing it on purpose so I can get you to take care of me."

She rubbed his knee, "I heard you say you had something to tell Trish. What was it?"

In truth, he had wanted to tell her to call off this damn plan, but then had realized there were cameras there and was going to tell her something mushy to go with the plan. Stephanie looked so downtrodden, probably thinking he was going to tell Trish something like he loved her, which simply wasn't true.

"I wanted to tell her a lot of things," he told Stephanie, "I want to tell you a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Like how much it sucks to be apart."

"Yeah, it does," she agreed, "Even when you have other people around…"

"Because at the end of the day the person you really want to be around isn't there…"

"And you end up pining away for them when they're not around…"

"Even though they're just within your reach…"

"But it seems like they're so far away that you're worlds apart…"

"But if you just tell them you love them, they'll come back…"

Stephanie nodded, her face blank as she swallowed noticeably. Stephanie could see it in his eyes, that light. He leaned in to her and she kissed him with reckless abandon, not caring about anything right then. Everything swirled around them, the world left them then and neither one cared. She pulled away and smiled at him, her smile lazy and peaceful.

"I have been wanting to do that for a long time," he confessed.

"Good."

"Stephanie, I--"

"Chris, I wanted to let you know our match is coming up," Christian said, "I wanted to talk strategy."

A second later, he was in the room, Stephanie looked down, angry they had been interrupted again. What was Christian doing to her? It was becoming a nuisance and she was about to just slap him upside the head. Christian looked suspiciously between the two.

"What's going on in here?"

"Nothing," Jericho said, "Stephanie wanted to check on me."

"Oh, I've been looking everywhere for you," he said to Stephanie. He walked over to her and kissed her deeply. Stephanie was a little surprised, but returned the kiss eventually, figuring she had nothing to lose. Jericho stared at them and felt queasy, especially because he had just kissed Stephanie and now she was kissing Christian passionately.

"Whoa," Stephanie breathed as Christian pulled away, "What did I do to deserve that?"

"Nothing, you were just looking hot tonight."

"Let's go," Jericho said gruffly.

Jericho got up and left, leaving Christian and Stephanie behind. Christian smiled at her, and then left to go follow Jericho. Stephanie smiled back weakly, not really into it. Jericho had kissed her. He really did miss her. But then what was he still doing being all buddy-buddy with Trish in the way they were being buddy-buddy. Some things still didn't make sense.

Jericho and Christian's match barely even reached five minutes, it seemed over so quickly. Jericho was sure they had won when he locked on the Walls on Flair, but nope, the referee had been distracted and they lost. Not that Jericho cared, he didn't want to be a champion with Christian, The Interrupter as he would now call him, because that's all he seemed to do around here.

"Trish?"

Trish looked up and saw Stephanie in the doorway, a sinister look on her face and her arms crossed, "What?"

"What the fuck is going on with you and Chris? You can tell me now, or I can just find out on my own."

"We're friends," Trish answered simply, "Whether or not he has feelings for me is a different matter entirely."

"Let me tell you right now, he doesn't have feelings for you."

No, he didn't, but Trish had to make it seem like he did, it was for Stephanie's own good, "How do you know?"

"Oh, I know bitch, alright, I know, and you can think you have him, but remember this Trish, whenever he's saving you, or talking to you, or whatever the hell else you guys plan on doing, he's thinking about me the entire time."

Trish's tone with what she said next was sarcastic, but held a lot of the truth in it as well.

"Oh, I'm sure he is Stephanie, I'm sure he is."


	178. SmackDown, February 5, 2004

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, they're really awesome, and I love them all. And sorry this chapter is shorter than my usual ones, I hurt my hand and had a difficult time writing, so I kind of had to stop before I wanted to. :)

* * *

"Hello?"

"Stephanie?"

"Chris, is that you?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling, glad that she at least still recognized his voice, "I needed to talk to you."

"Ok," she answered, "What about?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to my parents this weekend. I was going to go visit them for my dad's birthday, and I know they'd love to see you."

"Well, I'll have to ask Christian," she said, wondering how he would feel about that.

Jericho cringed a little as she said that, glad that she wasn't here to see it. She might not take to kindly to his new attitude towards Christian. Truth was, he wanted Stephanie to come with him this weekend so they could finally have that conversation that they were supposed to finish a long time ago. He was desperate now.

"Of course," Jericho said, trying to sound polite and not griping with her decision, "Let me know ok."

"I will," she said, smiling a little to herself, "I'll get back to you soon."

"Great," he said happily, "I'll talk to you in a while."

"You will."

Stephanie hung up the phone, glad that she was the one who answered the phone. She wanted to go with Jericho to his parent's, not just because she wanted to see them, but because she needed to talk with Jericho. There was just too much that she needed to know. Hopefully this weekend she could find out all those secrets.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud rumble and Christian's screaming. She bolted out of the room and ran towards the stairs. She was greeted with the sight of Christian hunched over his ankle and a thin stream of blood pouring from his forehead. Stephanie rushed to his side and looked him over.

"Christian, what happened?" she asked frantically, her gaze going from his leg to his face, checking him over and over.

"I tripped over something," he said in a daze, then looked up at the staircase, "I left my damn shoes up there and tripped on them."

"Oh my God, we have to get you to a hospital," she said, checking over his ankle, "Your ankle is already swelling, we need to go."

"No, no, I'm ok, I promise," he told her, "I don't need a doctor."

"Of course you do," she said, inspecting his forehead, "You might need stitches or something."

"Nah," he shrugged her off, "I'm fine."

He attempted to get himself up, but was having some difficulty so Stephanie helped him, letting him lean on her side. He tried to take a step, but found his ankle was still too tender and yelped in pain. Stephanie managed to help him over to couch with only a little difficulty. He sat down and she propped up his ankle on some of the pillows.

"You stay here, I'm going to go get you some ice and a first aid kit," she told him.

"Alright."

She left and went into the kitchen to grab a bag of ice, coming back out to put it on his swollen ankle. Now that she looked at it, it didn't seem too bad, maybe he had just strained it and not sprained it. She went into the bathroom and searched around, coming across the first aid kit and then came back out.

She sat down opposite Christian and turned his forehead towards her. He looked at her, a little embarrassed that he had fallen. She gave him a sympathetic look and started cleaning off his cut, making sure to wipe up the blood from his face. She saw that the cut wasn't as deep as she originally thought, it had just produced a lot of blood. She bandaged him up and gave him a pat on the knee.

"There, as good as new," she smiled.

"Thanks, I can't believe I fell like that."

"You're lucky you didn't get seriously hurt," she said, chastising him gently, "You could've broken your neck."

"Thanks for the sympathy Steph," he said, "Looks like I won't be going anywhere this weekend."

"You don't have to, I'll take care of you," she said, then thought about what Jericho had asked her just a short while before, "Damn it."

"What's wrong?" Christian asked.

"Chris asked me to go visit his parents this weekend with him…"

"So go," Christian said.

"But you, I can't leave you," she pointed out.

"I can take care of myself," he reassured her.

"No, it's fine, I'll just tell him that I can't go, he'll understand, I can't leave you here while you're injured."

"If you insist."

"I do insist," she said firmly, "I'll go tell Chris right now that I can't go."

"Thanks Stephanie, you really didn't have to stay with me," he told her, "I know that you really like Chris's parents."

"Yeah, but maybe it's better this way, Chris and I won't have to act all couple-y when we're not."

"But you guys, I thought that you were going to talk."

Stephanie sighed audibly and cast her eyes downward, "We haven't gotten to, it's no biggie, we'll talk eventually. I'll go call him and cancel while you stay here and rest. Do you want anything?"

"No thanks," he said, "Well, my cell phone actually, I was supposed to go out with Edge tonight, you know a brother thing, and now I have to cancel on him."

"I'll call him for you," she told him.

"Nah, you call Chris, and I'll call Edge and that way we can get all the phone calls out of the way," he said, giving her a boyish grin.

"Ok, where's your phone?"

"On the kitchen counter."

She went into the kitchen and grabbed his phone off the counter and then went back into the living room, tossing the phone to Christian. He caught it easily and then smiled at her in thanks. She went into the kitchen and grabbed the home phone, dialing Jericho's number. He answered on the second ring.

"Stephanie?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"So what did he say?"

"I'm sorry Chris, I can't go with you," she said, "I really want to but Christian--"

"He won't let you!" Jericho said, becoming incensed, "Are you fucking kidding me? How dare he--"

"Chris…Chris, sweetie, calm down," Stephanie said soothingly, "It's nothing like that."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"Christian just fell down the stairs," Stephanie explained, "He strained his ankle and I don't want him moving around a lot if he doesn't have to. You understand don't you?"

"Oh," Jericho said, suddenly subdued, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I know you didn't know, and that's ok, you're allowed to get angry, I'm kind of angry that I haven't gotten to talk to you and that I have to cancel."

"Now I have to think of something to tell my parents."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry Chris, you can just tell them that I'm with my mother this weekend," she suggested, "I mean, to spare their feelings if you want."

"That's a good one, I'll tell them that. I know they would've loved to see you though."

"I would've loved to see them too."

"Well, I guess since it's just me, I'll try to get a flight tonight, tell Christian I hope that he feels better," Jericho said.

"I'll be sure to tell him."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone, a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to go be with Jericho this weekend. Ok, that wasn't entirely true, she was a lot disappointed. She just wanted to talk to the man she loved, was that so difficult? Apparently, in this world it was very difficult. Oh well, one of these days she'd get to speak to him, and finally they would come to an understanding. Or so she hoped.

She got up, feeling a little down and went to grab a water from the fridge. She took a long sip from the bottle, trying to take her mind off of Jericho and their situation. Maybe she should just forget about it for a while. That seemed the best strategy at the moment. If she just didn't think about it, then for a little while it didn't need to exist.

She walked back into the living room and saw that Christian was still on the phone. She smiled at him as he gave her a smile and went back to his conversation. She sat on the chair facing the couch and grabbed a magazine off the coffee table. She flipped through it waiting for Christian to get off the phone.

"Ok, yeah Edge, sorry about tonight," Christian said into the phone, "We'll do it again sometime later. Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't have to tell me twice. Yeah, I know it was a stupid thing to do but it's not like I can completely control my actions you know. Ok, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Brothers huh?" Stephanie said, putting down her magazine.

"Yeah, you can't live with them, and you can pretty much live without them too," he laughed.

"So I guess that Edge took it a little hard."

"Nah, he understood for the most part, thought I was an idiot for falling down the stairs, but it's not my fault is it?"

"Well, you left your shoes there," she shrugged.

"You're supposed to push all of the blame on circumstance, not on me," he pointed out.

"Now where would the fun in that be?"

"You're the one who's no fun," he pouted.

"Oh, if that's the case, I'll just go with Chris to Canada," she said, starting to get up.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, how did the phone call go anyways?"

"He's fine, I guess, I know he was a little upset that I couldn't go, but I told him to make my excuses to his parents," she said, trying to smile bravely, "I just hope that everything works out for him."

Trish sat with Randy on the hotel room bed, sitting cross-legged. They were playing a card game and laughing. They had decided to just not go home for the weekend and spend the weekend together in time for the next show. It gave them time to just hang out and go sight-seeing, and most importantly get to know each other.

"So you have a lot of friends," Randy said, putting a card down.

"I'm popular," she said with a toss of the hair.

"That's cool, I think I have more enemies than friends around here."

"I think so too," she laughed.

"That wasn't very nice," Randy said, but he was laughing, "I guess it's just the image we project."

"Yeah, and you know, who you choose to ally yourself with."

"Was that a crack at Evolution?"

"It might've been, but then again, it might not have been."

"Well, I see you hanging out with Christian Jericho a lot, what's going on there? You two seem pretty chummy and he seems to want to be more than friends."

Trish smiled and looked down. Jericho wouldn't want her, he could never want her, not as long as Stephanie was around. Not that she minded, she thought, as she looked at the cute guy sitting across from her. Sometimes it amazed her that people couldn't see through the many acts her friends and her were pulling.

"I don't think he has feelings for me."

"But I've seen the way he looks at you," he said, "I mean, that's not a look of just friendship."

Trish put a hand on Randy's arm, "Trust me Randy, I think the farthest thing from Chris Jericho's mind is trying to get with me."

Jericho looked out the window of the plane. He was sorry that Christian had gotten hurt, but he was doubly sorry that Stephanie couldn't make the trip with him. It just seemed that they were never in the right place at the right time. Would there time ever come again? He wanted her more than anything, and he just had to fight harder to get her.

The plane landed and shortly thereafter he was at his parents house. He rang the doorbell and his father answered the door, his mother wiping her hands as she came out of the kitchen. She grinned when she saw him, and he could see her looking around expectantly expecting someone else to come walking to the door.

"Where's Stephanie?" Loretta asked.

"She went to visit her mom this weekend," Jericho explained, feeling bad about lying to his parents.

"Oh, that's too bad, I was hoping to see her," Ted said, "Next time then."

"Yeah, next time," Jericho echoed, "Hopefully."

"Well, come in out of the cold and tell us what's been going on," his mother said anxiously and he looked towards her, "Like any important news that you may have wanted to share with your parents."

He knew what she was talking about. The ring that still burned in his pocket, she wanted to know if he had put that ring on Stephanie's finger. He hadn't gotten the privilege to even ask, let alone give her the ring. He didn't want to disappoint his parents though, and would keep his melancholy to himself, at least for now.

"You really didn't have to stay here with me, you know."

"I know, I wanted to," Stephanie said.

"But I know how much going with Chris meant to you, my ankle is fine, I could've taken care of myself."

"Christian, I'm fine with not going. I'll see Chris next Monday anyways. We still have a lot of things we need to discuss, but you're hurt and this is where I need to be right now."

"I really appreciate it. You're a good friend, Chris is really lucky to have you."

"Chris doesn't exactly have me if you have forgotten," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, but you know it's only a matter of time."

"Maybe," she said, then smiled, "Yeah, you're right, it's only a matter of time."

"So are you going to want a big wedding?"

"I don't know," she said, then saw Christian's look, "Ok, yeah, I think I deserve a big wedding, especially with how my last wedding went. Or lack thereof."

"Which one would that be, the first one or the second one?"

"Both, I mean, they were both disasters. I just want one where everything goes well and nobody interrupts or no revelations come out at the last moment."

"That sounds nice," he smiled.

"Yeah, I guess we'll just see what fate has in store for me right?"

"You know, I think things will work out for you," he said mysteriously, "I really do."

She patted her leg, "Thanks for the support. Now I just need Chris back."

Jericho walked into his parent's kitchen, going straight for the fridge. He grabbed a beer and then an apple, taking a bite from it messily, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. His mother hit his arm and gave him a napkin. He wiped his mouth properly and she gestured for him to sit down at the table with him.

"So have you asked Stephanie yet?" she asked as soon as he sat down.

"No, not yet Mom," he said, trying to sound upbeat.

"Why haven't you?"

"It's a bit complicated."

"Well…"

"You see, we're…not exactly together right now," Jericho said, just coming right out with it.

"You broke up!?!" his mother said in alarm, "But you bought the ring and you two were so happy, what happened?"

"I'm trying to get her job back."

"And you broke up over that?"

"Not exactly, you see, it's all part of this silly plan with Trish, and Stephanie doesn't know about it, and now she's with Christian."

"Your friend Christian?"

"Yeah," Jericho said, laughing at the irony of the situation, "Can you believe it Mom? I mean, Stephanie and Christian, it's like they ripped my heart out and now I'm forced to watch as they crush it."

"What if she's just waiting for you to come back to her?"

He looked at her, "If only that were the case."

"Who's to say it isn't?"

Trish sat next to Randy as they watched the movie that they had bought. He reached out tentatively and grabbed her hand. She just smiled to herself and let him hold her hand. She tried not to appear too excited, lest he figure it out and embarrass her. She just kept watching the movie, occasionally glancing down at their hands.

"So you and Christian?" he asked softly.

Trish turned her head to look at him suspiciously, "What about Christian and I?"

"You two? Is it really over between you two? I mean, just for the record of course."

"Yeah, it's over between us," she said, her voice funny, but that could've just been from his question, "There's no romance there, none at all."

"Good," Randy said, "Then it makes this a little easier to do."

With that, he leaned over to kiss her softly. She wasn't expecting it and froze when his lips touched hers. But after the shock wore off, she welcomed it happily and returned it with a vigor. They sat there kissing for a few moments before she pulled away. He gave her a smile that she returned.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that, that's for sure," she told him.

"I couldn't help myself," he told her.

"Well, I guess that's ok."

"You didn't like it?" he said, giving her a cute little pout.

"Whoa now, I never said that," she told him, "I mean, how could I not like a kiss from someone as cute as you."

"Aww," he cooed, "You think I'm cute, I'm so flattered."

"And you should be, I mean, I'm a picky, picky girl, I don't let just any guy kiss me you know."

"Wow, that's a surprise, considering some of the guys I've seen you with in the past."

She gave him a look that said he was treading on thin ice. She had worked hard to get the stench of the past off of her. He looked regretful as he saw her face, and she hoped that he was regretting what he had said.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"It's alright," she said, smiling a little, "You just didn't think before you spoke."

"I'll try not to stick my foot in my mouth next time."

"Good," she said, "And I'll try not to be so uptight."

"Can I kiss you again?" he asked.

"I'd be insulted if you didn't."


	179. Raw, February 9, 2004

"So I heard that Vince was going to be at the show tonight."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Through the grapevine."

"Come on Trish," Jericho begged, "Tell me where you heard it."

"Chris, you know that there are many loose-lipped people in the company, people were practically foaming at the mouth to tell the news."

"Why am I always the last to know shit?"

"Because you're too busy moping around over Stephanie to care what anyone else thinks? But that's just a wild guess, who knows if that's true," she shrugged.

"You're not funny Trish."

"Damn it, I was hoping it was rubbing off."

"From who? Randy? I get the feeling that you two are rubbing other things," he smirked.

"Was that an implication that I am sleeping with him?"

"No, of course not, it was just a guess, we're all about guessing tonight aren't we?"

"You don't like Randy huh?" she asked.

"I'm not going to say that I love the guy and I want to be with him or anything," he said.

"Well, I'm hoping you don't want to be with him," Trish pointed out, "Because there's no way that I could compete with you, you'd totally beat me out."

"Yeah, I know, I think it's because I have better hair than you do."

"We can all have the perfect hair Chris."

"It's not perfect…much."

"So why don't you like Randy?"

"I didn't say I didn't like him."

"Yeah, but I could tell that you didn't, so tell me what you think is wrong with him. I'm not going to get mad at you if you tell me something bad. I like to think I have an open mind about these things."

"He's kind of a jerk," Jericho said, wasting no time, "And he's cocky."

"You're cocky." Trish told him.

"Not like that," Jericho countered.

"And he's not a jerk!"

"Well, he doesn't exactly hang out with the best bunch of guys you know."

"Look, he's not defined by the guys that he hangs out with," she told him, "He's a good guy, he just has bad friends, that doesn't mean he's a bad guy."

"Trish, he's Hunter's protégé, what do you think that means?" Jericho said, "It means that Hunter is breeding him to be exactly how he wants him to be, what about when Hunter decides that Randy should be a player and he drops you like a bad habit?"

"We're not together," she said ineffectually.

"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time right? Because things around here, it's only a matter of time, and I don't want you to get hurt. Trish, he's going to end up just like Hunter, and look what he did to Stephanie. He broke her, and I had to help her, do you want to end up like that?"

"You don't know him Chris, you haven't seen the side of him that I've seen," Trish said softly, "He's a good guy, I know it."

"How do you know he's not acting like he's a good guy?"

Trish thought for a moment. She knew that Randy was way better than anybody ever gave him credit for. He was sweet and kind, and he liked her. She couldn't ignore the growing feelings she was having towards him. That little flutter he sent through her whenever he was around her. She might get her heart broken in the end, but that was true of any relationship. Right now, she had to trust him, because he had never given her reason to question his trust.

"Because I believe him when he tells me things. I believe him like I'd believe something you'd say. You could tell me right now that you love Stephanie with all your heart, and I have no reason not to believe you. The same goes with Randy, I have no reason not to believe what he tells me is true. If he tells me that he is not the jerk that we see on the outside, then I'm going to believe him."

"Just don't get hurt Trish," Jericho told her, patting her shoulder, "You're one of my best friends, and the last thing I want you to have to endure is a world of hurt."

"I appreciate that Chris," she said, giving him a big hug for his advice, "I'm glad you told me how you were feeling. It may not seem like it, but I do take what you say into account, but I'm going to have to go with my gut on this one."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sure if someone had told me not to date Stephanie, I would've been just as defiant."

"Yeah, but nobody was around to tell you that one," she said slyly, "Because you two just decided to get together behind everyone's backs."

"It wasn't my decision," he shrugged, "But I'm not unhappy with how it all turned out."

"So how was your parents?" Trish asked, knowing that Stephanie had been stuck with Christian all weekend.

"Boring without Stephanie. I told my mom about what was going on, and she reassured me that what I was doing was the right thing. I thought she'd be more upset, but she understood."

Trish nodded and smiled, that was a good thing that his mother had agreed with what they were doing. It would make things a lot easier on her and her partner-in-crime. She smiled at Jericho, their plan was going, slowly, but it was going. That brought her back to what she had wanted to discuss in the first place.

"I'm glad she understood," Trish said, "But I have to bring something up that I wanted to bring up earlier, before we got side-tracked."

"And what is that?"

"Vince is going to be at the show tonight."

"Yeah, you told me already. I mean, I guess if I were still with Stephanie I'd hide her out here, but she doesn't need to hide because she's with Christian."

"Chris, I don't think you get where I'm going with this one," Trish said, "Vince is going to be at the SHOW."

"So?"

"Tonight, Vince, show, where we will be," she said, hoping he'd catch on.

"I'm not getting you," he said, confused.

"Oh my God," she said, frustrated now, "Vince is going to be there, we should go talk to him, you know, about getting Stephanie her job back."

"Tonight?"

"Yeah tonight, duh Chris."

"But I don't even have a speech or anything prepared, what would I say to him? I mean, I don't know what to say!"

"Chris, it's not that difficult, you ask for Stephanie's job back."

"But I mean, I have to say it with an indifferent voice. I haven't even practiced my indignant voice!"

"Chris," she said, shaking him by the shoulders, "We'll just go in and talk, you don't need to prepare a speech for the man."

"But what if I screw up and tell him I love her, then she'll never come back!"

"Sure she will, she'll come back on your arm."

"Yeah…my arm…"

He could almost picture it now. Stephanie, as his wife, coming to the show with him, traveling with him, them together all the time. Then eventually she'd get her job back and they would rule WWE and bring it back to prominence. He could almost get caught up in his fantasies. He would've if Trish hadn't shoved him in the arm to get his attention.

"So, you in?"

"Yeah, I'm in," he said without a hint of hesitation, "I'm so in."

Stephanie stared at the ceiling. She wasn't sure she was ready for another confrontation with her father. She knew he would be there tonight, Christian had heard it from someone, though he wasn't telling her who exactly he had heard it from. That was weird, he told her everything. But that wasn't the point at the moment. The point was that she was probably going to have another confrontation with her father and she wasn't sure that she was prepared for that.

"Stephanie, are you not going to come tonight?" Christian asked, already ready for the show, bag slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she said, "I won't be scared away by my father."

"That's a good attitude to take," he commended.

"Are you going to wrestle tonight?" she asked, looking over at him tonight.

"If I'm scheduled then I am," he said.

"You can't, your ankle."

"I have it taped up really well, so I should be fine," he said, "But thanks for your concern. I know that you didn't exactly want to stay with me this weekend, but I'm glad you did."

"It's fine Christian, after everything you've done for me, it's the least I can do."

"Yeah, so you coming?"

She got up off the couch, "Let's go."

Trish and Jericho walked into the arena, looking for his dressing room. They were in separate dressing rooms and Jericho needed a little bit of time to focus on what he was going to say to Vince tonight. He knew that it was going to be tough, but this was for Stephanie, and he had to be brave. Hell, he had faced tougher…ok, that wasn't right, he had never faced Vince McMahon when Stephanie was on the line.

"You'll be fine," Trish whispered to him, "I know you will. And I'll be there to help you."

"I know, but still, this is scary," he whispered back.

"Don't worry, we'll make it through."

Jericho spotted Orton up ahead of them and he was looking secretly over at the two of them. Jericho could note a sliver of jealousy in his eyes. Seems that Orton was jealous of him, that was rich. He nudged Trish a little and she looked up at him, wondering if he was going to try and back out of talking to Vince. He gave a quick glance to Orton and then gave Trish a knowing look.

"Your boyfriend is looking at you."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh, then fuck buddy?"

Trish put her hands on her hips, "No!"

"Oops, did I strike a nerve?" he asked innocently.

"Oh shove it up your ass," she told him, sticking her tongue out, "I'm going to go talk to Randy, you go regroup in your room and we'll meet in like half an hour and go and talk to him alright?"

"Ok, that should be enough time," Jericho nodded, "Let's hope at least."

"You'll be great," she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

"You did that on purpose to make Randy jealous."

"All's fair in love and war," she winked.

She gave Jericho a smile before walking up to Randy. He looked at her a bit skeptically, wondering just what it was that she had with Jericho. She had told him time and time again that they were really just friends, but they always seemed closer than that. It was like they were in on some little secret that only they knew. He wished that he could have that kind of intimacy with Trish, but he guessed that would take time. Instead of dwelling on that, he embraced her tightly.

"What a warm welcome," she muttered into his neck as he actually lifted her off the ground.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Yeah, this morning for breakfast," she laughed, "I didn't know you could miss me that much."

"I did, and I do," he told her.

"So what are you doing tonight?"

"That's for me to know and for you to watch me do," he told her, smirking slightly.

"That's code for I don't want to know because I will probably not like it one bit right?"

"You are correct ma'am," he said, "But don't worry about it alright, what happens on the show and what happens off the show are two separate things."

"I know that," she said, "And I don't really care what you do. You forget that I dated Christian and he wasn't exactly the nicest guy on the planet when he was wrestling."

"That's right," Orton said, "Well, I guess that makes things a lot easier on me."

"Good."

"Now if I could only figure out what you and Chris are up to," he mused.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, you guys just seem to have something, I don't know what, but I want to find out."

She kissed his chin, "Don't worry about Chris and I. We're something different, he's just my friend, and won't ever be anymore."

"But what are you two doing together. I know a plan when I see one Trish," Orton told her, "You forget that I'm with Evolution, and we can be master planners when we want to be. I see the looks you send each other."

Trish couldn't tell him what was up. Frankly, she didn't quite trust him enough to tell him the entire truth. Not to mention if she did, she might scare him away. There were so many secrets he didn't know about, he could never know about. Worst of all, if he knew, then he might go tell Hunter, and Hunter would not hesitate to retaliate, and possibly bring Vince into the mix.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," she said simply, "But you know nothing alright?"

"Ok, I know nothing," he said, "I do know something, but for you, I know nothing."

"Good," she said, kissing him fully, "Because that's the way it has to stay. You can have your secrets, and I have mine, at least for now."

"Will your secret ever come to light?"

"Oh, it'll come to light alright," she said as she grabbed his hand and started walking to the women's locker room, "But you'll be surprised like everyone else."

"Goodie," he deadpanned.

"Wow, this was something I never expected to see," a male voice said from behind Trish and Orton.

Trish turned around and saw Christian and Stephanie, holding hands no less. She gave Christian a look and he gave one right back to her. She quickly looked away and found her staring into the cold eyes of Stephanie. Seemed she was still a little miffed that she had no idea what Jericho was up to.

"And why is that?" Trish asked.

"Just didn't expect you to be with him," Christian shrugged, "Or maybe I did, who knows really."

"Well, I never expected to see you with Stephanie McMahon," Trish said, "You know, given the circumstances."

Orton had a feeling he was missing some information in this little conversation, but kept his mouth shut. He at least knew how to do that, even if he hardly kept it shut at any other time. He thought that Trish and Christian were over each other. He wasn't so sure looking at them, but there was something there, he didn't know what, but there was something. He was an observant son of a bitch, that was for sure.

"Well, I couldn't very well ignore his feelings for me," Stephanie said sweetly, leaning up to kiss Christian.

"Of course not," Trish said, grinning at Christian, "Of course not."

"Why are you so happy?" Stephanie asked.

"Oh, no reason Stephanie, don't worry about it. Bye you two, I guess we'll see you around," she said, giving one last look to Stephanie and then Christian as she pulled Orton down the hall.

"What was that all about?" Stephanie asked, "She was acting weird."

"Really, you think so?" he asked, "She seemed pretty normal to me."

"Well, you do know her better than me, so I guess I'll your word for it."

"Good."

"I want to go get some coffee," Stephanie said, "I didn't sleep well last night, I'll meet up with you in a little while ok?"

"Are you going to go talk to Chris?" he asked suspiciously.

"No," she shook her head to emphasize her point, "I just need something with caffeine in it."

"Ok, I'll see in you in a while."

Stephanie went off on her own to search for catering. It was a little chilly in the arena and she wrapped her arms around herself to try and warm up. She should've bundled herself up better, she thought, looking down at her short sleeved shirt. Maybe the air conditioning was on really high or something. Something was making her cold, that was all she knew.

"You again?"

Oh, that's what was causing her to feel the cold, "Yes Dad, me again."

"Still with Christian?"

"Yes Dad, I'm still with Christian," she answered in monotone, making it very clear that she didn't want to talk to him.

"You know, it doesn't surprise me that you would leech onto a wrestler in your time of need," he told her, "I know you want back in the company Stephanie, but Christian, we both know you could do better."

"Are you saying that Christian isn't that good?"

"Yes, exactly," he smiled, but it was definitely evil, "Of course, since you are gutter trash, you probably are going a step up. What was I thinking before, you can't do better."

"Oh Dad, that was really hilarious, I mean, you sure know how to get one over on me."

"And here I thought you'd be begging for your job back."

"I'm not worried Dad, because one day, you will die. And on that day, probably the happiest of my life, I'll have the company, and there is nothing you'll be able to do about it, because, if I recall what you said a while ago, you'll have maggots eating you. Oh, that is a wonderful thought."

Vince stepped closer to Stephanie, "If you think for one second I would leave any of the company to you, you're dead wrong."

"Doesn't matter Dad," Stephanie said sweetly, "Mommy will own all of the company anyways, and I'll be reinstated."

"Not on your life," he said dangerously.

"Watch me," she challenged.

"This wench bothering you Mr. McMahon," Heyman said walking up to them.

"As a matter of fact, she is," Vince said, "Mind taking care of her for me?"

"With pleasure," Heyman said smarmily.

He took a couple of steps towards Stephanie and she took a couple of steps back. She was revolted by Heyman, she always had been. She had even hated him when she was on the same side as him. He always seemed creepy to her, and now was no exception. He was leering at her, and she winced as she wondered what exactly her father was going to have them do to her.

"Ok, break this up."

Stephanie looked to see who had saved her and she was not surprised to see Jericho standing there, angry. He was her hero, every time she was in trouble, there he'd be. He was always watching over her. She smiled gratefully at him as he came closer to the little group.

"I said break it up, obviously you two don't know how to treat a woman," Jericho said.

"Jericho, do you know how to mind your own business?" Heyman said, "We're busy here."

"I've seen you with Trish," Vince said, "Seems she's turned you soft Chris, break away from her. Let's go Paul."

The two of them walked away and Stephanie turned to Jericho, "Thanks Chris."

"You're welcome," he shrugged, "Least I could do."

"Well, thanks again," she said, giving him a hug, "I better go."

"Yeah, I've got things to do anyways."

"Yeah, me too…"

Jericho watched her walk away and then went off in search of Trish. Now was as good a time as any to go talk to Vince. He was already seeing the softer side of his personality and blamed it on Trish. If they could carry this into the meeting with Vince, Stephanie was as good as in. He found Trish giggling with Orton outside of the women's locker room.

"Oh Chris," Trish said as he came over, "We have a mixed tag tonight against Molly and Matt Hardy, fun huh?"

"Yeah, fun," he said, "Let's go strategize."

Trish knew what he meant and nodded, "Yeah, we should. Randy, I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, we'll meet up after the show," he told her, then kissed her, "Later."

"Bye," she whispered against his lips.

She pulled away and kissed his cheek before walking off with Jericho. He looked at her as they walked, a look of anger on his face, though it was barely noticeable. She looked at him and saw his face. She stopped and then stopped him with a hand, wanting to know what was wrong.

"Chris, what's up?"

"You were kissing Randy," he told her, as if that was all the explanation she needed.

"Yeah, so? I mean, we're kind of dating now."

"Trish, we're supposed to act like a couple to pull this off and you're with Randy!"

"Chris, it's ok, Randy and I haven't even told anyone."

"Yeah and you kissing in the hallway isn't going to draw any attention at all," he said sarcastically.

"Fine, we'll keep it behind closed doors," she said, "Besides, hopefully this will be over soon."

"Yeah, hopefully," he said.

They began walking again to Vince's private room. They knocked on the door and Vince himself answered. He looked glad to see Jericho, but perturbed to see Trish. He let them enter, and Jericho saw that Heyman wasn't here. That was a good sign.

"What can I do for you Chris?"

"Well, we wanted to talk to you," Jericho answered, "Trish and I."

"Oh, I didn't know you were a couple."

"Well, we're friends," Jericho said, "Good friends."

Vince smirked, "Yeah, we were good friends too, right Trish?"

Trish shuddered, she wanted forget that part of her life for good. She wasn't that girl anymore, and she wouldn't be again if she had any say in it. Jericho sat across from Vince and just looked at the man. Trish sat next to Chris, giving the air that they were together.

"That's not the point," Jericho interjected, "We're here on the basis that we want to ask you a favor. Actually, I want to ask you a favor."

"Oh, is that so?"

"We're friends Vince," Jericho started, "I've saved your ass a bunch of times, and you know it. I've done your dirty work many times, and I think you owe me."

"Owe you? Oh, I owe you? Yeah, because employing you isn't enough."

"I've gone above and beyond your expectations, and I want a favor."

"What's the favor?"

Jericho gulped and just came out with it, "Give Stephanie her job back."

Vince burst into laughter, "Oh, that was a good one Chris, very good, but seriously, what favor?"

"You heard me, give Stephanie her job back, or any job where she gets to be in the company."

"Why do you care about her?" Vince asked suspiciously, "Do you still have feelings for her? I told you that you are forbidden to see her!"

"It was my idea," Trish piped in, "Chris sees now that being a good guy is better, and I saw that Stephanie was missing the show and I know that Chris is your friend and I asked him."

"Oh, so you let her make your decisions now?"

"No," Jericho said, "But I want to help Stephanie. I USED to like her, but I don't anymore, as you can clearly see. I'm just asking as a friend."

"I think you care about Stephanie," Vince said, "You care about her, and I won't stand for that! Get out of here! NOW!"

Jericho sighed, and looked at him, "You can question me all you want, but I swear I have no feelings for your daughter."

"So you say Chris, but I don't believe you," Vince said, "Come back when you're actually convincing."

Jericho grabbed Trish and kissed her deeply. Trish gasped against his lips and then kissed him back eagerly. Or at least eagerly enough to make it look like she wanted to kiss him. She was actually picturing Orton, but nobody needed to know that. Jericho pulled away roughly and looked at Vince.

"Believe it Vince," Jericho said smugly.

"Well, I see that you may be over her, I may take it into consideration," Vince smirked, "Now get out."

They walked out of the room triumphantly and practically ran to Jericho's locker room. Once inside, Trish squealed and jumped into Jericho's arms. This felt like a victory to them and he hugged her tightly, spinning her around in excitement.

"Oh my God, that was great!" Jericho exclaimed.

"It was! We done good," she said giddily.

"He HAS to give it back to her now," he said, "He just has to."

"Well, he did say maybe, so we're going to have to keep going with what we've been doing."

"Of course, we can even step it up, maybe do some other couple-y things now and then Vince will have no choice but to believe."

"Yeah, so we have to go full out on this Chris, are you ready for that?" Trish asked.

"I think so."

"This means that you can't really be around Stephanie, are you prepared for that?"

"Yeah, we're this close," he said, "So close I can taste it. I can stay away from her because I see the end."

"Ok, great, now I have to go talk to someone right now, but you just celebrate ok."

"Ok, and say hi to Randy for me," he smirked.

She shook her head and left. Jericho sat back and smiled to himself. God, were those tears of happiness coming to his eyes. He could see the light at the end of the long tunnel. Things were going great. It was going to be hard staying away from Stephanie. Very difficult, seeing her every week, but not talking to her. What if she got the wrong idea? No, he had to remain firm. He noticed the show starting. Time had passed awfully quickly.

He got dressed for his match, knowing that it was coming up really soon. They were scheduled as the first match. He walked out of the dressing room, looking for Trish. She wasn't anywhere to be found, so he kept searching. He finally saw her coming out of a dressing room down the hall.

"Yeah, so I'll see you later," she said, "Definitely do that for me."

"Hey Trish!" Jericho called out, "Our match is like next!"

"Oh," Trish said, "We'll talk alright, I have a match."

Trish jogged down to where Jericho was waiting for her, "Ooh, no goodbye kiss for Randy?"

"No," Trish said uncomfortably, "No kiss."

"Too bad," he joked.

"Geez, someone's mood has brightened considerably."

"Well, you know, things happen to make you feel better," he said as he escorted her out to the gorilla, "Ladies first."

"Why thank you," she said as her music started, "Now let's go out there and show them what we're made of shall we?"

Trish went out first and waited for Jericho to get down to the ring. Then they waited for their opponents of the evening. He and Matt Hardy started out the match, grappling with each other for a little while. They traded basic moves fro a while, before Jericho got on the offensive, trying to lock Matt in the Walls, but he got to the ropes before he could.

Matt tagged in Molly and he came face to face with his ex-girlfriend. That was so weird thinking about that now. He had never loved Molly, or even really liked her all that much. She was a distraction from Stephanie. He slapped her ass, attempting to be funny before tagging in Trish.

Trish was happing to get her hands on the slut that had helped her break up with Christian. Trish got in a suplex on her, and was definitely in control as the two sparred with each other. She still harbored anger and resentment for what she had down with Christian, though it seemed so long ago now. The hurt really did cut deep. Molly got the upper-hand for a while, but it didn't last as Trish tagged in Jericho.

He got the tag and went after Matt, knocking him on the mat and getting in some good offense. He got in a good missile dropkick off the second rope, then later tried to give Matt a plancha from in the ring. Matt moved out of the way and Jericho landed on his leg, and he could feel it straining. He limped a bit before Matt got a hold of him and threw him into the steps. He grabbed his knee, which was now flaring up with pain.

He lay there in pain, wondering what was going on in the ring. He managed to see Christian coming down to help Trish. Jericho was most shocked about that. Christian helping them, when had that happened? He didn't even want to think of Christian as a good guy. It was so much easier thinking of him as the man who had stolen his girlfriend.

Trish won the match and immediately went to Jericho's side, as he leaned against the barrier, still holding his knee in pain, "Chris, is everything ok?"

"No, I'm in a lot of pain," he said through gritted teeth.

A couple of trainers came down and helped Jericho to the back. Trish went with him, not even caring that this was being couple-y, but actually concerned for her friend. The trainer checked out his knee and told him they really couldn't tell if it was sprained or worse. He sat there, biting his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain.

"Are you going to be ok?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, giving her a strained smile.

"I don't want to leave you," she said.

"Go ahead, I'm fine, you know you want to go find Randy."

"Yeah, but you're hurt."

"It's fine, I'll be fine," he reassured her, just go.

Trish nodded and left, giving him one last look and her practically shooed her away. She turned and was surprised to see Christian there. Well, not that surprised, he had just shown up in front of her, startling a little. He looked at her, and she looked at him and then he started talking and she listened attentively, trying not to smile at his words, that wouldn't have been too good.

He turned to her and told her she was looking good, and that sentence genuinely surprised her. Most of what he said, she had expected to hear, but that sentence took her by surprise, he seemed so sincere, and almost a bit wistful. She knew that she wasn't completely over him, she never would be, but now she could see that he wasn't exactly over her. It made her smile a little as she turned to go find Randy.

Christian went inside the room and saw Jericho sitting there, looking down at his knee. He was obviously angry as he stared at it. Jericho was almost invincible, never getting hurt seriously, so this had to be a blow. Christian cleared his throat and Jericho looked up. His look was filled with contempt, but Christian didn't know if it was for him or for Matt Hardy injuring him.

"I just came to see how you were," Christian said.

"What the hell was that out there?" Jericho asked.

"Well, you see," Christian started, "I thought since you saved my girlfriend earlier, I'd do something nice for you."

"Oh, so she told you about it huh?"

"Well, she does tell me lots of things," Christian said, "And here's something I want to tell you."

"What?" Jericho asked testily.

"Stay the hell away from Stephanie. I don't know what you're trying to pull with her, if you're just fucking jealous of the two of us or something, but I want you to stay away from her. And if I do catch you anywhere near her, I will kick your ass."

"She's not your property," Jericho spat out.

"Stop the cutesy act Jericho," Christian snapped, "I know that you want her back, but I'm not going to let that happen. She's a thousand times happier now, and I'm not going to let you walk all over her again."

Jericho hopped off the table, wincing at the pain in his knee, but not caring. He stepped up to come face to face with Christian, his eyes flashing as a fire ignited in him. Christian had just stepped over the proverbial line, and he needed to know what was what around here.

"Don't you dare tell me that I walked all over her!"

"Well, you did didn't you? I guess that's why you couldn't keep her."

Jericho reared back to punch Christian, but stopped himself, "You're not even worth it."

"Just stay away from her Jericho, if you know what's good for you."

Christian turned to leave and smirked to himself as he left. That had gone just as he had hoped it would. He slammed the door behind him and went off to his dressing room. Now that, that was over, he and Stephanie could go back to the hotel, it would be easier to hang out there.

Stephanie was tired of seeing Jericho get hurt; it was wracking her nerves. She walked to the trainer's room and knocked softly. Jericho figured it was Christian again and limped over to the door, throwing it open. His face softened as he saw Stephanie standing there.

"You need to stop getting hurt," she said lightly, walking in, "You're going to give me gray hairs."

Jericho thought back to the plan and how he needed to stay away from Stephanie. He also thought of those threats Christian had given him. He had been dead serious. He did need to stay away from her. But here she was, and he found himself drawn to her once again. What kind of pull did she have on him?

"Stephanie, I'm fine, don't worry."

"Trish said that you might have sprained your knee," she said, "I saw it on the television."

"Yeah, I don't think it's that," he told her, "You better go though, I think Christian is looking for you."

"Oh, I was hoping that we could finish that conversation finally."

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't right now. He could soon though, God willing, if Vince let her have her job back. He smiled at her sadly, and then pulled his tights over his knee. She looked at him expectantly, expecting him to grab her hand and take her somewhere more private.

"I forgot what I wanted to talk about," he shrugged.

"You forgot?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know, stupid huh?" he said, "Oh well, we'll talk later or something. You better go find Christian."

"Oh, well, I guess if that's what you want."

"Yeah, I mean, we're both busy people, better not get too caught up or anything," he said indifferently. That was harder to do than he thought it would be.

She nodded, looking down, "Yeah, we wouldn't want that. Well, I guess I'll see you around then Chris."

"Yeah, around, or something," he said, limping past her, and out into the hallway, going back to his dressing room.

"What the hell was that?" Stephanie muttered to herself as she stood there alone. Jericho leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Just a little longer Stephanie, and then you'll know."


	180. SmackDown, February 12, 2004

A/N: ::runs in frantically:: Sorry, sorry, sorry for not having this up sooner. Last night, we had a black-out over here ::sigh:: and I couldn't get on until recently, so bleh to lack of electricity. I got this up as soon as I could and I hope that you like it. :)

Sorry again!

* * *

"So what do you want to do for Valentine's Day?"

"You want to do something with me?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, of course, I mean, you are my fake girlfriend, I figure that I can at least do something nice for you, you know?" Christian said, shrugging, "I thought it would be nice and all that."

"You don't have to do anything for me," Stephanie answered.

"But I want to, so tell me, what is it that you want me to do?"

"Nothing," Stephanie told him.

"Is this because of you and Chris?"

"No, this has nothing to do with Chris and I," Stephanie explained, "It has to do with the fact that I hate the day is all."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, Chris had to go through a helluva lot last year to do something nice for you."

Stephanie thought back to last year. Had a year really passed since then? It seemed that time went faster when she was with Jericho. Or maybe it was as the old adage said, "time flies when you're having fun." Time did seem to flow slower now that she wasn't with Jericho. It was funny how life worked out sometimes.

"Yeah, it was nice," she mused, a small smile peeking from her lips.

"So why can't we do something nice? Come on, it's not like I have anyone either," he said, "Just single me."

"What'd you do with Trish last year?" Stephanie asked.

"We stayed in bed all day, and I made her dinner and stuff," Christian said as if it were nothing, "It really wasn't anything special."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Stephanie said, "It must still be a sore subject with you."

"No, not really, I know Trish and I are over, and I'm fine with that actually," Christian said, giving her a smile to prove his point, "I mean, yeah, part of me still loves her, but you know, I'm glad she could move on."

"Are you sorry that she's not moving on with you?"

"You know, at first, I thought I'd be really pissed if she started going out with anyone, but now it's like, I should be happy for her."

"Yeah, I like to think that I'd be happy for Chris if he ever started dating anyone else."

"That's not going to happen."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Trust me Stephanie, the man isn't going to find anyone else because he loves you and cares about you," Christian told her, "And if you believe otherwise than you are a fool."

"How are you so sure of yourself?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly at him.

"I have my ways," he said knowingly, "I have my ways."

Trish stood at her front door. Randy had just surprised her again and she couldn't help but feel this was going to be a trend with him. He was impetuous like that, and she had to begrudgingly admire him for that, even if she didn't want to sometimes. He was holding a rose in front of him with that innocent smile he used sometimes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Came to spend Valentine's Day with you," he said, giving her a wider smile in the process.

"Oh really? And I don't have any say in this?"

"Not really because I'm already here, unless you want to throw me out, but you don't want to do that do you?"

She gave him a look, "Why should I let you stay?"

"Well, because I wanted to spend time with you, and I was under the impression that we were kind of dating right now…"

"Yeah, I guess you can say we kind of are," she relented, "But only kind of, I'm still getting to know you Randy Orton."

"That's the fun part isn't it? Because I'm just so great that you want to get to know me."

"You know, I thought I had it bad when I dealt with Chris, but you Randy, you top everyone I know in the ego department."

He laughed, "Then you obviously don't know Hunter all that well do you? Talk about your egos."

"You know, I like you much better when you're snarking on your fellow members of Evolution," she said, "It makes you seem more human that way."

"What was I before? An alien?"

She made a face, "No, I didn't say that, you just, you guys put yourselves on a higher pedestal than everyone else, and it gets a little tiresome."

"I know," he said, "It's part of the persona…so can I come in now?"

"Yeah, you know I wasn't going to send you away. Spending time with you is better than spending time by myself," she said, letting him come inside.

"That almost sounded like an insult," he said, walking inside.

"It wasn't," she replied, "I was just going to eat, you wanna join me?"

"What were you having?"

"I ordered a pizza," she said, then saw his face, "No, I wasn't going to eat the entire thing by myself, I just eat what I can and have the leftovers the next day."

He laughed, "I didn't say anything!"

"But you were going to."

She walked to the kitchen and he followed after her, trying not to check her out in her short gym shorts and tight top. It was pretty warm in the house so he didn't think she was crazy for wearing those clothes in winter. She went and sat on a stool that was next to the counter and he joined her on the stool next to him. She grabbed a couple pieces of pizza and put them on some plates before they began eating.

"You know, I think it would be pretty humbling for the fans if they saw us right now, sitting here, just eating pizza and doing nothing," Randy said.

"Fans? I was under the impression you had no fans," she joked.

He laughed, despite himself, "You know, you're probably right. I don't think I have too many fans. Goes with the territory I suppose."

"Have you ever thought about breaking it off with them, you know, branching out on your own? I think you're talented enough to pull it off."

"I'm sure the time will come when I have to make that choice," he said, taking a bite of his pizza and chewing slowly, "But I'm happy with where I am now actually, I mean, it's nice to have that support group."

"Maybe if you went out on your own, I could be like your partner or something," she told him.

"Like the way you're Chris's?"

"You can say that," she nodded, "But I mean, in a more…romantic sense."

"Oh," he said, raising an eyebrow, "I could definitely deal with that."

They talked the rest of the night, watching a movie together. When the night was through, she showed him to one of her guest bedrooms. Turns out he had packed for the weekend and not told her. She had just laughed and thrown a pillow at him. She smiled to herself before she fell asleep. She hadn't felt this good around a guy since…since well Christian.

Christian awoke the next morning, Valentine's Day, and tried to think of something to do with Stephanie, or for Stephanie. He knew that she wasn't particularly fond of the day, calling it too "commercial," which it essentially was, but he still wanted to do something nice for her. He had heard what Jericho had told her on Monday, and could tell she was a little down that she never got to finish her conversation with Jericho.

He just wanted to lighten her spirits some way, but he didn't know what to do for her. He couldn't go real romantic, because they weren't actually together, and he didn't want to step on anyone's toes. He could just do something nice for her, or get her something that she liked. There was always the route of just doing nothing like she asked, but he shook that one off quickly, he was going to do something for her.

He got out of bed, and decided that making her breakfast in bed sounded like a nice thing to do. He could remember when he used to do that for Trish and she loved it. He smiled to himself, thinking that he had come up with a brilliant plan. He went into the kitchen and started gathering up some things to make pancakes. He followed the recipe on the back of the pancake mix, and with only a few burned pancakes under his belt, he was able to make a pretty good breakfast. He remembered that Stephanie liked bacon and apple juice so he made her some of that as well.

He grabbed a tray and set everything on it. Something was missing though, he just couldn't figure out what. He tapped his chin, thinking about it for a moment, then it came to him. He ran out into his backyard and plucked a flower right out of the ground, dusting the dirt off before running inside. He grabbed a small vase, something Trish had left behind, and stuck it in there, and onto the tray. Smiling in satisfaction, he took it upstairs.

Stephanie was still sleeping when he walked in, or at least she was giving a good imitation of it. She had her back to him, and her breathing was still rhythmic in nature. He set the tray down on the dresser and then went over to her side of the bed where she was facing the window. He kneeled next to the bed and gently shook her with his arm. She mumbled, but didn't wake up. He shook her again.

"Chris, stop ok, I'm trying to sleep," she grumbled.

"Stephanie," Christian said, "Wake up."

"Chris, no! What is it with you and sex in the morning?" she mumbled, "Let me sleep."

Christian snickered and laughed under his breath. Well, that was certainly a revelation he hadn't been expecting right now. He shook Stephanie a little harder and she groaned and turned the other direction. Jericho had been right when he said Stephanie was a late sleeper and hated to be bothered.

"Stephanie!"

"Chris, shut up!" she screamed, pulling a pillow over her head, "Whatever it is, it can wait until I wake up."

"Stephanie, it's Christian," he finally said, now that she sounded a little more awake.

Stephanie shot out of bed, looking around frantically, "What are you doing in our bedroom?"

"Whoa Stephanie, you're in my house," he said, gesturing around the room, "Remember?"

She sighed, "Oh yeah, sorry, I was just not awake."

"Obviously," then he laughed a little, "So Chris likes sex in the morning huh?"

"Oh my God, I said that, didn't I?"

"Yup," he said, "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret, and maybe for blackmail purposes later on."

"What are you doing in here anyways?" she asked, trying to get her hair to stay down since it was sticking up in various places.

"Well Ms. Electrocuted Hair, I brought you a special Valentine's treat," he grinned, walking over to grab the tray and going over to her bed.

"Christian, what did I tell you?"

"I know, I know, but come on, I wanted to do something for you," he said, sitting on her bed and putting the tray in front of her.

"You shouldn't have."

"But I did, and I'm not sorry," he grinned.

"Why must everyone go against my wishes?" she said as she drenched her pancakes in syrup.

"Because you're too pretty not to," he answered.

"Christian," Stephanie said, looking up at him, "Please don't get all cheesy on me and fall for me or something alright? I don't think I could deal with that."

"I'm not falling for you Stephanie," he told her, "I have enough sense in my brain to not fall for you when I would stand no chance whatsoever."

"You know," she started, then taking a bite of her food, "If I wasn't with Chris…I mean, if I wasn't madly in love with Chris, I would absolutely fall in love with you."

"That's a nice thing to say," he said, "And if I didn't know that you were madly in love with Chris, and that he would beat me into a bloody pulp if I ever touched you like that, then I would fall for you too."

"And if you weren't still in love with Trish right?" she said, taking a sip of her apple juice.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he told her.

"Give it up Christian, the jig is up so to speak, I'm not stupid, I saw the way you were looking at her and Randy, and I know that look. It was the look I gave Chris and Molly when they were together," she said.

"While that may be true, it's over," he said, a little sullen, "Now eat your food before I steal it."

Trish woke up to a strong fragrance in her room. She opened her eyes slowly and was assailed by an array of pink and white. There was a flower laying by her face and she picked it up slowly. It appeared to be an orchid, but she had never seen any so beautiful. Looking around some more she saw that her room was filled with them. She sat up and looked around.

"Randy!" she called out.

He came into her room moments later, "I didn't want to have to sneak into your room, but I had a feeling that you wouldn't mind."

"Mind?" she gasped, "This is wonderful, thank you!"

"I was hoping you'd like them, I had them specially flown in."

"I love them," she said, "Thank you."

"You said that already," he told her, walking over, "But it's something that can be said a few different times."

She patted the seat next to her on her bed and he obeyed, sitting next to her, careful not to crush the flowers laying on her bed. She leaned over to him and kissed him softly, bringing her hand up to cup his face. He kissed her back, letting his tongue explore her mouth. They began kissing more deeply and Trish felt him pushing her weight onto her gently, making her fall back against the bed. His hand ran up her side and she moaned softly before pulling away.

"Randy, we can't…"

"Why not?" he asked.

"We haven't been seeing each other that long and I don't want to rush into anything," she said breathlessly.

"Ok," he nodded, much to her surprise, "I respect that."

She kissed him, "Thank you for understanding."

"My pleasure," he whispered as he went back to kissing her.

Stephanie laughed as Christian got some syrup on his nose. She had decided to be nice today too and shared her breakfast with him as he told her of all the trouble he had gone through just to get her breakfast ready. She could just picture him being Mr. Chef, trying to cook and just burning everything. She got her napkin and wiped his nose off.

"You need to be more careful," she laughed, "You're such a mess."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, "Luckily I have you around to clean up after me."

"Yeah, I could be a maid, there's a new profession for me," she said, "I'm sure my father would just love to see that."

"Don't think about your dad Steph, he's just a really huge asshole, and he doesn't even deserve you in his life."

"Try telling him that, he'll probably say something like, 'I don't even want her in my life' or something to that affect."

He could see her eyes welling up with tears and he cursed under his breath. He took the tray and put in on the ground next to the bed. He scooted over and wrapped her up in a hug that she so desperately needed. She sobbed into his shirt and he held her.

"Why doesn't anyone want me Christian?" she sobbed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely confused by her question.

"Nobody wants me, my dad doesn't want me, Hunter didn't want me, Chris doesn't want me, what is so wrong with me that I keep driving people away," she stumbled out the words.

Chris sighed and closed his eyes. It was times like these that made things around here difficult. He was about to call……….no, that would do know good, they couldn't help anyways, not after what had happened. He soothed her and rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Stephanie, your dad is an asshole who thinks more with his dick than his brain. He's a loser for choosing anyone over his own daughter, don't even worry about him because he's not even worth it. I'm glad that Hunter didn't want you, because he didn't deserve you anyways. As for Chris…Chris has things to work out," he whispered, "But he'll come back for you."

"He told me that he couldn't talk to me, I don't know what's wrong with me………."

"Nothing, Stephanie, look, Chris loves you, and when you two get back together, he's going to spend the rest of his life making you feel like you're more than worth it."

She pulled away, "I'm sorry I'm crying all over you."

"It's alright, it's been a while since I've gotten the privilege to comfort someone," he smiled gently, "Stephanie, things will work out for you, I'm positive they will."

"You want me, don't you Christian?" Stephanie asked, looking at him with her red, tear-filled eyes.

"Yes, I want you," he said, then gave a smile, "Not like that of course, but as a friend, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have."

Stephanie did something that Christian wasn't expecting and didn't exactly welcome. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Christian was too in shock to respond and so many different thoughts were running through his head that he couldn't put his finger on any of them. He finally pushed her away gently.

"Stephanie…no."

"But Christian," she started and he put his hand to her lips.

"Tell me something Stephanie, and be honest," he told her, and she nodded in compliance, "Was that not the most boring, no chemistry kiss that you've ever had in your life?"

She looked at him a moment, and burst out laughing, "Yes, yes it was."

"Yeah, for me too," he told her, laughing as well, "I felt like I was kissing cardboard."

She gave him a little shove, "Meanie."

"Hey! You kissed me!" he told her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I know that you just want someone," he told her, "Let me take this tray downstairs and put it in the sink and then maybe we could go down to Miami or something for the rest of the weekend and have some fun."

"That sounds nice, but isn't it kind of far away?"

"We'll hop on a plane then," he grinned, "I'll be back."

Christian left and Stephanie got out of bed slowly. God, was she stupid for kissing Christian, it really had been like kissing cardboard. She laughed and went to look at the damage in the mirror. Her eyes were looking terrible and her cheeks were red. She closed the door and tried to make herself look presentable. She put on a pair of comfortable jeans and a long-sleeved top. She went downstairs and walked in on the tail-end of a conversation Christian was having on the phone.

"Yeah, so that's it," he said, "Well, yeah, I wanted to, but you know how it goes right? Ok, then bye."

"Edge?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, he wanted to do something with us tonight, but since we're probably going to Miami, I thought it wasn't the best idea."

"We could've stayed and gone with him, if you want to call him back."

"Nah, the last thing I want is to spend the day with my brother," Christian said, making a face.

Trish got out of bed and Randy followed dutifully downstairs. She had just become distracted, and he simply tagged along with her. Maybe it was the kissing that did it, or maybe it wasn't, he hoped it was the kissing. He laughed to himself and she looked back at him strangely.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "Nothing."

"Ok," she said.

"So why are we going downstairs?"

"I just wanted to call Chris and wish him a happy Valentine's Day," she smiled.

"Oh really?" Randy asked, "Any reason why?"

"Nope, just to be nice since he's all alone," she said, picking up her phone downstairs, "But I couldn't make the call in the bed, that would've been weird."

"If you say so."

She nodded and picked up her phone, dialing Jericho's number quickly, "Hello?"

"Chris, it's Trish."

"Hey Trish, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, just wishing you a happy Valentine's Day."

"What's so happy about it?" he asked.

"Oh no, someone's in the doldrums because they don't have their Valentine," she said.

"Maybe, I'm sure Christian is doing something romantic for her."

"Why don't you do something about that, a card maybe or something?"

"Nah, she wouldn't want one."

"I wouldn't be so sure Chris, I'm sure that she'd love something from you," she whispered, going out of Randy's earshot.

"I don't know Trish."

"Do it! You don't even have to look her in the face, just drop something off for her or something, I'm sure she'd love something from you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm a girl," she said quickly, "We like that kind of stuff."

"If you say so," he said, "I guess I can write her a note."

"Good, do that."

Jericho hung up and looked down, he didn't know if he wanted to go through with that. Stephanie didn't even like Valentine's Day. Maybe he could send her a card with her engagement ring in it. That would be quite the surprise for her and it would surely blow whatever Christian was doing for her out of the water.

"I'm all packed," Stephanie said, "I just threw some stuff in there."

"Great, I'm almost ready too," he said, "I just called the airline and got us on a flight today. We are going to have fun!"

"I hope so," she said.

The doorbell rang and she looked over. Christian shrugged, still looking around for his bathing suit. Stephanie went to the door to answer it and when she did there was nobody on the other side. She looked around, but saw nothing. She was about to close the door when she saw a note on the welcome mat and she picked it up.

The simple, white card envelope had her name scrawled across it and she knew that writing. She scanned the area desperately, running out in her bare feet to look around, "Chris! Chris!"

There was no answer and she sighed as she stood there, still holding the card. She looked down at it and then up, seeing if maybe Jericho was watching her from somewhere. She opened it delicately, not wanting to rip it. She took out a simple card in the shape of a heart that said, "Thinking of You" on the front. She opened it up to read it.

Stephanie,

I know you hate this day, and I didn't want to spoil it for you by getting mushy, but sometimes you have to go with your gut. I know that you're probably off doing something with Christian, and no, I don't want details, but I just need for you to know that like the card says, I'm thinking of you. I'm always thinking of you, and if you ever think that nobody is thinking of you, or loving you, or wanting you, know that I am, wherever I am at the moment, I'm doing all those things because you're my Stephy. And that's forever.

Chris

Stephanie smiled and looked up, still wondering if Chris was around. How did he always know how she was feeling? How could he sense her so perfectly that it scared her sometimes? She was getting teary-eyed again and she held the card to her heart, feeling his presence. She whispered to herself.

"Thank you Chris."


	181. Raw, February 16, 2004

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys, I love reviews. ;)

* * *

Sorry I forgot to say there was no PPV chapter, but Lord knows I'd have a hard time writing a PPV chapter for a show I don't even really write about. :

"So did you send her anything?"

"I gave her a card," Jericho said, "And that's it, I don't even know how she took it."

"What'd it say?"

"That's none of your business," Jericho told Trish, "They were for her eyes only."

"What if she showed Christian?"

Jericho scowled and sat back against the couch. He didn't want to think about that. What he had written for Stephanie, it was just for Stephanie. It would cheapen the letter that he had written for her. As corny as it sounded, those words were from his heart, and to have her share them with someone, especially her boyfriend, it wouldn't work too well.

"She wouldn't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know Stephanie."

"If you say so," Trish said, "But I'm glad you did something for her, I'm sure it made her feel special."

"I heard that Christian took her to Miami for some fun in the sun. I bet they don't come back with tans because I bet that they spent the entire time in their bedroom," he said sullenly.

Trish rolled her eyes and shifted herself on the couch until she found a more comfortable position. She sometimes hated hearing Jericho whine. He did that a lot, and sometimes she just wanted to shake the truth into him. Of course, that might ruin everything and she wasn't going to let that happen. So she simply sat there and took this whining. But that didn't mean she didn't want to slap him upside the head.

"I love you Chris," Trish said, "But sometimes I wonder what goes through your mind."

"Not a whole lot that doesn't have to do with Stephanie," Jericho admitted, "You know, a few years ago, I never thought I'd be in this position. Why can't she just go back to being the thorn in my side."

"But you loved having that thorn didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," he sighed, "A lot."

"Chris, you know you've loved Stephanie for so long, so much more than you want to admit. I mean, why else would you kiss her and let her be your business partner?"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," he said, rubbing his sore knee.

"Hey, your knee alright?" Trish asked, concerned now.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, "Don't worry about me, I have to wrestle tonight anyways, so even if I wasn't alright, it doesn't matter."

"I can't believe Bischoff put you in a match," Trish said, shaking her head, "So about tonight, Vince is going to be there, so I think that you should want to tell me you like me."

"Ok," he nodded, "Sounds like a good idea."

"Great," she smiled at him, "We'll have Stephanie back in no time, and then I can stop listening to you weep and cry."

"I don't weep or cry."

"Yet," she muttered.

"You can go back to Randy now Trish, I know you want to go back to him."

"Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"Yeah, look, I'll go out and buy you a rose or something," he said, rising up from his seat.

"Aww, you're so sweet," she said, patting his cheek.

"Yeah, it's what I live for," he deadpanned.

"Do you want Stephanie back so you can give her that ring?" Trish asked sternly.

"Yeah."

"Then you go buy me the most beautiful rose, and give it to me with a confession of love, and Stephanie will be back before you know it."

"Ok," he said, "I just have to remind myself that it's for Stephanie."

Stephanie sat down on the arm of the sofa, her feet on the seat and her chin on her hand. She was thinking about that note that Jericho had sent her. She had figured there was nothing going on between him and Trish, it just wasn't possible, unless she was stringing Randy and Jericho along and she wasn't thinking that was the case. But if that wasn't the case, than what was this thing between Trish and Jericho. That was what was puzzling her mind. Did Jericho really have feelings for her and he was trying to decide between her and Trish? Did Trish have feelings for Jericho and she was trying to hide that with Randy so Stephanie wouldn't rip her hair out? She wanted answers.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Christian asked.

"I was thinking about the usual."

"Oh, anything I can do to help."

"You already took me to Miami to get my mind off of Chris, I think you've done more than your share."

"But I want to help you, just let me know and I will help you, you know that."

"Why is it so hard to break Trish and Chris apart? What the hell are they hiding? And what are they trying to pull with this pseudo-romance!?! It's driving me nuts!"

"Ok, calm down Stephanie," Christian said, coming over to rub her back, "How do you want to break them up?"

"I don't know, by any means necessary. Maybe I should just torture Chris until he gives up the information."

Christian laughed, "And how will you do that?"

"Seduce him and not have sex with him?" she shrugged, "Seems the easiest way."

"Look, I'll see what we can do about it tonight," Christian said, "I'm sure I can find out the dirt about the two of them and find away to crack into their secret code."

"What would I do without you?" Stephanie said, hugging Christian tightly.

"Be in Connecticut," he answered.

"Yeah," she laughed, "And having no fun at all."

Jericho walked into the arena for the second time that evening. He felt a little silly to be holding a couple of roses in his hand. He had actually bought two, one for Trish, for the show and one for Stephanie. He had just felt compelled to buy her one, maybe he'd even gather up the courage to give it to her tonight.

"What have you got there Jericho?" Vince's voice said from up ahead.

"Time to put on a show," Jericho muttered to himself as he smiled cheerily at Vince, "Just have some flowers for Trish, you know, trying to get on her good side and all of that."

"Oh, I see, for Trish?" Vince said, nudging Jericho suggestively, "Go for the sweet stuff to get to the good stuff."

Jericho was repulsed by Vince. Just when he thought he was over getting pissed at Vince every time he saw him, this rush of feelings would resurface. Because of this man, he wasn't with the woman that he loved right now. He wasn't letting Stephanie plan their wedding, with only a few ideas from him since he knew Stephanie would take over the plans. All because Vince was an asshole, and he wasn't going to change his stripes any time soon.

"Yeah, you know how it is Vince," Jericho said, nudging him back.

"That I do," he smirked, "Glad to see that you are…moving on, and you've got your eyes on a very fine woman, and I do speak from experience."

Thank God Jericho had a good gag reflex or he would've thrown up all over Vince's expensive shoes. That was the last thing he ever, EVER needed to think about. And now those images would be sure to haunt him for months to come. He put on his best brave face and laughed along with Vince.

"So have you thought anything about what we spoke about last week?" Jericho asked, trying not to sound anxious.

"Yes, and you do have a point, in all of this, I know that Trish is the one leading you into this, but you do have a point. I'll have to think about it though. Even if I did let her back, I don't know in what capacity it would be in."

"I'm sure she wouldn't care," Jericho said.

"Yes, but I want to make her stew a little longer. I see she's with Christian now," Vince said, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah," Jericho gulped, "They've been…together for a while actually."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Vince said, "I'm not sure if I like that."

"It's her choice Vince," Jericho said, than thought about how that choice pained him.

"Yes, we'll see," Vince said, "Well, good luck with Trish."

"Thanks," Jericho said, then watched as Vince swaggered down the hallway, "For nothing."

He walked back down to his locker room, having to stop for a moment when his knee acted up. He bent down to rub his knee. It was still sore and he wanted to curse the powers that be for screwing up his knee like this. He rubbed it, wincing as the pain flared up.

"You cut your hair." It was her voice, and he involuntarily smiled.

He looked up at her, "Just a trim."

"A little more than a trim, I'd say," she said, walking over to him, "Your knee still bothering you?"

"Yeah, a little," he said as he saw the worry in her eyes, "Don't worry Steph, I'll be fine."

"I saw you had a match…against Kane. He's brutal Chris, you know what he's done to people in the past. He's going to target that knee."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm ready for him."

"I don't think you are, just be careful out there," she told him, cocking her head to the side as she regarded him, "Thank you for the card by the way."

Jericho blushed a little, "It was nothing, I wanted to."

"It was nice, I wasn't expecting anything, and I'm glad that you thought of me. Of course, I still hate Valentine's Day," she told him, giggling, "Stupid holiday."

Jericho chuckled, "You didn't show Christian did you?"

"Nah, it's none of his business. But you do know Chris, that this thing between Christian and I, it's serious. I really shouldn't be getting things from you, it could be dangerous."

Jericho nodded, with a bit of morose. He had expected her to say that, it had to come up some time. She was taken, by Christian, someone he considered his friend and that's just the way it was. He knew that he was treading a very thin line here, and he knew at some point, he'd have to stop.

"Yeah, I know, and I'm really sorry," Jericho told her, "I know I shouldn't be doing these things…"

"What's going on with you and Trish?" Stephanie asked point blank. She didn't really expect an honest answer, just something that might give her perspective on the whole situation.

Jericho looked down for a moment, "I don't exactly know. I mean, one second we're tight, the next we're not, it's all very confusing."

"Oh," she answered, well that was nice and vague, "You don't have feelings for her."

"How you do know?"

"Isn't she with Randy?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure," Jericho replied, "She's just kind of bouncing around, I guess."

"And you're just a pit stop in the course of Trish's life?"

"Something like that," he said, then took one of the roses, "This is for you. I just well, it's for you."

Stephanie eyed the rose and then looked up at Jericho. He was looking hopeful and she took it from him gently, rolling the stem between her fingers. She saw another rose and didn't want to know what that was for. She was just happy knowing that Jericho had gotten her one too. Or at least she hoped it had been his intention to give it to her and wasn't just giving it to her because she happened to be standing there.

"Um, I better get back to Christian right now," Stephanie started, "But um…thank you for the rose. And…good luck in your match later, don't get hurt."

"I'll try not to," he said.

She walked away, staring down at the rose in her hands, fingering the silk-like petals between her fingers. She glanced back at Jericho and gave him another award-winning smile. She knew she should play the indignant ex-girlfriend, but she couldn't, mainly because she didn't want to play that part. She sighed and walked back into Christian's locker room.

"Hey, where's the rose from?"

"Chris," Stephanie said dreamily.

"He's giving you flowers now?"

"It was a nice gesture," she said firmly.

"Does he not get that you're my girlfriend?" Christian laughed, "I swear, the guy is more into you now than when you were together."

Stephanie stuck her tongue out, "That's not true, he's about the same, I'd say. And he knows now that you are my boyfriend and shouldn't be trying to put designs on me."

"Good, because I'd hate to have to kick his ass."

Stephanie thought for a minute, "Well…maybe."

"No Stephanie, I'm not going to beat him up," Christian said, "The man is already in pain."

"I know that," she said, "I wasn't going to suggest that, BUT you can go and find out what the other rose he had was for."

"I can do that," Christian nodded, "And then I'll report back here like a good little boy."

"Just like I want it," she said, patting his head.

"Cause I'm your good, little puppy dog," Christian said, acting as if he were obedient to Stephanie. She gave a laugh and then shoved him out of the door.

Christian walked down the hallway to where Jericho's dressing room was. She found him tying up his shoes. Jericho looked up to see Christian standing near him, and he tried to appear nice, which was difficult. He thought back to what Stephanie had said earlier, he needed to not look like he wanted Stephanie. Then he thought back to Trish and Vince, he REALLY needed to make it seem like he wasn't into Stephanie.

He proceeded to tell Christian exactly what he was planning to do with Trish. He heard his own voice and couldn't believe how bad it sounded when he said that his feelings for Trish ran deeper than friendship. He sounded fake, even to his own ears. He needed to put on a better show next time, or else everyone would figure out that he was a big, fat faker. He asked Christian to take care of the rose for him when he went off to his match.

Christian watched Jericho go. He smirked as he looked at the rose. He could use that rose for something, and it wasn't to further Jericho and Trish's little thing, but to hinder them, per Stephanie's request. He just needed to make sure that it was ok with his partner; she might have something to say about it, and he was sure that she would.

"Come on, can't you tell me one little thing about what you two have planned?" Randy asked, kissing Trish's neck.

"No, and we're not even supposed to be seen together anymore," Trish said, pushing him off of her.

"If I can't, then I should at least be able to know why," Randy told her, smirking, thinking he had a good excuse.

"You'll see, if you're a patient boy," Trish said, kissing him lightly on the lips as she held his chin between her thumb and index finger, "Can you do that?"

"No," he said, ravishing her, "So you might as well tell me."

"Nope, not going to happen," she answered, then her phone rang, "Hold on, let me get that."

"Fine," Randy pouted, leaning back against the couch.

"Hello," Trish answered, then turned to Randy, "Oh hey, it's my mom."

"Aww, your mommy called you," Randy joked.

Trish gave him a dirty look, "Oh, yeah, is that what you want Mom? Well, I mean, yeah, it kind of cramps my plans, you know, I mean, with that all going on…No, I did…if you want to, then you can…yes Mom, it's fine, go for it…um…yeah. I do have a match tonight…later…ok talk to you later Mom."

She hung up the phone and turned back to Randy, "So what did your mom want?"

"Well, she wanted to know if I could come home tonight, there's some family thing going on early tomorrow and I told her that I did have plans, and a match, but I can come home later, like tomorrow."

"Oh," Randy said, "Am I the plans that you have later?"

"You may be," she said, "Now get out of here, I'm sure your buddies are looking everywhere for you."

"Yeah, maybe," Randy answered, "But I like hanging out with you more, so I think I'll stay here."

"No, you won't," she said, giving him a look, "You'll go out there and pretend like you don't like me."

"Whatever you say ma'am," Randy saluted.

"Oh don't give me that crap, you dropped out of that place," she chided him as he left.

"Lucky for you," he said, "Or I never would've been here to tease you."

"Lucky me," she laughed as she leaned back against the couch, "Besides, Chris's match is on, and I want to watch it."

"Ooh, fun with your loverboy," Randy teased as he closed the door, making smooching noises as he left.

Trish laughed as she crossed her arms to watch Jericho's match, already in progress. She knew he was going out there hurt, and it was kind of her fault. She hoped that he would be alright, especially because he was facing Kane, who was almost twice his size, and Jericho didn't have his usual quickness to aid him.

The match went pretty much how she thought it would, Kane was targeting Jericho's injured knee. She bit her lip, hoping that it wasn't doing any more damage, though she knew it probably was. Damn Bischoff, having to screw around with him and put him in these pointless matches. She saw him reverse a back suplex, but he couldn't put any weight on his knee and he fell to the mat. She was worried for him.

Her worry was definitely founded as his knee got progressively worse as the match went on. Kane was just brutalizing him now and Jericho could hardly fend for himself. The referee called the match to an end, mercifully, and tried to help Jericho, but it was to no avail; Kane wasn't done with him. Kane kept beating on him and Jericho looked to be in a tremendous amount of pain. Finally the beating ended and the referee went to check on Jericho.

Trish got out of her seat and ran out into the hallway, running down to the gorilla. Jericho was being helped backstage to a waiting stretcher, where his leg was being checked on. She rushed over to him and grabbed his hand. He tried to smile at her, but the pain was so overwhelming.

"Hey," she said sadly, "Are you ok?"

"No," he laughed, "But it could've been my head being thrown into that ring post."

"At least you're looking at the bright side in all of this."

"Yeah," he said, "If there is a bright side."

"Mr. Jericho, we're going to have you go and get this checked out," one of the trainers said.

"Yeah, that's fine," Jericho said, sighing then looking at Trish, "Well, good luck with your match, sorry I could, well, you know."

She knew he was talking about the rose thing. She shook her head, it would've have happened anyways, "It's fine, you're hurt, go get checked out."

"Bye," he said as they wheeled him away.

Christian was holding Stephanie as she hid her face in his chest. She couldn't watch what was happening with Jericho. It hurt her heart to see him so helpless, when he was usually the one holding it all together. But Kane had no remorse, she knew that from his experiences with Shane.

"You can look now," Christian said gently.

She looked to the screen and saw rain, of all things, falling on Kane. She had to wonder where Jericho was and as much as she wanted to rush to him, her father was here tonight, and she couldn't risk him finding out anything. Her legs ached from not running out to him. But there was nothing she could do but sit there and pray that he was going to be fine.

"I'm sure he's just getting checked out," Christian said.

"You think, it looked so bad?"

"Yeah, but he's Jericho, he doesn't get hurt," Christian said, "He's an Iron Man."

"Can you please go check for me."

"Of course," Christian said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He was true to his word as he came back in less than five minutes. Stephanie had been biting her nails the entire time. Seeing that look of pain on Jericho's face, one she had never seen before, it was scary. He was always the strong one, in the ring and out of it. He was never hurt, always there ready to fight, ready to stand up to anyone who came into his path. Thinking that he had been cut down was hard.

"So?" Stephanie asked Christian.

Christian gave her a look of pity, "They had to take him to the hospital."

"What!?!" Stephanie said, "I have to go see him."

"Stephanie, he's probably getting checked out or something, we should wait until after the show to go see him, he'll probably be in a room then. Right now, he's probably in the emergency room and stuff."

Stephanie's eyes turned cold and Christian took a step back. She stalked up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him to her. Christian was amazed by her strength as they were almost nose to nose now. She started to speak, her voice low and dangerous, "Either you give me the keys to the car or I will have to forcibly take them from you, don't make me do that Christian."

Christian gulped audibly, actually frightened by Stephanie at the moment, "O--Ok, if--if you want."

"I do want," she said, her voice calm, eerily calm."

He reached into his pockets quickly and produced the keys, "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said cheerily as she took them.

Christian was even more scared by the fact that she had gone from mad to happy in less than two seconds flat. She grabbed her purse and jingled the keys happily as she turned to walk out the door. He realized that he was going to need a ride out of here now, but he was sure that he could find someone to give him a ride. He looked to the television and saw Trish walking down the ramp, yes, he was sure he could find someone.

Trish was still worried about Jericho as she walked down the ramp. She hoped he would be alright, but she had to focus on the match right now, because if she didn't, she could get hurt. It was odd to be working with Victoria, considering some of the brutal matches they had had in the past. The match began with her and Jazz exchanging moves in the middle of the ring. Molly got tagged in next, and Trish was getting dominated by her arch-nemesis, until she got a headscissors onto Molly and then tagged in Victoria.

As Victoria got in the match, Trish's mind wandered to Jericho, still hoping that he was going to be alright. She wondered what others, particularly Stephanie, was thinking at the moment. She didn't have much time to ponder because the match was already over. She went to celebrate with Victoria and Richards before Test inexplicably came down and took out Richards, and then Victoria. Thinking quickly, and very irrationally, Trish jumped on Test's back, trying to take him down. All she got for her troubles was a flip onto the hard mat.

She could feel herself being put into the beginning position for Test's finisher, but then she was knocked back. She looked up and saw Christian taking Test out for her. Leave it to Christian to come save her. She looked to him gratefully, and he looked back then came in the ring to see if she was ok.

Christian couldn't stand seeing two people he cared about getting hurt tonight, so he did the only thing he could do, he went to save Trish. He didn't regret it, this was what he had dreamed of doing for so long. Sure, Trish wasn't his anymore, and chances were that she wouldn't ever be his again, but he still considered her someone he cared very deeply about, and with that thought he walked away from her and up the ramp.

Trish walked backstage, wanting to give Christian a proper thank you. She found him quite easily and thanked him for what he had done. Christian thought it was nothing and told her so. They were both going to see Jericho and figured that they should just go together. Trish agreed, because, well, she had to. Christian went into the locker room for a second and came back out with the rose she knew was from Jericho.

Trish looked down at it and had to stifle a laugh. She and Christian started walking away and she was surprised by his hand on her waist. She was even more surprised by how comfortable it still felt. She looked to him and he smiled at her as they talked about things, things only they knew about.

"I don't actually have a car," he said, "Stephanie took it, can I ride with you?"

"Sure," she smiled, "It's cool."

"Trish!"

Trish turned around and saw Randy, "Oh Randy, hey."

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, eyeing Christian suspiciously.

"Sure," she smiled, "Christian, if you'll excuse me for a second."

"Yeah, go ahead, I'll go get your stuff," he told her.

"Thanks," she said to his retreating figure, "What can I do for you Randy?"

"Is Christian really over you?" Randy asked point-blank.

"Yeah, why?" she asked dumbly, then looked down, "Oh, this, this was nothing, don't worry about it?"

"Are you sure, I mean, with saving you and everything, are you sure you guys are you know, getting back together."

"He's my friend, we care about each other," Trish said, "I don't know if I could trust him again, I promise, there's nothing going on."

"Ok," he said, then looked around before quickly kissing her, "Tell Jericho I hope he's alright."

"You're so sweet," she told him.

"I'm only saying that because he's your friend," he told her, "I'll talk to you later tonight?"

"I'll call you."

He grinned and then walked away. She went back to her dressing room where Christian was waiting for her. He smirked at her, and she gave him a look and a shove. They began walking to her car, his arm wrapped around her waist again. She gave him a look, and smiled.

"You know, this whole thing is…" he started.

"Shh…let's not ruin it right now," she told him, "We'll talk later. Let me guess… Stephanie's with Chris."

"Where else would she be?" he asked.

"Well, let's get there soon then, I want to see him."

"And I want to see her."

Stephanie rushed into the emergency room, slamming her hands on the counter to get the nurse's attention. One of them came over to her and she demanded to know where Chris Jericho was. She told her that he was up on the third floor, just getting prepared for his MRI. She rushed up there, ignoring the nurse's telling him it was family only. She went room to room before she found his.

Jericho was sitting there, his leg propped up, being bored. He hated being here, he didn't even come here that often. He was staring at the ceiling tiles when the door flew open. Figuring it was the doctor, he looked over only to see a petrified Stephanie rushing in. She ran over to him and practically jumped on him.

"Oh, you're ok, you're ok," she kept repeating, holding him tightly.

Jericho had to shift to an uncomfortable position in order to hug her back, "Of course I'm alright, you know me."

She kissed him all over his face, not caring about any damn plan, "Oh, I was so worried, you have no idea. I got lost three times on the way to the damn hospital because I couldn't concentrate on anything but you."

"Oh baby," Jericho said reassuringly, "It's just my knee, it's not my neck or my spine or my head, just the knee."

"But still, it could be hurt, you could be hurt, and I wasn't there to be with you, but I'm here now, and I'm not leaving your side."

"But Christian…"

"He'll understand, you need me," she said, still kissing him all over his face, "You crazy man."

He laughed, "Stephanie, I'm not dying, I promise."

"I was so scared, I couldn't even watch," she said, her voice quivering with emotion.

"Hey, shh, it's alright."

He took her hand and pulled her to him. He scooted over on the bed, inviting her to lie with him. She gave him an apprehensive look and he shrugged, as if to say it was up to her. She stared at him a moment, foregoing all rational thought and climbed into the bed with him, careful not to jar his knee. She laid down half on him, wrapping her arm around his waist as he held her tightly.

"I was just so scared," she said, tears in her eyes, "I don't want you hurt."

He rubbed her back comfortingly, "Shh, shh, it'll be fine Stephanie, I swear, I'll be fine."

"Don't worry me like this ever again."

"Shh, it's over now," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

Christian and Trish stared at them through the small window in the door. Trish looked up at Christian as he stared at them. She wondered what he was thinking, what was running through his mind. His face had an impassive look on it, and she grabbed his hand.

"Hard to look at huh?" she asked.

"A little, it makes it hard you know," he answered.

"Yeah, but you know that…"

"Yeah, I know. It's only a matter of time Trish, it's only a matter of time."


	182. SmackDown, February 19, 2004

A/N: Kind of a special chapter. This starts today, Friday, and goes into Saturday. Enjoy, and don't forget two years ago we got the business partnership (which should've been the affair storyline, but I digress). :D

* * *

Stephanie watched as Jericho hobbled over to the couch, letting himself sit down on it, putting the crutches on the ground. She was spending the weekend with him. Trish had been taking care of him for the past few days. Jericho had insisted Trish stay with him. Stephanie felt a little left out. She couldn't understand why Jericho wouldn't want her to take care of him.

But she had demanded that she at least get to spend some time around him. Now that Trish was going back home because of some family thing, which she really suspected was alone time with Randy, she had offered to stay with Jericho for the remainder of the week. Christian had understood, and told her that he would camp out there too so that Jericho and Stephanie had someone to be around them.

She had appreciated Christian's offer, but truth be told, she wanted to be alone with Jericho. Still, she couldn't just turn Christian away and so he was staying here too. She sighed and took her mind away from her thoughts and focused back on Jericho who was trying to get comfortable.

The doctor had to check the scans and all that and had yet to get back to them. Damn doctors, always keeping people waiting. For now, Jericho had a brace on his leg and was relegated to getting around on crutches. It pained her to seem him wince every time he had to move his leg. She hated seeing him so hurt and vulnerable.

"You comfortable?" Trish asked as she fluffed a pillow behind him as he settled himself against it.

"Yeah, as comfortable as I can be, thanks Trish," Jericho said, smiling up at her.

"You're welcome," she said, "Now, I'm going to get going, Christian is dropping me off at the airport, and you be a good boy now you hear?"

"I'm not ten Trish," Jericho laughed, "I don't even see why everyone thinks that I need taking care of, I can pretty much get around by myself."

"Yeah, but we don't want you to have to strain yourself," Trish told him, "Look, we want you back on Raw as soon as possible and we can't have you being hurt."

"My knee doesn't even feel that bad," he said, "Not enough to wear this damn brace all the time. You'd think I'd snapped it in half or something."

"Now you're just being stubborn," Trish scolded, "It's ok to have people take care of you. It doesn't make you any less macho."

"Maybe not, but it does bruise the ego a little bit."

She patted his cheek, "That's fine, if it's only a little bit. Rest up and don't strain yourself trying to prove something alright?"

"Yes Mommy," Jericho deadpanned.

"We care," she said softly, "That's why we're here, because we care."

Trish hugged him tightly before standing up fully and going over to the front door to grab her suitcase. She gave Stephanie a cordial little wave and a smile before leaving, Christian holding the door open for her. She watched as Christian grabbed her bag for her and took it over to his car.

"So why am I the lucky one to drive you?" Christian asked.

"You know why," Trish told him, "Because I trust you."

"I know you do, or else you wouldn't be doing anything with me."

"Yeah, very true," she said as she got in the car, "So what do you think is going on with those two?"

"I think that I'm going to lose her," Christian sighed, "I think it's only a matter of time before they get back together."

"Yeah, I know," Trish said, "I can feel it too. I don't know what to think or do about that. Let it happen I suppose."

"I guess, it's just you know, I feel kind of bad."

"Don't, you're entitled," she said, "I'm sure you and Stephanie were, well, you know, whatever."

"Yeah," Christian said as he began driving, "We were whatever."

Stephanie stood in the doorway and looked at Jericho as he flipped through a magazine. It looked like Sports Illustrated. Yes, she could make it out now, that's what he was reading. She stood there a little nervous being around him alone, though she couldn't pinpoint where this nervousness was coming from. It was just there, dwelling deep inside her.

"You know, you don't need to stand there the entire weekend," Jericho said, looking up from his magazine.

"I didn't want to disturb your reading," she told him timidly.

"I'm just reading about how they take care of the ice at hockey game," he shrugged, "I'm not made of glass Stephanie, you can step a little closer."

"I'm sorry."

"Steph, why are you apologizing? You know me, I'm not going to snap at you or something, come here," he said, patting a small spot of couch next to him.

Stephanie, much like Monday night was a little hesitant to be so close to him. He looked at her with doe eyes, and she turned her eyes downcast. She walked slowly over to him and sat down, barely making a sound, and barely sitting fully on the couch. Jericho surprised her by pulling her more onto the couch.

"Stephanie, look at me," Jericho told her firmly as she still had her eyes down, "Stephanie, look at me."

"I'm afraid if I look at you, I'll do something I shouldn't," she said softly.

"Then do it, nobody's here," he joked.

She looked up into his clear blue eyes and smiled lopsidedly at him. He reached out to cup her cheek in his large hand and ran his course thumb over her soft cheek. Tears filled her eyes as she regarded him and looked down at his brace. She looked up again, the tears spilling over onto her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Jericho asked quietly, letting her cry and watching as her eyes turned into little oceans, a bevy of tears set against a gray-blue backdrop.

"You're hurt."

"I've been hurt before," he told her.

"Not this bad," she said to him, "Not so bad that you had to look like this!"

"I broke my arm once."

"But that was before I knew you," she said, "Before I started worrying about you. I can't lose you!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, stopping her before she went into a rant, "What do you mean losing me?"

"What if Kane hadn't thrown you on your knee, what if he had thrown you on your head or something, what if you had gotten seriously injured…or worse," she said, the words fading as they became more painful to say.

"Stephanie, I'm not going anywhere," he told her, "I've got WAY too many things I need to do before I could even consider dying."

"I was just, I don't know, it's like, my life passed before my eyes when he threw you and it was almost like, I saw a life without you in it and it scared me Chris, it scared me so much that I had to hide against Christian to block it out."

Jericho scowled a little at the mention of Christian, but kept it to himself…at least for now. He had to wonder just what was going on between Stephanie and Christian. He had suspected a real relationship developing, but this seemed almost more…fragile, if that was the right word for it. It seemed more rebound than anything else. He didn't know why that was such a comfort.

"You're not going to lose me," he whispered.

"What things do you need to do before you die?"

"Well, I'd like to get married for one," he said, looking at her pointedly until she blushed under his scrutiny, "Have kids with someone, live out my days next to the only woman I've ever loved."

She had been worried momentarily that Jericho was talking about a random woman, but when he said the only woman he'd ever loved, she knew right then, it was her that he was speaking about. She didn't mean to be so sure of herself, but she knew, deep down that he was talking about her.

"Yeah?"

"Well yeah, I mean, I know the woman I marry is going to be beautiful every single day for the rest of her life, and I'm just privileged enough to be a part of that…and then when I marry her, I can get fat, ugly and bald and she'll have no choice but to be with me," he said, laughing evilly.

"Then she'll divorce you," Stephanie joked, the tears already drying on her cheeks as Jericho turned her mood around, once again.

"Nah, I'd pay her to stay," he said, rubbing away the redness in her cheeks that came from her tears, "So how'd I get so lucky as to have you taking care of me?"

"I forced Trish to let me," she said, "I think she's going to go see Randy."

"Oh, so you know about her and her little Boy Wonder?" Jericho said with a slight chuckle, "I personally don't know what she sees in him."

"He's good-looking," Stephanie shrugged, "That alone is worth the burden of actually getting to know him."

"You think he's good-looking?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, he's cute, if you like that kind of tall, dark, and handsome stereotype."

"What do you prefer?"

"Blonde, Canadian, and cocky," she smirked.

"Me too…I mean, I like brunettes with fiery tempers and screechy voices."

Stephanie frowned and shoved Jericho, causing him to fall back and move his leg in a bad way. He grimaced in pain, biting his lip to keep from screaming out. Stephanie jumped up in terror, thinking that she had hit him or something and she looked at him frantically.

"Chris, I'm so sorry!" she said over and over.

"Stephanie, it's ok," he said, wincing as he moved his leg back to a better position.

"Oh my God, I hurt you again, I'll just stay on the other side of the house, you just call me if you need anything," she said, starting to scurry out of the room.

"Stephanie, it was my fault, I moved my leg in a weird way," Jericho told her.

"But I shouldn't have been sitting on the couch in the first place, I should've just let you rest, I'll let you rest, I'm sure there's some…cleaning or something to do around here," she said, looking around for something, anything, to do.

Jericho sighed and let her go. He knew that she was still a little jumpy around him. He wondered if it was her conscience telling her that technically she was with Christian. That was probably it. She didn't want to risk what would happen if things got carried away. Too bad he wanted them to get carried away more than anything in the world.

Stephanie went into the kitchen and busied herself with the dishes piled in the sink. She was careful about the thought she let into her head. She knew she would only think about how she continually hurt Jericho. Why had she even come? She was of no use to him. He didn't even want you, she reminded herself; he broke up with you.

She continued cleaning around the house until she heard the front door open and she heard Christian's voice calling out. Jericho called out to him from the living room and she heard Christian's footsteps go in there for a moment before going into the kitchen. She looked up at him and smiled a little.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked.

"Cleaning around here," she said.

"You never clean," he told her, "Something must be wrong."

"It's just really messy and I don't want Chris to have to clean up while he's injured."

"Are you sure that's it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Chris just told me that you thought you hit his leg, but you really didn't."

"I know," she said, her eyes going everywhere but at Christian.

"Stephanie, you know you can tell me anything," Christian reminded her, "Anything."

She walked over to him and stood close to him, "I don't know why we're here, he doesn't want us here."

"Did he say that?"

"No, not in so many words, but I know that it was a mistake," she said, "I don't know if I can stay here, I don't know if this is the right thing to do."

"We're just taking care of a friend, think of it that way."

"We're going to have to sleep in the same room" she told him, "Chris thinks we're together, and he's going to think that we're sleeping together so we're going to have to bunk together, what do you think about that?"

"Stephanie, I'll sleep on the floor, it's no big deal, I've dealt with worse."

"Edge should've come and stayed with him, not me, what am I doing here?" she asked again.

"You're here because you care about that man sitting on the couch right now. Don't kid yourself Stephanie. You're here because you were deathly afraid of what would happen to him if you weren't here."

She closed her eyes, blocking out all the confusion and cacophony swirling through her brain, "Yeah, that's right."

"Come here," Christian said, pulling her to him, "You look like you need a hug."

"Yeah, I do," Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around Christian, holding him tightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm interrupting something."

Stephanie looked over Christian's shoulder to see Jericho on his crutches near the entrance to the kitchen. She pulled away from Christian a little. Christian stood there, turning slowly to face Jericho. Jericho stared at them a moment before hobbling in and going to the fridge.

"I just wanted some orange juice," he told them, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton, "Don't let me interrupt."

Stephanie didn't know how to respond to that, so she said, "Why didn't you ask one of us to get it for you? You know you should be resting."

"I'm capable of getting my own damn juice," he snapped at them, slamming the carton down on the counter before grabbing a glass and sloppily pouring the juice into it. He grabbed the glass and hobbled out with one crutch and the juice in his other hand.

"Chris, let me help you," Stephanie said, mostly pleading.

"I don't need help!"

Stephanie stood there and watched him leave the room. Why was she always getting into messes like this one? She turned to Christian and ran upstairs, intending to spend the rest of the night in her and Christian's room. She found herself in the long hallway, staring down to the end of it, to her old bedroom. It beckoned her, drew her in until she found her hand on the knob.

She opened it slightly and saw it through the late evening rays of deep orange casting an empty glow on the room. She walked in and breathed in the mingled scent of his aftershave and her perfume, it was still lingering. She walked around slowly, smiling at various things. She walked into the closet and saw that nothing was changed, it was all mostly empty where he clothes used to be.

She ran her hand across the empty shelves and across the door before walking out. She was about to walk out when she spotted a box sitting on top of Jericho's dresser. It looked like a jewelry box. She thought for a moment. Had she left some jewelry here? She started to walk over to it, cocking her head to the side, mentally thinking of her jewelry and if she had all of it.

She reached the box and put her hand on the soft velvet that it was covered in. She just went to open it, "What do you think you're doing?"

Stephanie, startled, turned to the door, "Chris, you scared me? How did you get up here?"

"Well, I needed to take my medication and it's up here. So I came up here."

"I see you haven't lost any of your stealth in your injured state," she told him, "You almost scared me to death."

"Well, you scared me, being all in my room," he told her, "What are you doing?"

"I saw this box and thought I'd look at it, see if I left any of my jewelry here."

Jericho looked at the box and then to her, restraining from telling her what was in it. He shoved known better than to leave the ring out in the open. Of course, he hadn't expected Stephanie to come into his room and snoop around. But he could NOT let her see what was in there. He still wasn't ready to give it to her. He had come up with the perfect proposal and now was not the time.

"It's not yours," he said, hobbling over quickly and grabbing it.

"Oh," she asked, looking at him peculiarly, "Who's is it then?"

"It's my mom's, I was going to put it in my safety deposit box at the bank," he said, protectively.

"Oh, may I see it?" she asked, "I'm a pretty good judge of jewelry."

"No!" he said quickly, frightening Stephanie momentarily.

"Ok," she said, "I'm just going to go hang out in my room," she said, "You've eaten dinner right?"

"Yeah, with Trish, you've eaten right?"

"Yeah, with Christian."

They looked at each other a moment, each knowing that the other had secrets. The other wanting to know just what those secrets were, but not knowing how to tell. Not knowing if they should tell. It was hard, living in these strange times, always at cross-purposes. Stephanie nodded once and then walked out of the room. Jericho closed and locked the door and sat down on the bed, opening the box. He pulled it out and turned it over.

"To my Stephy," he murmured to himself, "One day."

Stephanie stared at the door. She didn't blame him for being so angry with her. She had gone into a place she wasn't welcome. She wandered to the other end of the hallway, to a room she knew she was welcome in. His office. She looked around at all the magazine covers and other memorabilia and then over to the one wall where he kept personal pictures.

She saw many of the black and white pictures he had used for their anniversary hanging up. They had picked out the best ones and had them mounted on his wall. She smiled as she looked at them all, fingering the glass a little. The glittery smiles and evil smirks, they were all such wonderful memories. Any of those times would be better than this limbo they were in right now.

"Whoa, who's the babe with Chris?"

Stephanie laughed, "Would you believe it's me?"

"You've really let yourself go," Christian laughed and she frowned, "Kidding, kidding."

"Better be," she answered, "I was just looking."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to be in our room since it seems everyone is retiring early. Chris told me that he's going to bed or something in his room, so I'm just going to go hang out in our room. Feel free to join me at any time."

"I will," she said, "I promise."

Christian left the room and she went to sit in Jericho's nice leather chair. She propped her feet up on his desk and just stared at the wall. She didn't feel like going anywhere at the moment. She found herself focused in on one picture and couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She smiled looking at it though; it wasn't a bad stare. She closed her eyes and dozed off, still sitting in Jericho's desk chair.

She was awoken much later by her feet falling off the desk and having them land with a thud on the floor. The room was pitch black and she blinked a few times before she got adjusted to the darkness that was covering everything. She glanced over at that lit up clock on the wall and saw that it was well past one in the morning. She had been asleep at this desk for a pretty long time.

She got up and heard her back crack as it finally moved out of its very uncomfortable position. The house was silent as she walked back to the bedroom that she and Christian were sharing. She turned on the light as she entered the bedroom and saw Christian lying on the floor, a sheet underneath him and pillow and a blanket accompanying him. She yawned and grabbed her pajamas from her bag and went into the bathroom to change and get ready for bed.

Her pink cotton pajamas pants with the cupcakes on them and matching tank top were so comfortable as she slipped them on and before long she was so exhausted and ready for more sleep, more comfortable sleep as well. She slipped under the covers of the bed and closed her eyes, thinking that she should be in the room down the hall. She didn't have long to dwell on that thought as sleep came quickly to her wearied mind.

She woke up what seemed like minutes later, but the clock said that it was 5:30. She yawned and saw the dawn breaking outside her window. Instead of going back to sleep she got up and silently left the room, stretching as she walked out. She went downstairs where everything was eerily calm and blanketed in the light between night and day.

She sighed and felt the urge to go outside and watch the sun rise. She opened the sliding door and sat herself down on one of the patio chairs. It was chilly, not freezing cold or anything, but definitely put a chill into her, especially because she was only in a tank top. She wrapped her arms around herself and curled into a ball on the seat as she set her eyes to the east to watch the sun come up fully and bring in the new day.

She could see the light glinting off the dew on the grass surrounding his pool and they made it look magical in a sense. She thought back, back a long time ago now and to waking up on this very day. Things had changed over time, but they really started then, started in a moment, like a train, just ready to go the distance. She sat there, awaiting the light to flood over everything. She was so focused in on that; she couldn't tune in on anything else.

"Little early for you Steph?"

"Nah, don't you know, I'm a regular early riser."

"Well, you could've fooled me."

"I did fool you."

"What are you doing, sitting out on the patio, in a tank top at 5:45 in the morning?"

"Watching the sun rise. We so rarely get to see the sun rise, but it does, every morning, without fail, there it is, and we just never see it."

"Kind of like love huh?"

"I guess," she answered, "I guess sometimes things are just there, that we just don't see it, until one day, we just stop and look and figure out that something so beautiful has been around every day and we just haven't seen it."

"I stopped, sometimes, and I saw it, but I was the only one."

"I saw it," she told him, "I saw it so many times, but I didn't want to believe in it. I didn't think it was something I could rely on."

"But here it still is, everyday, just lying in wait, still around, still going on, not caring if no one acknowledges it. It's just there until you remember to see it."

"Are we just too blind to stop and look at it?" she asked turning her head.

"No. Two years ago, two years ago I stopped, and I looked and I saw it, and once you see it that clearly, you never forget it."

"Was it really two years ago?" Stephanie asked and walked over to him.

"Yeah, hard to believe huh?"

"Very," she said, "So much has changed, and happened since then."

"Not that many, I mean, you told me you wanted to be more than friends, and look, we're still more than friends aren't we?"

"We're not business partners," she laughed.

"Yeah, I like to think we got the upgrade on that one."

"We did," she assured him, "I liked that."

"Me too," he told her, "You know I love you right?"

"Yeah, you know I love you right?"

"Yeah, I know," he told her, "I know I've been…not around lately, or testy, or acting strangely, but it'll all become clear soon, I swear it."

"Yeah, I have things that I need to tell you, whenever you plan on telling me whatever it is you have up your sleeve."

"Ok, so when things pan out…for both of us, we come clean?"

"Yeah, we come clean."

"Wait here," he said, then hobbled into the house.

Stephanie stood there and waited, wondering what Jericho could be doing. She suddenly heard some soft music playing over the speakers he had in the backyard. She recognized the song immediately. It was the one he wrote and sang for her one time. He came back out with a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes. She went over to him and took the things from him and put them on the outside table.

He took the bottle and uncorked it, letting the cork fly somewhere. She laughed as some of the champagne flowed out of the bottle. She quickly put the glassed underneath so he could pour some champagne into them. He put the bottle on the table as he finished and she handed him a glass.

"To us," he said, clinking glasses with her.

"To us," she repeated as they took a sip.

"To being more than friends."


	183. Raw, February 23, 2004

"Are you sure that you're ok staying there with him?"

"Yeah Christian, I'm fine," Stephanie said as she glanced around the room, "I think I can stand being around him for one night alone…all by myself."

"I knew that you should've come," Christian sighed, "I shouldn't have left you alone."

"It's alright, I wanted to stay, I didn't really feel up to sparring with my father tonight," she scowled, "I mean, he's just…I don't feel like dealing with him tonight."

"Ok, that's a good enough excuse for me," Christian said, "But I just want you to be safe."

"Why wouldn't I be safe around Chris?"

"No reason, I just know…just relax tonight and don't get too worked up over anything, especially anything regarding Chris and Trish."

"What do you know Christian?" Stephanie asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, just don't always trust what you see," he said, his tone one of foreboding. She took note of his tone, wondering why it took a sudden serious tone. What was he hiding from her? She wasn't concerned enough to prod about it, but it did linger for a little while in her mind.

"Alright I guess, so are you going to go after Trish or anything for me tonight?" Stephanie said excitedly.

"I've got some things in mind, though I'm still a little unclear as to why you still have it out for her."

"There's just something about her I'm not trusting at the moment…not to mention the fact she did kiss Chris and that is a punishable enough crime in and of itself. So what are you thinking about doing?"

"I'm not sure yet, but don't worry, it'll be worth a watch," he told her, "Now you go play safe and have fun you hear?"

"I will, bye Christian, good luck."

Stephanie hung up the phone and got up from her place at the kitchen table. She put the phone back in its holder and went into the living room. The house was empty at the moment. Jericho had gone out with Edge to a light dinner or something and she was stuck here. She hadn't exactly felt like going out with them. She couldn't exactly think of a reason why, she just knew that she didn't want to go.

She thought back over the past couple of days. Her and Chris had been getting pretty cozy and she would say they were at least friends right now. They knew deep down there was more, but she was at least happy to hang around him regularly. She thought back to his peculiar behavior the other night and to what he had been hiding from her. She was curious to know why he wouldn't let her see his mother's ring.

He had actually been rude to her, which was a complete surprise and shock to her. The curiosity was getting the better of her and she had to know what was in that box. She went upstairs and into Jericho's room. She went to his nightstand, staring at the drawer in front of her. It seemed so easy, she would just open the drawer and see for herself. She pulled on it.

It was locked.

She stood up and pulled again, but it was definitely locked. Cursing under her breath she scanned the room, trying to find an appropriate place for one to hide a key. She did a little searching, going through his drawers, leafing through his clothes, but she found nothing. She went to her former side of the bed and opened the drawers, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Looking for something?"

Stephanie screamed and turned around abruptly to find Jericho leaning in the doorway, regarding her with a playful smirk. She blushed immediately, very embarrassed to have been caught, especially under these circumstances. There was no way she could just say that she innocently wandered in here and was searching around.

"No, nothing at all," she said, "I was…um…just looking for this old, um, thing I had left here or something…"

"Oh, and what thing would that be?"

"Um…a…book," she answered, thinking on her feet.

"What book?"

"Um…I forget the name, I just knew that it was here," she told him, "But I'm not seeing it in here, so yeah…"

"Were you trying to open that drawer?"

"No! No, you're mistaken, very wrong, no," she laughed nervously, then crumbled under his gaze, saying petulantly, "Why can't I see the jewelry!?!"

Jericho chuckled, "Why's it so important to you?"

"I just want to see it."

"Fine, fine," he said, taking a key out of his pocket, "Someone is awfully impatient."

Jericho hobbled over to the drawer, still on his crutches. Thankfully he knew Stephanie, and knew there was no way she could resist not knowing something. He had prepared fro her wanting to look. Not only by locking the drawer itself, but also by putting a different ring inside. He opened up the drawer and took out the box, handing it to her.

"There," he said, "Now you don't have to get all pissy about it."

"I wasn't getting pissy," she said, then opened the box. Inside was a very pretty ring. It was emeralds in a gold setting. A diamond was in the center of it. It wasn't anything really special, but now that she had seen it she felt better. For a moment, she had hoped that it would be…well, it wasn't and she should stop thinking about that now.

"Pretty," she told him with a smiled.

"Yeah," said Jericho, "So can I have it back now?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, handing it back to him and watching him put it back in the drawer, "So how was your little excursion?"

"Ok, except for all the damn walking that I had to do," he said, "I hated it. I hate these stupid crutches…can I use you for a crutch?"

She laughed at him, "I'm not sure that's the best idea, but I can try."

She came over to him and let him lean on her. He wasn't really supposed to put any weight on his knee so he leaned on her pretty heavily. She helped him walk slowly down the stairs and together they went into the living room to watch television before Raw came on.

Christian walked down the hallway. He needed to find someone, but he was having a hard time locating them. He frowned and turned a corner, looking down a pretty deserted hallway. Chances are he wouldn't find anyone down there. He turned around and walked back to where he started. Sometimes these arenas all looked the same and he got so confused trying to navigate them.

"Christian, a word?"

Christian turned around, ready to say a funny quip until he saw it was Vince standing there, "Yes Vince?"

"Oh, since you're dating my daughter, you think you can call me Vince now?"

"I don't know, is that the case?"

"I don't have time for this," Vince said, "I want to know how long you and my daughter have been seeing each other."

"Well, a little while I guess, since right after Christmas," he answered.

"And has there been anyone before that, that you know of?"

"Not that I know of," he said, narrowing his eyes, "Why do you ask?"

"Chris Jericho, he's been hanging around her for a while, is there anything there?"

"I think they may be friends, but mostly because I'm friends with both, you know, friends by association."

"Has she been asking you to get back in the company? Or to help her get in?"

"No, actually she hasn't," Christian said, hating that he was getting drilled for answers, "She seems to be fine."

"Oh," Vince said, rubbing his chin, "But if she were to asked to come back, do you think she would want that?"

"More than anything," answered Christian.

"Interesting, and you're sure she hasn't been asking around to see how she could get back in the company?"

"Not that I know of and she's practically with me all the time."

"Where is she tonight?" Vince asked.

"Oh, she decided to stay at home, she had a little bit of a cold and she didn't' want to infect me."

"Good to know…thank you for answering my questions. I've just been thinking lately, and since you seem to know Stephanie intimately, I figured you would be the man to ask."

"O…k."

"One last question…did she ever seriously date Chris Jericho?"

Christian gulped a little, then answered firmly and clearly, "No, no she hasn't."

"Thank you, goodbye," Vince said, clapping his shoulder as he walked past.

Christian stood there, a little flabbergasted by what had just happened. Vince was really giving him the third degree and he really hoped that he answered all the questions correctly and without giving anything really away. He fancied himself a decent liar, and hoped that shone through during that unorthodox questioning. He really needed to find the person he was looking for now.

Trish sighed as she rested in Randy's arms. She was always glad to get a quiet moment with him, especially when he was away from Evolution. Those guys did not bright out the best in him. She still questioned herself as to why she was with him, but she just felt nice around him. Like everyday was a beautiful, spring day, even when it wasn't.

"So what are you doing after the show?" Trish asked quietly.

"Nothing," he said, "I was planning on going back to my room and doing absolutely nothing. Just a whole lot of nothing."

"So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're doing nothing," she said, leaning her head back to look at him.

"Wow, are you psychic or something?" he asked with a laugh.

"Yup, so did you maybe want me to come over or something?" Trish said, "I could come to your room or you could come to mine or something."

"You can come to mine," he said, "Spend the night or something."

"Was that your lame attempt to get me to sleep with you?"

"No, of course not, that was my lame attempt to have you sleep next to me all night so I could share breakfast with you tomorrow morning. So are you up for that?"

"We'll see how the night goes and then we'll see what's what, if that's alright with you?"

"It's fine Trish, I understand you don't want to rush anything."

"Good, that's all I ask of you."

"That's not much, you know you could ask me something else," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know, but maybe later."

"So do you know what you're doing tonight?"

"No clue, though I'm sure something will pop up, it usually does," she shrugged, "How about you?"

"Stuff…"

"Is that just a 'stuff' that you do know what you're doing but I may not like it so you'll refrain from saying?"

"Exactly," he said, "We really do come from different sides of the spectrum. I mean, what would people think if they knew we were together for real?"

"I'm sure they'd be fine with it, I mean, Christian wasn't exactly the moral commander when we were dating."

"Can we not talk about Christian right now?" Randy asked, "It's just a little strange that you would talk about him all the time. I guess I'm just a little jealous because you guys were together for so long."

"There's no need to be jealous, I mean, we're not together anymore, I'm with you," she said, running her hand down his cheek and cupping his chin in her small hand.

"Yeah, I just…I get the feeling he still has feelings for you."

"He doesn't…he's…he doesn't," she said firmly.

"If you say so…"

Christian wasn't even aware that the show had started. He had just been wandering around. He'd passed the same door three times, but it was never the door that he wanted. He was never going to find the right door. This was just madness. The show was starting, but he didn't have a match. God forbid he actually had to find his dressing room. He'd be searching for days on end. He turned another corner, certain that he'd just been down this hallway.

He wandered down this familiar hallway, seeing Booker and RVD talking about their tag belts. Christian looked on jealously. He should have those belts. Well, he should have at least one of them while Jericho had the other. He had the right mind to go ask Bischoff for a WrestleMania title match. He should do that. Yeah, he should…he'd go do that right now.

If he could just find Bischoff's office.

Christian walked around for another twenty minutes and was sure that he was just going around in one big circle. That had to be it because he knew these places well. Finally, at one impasse, he made a right instead of a left and found Bischoff's office. He walked inside and up to Bischoff. He asked point blank to give him and Jericho the title match at WrestleMania, but Bischoff refused. Geez, Jericho really had gotten on Bischoff's bad side.

Christian was actually horrified that Bischoff would schedule a match between him and Trish. He couldn't fight Trish, that was his ex-girlfriend, he used to love her, a part of his still did. He just couldn't face off against her, that wasn't right and it wouldn't be fair and he couldn't do anything to her…

Unless he could.

His brain started working overtime, figuring things out, coming to his right mind. He left the office and smirked. Yes, if he planned this all out accordingly, then he would be perfect, the match would be perfect. Yes, it would work out, he thought to himself. If he did a certain thing during the match, then it would be great.

He could just say he was doing it for Stephanie. That was the perfect thing to say, it was the perfect excuse. Stephanie was mad, and Stephanie wanted this, so he was just granting Stephanie's wish. That's what he would tell people, and it would make perfect sense and nobody would be the wiser. Damn it, where was his locker room?

"I don't like that," Jericho said as he and Stephanie watched Raw.

"Oh don't worry about it," Stephanie said, brushing it off, "He's just got to do what he's got to do."

"Which is basically fight a girl."

"Hey, she should be able to take care of herself."

"Have you ever wondered why they hate each other, or why Christian is so mean to her? If anything she should be mean to him."

Stephanie blushed and ducked her head a little, "Nope, don't know the reason at all."

"Are you telling him to do that stuff Stephanie?"

"Chris, I wouldn't--"

"Yes, you would."

"Fine, I've asked him to do a few things for me," she admitted, "But it's nothing that you should be scared about. He doesn't do anything terrible."

"Yeah, but it screws--" He cut himself off, realizing that he was about to reveal that it would screw up his and Trish's plan. Luckily he had caught himself before fully saying it, but he saw the look on Stephanie's face and it was questioning and she wanted to know.

"Screws what?" Stephanie asked with a smirk, "Screws up something that you've been working on?"

"No!" Jericho said, "It doesn't screw up anything. I was talking out of my ass."

"Uh huh," she nodded, not believing a word he said, "Just talking out of your ass huh?"

"Precisely, I'm on medication, I have no idea what I'm jabbering on about, blah, blah, blah," he said for added for extra emphasis.

"So it's just the medication talking?"

"Yeah, I'm not used to it, it's making me do strange and unusual things," he said, "I think I'm going crazy."

"Yeah, crazy…"

She smirked, a little bit more of the puzzle was being unraveled. She sat back against the couch smugly. Something, a plan more specifically, was definitely going down. Jericho was terrible at lying to her, and she was finally starting to get him to crumble. Deciding to turn on her charm, she scooted next to him and actually cuddled up to his arm. Jericho looked down at her, surprised by the affection.

"Chris," she said, her voice twinkly and sounding like a bell.

"What?"

"What other things do you say while you're crazy?"

"Um, the red dog flies over the blue chicken coop and two o'clock," he said.

"That's not what I want to hear."

"Whatever it is that you want to hear," he said, "You're not going to hear, so drop it."

"You are no fun."

He rolled his eyes, "Let's just watch the show."

They sat there silently, watching Bischoff talk to Austin. He mentioned the Halloween kiss from so long ago and Stephanie shuddered thinking about it. Jericho wasn't too happy either. Then Bischoff had to go over the line and say that he had been having fantasies about Stephanie. Jericho clenched his jaw.

"What the fuck was that?" Jericho asked, standing up and hopping over to the phone, "I'm calling that bastard and telling him to get his head out of his ass."

"Chris," Stephanie said, going after him, which wasn't that difficult considering that he was pretty low on the mobility, "You can't do that."

"Like hell I can't, I don't want that pervert thinking about you, especially in those kind of scenarios. That bastard."

"What are you going to do, control his thoughts?" she asked with a joking tone.

"Yes, I'll do just that," he said, "God, I hate him."

"I know…but did you see my dad?" Stephanie said, something in her eyes that Jericho hadn't seen in a very long time. There was almost a little glimmer of hope, or something akin to that.

"No."

"He looked angry, like actually angry that Bischoff had said that about me," she said, having a hard time trying to hide her excitement. It was the first emotion other than hatred that her father had shown her in a very long time.

"He did?" asked Jericho incredulously.

"Yeah, almost like he didn't hate me," Stephanie said, biting her lip in happiness, "Do you think that maybe he's…not mad at me?"

Jericho smiled and nodded his answer. Stephanie's face broke into an all out grin that threatened to spread all over her face. Her eyes lit up like he hadn't seen in a while and he could see plainly how happy she was at the prospect of getting her father back. It wasn't even about her job right now, but just the fact that her father might not hate her.

This was what he had wanted to give her all along. This was why he entered this stupid plan to begin with, to see this kind of reaction out of Stephanie. To see her face light up in delight, it was that reward he wanted. Maybe he was upset because of Jericho talking to him, maybe it was him who had started the wheels moving in the right direction. He could only hope.

Stephanie hugged him tightly, needing somehow to expel this happiness seeping through her rapidly. She hadn't felt this good in ages. Her father might want her back and she was in Jericho's arms. If only the things were this perfect all the time. She pulled away and stared up at him. At least for a moment she could make things perfect, she thought, as she leaned up to kiss him. They kissed for a long moment, just savoring this feeling.

"I'm happy for you," he told her.

"Thanks," she smiled, "Thanks."

It was almost as if she were saying thank you for talking to her father, but he knew that couldn't be it, since only Trish knew about that. But he could imagine it was so. They stood there, just embracing each other, just letting the good feelings reverberate through them and the room and the house until it all threatened to burst in one big happy explosion.

Christian was taping up his wrists. He had given up on his search and had eventually found his locker room. He got ready for his match, knowing that at least Trish would be there at the gorilla so he could talk to her for a moment about the match. He didn't even need that as she walked in the room to talk about it. He told her the truth, and she was touched that he would lie down for her.

He joked a little with her, and she laughed, Christian could always make her laugh. She had loved that about him. Randy made her laugh as well, but it was different. She turned to walk away but was caught from behind by Christian. She turned to look at him, wondering if there was anything else about tonight she needed to know.

"About tonight," he said, then trailed off, "I mean, I need to talk to you a little more about it."

"You do?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, I mean, there's things, and stuff."

"Can this wait Christian?" Trish said, "I kind of needed to go get my things."

"Yeah, I guess it can, or I can just walk you to your locker room and we can discuss it," he suggested.

"Yeah, that's fine."

They walked to her dressing room and talked to each other quietly. She was glad that he had offered to lie down for her, she wasn't looking forward to fighting him. Though some things were more important than him lying down for her and she understood where he was coming from. They walked inside her dressing room and saw Randy sitting there, still sweaty and tired from his match.

"Hey," he said, looking suspiciously between the two, "What's going on?"

"Oh, I was just getting my things, Christian and I have a match, remember?"

"Oh yeah, and are you planning on hurting her?" Randy asked.

"No," Christian scoffed, "What's your problem?"

"I just saw your little tryst in the locker room, you want her to lay down for you later. Man, you are not her boyfriend."

"I know that," said Christian.

"Then stop acting like it!" Randy said angrily.

"Randy, calm down!" Trish said, "There's no need to get so upset."

"The guy wants you Trish, and you tell me to not be upset!"

"Yes!" she yelled, then lowered her voice, "Randy, it's just business, ok, we're just going out there and doing our business and that's that. We talked it out."

"I don't trust him," Randy said, and Christian sneered at him.

"It's not your job to trust him or not," Trish reprimanded him, "It's mine. We're going."

She grabbed her coat and things and left the room, Christian on her trails. He was quite impressed by her skills. Too bad he'd have to break her later. He sighed to himself as they got to the gorilla and she almost immediately went out to the ring. He followed and they were in the ring, together. It was almost surreal, just the two of them, alone. Odd…or ironic, either way.

He went to lay down for her, and just like the plan dictated, he kicked out, tossing her away. Trish looked at him, confused by what he was doing. She went to walk away, not going to tolerate this and Christian slapped her butt. She turned around surprised by him, a few months ago, and she probably would've laughed and launched herself into his arms. It was a little different now.

Then she went to leave again and was suddenly tossed by a huge clothesline. She lay there as Christian started over to her. Before she could fully comprehend anything, he had her in the Walls of Jericho. She tried to tap, but he wouldn't let go until he was tired of it. She lay there, actually hurting as Christian looked down at her mockingly.

Christian looked back at her, feeling a little bad, but he had to go through with what he had discussed with his partner earlier. They were agreed upon it and he couldn't go back now. And Stephanie wanted it, that was his excuse, Stephanie wanted him to crush her. He had to go with the plan, the plan was what that was all about.

He hung around as they helped Trish to the back and he felt the urge to go over to her, but she was taken straight to the trainer's room. He followed them at a few paces back, but before he could go into see her, after the trainers left, Randy rushed into the room, and all chance was last.

"Trish, are you alright?" Randy asked concerned for her, very concerned if he was honest.

"Yeah," she winced, "Just fine."

"You're hurt, I'm going to kill that bastard Christian. I told him not to hurt you, damn him!"

"It's ok Randy, I'm fine," she said softly, "Forget about Christian."

"Yeah right, what's that guy's problem. Just because he can't have you, he has to start going after you. Talk about your insecure assholes."

"Randy, I'm glad you're concerned, but don't worry about me. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and all that junk," she said, with a hurt smile.

"Fine," he said, looking at his watch, "Damn it, I have to go with Evolution back to the hotel, can you still swing by later?"

"I will try my hardest to come."

"Good," he said, before he kissed her softly, "Feel better."

"I will."

Randy left and Christian peeked around the corner. It looked deserted so he snuck into the room. Trish looked up, expecting to see Randy, but saw Christian instead. He looked at her, apology in his eyes, and forgiveness in hers. He walked over slowly.

"It was for Stephanie."

"Yeah," she nodded, "For Stephanie."

"I mean, that's what--"

"I understand."

"Vince talked to me about her."

"He did?"

"Yeah, I didn't know who else to tell, but he did."

"You told the right person," she said, "Did it go ok?"

"Fine, yeah, I mean, he sees us and you know, we're together and all that."

"Yeah, you're together," she said, "I'm fine by the way."

"Good, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to--"

"I know, I know," she reassured, "You better get out of here, and call Stephanie and tell her what you told me, I'm sure she'd be happy to hear."

"Yeah, she would."

"Bye Trish."

"Bye Christian, good luck…and thanks."

"For what?" he asked, a little confused, "I hurt you."

"Yeah, but at least this way I can probably get a week off."


	184. SmackDown, February 26, 2004

"It was really sweet of you to stay with me."

"I wanted to."

"But you didn't have to."

"But you're hurt."

"Not that hurt," Trish said, sitting back on the couch, "I'm just a little sore."

"I can't believe that your ex-boyfriend would do that to you," Randy said to her.

"It's fine Randy," Trish said, dismissing his comments, "It was no big deal, just a huge misunderstanding."

"Whatever you say," Randy said suspiciously, "Though I find it weird how nonchalant you are about this whole thing."

"And why shouldn't I be?" she asked, "I'm not seriously injured, he was just doing his job, his job was to fight me."

"But you guys agreed that he would lay down for you."

"Randy," Trish snapped, "Just drop it alright."

Randy looked at her. She had been a little testy lately especially when he brought up Christian. He was afraid that she was going back to liking him and that hurt a little bit. He really cared about her, and to find out that she might still have feelings for an ex-boyfriend was a little jarring to his senses. Of course, he was here, taking care of her, and Christian wasn't, but he couldn't' help but wonder nonetheless.

"Sorry," he mumbled, actually hurt by her snapping at him.

She sighed and spoke softly, "I'm sorry I was bitchy to you just then, it's just you need to understand some stuff, and…just don't worry about me."

"I can't help it," he told her.

She smiled and grabbed his hand, holding it in her own, and it was the first affection she had shown since he had arrived earlier that morning, "And I think that is really sweet, but you ask too many questions about things that don't concern you."

"I just want to know about your past, about your friends and stuff, is that such a crime?" he asked.

Trish thought to all her friends, all the relationships that were hidden, tucked neatly away because they were too out there, or too secretive to be let loose. She sometimes felt like she lived a double life. There was the life projected to the world, where she was this cheery girl, who everyone liked. Then there was her secret life where she had a group of tight-knit friends who looked out for each other like a family. Of course, they hadn't all really convened for a long time. Maybe she could change that…

"Yes," she said, "Randy, I like you, I really do, but you're with Evolution, and I have to tip-toe around that, because you have so many things that you could use against me, and I have to do everything in my power to not let you get control."

"I've told you time and time again that I'm not like the other guys in the group."

"And I believe you, mainly because I've seen how you are, and you really are a good person, but Randy, some things are not meant to be shared."

"I just get this feeling that you are hiding something, that there's this big in-joke, and I'm not a part of it. I feel like the geek."

"Then you'll just have to stay the geek," said Trish as she readjusted herself on the couch, wincing as she moved her back in a strange way, causing a minor spasm.

"Fine," he said, rubbing her back softly, "But I don't like this whole secrets thing."

"Like you don't have secrets with Evolution."

"Fine, we do, but I don't see what that has to do with anything concerning this."

"Well, if you have secret stuff that you can't share, and I do to, I don't know what your fuss is to know what I'm talking about."

"I'm suddenly very confused," he said, scratching his head.

"Mission accomplished then," she giggled, "I wonder how Chris is doing?"

"Back to Chris eh?" Randy said with an eyebrow of interest.

"Yeah, he's my friend after all," she said, giving him a look that said there was nothing going on between her and Jericho.

"Yeah, I know, I get the feeling he doesn't like me though, very strongly in fact."

"Yeah, I don't think he does, but he's got his own problems to worry about."

"Yeah, like his knee right?"

Trish smiled, as if to agree, but she knew that was actually the farthest thing from his mind. Jericho probably wasn't concerned with his knee as much as he was concerned with Stephanie. She felt they had made some real progress in this plan. Vince had almost seemed…protective of Stephanie on Monday. It made Trish happy to see, and after she had spoken with Jericho yesterday and heard how excited Stephanie actually was, it made her feel like this plan was worth all the trouble.

"Yeah, exactly," she said to reaffirm the nod she had given him.

"But you know…"

"Know what?" she asked, looking over to him. He seemed to be sorting out his thoughts or something because he was taking an awful long time to answer. Perhaps he was trying to sort through his thoughts.

"…He always seems to…I don't know…be pre-occupied…like his mind is always else where, have you ever gotten that feeling about him."

Like you wouldn't believe, she thought to herself. Except her point of view was different because she knew exactly where Jericho's mind was at all hours of the day. She knew nary a moment went by that Jericho wasn't thinking about Stephanie. It was like he woke up, breathed, lived Stephanie. It was sweet in a way, she was still looking for that. Maybe she had found it, she didn't know, but she knew that it must feel good to have someone so…perfect for you that you could always count on. She hoped she had that with Randy.

"Yeah, I've gotten the same feeling actually," she answered, "I think his mind is elsewhere most of the time."

"Do you know why?"

"I might."

"Can I know, or is that in the secret category."

"I think it has to do with a girl," she answered. It was simple enough that she answered the question, but vague enough that she needn't answer it with a name.

"Would it be possible for me to know who this girl is?"

"Nope," she said, "Not your business to know."

"Damn," Randy muttered, "I hate not knowing."

"Hey, question…um, does Hunter have a girlfriend?"

"Are you going to dump me for Hunter? Oh my God, you're going through me to get to him!"

She laughed at his silliness, "No, I was just wondering, I don't know how the boys of Evolution work."

"Boys, we are not boys," Randy said suavely, "We are men."

"Oh, excuse me," Trish said, acting like she was so sorry for the mistake, "I don't know how the MEN of Evolution work."

"Better. No, Hunter doesn't have a girlfriend, just a chick he sleeps with in every city. You know, like a ring rat."

"Figures," Trish said to herself. Not that she was upset or anything. Hunter would never know what he had given up. But in the end it was for the best. She couldn't imagine Jericho and Stephanie not together in the future, she had become so accustomed to saying that: Jericho and Stephanie. Their names were so synonymous with the other. Hunter leaving her was the best thing to ever happen to Stephanie, hands down.

"Yeah, I guess, I just don't really live like that," he shrugged, "Id much rather spend time with you."

"Good," she said, leaning over slowly to kiss him, "I like spending time with you too."

Stephanie sat comfortably on the couch in Jericho's office. He was working on something. Probably some tour dates with Fozzy or something. They had been practically inseparable since Monday and she couldn't be happier. Christian had had to go visit his mother for some family function in Canada, and Edge had gone too, so it was really only her and Jericho.

The only problem, that she felt was the obvious elephant in the room syndrome. The elephant in this case was the truth, and they tip-toed around it so carefully that it had really become an art form. Jericho was all but assured that whatever Christian and Stephanie had wasn't serious, and Stephanie knew in her gut, Trish and Jericho were planning something.

They just never talked about it. In a way, it was a relief to her. Her life had already been in turmoil for a while, and if what Jericho had to say wasn't to her liking, she would just be adding to an already expanding list. Yet, she wouldn't trade these tense, awkward moments for anything.

"Done," Jericho said, smiling over at her, "And that's enough work for one day."

"Yay, you're done," Stephanie said clapping.

"Yup," he smiled, "I'm beat, I think I like just going out into a ring and beating people up. I'm not cut out for this real world job stuff."

"Well, when you refer to it as 'real world job stuff' than yeah, I'm going to say you're not cut out for it," she joked.

"Well, that's easy coming from you, you had a job before you came on television, you were the self-sufficient woman."

"And look at me now, unemployed and mooching off my friends, what a way to live!" she told him sarcastically.

"Aww, I don't mind you mooching," he told her as he picked up his crutches.

"It's not like I'm penniless."

"I know, I've seen your bank statement. You're loaded, I should be mooching off of you," he said.

"You know," she started seriously, "I've actually been thinking about moving back to Connecticut…permanently."

Jericho was a little taken aback by the statement, "Why?"

"I don't know, a change of scenery I guess. I mean, I like living with Christian and everything, and then you, but maybe it's time to just you know, move on for a bit."

"You mean, stop being around us…for good?" Jericho wasn't liking the direction this conversation was going. He didn't even know how the topic had become so serious and random…because her talking about leaving was quite random.

"I don't know," she said, "There's really not that much keeping me here, and my mom is up there, and I know she doesn't see Shane all that much, and she might like the company actually."

"Oh," Jericho nodded slowly, letting her words sink in, but the further they sunk, the more he hated them, "Well, if that's what you want to do."

"I've just been thinking about it lately…a lot…"

"Well, you do have a big, lonely house up there," he said, putting the emphasis on lonely, just to try and get her not to leave.

"Yeah, and it could probably use some sprucing up actually," she said, "I mean, there's not a lot to keep me here."

Oh, that was bullshit, Jericho thought. There was so much keeping her here, she just didn't' know about it all yet. She would though, if he was allowed to go to the show on Monday, and Vince was there, he'd lay it on as thick as possible with the man. Maybe he could just get Stephanie a job backstage, just so she was in the company. Anything to not let her leave his life forever.

"I've gotta go," he said quickly, not wanting to talk about this any longer.

"Chris, where are you going?" she asked, walking over to him.

"I think I need a nap or something."

"Fine," she said, staring at him, as if he'd change his answer, "I'll be downstairs."

Jericho went to his bedroom and closed and locked the door. He went to lay on his bed, sprawling himself out on it. He took the brace off of his knee. He hated the damn thing and if it meant that he'd be in pain with it off, so be it. He didn't care about the physical pain anymore; he could deal with that. He reached under his pillow and pulled out the ring box. He opened it again. For some reason, this ring was symbolic. It was as if… as long as he had this ring, he would be alright, he and Stephanie would be fine, because this ring was his future.

It was stupid, he knew that. He wasn't one for sentimentality. Or at least, he hadn't been until Stephanie strolled into his life. It was two years ago, two years had passed since he had shook her hand, since he had mad that fateful choice. He never regretted it. Maybe once…when he didn't kiss her that time, with the robe, when he knew he should've. She had made him a damn softie.

He tried to picture his life without Stephanie in it, and it just didn't seem possible. Or if it did seem possible, it wasn't the kind of life he wanted to lead. When had a person become so important to him? He was supposed to be this strong, macho type guy and he just…wasn't….not anymore.

He got off the bed and put the ring box back under his pillow. He stuck that damned brace back on his leg and grabbed his crutches again. He went down the hallway and to the stairs. From the middle of the staircase, you could see into the living room and he saw Stephanie sitting there, the phone in her lap. He sat down to where she couldn't see him and just watched her.

She picked up the phone and dialed, "Hello?"

"Long time no speak," she said into the phone."

"Beautiful!"

"Hey Kurt," Stephanie said with a smile, "I've missed you."

"Not half as much as I missed you," he told her.

"Well that makes me happy to hear, I've been busy, I'm sorry I haven't called."

"It's fine, you have a life, what am I supposed to do, begrudge you for that…and how is your life by the way?"

"It's…interesting."

"How are things with you and Christian?" he asked teasingly.

"Fine, fine," she answered with a giggle, "You would not believe some of the stuff we've done."

"Now I hope this is in plan context, and you haven't decided that sleeping with him would make this more believable."

"The former Kurt, the former definitely."

"Good, well, if Monday was any indication, I've got a pretty good idea what you've been cooking up."

"Yeah, that was for me," she said, "I mean, not that I wanted it to be so brutal, but yeah, it was for me."

"Well, I'm glad the guy is willing to beat up a girl for you."

"It was hardly 'beating up.' It was more like, roughing up."

"Yeah, and I'm just a tad mean."

"Oh, is that what you're calling it now?"

"Yup, you know, I'm just doing this for the good of my fellow wrestlers and adoring fans," he said snarkily.

"Good, because I thought you had just decided to be an asshole," Stephanie laughed.

"So where are you?"

"Chris's house, I'm just staying with him to help him out, no biggie."

Jericho, who had been listening to the entire conversation was a little upset by that comment. She made it sound like she didn't even want to be here, and was simply hanging around because she had to. If that was the case, then why didn't she just leave. He wanted to go back upstairs, but something kept him there. Maybe it was the fact that he had a hard time sitting down and getting up might be just as difficult.

"Oh, so it's no biggie that you're around the man that you love?"

"Kurt, you know that I'm trying to suppress those feelings right now or I'm liable to jump him right now," she laughed.

"Is he in the vicinity?"

"He's upstairs."

"Oh, and why aren't you with him?"

"He didn't want to be around me," she said with a sigh, "It's fine, things are still weird, and he's still, well, you know, distant and stuff. I'm sure it'll pass."

"It will beautiful."

"Did you see my dad on Monday?" she asked, changing the subject.

"As a matter of fact, I did," he told her and he could already picture the sunshine in her voice.

"Did you see how kind of protective he was of Bischoff saying his fantasized about me? I mean, it wasn't overt or anything, but you could definitely sense it right, I mean, I did…Chris did too!"

"Yeah, I mean, he looked like he was going to strangle Bischoff."

"I know my dad was mad at him to begin with, but I mean, you do think that part of the anger in that little thing was because he was using my name in his perverted sexual fantasies and my dad didn't like it."

"I think that is a definite possibility."

"Me too!" she said, her voice raising to an almost screech, "I'm just hoping he comes to his senses and lets me come back. I would be so happy if he let me come back, even if it's just to do something backstage."

Jericho was happy to hear that. Maybe he could talk to Vince about that on Monday. Persuade him to just give Stephanie a backstage job, maybe planning matches or something, or something to do with the production of the show. He was sure that Vince could find something for her, if he searched hard enough.

"I'm happy for you Steph, but I've got to go, I wanted to call Trish and ask how she was."

"Ok," Stephanie said, "Bye Kurt."

"Bye."

Trish had been having a pretty heated make-out session with Randy when the phone rang. She didn't want to answer it at first, but she felt like she had to. She didn't want to be rude. Or maybe she could just let her machine pick it up. Yeah, that was the better thing to do because she didn't want Randy's lips away from her own for even one second.

The machine beeped and then…"Hey Trish, it's Kurt, I just wanted to call…"

Trish quickly picked up the phone and turned away from Randy, "Hey."

"Hey, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Nope, you weren't," she said as she glanced over at Randy, who was looking at her questioningly. Probably wondering why Kurt was calling, she thought to herself.

She smiled at Randy before she gingerly got off the couch and walked into the bathroom to finish her phone call. Randy just figured that Kurt was wondering how Trish was doing. He couldn't believe the jealousy that ran through him as he thought they could be something more. But that was stupid right? Kurt and Trish, it just didn't seem plausible. Hopefully.

"I was with Randy," Trish said, "And then you called and he's going to have questions."

"Sorry, but I was just talking to Stephanie."

"Oh," Trish said, suddenly interested, "Were you now?"

"Yup, I was, she sounds pretty good, she's with Chris right now," he told her, "Taking care of him."

"Yeah, she's been there since last week," she said, "How's Chris?"

"Fine, I'm pretty sure, still has the brace, I talked to Edge the other day, asked him about it."

"Good."

"How are you?"

"A little sore, but overall, can't complain."

"Will you be at Raw on Monday?"

"I don't know yet, I think I deserve a week off, don't you?" Trish said.

"Week off from what?"

"Everything," she admitted.

"Yeah, I can see that, I just wanted to see how you were, make sure you weren't in any serious pain."

"I've got Randy here, taking care of me and everything, I think I'll be just fine."

"Good, I just wanted to make sure. I mean, after what Christian did. I seriously wasn't expecting that, considering everything…."

"It was an accident," Trish said quickly, "He didn't mean to."

"Oh so…"

"Yeah," she answered, "It was an accident I'm sure."

"Ok," he said with a little resolve, "As long as that's clear."

"Is anything clear anymore Kurt?"

"No, not so much, but I'll let you get back to Randy," he said, "Feel better alright?"

"I will."

"See ya."

"Bye."

Trish hung up and walked out of the bathroom, glancing over at Randy for a moment before sitting down next to him. He looked at her for a few moments and she finally looked at him, a little smile on her face. He just sat there looking at her and it was a little unnerving.

"So Kurt?"

"Is a friend," Trish supplied.

"Everyone seems to be your friend."

"Well, I like a lot of people," she answered, "Jealous?"

"No, of course not, I just…wasn't expecting Kurt of all people to call here."

"Well, now you know," she said, "He's a friend, concerned one."

"Oh," he said, "I'm getting that feeling again."

"What feeling?"

"That I'm on the outside looking in."

"Well, maybe you are."


	185. Raw, March 1, 2004

"Are you sure you don't want to wear it?"

"He said I didn't have to," Jericho answered, "And since I don't, I'm not."

"But it might make you feel better, you know, having it on so that you don't hurt yourself again."

"You are the one who's worried," Jericho told her, "But Steph, I'm going to be fine."

"I just worry, I mean, you're still hurt, you're not recovered and yet you want to go to the show. What if someone calls you out?"

"Then I will slowly walk my way down the ramp and greet them," he said, smiling at her impishly, "Have a civil conversation, maybe laugh it up, you know the usual."

She furrowed her eyebrows and studied him delicately, "Will you wear it for me?"

"Nope, because if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't listen to me, you rarely do."

"I do listen," she contested, "I just choose to ignore."

Jericho smiled at her kindly, but he knew that he wasn't going to put that stupid brace on his leg again. It sucked when he had it on and he refused to wear it any longer. But Stephanie was worried about him. It made him feel good that she worried, but this was one of those times that he had to resist what she was saying.

"And I choose to ignore tonight, and that's that missy."

"Missy?"

"Look, I'm injured, you can't expect me to be coherent all the time can you?"

"Oh, I couldn't, what do you take me for, I'd never expect you to be coherent," she said, putting her hand over her heart in mock astonishment.

"Good…So how are things with Christian?"

"Um, they're pretty non-existent at the moment, I haven't talked to him in a couple of days," she admitted.

"So you two are going through a rough patch," Jericho said, trying not to sound exuberant.

"I don't know if you'd call it a rough patch," she said, not knowing what it actually was. It wasn't like she and Christian were actually dating. They were just in a silly plan, that was practically a moot point anyways.

"But you guys haven't talked."

"He's been busy," she argued, "I mean, we're busy people."

Jericho thought of his own situation, "Yeah, we're all pretty…busy."

She gave him a sidelong glance, biting her lip a little, "Do you ever get the feeling…"

She let her voice fade out, not sure if she should voice her concerns with Jericho. She didn't want to be presumptuous, but this strange feeling had been gnawing at her for a while now. She didn't know how to put it exactly in words, but it just kept her thinking, all the time. She wanted to ask Jericho about it, but he might think that she was just being silly.

"What?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Nothing," she dismissed, figuring that he would think she was stupid for her concerns. She probably was stupid, and she didn't want to risk the embarrassment, even if it was just Jericho. She had an immense amount of pride.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she said, "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"You know, if there's something wrong with you, you can tell me," he said, lacing his fingers lightly through hers.

"Ok, but you have to promise not to laugh alright?" she said seriously, and so Jericho knew she was being serious.

"Fine," he nodded.

She looked around tepidly, wondering if she should say what she was thinking. She could never get this feeling out of her head that she wasn't being watched. Here she was, sitting alone in Jericho's hotel room, and she felt like there was some sort of hidden camera on her. It was a strange feeling that she couldn't escape.

"Well, I mean, do you ever get the feeling that we're…sitting ducks," she answered.

"Sitting ducks?"

"Yeah, like we're being set up…big time."

"Um," he looked around, "Actually, I don't know, I do get this feeling like we're being torn apart on purpose or something. I mean, I didn't really think that much of it because I don't know, you were with Christian, but there were just always these little--"

"Coincidences," she finished.

"Yeah, coincidences," he repeated, knowing she would know the exact word he wanted.

"Like always getting interrupted when we wanted to talk," she said.

"Or when I wanted you to come visit my parents, and Christian just happened to fall down the stairs."

Stephanie looked down for a moment. Yes, they were all eerie coincidences, and she couldn't figure out why she felt that they were not so coincidental and rather purposeful. Were they on purpose? If they were, by whom? Christian? Trish? Both? Everyone that they knew? She looked back up at Jericho and saw him thinking intensely as well. Could he be having the same exact thoughts as she was?

"Chris, how did you know I wanted something from you on Valentine's Day?"

"Um," he thought for a second, "Trish told me."

"Interesting," Stephanie said, then thought back to that day, "You know, I have a feeling that something is going on that we're not aware of."

"You do?"

"Yes, like, we're being kept apart on purpose."

"But why would someone do that?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm getting the feeling that that's what it is."

"That's…odd," he told her, "I mean, there's nobody that would want to…oh man."

Stephanie turned her head quickly towards him, "What, what was that oh man, tell me!"

Jericho thought back to conversations he had had with Trish. She always knew that he was on the verge of crumbling and telling Stephanie the entire truth. If that was the case, and Christian knew because of Trish…who was to say that everyone didn't know? Maybe everyone was keeping them apart because they knew he would cave. It was entirely possible, and yet too, almost bizarre to be true. Right?

"I'm not exactly sure."

"Tell me!" Stephanie demanded yet again, "I want to know!"

"Jeez Stephanie, keep your panties on, actually, no take them off," he leered.

She scowled, "You had a revelation, I know you did! And you must tell me or I'm going pluck every single hair from your head one by one with my tweezers."

"Well, when you put it like that…what if we ARE being set up?"

"Then that sucks."

"No really Steph, thanks for the understatement," he said.

"My pleasure."

"Ok, so what if they were keeping us apart on purpose?"

"Like who? Like our friends?"

"Yeah."

"But…why would they do that?"

"Stephanie, I was two seconds from going back to you at any moment, I have something, I'm doing, and it's secret, and I was so close to telling you and Trish kept telling me not to."

"What secret?" she asked, not even caring about the fact that she had wanted to know the secret he had been keeping, but right now, she just wanted to know this plan or whatever.

"Don't worry about it," he said quickly, "The main thing is that I think we've been had by our friends."

"All of them? Surely not Kurt…"

Then her jaw slacked a little. Kurt had said he was going to call Trish last week, just to check up on her. But what if it hadn't been to check up on her. Kurt knew about her plan with Christian. Everything was starting to clear up a little and she gazed at Jericho, who already had the look of clarity in his eyes.

"Everyone! Everyone was in on it! Oh my God, he probably never called Edge, he was probably calling Trish, and everyone was in on it!"

"So what's going on between you and Christian?"

"I faked being with him," she said, "I wanted to make you jealous!"

"Oh thank God," Jericho said, running his hands through his hair, "I swear to God, I thought you two were together and sleeping together!"

"No! No way! I've never slept with him!"

"Why are we talking so loud?!?"

"I don't know," Stephanie said, looking at him.

"So you're not in love with Christian?"

"No, I'm not, I just wanted to find out what you were up to," she confessed.

Jericho didn't even know how to respond; he was so incredibly relieved that he couldn't speak. Instead, he took Stephanie into his arms and held her tightly. She hugged him back, careful of his knee. She started crying silently, thanking God that she and Jericho were such clever people, even if they had taken awhile to figure out the truth.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair.

"I love you too," she said back, "I can't believe they were trying to keep us apart."

"I know," he said, "I mean, I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but still it was a pretty rotten thing to do."

"Yeah, rotten…"

Jericho pulled back away from Stephanie, and regarded her sternly, an eyebrow cocked. She gave him a smile and he thought she was about to speak, but instead she leaned over to kiss him. Jericho kissed her back, cupping her cheeks in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over her cheek.

"So does that mean we're back together," he said as he pulled away.

"I'm not sure…it's up to you, you're the one with the secret."

"Well, we can just be in private for a while, because as I was kissing you, I think that some of your brainpower crossed over to me, because I've got a plan."

"Ooh, a plan," she said sneakily, kissing him again, "What kind of plan?"

"Well, they all are trying to keep us apart because they think that we're so in love with each other that we can't stay away from each other for two seconds, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," she said, "But what's that got to do with a plan?"

"Well, what if we hated each other? I'm talking full hatred…"

"Like before?"

"Exactly."

"You are a devious mastermind Chris Jericho," she told him.

"I know," he told her, kissing her again, "So you in?"

"I'm in."

Jericho smiled at her and went back to kiss her again, glad that he could kiss her at leisure once again. Not only would this plan work for him and Stephanie against their scheming friends, but it would also serve a better purpose. Stephanie still didn't know about his plan with Vince, and if Vince could see that he and Stephanie truly hated each other, like in the old days, who's to say that he wouldn't at least give her a job backstage or something.

"You're the best," Stephanie murmured against his lips, "And our friends are going down."

Christian laughed it up on the phone with Trish. She was stuck at home tonight, but she had informed him that Jericho had gone down to Atlanta, and would presumably be there tonight, if only to hang out backstage. Stephanie was off somewhere, getting food or shopping or something, and he was talking to Trish on the phone.

"If you ask me one more time if I really hurt, I'm killing you Christian," Trish said, "I'm fine, alright, I'm faking this injury and you know it."

"I know, I just really hit you hard."

"You had to," she said to him, "I told you to, you had to make it convincing."

"Yeah, I know, but I never wanted to really hurt you."

"And you didn't, so where's the other half?"

"Out, shopping I think."

"Sounds like fun," Trish said, "I should've gone today. So they still don't suspect anything?"

"I don't think so. Stephanie said that they barely talk about serious things, you know, it's the untouched subject."

"Good, the longer they're apart, the longer we have to get Stephanie her job back without her interfering."

"Yeah, I think we've done a good job keeping them apart. They have no idea that everyone is in on this plan."

"I know, it's pretty fun, they think they're the masters, we are the champions," she giggled.

"I'd say we rank right up there," Christian told her, "I mean, they have no idea we're all on the same page. Stroke of luck AND genius."

"Yeah, it is," Trish said, "But like last week, you could tell that Vince was caving. I think it'll happen soon."

"Oh, did I tell you that Stephanie almost found her ring," Christian said, "She had been snooping around, luckily I saw her and asked Chris to get something from his room, or she would've found it."

"Thank God she didn't, have you seen it?"

"No, not yet."

"It's huge, I'm talking like 'go skating on it' huge."

"Yeah, and we can't have her find," Christian's voice trailed off as Stephanie walked inside, "Yeah Mom, I promise that I'll visit more often."

Trish laughed, "She came back huh?"

"Yes Mom," Christian groaned and rolled his eyes at Stephanie. Stephanie gave him a little laugh, but more about his acting than anything else. Now that she knew the truth, she expected that it wasn't his mother at all. She just smiled and walked into the bedroom to get changed for tonight.

"Ok, I'll let you go," Trish said, "And remember what we agreed tonight. I'm sure Stephanie will agree to make you 'humiliate' me."

"Yup, or something like that," Christian said, "Bye."

"Bye."

Stephanie walked back out, in a black a-line skirt and a white halter top that seemed fitted to her body. It was elegant and tasteful, with a little bit of flair that Stephanie was known for. Christian was about to ask what the special occasion was, since she usually just dressed in a pair of pants and a t-shirt. But he became distracted as Stephanie tapped her watch.

"Was that your mom?" she asked.

"Yup, she keeps calling," he said, "It's kind of annoying."

"I'd imagine," she said, "So why are we going so late to the show?"

"I'm not really scheduled for anything until later, I talked with Bischoff earlier."

"Oh," she nodded, "Makes sense. What will you be doing?"

"I'm going to do something you will be very proud of," he smiled at her as he said this.

"And what is that?"

"Peep show, making a match with Jericho at WrestleMania."

"Wow, that's nice, for me?"

"He needs to realize that you are what he's giving up," Christian told her, "We'll get to him yet."

"Well thank you, should we go?"

"Yeah, let me just get my stuff."

"Great, I'm going to make a quick call to my brother, he called earlier."

"Cool."

Stephanie grabbed her purse and took out her cell phone. She dialed Jericho's cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.

"Jericho here."

"Hey Shane."

"Stephanie I presume."

"Astute Shane," she laughed, "I just wanted to return your call."

"Is this about Christian?"

"Yeah, it is."

"About the show?"

"Yup, no, you can tell Mom later."

"Should I be there tonight?"

"You should, you know I'd love to see you, no I don't think he'd mind at all."

"I'll be there," he said, "But I'm going to be secretive, you know, better to surprise."

"Yeah, I got you," she said, "Well, tell Mom I love her."

"I love you too," Jericho answered.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Stephanie smiled as she put her phone back in her bag. Christian was already waiting by the door and she allowed him to open the door for her. She smiled graciously as she walked in front of him and through the door. She allowed herself a little smile as they walked out and to his car. She was careful not to reveal anything as they drove to the arena.

Upon arriving, she saw Christian walk on ahead and decided to hang back a little, see if she could locate where Jericho was hiding. She wandered around, her high heels clicking against the linoleum floor. She knew that these weren't the best choice of footwear, but she wanted to look good. For the first time in a while, she was actually happy.

"Stephanie."

Stephanie let a smile out involuntarily and turned around, "Hi Dad."

"You look nice tonight," he commented, trying to act nonchalant.

"Thank you," she said politely, "I thought that you had already run out of here in a limo."

Vince laughed, "Yes, but I came back, I do have business I need to conduct, and I'm not going to let Austin of all people run me out of here."

"Oh," she said.

"I talked to Christian last week, he seems like a good man."

"He is," she said, "Good, good man."

"Yes, and he treats you well I'm sure?"

"Very well," she replied, trying to not be as nervous as she was. This was the first conversation in a long time with him that she didn't feel like she was going to start crying. That was a definite step in the right direction.

"That's good to hear," he said, "You know, I've been keeping my eye on you, and you might not be bad for the company after all. Keep that in mind for the near future."

Stephanie looked surprised and gave him a hopeful look, "Daddy, what do you mean?"

"We'll see Stephanie, be thankful that you know people around here," he said, "Have a good evening."

Stephanie stood there, long after her father's footsteps died down as he disappeared from her view. She put her hand over her stomach, the fluttering of butterflies filling her. Had her father meant that she was going to be getting her job back soon? She could only hope, dream that, that would be true. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but he had practically told her that he was going to take her back. She let out a little squeal of happiness as she looked around.

She needed to tell someone. She ran down the hallway, well, it wasn't so much a run as it was a very brisk walk. Her foot started to ache and she slowed down, not really knowing where she was headed, and not really caring either way. The first friend she came across was going to be smothered. She turned a corner and proceeded to walk down it, but before she was even half-way, a hand reached out to her and she was pulled into a dressing room.

"You look beautiful."

Stephanie smiled at Jericho, "Chris, you will not believe what just happened, like right this moment, well, not this moment, but like right before I came out here!"

Jericho interrupted his rant with a kiss, "What happened?"

"My dad, he practically told me that he would give me my job back. He told me to keep my eyes open or something, something with eyes, oh, I don't know, but it was something with eyes, and that I should be thankful for people around here, I don't know what that meant, maybe that I'm with Christian so I'm always here, but something, and he said that he was keeping his eye on me, and that he might have something for me, or something, and I'm so hyper!"

Jericho just hugged her. He was excited for her, especially because he knew that he had had some doing in all of this. He kissed her neck softly, moving up to her lips and gave her a soft, sweet kiss to cease her blubbering. She laughed against his lips and then hugged him to her tightly. She squealed again and jumped up and down, holding onto both of his arms for balance.

"I can't believe this!"

"I know baby, it's pretty exciting," he said, grinning at her happiness.

"Oh, and thank you for saying I look beautiful, I thought I'd wear something that would knock your socks off."

"You did," he said, looking down, "Look, socks are off."

"You look hot too," she said, "We make a hot couple, we're like the hottest couple ever. I mean, that shirt and those pants, and you, in them, and me in this nice outfit, even though the heels make me taller than you, but that's beside the point, my dad actually wants me back. Back Chris! Because we're the hottest couple."

"Hmm, I'm not sure he wants you back because we look good together," he said, pretending to ponder the thought.

"Oh shut up," she said.

Then she threw herself at him and started kissing him passionately. It took all of his balance not to topple over, but instead, he laid them down on the couch in his locker room and kissed her back, running his hand up her skirt to find some string-like fabric underneath. He smirked as he kissed her, seems she knew what she wanted tonight.

They were distracted for a good long while, but Jericho wouldn't have given that time up to do anything else. Stephanie lay on top of him as he stroked her long brown hair down her back, feeling the smoothness of her skin underneath his fingertips. She reached over his head to grab the remote once she saw Christian on it.

"Is he coming out to my entrance?" Jericho asked as he turned his head to the side to get a better look at the television.

"I think so," she said, "Oh, he wanted to announce your match for WrestleMania."

"We have a match?"

"Yeah, I wonder how he'll explain it."

"Should I accept?"

"Of course," she said, "You want a match at the show, you might as well take it."

"Even though we know he's doing it because he probably wants to flaunt the fact that he has you, just another way to keep us apart."

"Uh huh," she said.

They watched silently as Christian went out to explain that what he had done to Trish was for Jericho's benefit. That Trish was nothing but trouble, and had been causing nothing but trouble. Jericho and Stephanie both wondered how much of this was true, and how much was just a big lie.

"Do you think they're together?" Stephanie asked, "Like a couple, I mean, with the scheming and then him saying he slept with her."

"I don't think so, she's pretty into Randy, if anything, they're friends."

"Make sense, I think he's trying to get a rile out of you."

"I think that's exactly it," Jericho said, then laughed as Christian explained the match, "Tough love, that's a good one."

"Go out there," Stephanie smiled.

"What?"

"Go out there! Show him how tough you are!"

"Wait, you want me to go out there, with my bum knee? But earlier, you were all worried."

"Yeah, but now it's personal," she giggled, "So go."

"Well, am I going out there naked, or should I just wrap you around me and go out there."

She got up and off of him, "Go! Before he leaves."

Jericho grabbed his clothes and dressed hastily. He had barely gotten his shoes on as he ran out the door. Or walked quickly rather, given the status of his knee. He was still tucking his shirt in when he went out on the ramp, but didn't bother to tuck it in all the way. Such were the downfalls of having sex at work, sometimes you looked a little unkempt.

Christian turned around and was surprised, not much, but still some, at Jericho's appearance. Jericho kept walking down the ramp, hoping he was putting on a good intimidation face. He limped a little, and then broke out into a full out run. His knee was killing him as he got in the ring, but the pain would have to take a backseat as he went after Christian.

The beating was mostly harmless, a punch here and there, but some of it was definitely real. For all their good intentions, Christian, Trish and the others had kept Stephanie and him apart, even when they wanted to be together. That wasn't something that should be taken lightly. He put a little zing in the punches, but only to teach him a lesson.

Christian wasn't surprised by the beating, he knew that Jericho was still pissed that he was with Stephanie. This was probably just a manifestation of that anger. He took it, but then as it went on for too long, he hit Jericho's bad knee. Cowardly? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. With that thought, he went to get out of the ring, Jericho yelling after him. Christian walked backstage and saw Stephanie standing there, a smile on her face. Christian smiled and went over to hug her.

"That was great!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks," he told her, "Felt good."

Jericho hobbled backstage and gave the two of them a look, "Oh look, Christian and his whore."

Christian was surprised to hear that word used to describe Stephanie, and responded stupidly, "Shut up."

"Nice to see that you lowered your standards Princess, you went from rats to pond scum," Jericho sneered.

"Oh, so you're calling yourself a rat," Stephanie shot back, "At least I'm not the human bicycle that Trish was…or should I say IS."

"Oh, and you weren't."

"Hey, I was married for two years, and faithful to my husband, and then there was just you, while Trish was off gallivanting with let's see…Hurricane, Jeff, Christian, Rock, Bubba Ray, I think there was a little bit of Spike thrown in there, oh, and Kevin Nash, oh wait, let's not forget Test AND Albert, and Val Venis, and now you, and hmm, anyone else in there, oh, she tried to steal my husband, oh wait, she was with Kurt for a while there when he was champion when Kurt was going against Hunter, is there anyone else, let me think," she said, tapping her chin, "Anyone else that I'm missing in that long list of guys she's been seen around with, oh wait, yes, I did forget someone, MY DAD!"

Jericho wanted to laugh, he had never realized just how…promiscuous Trish had been, but there it was all laid out on the table for him. He had forgotten about Vince, and that thought alone kind of scared him. He'd kissed lips that had kissed Vince. He shuddered lightly. Yuck.

"You're just jealous," was the only thing Jericho could come up with.

"Yeah, I'm jealous, sure Chris, jealous," she laughed cruelly, "Tell me another joke, I need a good laugh."

"Um, Stephanie, how about we go," Christian said, taking her arm lightly and starting to pull her away from the scene, "We'll just go leave or eat or something."

"Fine with me Christian, I'd love to, you're much better company than that asshole."

Christian led her away and then whispered harshly, "What the hell is up with you two?"

"Oh, nothing," Stephanie said, "I just hate his fucking guts."

Christian gulped.

Uh oh.


	186. Raw, March 8, 2004

A/N: Sorry for no chapter on Thursday. was down on Thursday, and I went away for the weekend and only got online enough to check my e-mails so unfortunately, had no time to update, but eh, it was a SmackDown chapter anyways, it probably would've sucked. Can you tell I really dislike my Thursday chapters lol. ;) Anyways, sorry, and enjoy this one. :D

* * *

"Yeah, I think it's better this way."

"Are you sure?" Christian asked.

"Well, we'd still be next to each other, you know, it's not like I'd be going all that far," Stephanie replied.

"But what about keeping up appearances?"

"Well, we can tell people that we were going too fast and that we needed to slow down," she suggested, "You know, since I'm not really ready to make that kind of commitment."

"A commitment you wouldn't hesitate to make with Chris, right?" Christian tried to sound nonchalant, but he wanted to analyze Stephanie's response thoroughly.

"Chris who?" she said innocently.

"You know who I'm talking about Stephanie, Chris Jericho, the man that you dated for like ever, and the man that you lo--"

"Despise with my entire soul," she finished with a smile.

Christian just couldn't understand it. What had happened to make Stephanie detest Jericho so much? They were fine a couple of weeks ago, and now they were like…well, like how they had been before. They despised each other, and he, nor Trish, nor any of their friends could put their finger on the truth. It simply kept eluding them, taunting them, an unsolvable mystery that plagued them. Ok, maybe he was getting a little dramatic, but it was certainly puzzling.

"I still don't get where this is coming from?"

"You mean my unending hatred for one Chris Jericho?"

"Yeah, that would be it," he said.

"Oh, it's nothing really, I mean, besides the fact he's scum, and should only be allowed to associate with other scum, namely my ex-husband. Oh wait, no, Hunter is lower than scum…he's what scum eats."

"Ok, that's pretty bad," Christian said, biting his lip a little, "Did something happen with you two the other week?"

"No, I just came to my senses is all. The eternal bliss couldn't have lasted forever. I mean, we had to come crashing down to Earth sometime didn't we?"

"But you love him…"

"LOVED him, past tense, as in I don't anymore. I don't know what I ever saw in him really. He's just an arrogant prick and I'd be glad if I went to my grave never seeing his ugly face again."

"Hmm…I'm just so confused," Christian answered, "I mean, I don't even know where this hatred is coming from."

"The guy called me a filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding, trash-bag ho, or whatever the way it went, I don't care, and you expect me not to care!"

"He hasn't called you that in years."

"Or so he says, what an ass."

"So essentially, you want separate rooms because you're through with Chris, and that means you're through with this plan we have?"

Stephanie hadn't thought of it that way, but now that she did, it almost made perfect sense. That way, she'd be alone, without having to worry about Christian dropping by unexpectedly. Especially since she wouldn't be alone tonight. Jericho would be joining her. She smiled secretly to herself as she thought about her and Jericho, together again, where they should be, where they should've been all along.

Last weekend had been a getting reacquainted weekend. Stephanie had lied and said that she was going to go visit her mother in Connecticut, and Jericho had lied and said that he was visiting his parents in Winnipeg. They were actually in Connecticut and Stephanie had seen her mother for a short visit, but the rest of the weekend, she and Jericho had holed herself up in her house and spent a lot of time "reacquainting" themselves.

"Yeah, that seems about right," Stephanie said, "I'm just across the hall Christian, no need to get overly sensitive. We can still go on pretending. I would love to see Chris's face when he sees us together, maybe it'll give him a little jab in the stomach you know, from seeing me happy and him all alone."

"Well, if that's what you want…"

"It is," she said, "Come knock on my door when you want to go to the show alright?"

"Ok, I'll do that," he said, watching as she stood up and then went over to him to give him a hug.

"See you in a bit."

"Yeah, I'll come get you."

She gave him a farewell smile and then walked to the door of the room. With a slight wave she left and walked across the hall. Christian took out his cell phone as soon as he heard the click of the door and dialed Trish's number. He hoped that she was out of whatever physical therapy they had her doing. At least that's what he thought she had said, he forgot actually.

"Hello?"

"Trish, it's me."

"Who is this?" she said lightly.

"Trish…"

"Is this a salesman?"

"Yes, this is, I represent the Jericho and Stephanie Fund, and we want you to make a kind donation to the cause, especially considering the two people we're trying to help hate each other with a passion."

"Still?" Trish said annoyed.

"Yeah, it seems to be worse, and Stephanie won't give up any information, any luck with Chris?"

"None," Trish said, "He went to see his parents this weekend, so even if I wanted to talk to him, I didn't have his parent's number and he wasn't answering his cell phone. I want to know what's going on!"

"So do I," Christian said, "I mean, yeah, this helps in the keeping them apart part of the equation, but I'm not sure it's going to help in the actual plan."

"Yeah, I need to ask Chris if he wants to go ahead with this plan, I don't even know anymore. I mean, if he hates her, why would he want to get her, her job back."

"To torment her like the old days?" Christian said, half joking and half serious.

"Probably," Trish said, "I just wish that I could get a hold of him, where the hell could he be!"

Stephanie smiled as she went into her room. She turned the corner from the living room to the bedroom and grinned wider when she saw Jericho lounging on her bed. He opened up his arms to her and she crawled on the bed and over to him. Settling herself in his arms, she sighed in content. Jericho kissed her head softly and went back to watching the television.

"So how did it go?" Jericho asked.

"He understood, and I played my part very well if I do say so myself," she said proudly, "He's so confused, it was funny, he really wants to know why I hate you."

"Hmm, could you hate me because I'm more gorgeous than you?"

"Oh, that's got to be it, I can never compete with you my love," she said, looking up at him adoringly.

"Yes, but no need to be so jealous, you'll grow out of the ugly duckling phase."

She laughed, "So have you talked to the other co-conspirator?"

"Nope, not yet, still avoiding her calls," Jericho told Stephanie, "I figure the longer she stews the better it is you know. Nothing like keeping a person in absolute suspense."

"You're terrible," she said.

"Yeah, but you love that about me."

"Only a little bit," she said, "It's just one of the many, many reasons why I love you."

"I'd like a list of the rest if it wouldn't be too much trouble. Preferably alphabetized, and if that's too difficult, then in order of importance."

"I'll get that to you as soon as possible, number one, good in bed, number two, has a huge--"

"Don't spoil it before I get to read it!" he said, pretending to be shocked, "You'll ruin it all…so you think I'm well-endowed?"

"You're just now figuring that out, have you ever looked down?"

"No, you know I can't look down, my hurt my neck," he said, "And it's such a gorgeous neck."

"Yeah, too bad it attaches a rather empty head to the rest of your body."

"Oh, that stung baby, that really stung."

"Like a bee?"

"Like a scorpion," he said, "Oh, the poison, you're killing me over here, you're like a black widow or something."

"Has somebody been watching too much Animal Planet?" she kidded.

"No, how can I watch Animal Planet when my television is stuck on the Playboy Channel?"

"Stuck?"

"Yeah, can you believe that, no matter how hard I try to change the channel, nothing, it's like the devil at work or something!"

"Oh, yeah sweetie, that's it, the devil," she said, unconvinced, "You don't need porn when you have the real thing."

"I do…I was under the impression that you were half silicone, was I wrong in that assumption."

She hit him on the chest as he laughed and held her tighter. She simply let him embrace her as they sat there, waiting for the time to come when they'd have to go to the show. Separately of course, but to the show nonetheless. She was sure that they'd find some alone time when they were there. They always managed to before, and she didn't think things had to change now. She turned her head and looked up at him. He was laughing at something on television, the SportsCenter Not Top Ten. She smiled to herself, glad that they were back together; she had been going crazy without him.

Things were better now. She was assured of his feelings for her, and she knew that whatever he had been doing that caused them to take that sabbatical, it hadn't been because he didn't love her. He did love her, the entire time, and that comforted her, knowing that she hadn't been truly without him when they were apart.

"So WrestleMania this weekend?" Stephanie said, "The big one, the Granddaddy of them all. The biggest show of the year, the SuperBowl of the wrestling world…"

"Wow Steph, how about you come up with some more names to call it."

"The big enchilada," she continued, "The super-duper show of the year…do you think you'll win?"

"Yup, I know I'll win."

"Know?"

"Yes, know."

"Do you have a little plan with Christian now too?"

"I just have a good feeling, I think Trish might show up."

"Oh, you're little girlfriend," Stephanie teased.

"You know, I was hoping that I had gotten away from this particular sentiment, but apparently, I've not outgrown the teasing."

"It's just such good fodder for me," Stephanie pointed out, "You understand don't you?"

"No, but then again, half the things out of your mouth I don't understand."

"And the other half?"

"Usually have to do with your wanting to have sex, so I'm all for that side."

She rolled her eyes slightly, "So Trish will be coming out during the match then?"

"Perhaps, haven't worked it out, and I'm sure when I do, she'll go running to Christian so he'll know too."

"I should just come out there for the hell of it, wreak some havoc, kiss the life out of you and make you forget your own name. Now wouldn't that be something?"

"That would be something alright, I'd pay good money to see that," he told her.

"Good, because I'll want a thousand dollar deposit."

"High class whore aren't you?"

"Oh don't worry sweetie, you get it all for free."

"Lucky me."

A knock came on the door and Stephanie knew that it would be Christian. She looked at Jericho and then detangled herself from his arms, albeit slowly and reluctantly. She and Jericho were having such a nice, quiet moment and Christian had to go ruin it. She couldn't really get mad though, it wasn't like he had the slightest idea of what was really going on. She heard the television turn off and the door to the adjoining room, Jericho's room, shut, and opened the door.

"Ready?"

"Yup," she said, leaving the room without even looking back, "Totally ready."

"Not going glitzy tonight huh?"

"Nope, not tonight," she said, "Thought I'd just go casual, you know, nothing to high-maintenance or anything. Don't want to look like I think I'm better than everyone, I mean, I don't even have a job, and all of you do. So it's like, I'm the bum, you know, crashing the party and all that…"

She knew she was rambling, and she knew that she was probably making very little sense, but she was waiting. Waiting for Jericho to exit his room so they could pretend to hate each other, pretend to want to rip each other to shreds. It was kind of fun when they got into it. Finally, the door opened and Jericho walked out, his bag hanging from his hand. He turned and saw the couple and pretended to look shocked by their presence.

"Of all the dirty people I had to run into tonight, I got lucky and ran into you two," Jericho said with a scoff.

"Of course Jericho, you know us, we have nothing better to do than stand outside your door and make sure we're the first ones you see, I mean, God forbid we actually have a room in this hotel."

"Yeah, a room where you meet your customers."

Stephanie pretended to laugh, "Oh, that was so original Jericho, it was also original the last fifty times you've made that joke. Come up with some new material."

"Why change when what you've got is good."

"Oh yeah, you just keep thinking that, when you're alone. And as for things you've got that are good, I'm sure your hand is real good, seeing as how that's all you've got."

Stephanie flounced off and Christian just followed. He'd have to get used to this again, them hating each other. He felt like he had opened the door to the past, and was suddenly transported back to 2000 or 2001. Did anybody have a calendar ready, because he really needed to check the date.

Jericho watched Stephanie walk away, an amused expression on his face. Stephanie was so funny sometimes, and sometimes her ranting just made no sense whatsoever, but that just made him love her all the more. He walked down the hallway, hoping there wouldn't be another confrontation at the elevator bank, but there wasn't as he saw that they must've taken the elevator just before he had gotten there. Too bad, an elevator ride to the lobby would've been pretty funny.

"I just don't get any of this," Christian said, more to himself than Stephanie, though she figured he was talking to her.

"What?"

"You, Chris? You and Chris? I feel like--like I'm back in time or something, I feel like Edge and I should be E&C and it's just weird."

"Look, whatever happens between Chris and I isn't your problem, so don't worry about it."

"How am I not supposed to worry about it, you're both my friends, it's not fun having friends who hate each other."

"Then choose between us," Stephanie said assertively.

"Excuse me?"

"Choose. I mean, I don't think that Chris is that good a friend, I mean, he does hate you because you have me," she told him, "And I've been by your side for so long, just stop being friends with him."

"I don't think I can do that Stephanie," Christian said.

"Sure you can, it's easy," she said, "You just choose me."

"No, I just can't do that," he said.

"That's fine," she said, "But can you do one thing for me?"

"Depends on what that one thing is," Christian said to her, "I mean, if you want me to sleep with you than I'm going to have to say no."

"It's nothing to do with that, I promise," she laughed, "I just want you to beat Chris on Sunday, you can do that for me right?"

"I think I can do that," Christian nodded. He'd have to talk with Trish, because he was under the impression that Jericho was going to win on Sunday to cement this little thing he had going with Trish. That way, Vince would see them together on-screen and then he'd realize that he and Stephanie weren't involved and wouldn't be and then Stephanie would hopefully get her job back.

"Good," she said, giving him a smile and a pat on the arm, "That's all I ask, I want to see blood pouring down his face, and him in complete agony. That's what I want to see more than anything, him in absolute pain."

Stephanie had to grimace a little as she said that. She didn't want any of those things, for Hunter, sure, but not for Jericho. But she had to embellish the truth a little in order to make this seem believable. Christian just nodded, a little shocked by her words. Seeing Jericho in pain, that was something he never thought Stephanie would want to see.

They got to the arena and Stephanie got out and held onto Christian's arm as they walked inside. She giggled as they walked down the hallway and he wondered if she was really happy because of what she had wanted for Jericho. He didn't have time to think as she had flitted off somewhere. That was fine, more time to think and then call Trish.

He went into his dressing room, and then he called up Trish again, "What do you want now?"

"We need to talk."

"About?"

"Stephanie wants me to kick Chris's ass on Sunday."

"She does?"

"Seriously, like, no joking, she said she wants to see him in agony."

Trish sighed, "That's just great. I NEED to talk to Chris, like right now."

"Try calling him again," she said.

"I'll try, but you do know what's going down tonight."

"Yeah, I know, I'm going to beat Chris up, about something, whatever I can come up with."

"Hey, maybe I can be on the phone with him, you know, say that talking to me on the phone will help make it look like we actually have a relationship outside of the office."

"That sounds good," Christian answered, "And then I'll attack him and make myself look like the bad guy, and Stephanie will love me because I beat him up and it'll all work out."

"Yeah, that sounds good, and make sure you run away, makes you look cowardly."

"How will I get away?" he asked.

"You know how you thought I was at home?"

"Yeah, you're resting or at physical therapy or something."

"I'm here, I have a car, you just come outside, and I'll be there and we'll talk, because we have a LOT to talk about, especially about next Sunday."

"Ok, but then Chris has a match later, and I thought that maybe I could distract him you know."

"Oh, that's a good one," Trish told him, "Totally makes sense with Sunday."

"I thought so too," he said, then Stephanie walked in, "Yeah, yeah Edge, I know, alright."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, they were so pathetic sometimes, "Tell Edge I said hello."

"Stephanie says hi," Christian said.

"I'll let you go, bye."

Trish hung up and immediately dialed Jericho's number. She had to find out if he still wanted to do this plan. She hoped he did, they had come too far to just quit now. They practically had Stephanie's job back and they needed to just follow through a little more. Maybe step it up a little, but she could not let him quit, not after so much work was put into this, not just by him and her, but by everyone, even though Jericho had no knowledge of that part of the plan.

"Jericho here."

"Chris, I finally got you!"

"Trish?"

"Yeah, it's me," she said, "Do you know how long I've been wanting to reach you!"

"Long time?" he said, as if he didn't know.

"Yeah, where've you been?"

"Sorry, I guess I just didn't check my messages."

"Obviously…so where are you?"

"I'm actually in the hallway."

"Oh, great, is there a camera near you?"

"Um, no," he said, looking around, "Should there be?"

"You should get us on camera," she said, "You know to further the plan, make us look authentic."

"Oh yeah, the plan."

"We're still going through with it right?"

"Um, yeah, sure, you know, get Steph her job back and that way I can make her miserable like before."

"There ya go," she said, "So go get a camera."

He saw one coming up he said, trying to act nonchalant, "Actually, there's one right here."

"Good."

They had a fake conversation for a few minutes. Trish lied and said she was at physical therapy, how bad did everyone think she was hurt? She wasn't that bad off actually, though she kind of liked the attention. She and Jericho kept up appearances, well, Jericho did, since nobody could hear what she was saying. All she did was give him nonsense answers like, "the rabbit runs across the train station at the full moon while barking nonsensically." She hoped that Jericho could keep a straight face.

Christian saw that Jericho was talking to Trish on the phone and excused himself from Stephanie's side. He knew exactly where they were and went to go beat on Jericho. He found him easily and came up from behind him, ready to pounce, like a cat. Which was ironic, since Jericho's nickname was Lionheart. He had a little laugh over that. He snuck up on Jericho and then rushed him and pounded his head against a crate. Picking up the phone, he talked to Trish, rudely, but she was giggling on the other end.

"I'm outside," she said, just as he threw the phone down.

Christian high-tailed it out of there and ran out the exit door. Right outside was a white car and the driver was pretty shrouded. He hopped in the car as it drove away and he smirked before slipping his seatbelt on.

"So are you here for me or for Randy?"

"Randy doesn't even know I'm here, he thinks what everyone else thinks, that I'm at home 'recovering' or whatever it is I was supposed to be doing."

"Lying to your boyfriend, not cool Trish," Christian chided playfully.

"Yeah, and cheating on your girlfriend isn't too kosher either," she joked back.

"Got me there, so what's up?"

"Well, I didn't really get a chance to talk to Chris, but I will talk to him before Sunday and we will figure things out. I was thinking that I could come to Florida, maybe stay with Edge and that way, we can have a little meeting. Kurt could come down even, maybe on Friday, since he has SmackDown on Thursday. Now Sunday, we're all together, all of us, except maybe Edge, but I'm sure even he'll be there backstage. So the stage will be set and we have to make sure there are no surprises."

"I know, and Stephanie wants me to kick his ass, but I'm sure I can fit a little of that in before Chris beats me and you two, do whatever it is you're planning on doing."

"I'm not sure yet, we'll see though," Trish said, "That can be ironed out later. We just have to make sure that they don't find out."

"They won't."

"I'm stranded," Stephanie pouted as she walked into Jericho's dressing room, glad that it was in a remote area of the arena.

"Christian left?"

"Apparently," she said, "At least for a while, probably talking with someone or something, but I'm here with you now, so I'm fine."

Jericho took the towel he had on his head off and she saw that he was bleeding from his forehead. She gasped; she knew that she had told Christian to be brutal with Jericho, but she never figured he would actually do it, especially because there was a plan going on around them. She rushed to his side and looked closer at the cut.

"I can't believe he did that."

"I think that it was an accident," he said, "He didn't mean to."

"I told him to beat you up, but I wasn't being truthful."

"I'm sure you were convincing enough that he thought he had to," Jericho said, "But I'm fine, don't worry."

"Of course I worry," she said, kissing his cheek, "I want you to win on Sunday."

"I'm going to talk with Trish about that," he said, "We'll iron things out."

"Good, I want things ironed."

Stephanie cleaned off Jericho's cut as best she could, since she didn't have any first aid kit with her, not even a band-aid. But she did the best she could. He said it didn't matter, that he would be fine, and that he needed to focus on his match against Richards. She said he would be a piece of cake and he laughed.

They watched the show together, making fun of most everyone, especially Hunter when he came on-screen. Stephanie remembered two years ago, Jericho had gone against Hunter at WrestleMania, and she had been in Jericho's corner, she wished she could go back in time.

Before too long, Jericho had to go out for his match and Stephanie left before people would see her leaving. Jericho went out for his match and knew that it would be a simple one, especially with such a lowly opponent as the one he had. He was, in fact, dominating the match, and felt pretty good about himself as he went to lock in the Walls of Jericho, but then was distracted as Trish's music hit.

Thinking that Trish was actually here, he turned to the ramp and saw Christian standing there. He tried to get focused again, but found himself getting pinned unexpectedly and not able to kick out. He stood up in anger and Christian just smirked. Jericho was pissed; this was personal now. Just what were they trying to pull over his eyes, maybe things were more complicated than they seemed. Not wanting to seem weak, he beat up on Richards until he was satisfied and then walked backstage in a huff. He was greeted with Stephanie, her arms folded a self-serving smirk planted smack dab in the middle of her face.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," she said.

"Shut up and get out of my face Princess," he said, spitting out the last word as if it left a bad taste inside his mouth.

"Gladly, but I just want you to know, on Sunday, Christian is going to kick your ass, and I want nothing more than to see your face lying in a pool of your own blood. And then I'll laugh and laugh and laugh."

"Bitch," he said, glaring at her. She glared back.

"We'll see who comes out on top Sunday Jericho, be prepared to be beat."

Oh, weren't lies wonderful?


	187. SmackDown, March 11, 2004

A/N: Sorry for the relatively short chapter, school sucks right now, but I'm sure the WrestleMania chapter will be pretty long. :)

* * *

"So this is nice."

"Yeah, it is."

"It's a good thing you live fairly close by," Jericho said.

"Yeah, I'm just surprised that everyone else isn't staying here, or offering to stay here," Stephanie answered, "I was figuring they'd all just want to crash here."

"They probably wanted to be close to the action," he said, "And they probably wanted to talk about us while we weren't there."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them I was flying in on Sunday morning because I had some things to take care of at home."

"And they didn't even question it?"

"Nope, not at all. Which means they either didn't care or they want to talk about me while I'm not around."

"It's the latter," Stephanie said, laughing as she thought about her friends conniving behind their backs, "They still haven't gleaned onto the fact we're together."

"Because we're just so good at disguising our feelings, we've been doing it for years," he told her.

"I'm glad we don't do that anymore."

Jericho and Stephanie were sitting in her living room, just hanging out. It was WrestleMania weekend, that Friday in fact, and everyone was in New York for the big show. Since she lived fairly close to the city, driving distance at least, she was staying at home. Jericho was there with her, and no one was the wiser. They were all gallivanting around New York and they were resting with a nice weekend of relaxation before the big show.

"I wonder what they say about us," Stephanie said as she leaned over to kiss Jericho softly, barely touching lips with him before pulling back and staring into his eyes.

"I'm sure they're saying that we're great together and it's such a shame that we had to turn things sour again. They're also probably questioning why we hate each other again."

"Why do we hate each other?" she asked, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him.

He leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers, "Because you're a whore."

"Oh yeah, and you're an asshole," she whispered back, a smile slowly creeping up on her face.

"Your asshole."

"Always," she replied, "I've gotten under your skin, my plan is complete."

"Yeah, you have me brainwashed baby," he said, closing the small gap between them as his lips met with hers, "But as long as I get kisses like that, I'm not too concerned."

"You do love me right?"

He looked at her, the most sincere look she had ever seen, "Do you even have to ask that question?"

"No, but, I mean, you know, we've become an on and off couple, first we're together, then we're not, then we are, then we're not, and now we are again. Who's to say that we won't break up again? When is it going to get to be too much and we finally just give up on each other?"

Jericho thought of the ring that was sitting in his house. He gave her a small smile and took her hand in his, rubbing the back lightly with his calloused thumb. His rough touch sent a delightful feeling through Stephanie and she just kept looking into his eyes, wondering about his answer. Little did she know, one of the biggest surprises in her life was yet to come.

"Never, because as long as I live, I will never give up on you."

"You're crazy for thinking that."

"I was pretty much crazy before, might as well go for complete insanity."

She kissed him vigorously, putting her hand on the back of his neck to pull him closer. He put his hand at her side, rubbing his way under her t-shirt. Nothing mattered to them at the moment, not work, not family, not even their friends. Who needed anyone when they had each other?

"So they're like hating each other?"

"Yeah, you should see it," Christian said to the group, "They're mouthing off at every opportunity, and it's bad, like old days, but worse cause there's history."

"I never thought I'd see they day they went at it like that again," Kurt said, "You know, sometimes his teasing really hurt her."

"Really?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, but I think it was just a mixture of him and then with Hunter."

"Makes sense," Edge said, "I mean, we hung out with her for a while and she wasn't all too happy all of the time."

"That's true," Christian said, "I'm just worried about her you know? I've really gotten to know her lately, and she doesn't deserve to have Chris hating her. Especially when she doesn't have her job back."

"Well, Chris wants to go ahead with the plan," Trish explained, "But it's probably so he can just tease her."

The four of them were sitting in a cozy, little diner eating lunch and discussing their friends, who they had no idea what was really going on in Jericho and Stephanie's world. They thought there was only animosity and ill-will to be talked of between them. Little did they know that the trap was set on them. That they were the ones being completely duped.

"So should we just keep continuing with what we've been doing?" Edge asked, "You know, fake calls, playing a game of telephone to get the news?"

"Yeah, I guess we have to," Trish said, "We need to follow through with this. I don't care what's going on, I've had to play nice lovey-dovey with Chris, I deserve to see this to an end."

"So you don't like the fact that you have to play girlfriend to him?"

"No," Trish said honestly, "Chris is a great guy, one of the greatest I've ever know, you guys being the other three, but you know, I hate having to pretend to be all in love with him when I'm not….yes, I know it's just acting, but you know, I always feel like I'm betraying Stephanie."

"I don't think she'd care at this point," Kurt said, "I'm sure that she's just fine without him right now. You know, she called me the other night just to bitch about him. If I hear 'Chris is an asshole' one more time, I might take a screwdriver to my own temple."

"Yeah, Steph is the same way with me," Christian said, "And I can't for the life of me understand it. Something had to have happened, they couldn't have just changed their feeling overnight, I mean, they loved each other for God's sake."

"We'll just have to keep a close eye on them on Sunday," Edge said, "I can probably do that, you know, with me not doing anything."

"Yeah, I mean, I want to know why they hate each other," Trish said, "It's been bugging me. I just hope I'm not involved in it. I don't love Chris, I never will, you know, since there's Randy…"

She glanced over at Christian, trying to gauge his reaction to her saying Randy's name. He seemed to flinch a little at the mention, but it was pretty much imperceptible. If he cared at all that she was dating someone else, he was really good at hiding it. Or maybe he just didn't care. She didn't know what that twinge was she felt when she thought that might be the possibility.

"How are things with Randy?" Edge asked.

"Good, I mean, I haven't gotten to see him in a while, what with me doing the whole, 'oww my back hurts' spiel, but he calls me all the time to check up on me, and he's really sweet."

"Wow, a member of Evolution sweet, who knew?" Kurt said with a slight chuckle.

"I really wouldn't liken him to his counterparts," Trish said, "But what's going on with you and Dawn? Anything there?"

"I'm not sure right now, I'm so focused in on the title that I've really got nothing else on my mind right now," Kurt said honestly, "I told as much to Dawn and she was pretty reasonable about it."

"That's good," Trish said, then looked over at Christian, "Do you think anyone knew it was me in that car on Monday?"

"No," he said, "You were barely even seen."

"Good," Trish said, "I still have to talk to Chris about the show. I was thinking that I could talk to him on Sunday and then relay the message to you, probably through Edge about exactly what we're doing."

"Sounds good," he said, "I just hope Stephanie appreciates everything we're doing for her."

Stephanie opened and closed her eyes slowly. It was already dark outside, and the house was pitch black. She and Jericho had been so engrossed in each other they hadn't bothered to turn on any lights. She got up off her bed and grabbed her robe, slipping it on as she turned on the bathroom light. Jericho was asleep in her bed, laying on his stomach with his arms outstretched in both directions. She gave a smile and went downstairs.

She headed into the kitchen and to the fridge to grab the wine bottle she knew was in there. A nice glass of wine sounded really good right now. She opened the fridge and grabbed it and as she closed the fridge her eyes fell on a picture stuck on her fridge with a magnet.

It was of her and Jericho when they had gone hiking one time in Canada. She hadn't really enjoyed the hiking part, not being an outdoors person, but Jericho was so much fun that she couldn't help but have a good time. They had stuck the camera on an old fence and taken the picture. They were between two trees and Jericho was standing on a big rock behind her, acting as if he were just staying up by hanging onto the trees. It was a silly picture, but she thought it was one of the best they had ever taken. She smiled as she slowly traced her finger across the picture.

She felt two arms wrap around her and slowly pull her back. Her back met with Jericho's strong chest as he kissed her neck softly. His breath was like fire on her skin. The room was still dark and it was almost romantic that way, them just standing there in the dark, in each other's arms.

"I woke up and you were gone, thought you had left me," he whispered.

"But it's my house."

"Well yeah, but you still could've left."

"And gone where?"

"Shane's? Your mom's?"

"Yeah…but I think they're both in the city tonight, doing PR stuff for the show on Sunday," she explained.

"Mmm," he said, nuzzling against her neck, "So what were you doing down here?"

"Decided a nice glass of wine would be most appealing right now," she said, holding up the bottle, even though it was too dark to see at the moment.

"Sounds good, though I wish you had waited for me."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want to wake you up."

"I don't like waking up without you beside me, it was torture enough when we weren't together, but when I actually do have you, it's not a fun thing waking up alone."

"Won't happen again," she said as she flipped on a switch.

"Ahh! The light, it burns!" Jericho joked as he rubbed his eyes, trying to get used to the light that was not lighting the room.

She giggled and got a couple of wine glasses from her cupboard, handing one to Jericho and keeping one for herself. She poured them some of the white wine and they toasted to each other and took sips from their glasses, pausing intermittently to kiss one another. Jericho pushed back Stephanie's tousled hair and she smiled at him as he sat on the counter.

"I missed you," he told her.

"Yeah, I know," she replied, "It goes both ways, this missing stuff. It's weird. I don't feel like we've been apart."

"Yeah, I know, but I guess we both knew this whole thing was bogus," he said, kissing her.

At the diner, their food arrived and the four focused in on their meal, talking about nonsense things that were going on in their lives. It was good to just have fun again. It had been far too long since they had all been able to get together in person, with everyone going in every direction it seemed. Sure, they all talked about the plan a lot, but that was on the phone and it was different.

"You know, this kind of feels like Seinfeld," Christian said, "You know, like Trish is Elaine and I'd be--"

"George," Edge supplied.

"No! I'd be Jerry," Christian said, "And Kurt would be George."

"So that would make me Kramer?" Edge said.

"Well yeah, all you do is sit on your ass all day and yet you still get paid," Christian said, "Like Kramer."

"Whatever," Edge said, stuffing more food in his face, "So Sunday, Kurt you going to take it?"

"Of course," Kurt said nonchalantly, "No doubt about it."

"You seem pretty confident," Trish said.

"And why shouldn't I be?" he asked, "I mean, you guys know how good I am."

The other three just looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Kurt looked between them, trying to figure out what they were laughing about, but he couldn't figure it out. He pouted to himself and sat back in his seat, crossing his arms. Apparently, this just caused them to laugh even harder.

"What is wrong with you?" Kurt asked petulantly.

"Nothing, just the way you said that, like you expected us to give you a medal or something," Edge answered.

"Well, if you have one, I wouldn't mind taking it from you," he said, "But only if you have an extra one."

"Well good, because I carry one around all the time," Edge said, "You're a psycho."

"Oh, and you guys aren't?" Kurt asked, "Who are the ones that thought up this plan to begin with, one that set Chris and Stephanie on this path to destruction."

"That would be Trish and Christian," Edge answered, "Not even together anymore and they're still wreaking havoc."

"Yes, you know I couldn't escape Trish even if I wanted to," Christian said.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say," Trish replied, "Make me feel so very wanted."

Edge, who was sitting next to her, took her into a headlock, "Aww, you know we love you like a little sis."

"I'm not that much younger than you guys."

"But still, you're shorter and that makes you seem a lot younger."

She rolled her eyes, "Spare me the explanations."

"So Trish, are you going to see Randy tonight?"

"Nope," Trish said, "He doesn't even know that I'm here. I figured that I should spend the day with my boys."

"But what if we were going to go to a strip club?" Edge asked.

"Well, I'm going to assume that you're not doing that. I was thinking we could all go see something on Broadway…"

The guys all looked at each other and grimaced, before Christian spoke up, "Broadway? No thanks."

"Fine, do you just want to go clubbing?"

"Now you're talking!" Edge exclaimed and then blushed when some of the other diners looked over at the table with dirty looks, "I just want to go and have fun."

"Yeah, it should be fun," Kurt said, "I wonder what Chris and Stephanie are up to right now?"

"Hating each other from a distance," Christian answered, causing the rest of the table to laugh.

Stephanie pulled Jericho's arm as she dragged him up the stairs. They had finished their wine and were ready for round two of their evening. This weekend was shaping up to be much like last weekend, with lots of "reacquainting" being done. They collapsed onto the bed in a heap and Stephanie laughed she leaned into Jericho.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he told her, "Have I mentioned that I'm SO glad that we're back together?"

"Yeah, but I'm glad too."

"I mean, I had to go without this for a couple of months, do you know how hard that was?"

"Jerk," she giggled, "It's always about the sex with you."

"Nah, there's the kissing and touching part too."

"Mmhmm," she mumbled against his lips, "And what else do you love about me?"

"Um, you're brea--"

"That doesn't have to do with my body," she interrupted.

"Hmm, I love your brains," he said, "Cause you're smart enough to want me. I love your sense of humor, because you know how to make me laugh. I love your personality, because it's so like mine, perfect…"

"This is sounding more like the reasons why you love yourself," she laughed.

"Well, I mean, I can't help it that I'm just such a great guy," he said, flashing her a winning smile.

"Oh get over yourself Jericho," she said sarcastically.

"I just want to get over you," he said, "If you know what I mean."

She just pulled him down and kissed him.

"Stephanie wants me to kick Chris's ass on Sunday," Christian said.

"We'll see," Trish answered, "I think we might be able to do that, at least for a little while."

"Yeah, I was surprised, but she wants him in a pool of his own blood."

"Well, Sunday, we'll see how it all goes down."


	188. WrestleMania, March 14, 2004

A/N: Rant time!

Cute moment of the evening: Shane's baby, let's give a collective AWWWW for that adorable little scene! AWWWW…ok, now let's forget that ever happened because Shane doesn't have a kid in this fic. ;)

Ok, now, logistically, I probably would've been better off in my story if Chris and Trish had kissed or something. On a personal level though: WOO-HOO!!!!! Trish turned!!! YAY!!!!!!

Ok, maybe they should've dragged this out for a month and then turned Trish on Chris, but I'm not disappointed with how it turned out. The match needed something big and it happened. Now, I've always had a soft spot for Christian and Trish, as evidenced in this fic, I like them, I like them together, and well, YAY, Christian and Trish!!!! How great was their kiss?!? I'm not sure if everyone loved it…but I did, it was great how he just grabbed her and kissed her and the look on her face, priceless. Whew, loved that!

Now if only Stephanie would join Chris so they could all feud, Chris can't fight the good fight alone. ;)

And finally, a HUGE congrats to the awesome Chris Benoit, who should've held the title years ago, but well, when you win, win big, and he won big. Not only at WM, but by making H, of all people, tap CLEAN. Beautiful, simply beautiful.

And I got a tear in my eye at the very end, great ending. :)

Ok, that's enough for me…here's the story, enjoy, hopefully. ;)

* * *

"So we've all got the plan down right?"

"I think we do," Jericho said, "Well, at least we do, who knows what's going on with Christian."

"Well, at least on our part, we know what's happening," Trish answered, "I'll come out there during the match, root you on, you'll win, obviously, and then we'll kiss in the middle of the ring."

"Sounds cheesy."

"Hey, remember Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth, do you think people have forgotten that?"

He thought about it, it was one of the classic moments, "Yeah, I guess you're right, so it'll be all romantic and stuff."

"Exactly, thus cementing our romance," Trish laughed, "Come on, it should be good…if Stephanie didn't hate you that is."

"Yeah, I know," he said sullenly. Even though he knew that was a lie. It was fun trying to make their friends believe otherwise. He wonder what they really thought was going on. He was sure they had suspicions as to what was going on with the two of them. They were probably far-fetched.

"You know, two years ago, you two were business partners going for Hunter," Trish pointed out, trying to bring up happier times between him and Stephanie.

"Yeah, and what happened there, remember, I lost the title because I was distracted by her, thank God I'm not distracted anymore."

"Oh, so Chris, if you hate Stephanie, really, why are you going through with the plan."

"I want to follow through on it. I don't start something and don't finish it," he said with vehemence.

"Ok, I was just asking," she said, "I mean, it seems pretty silly to go through with it."

"Just stick to the plan Trish," Jericho said, don't worry about anything else.

"Why do you hate her? I just don't get this anger for her all of a sudden. Did she do something? Did you do something? Did you guys have a fight?"

"Let's just say that everything about her wasn't true, she's a liar and I don't give a damn about her anymore."

Trish was a little taken aback by his sudden outburst. She never expected this to happen, but here it was. It was almost the end of an era. It made her kind of sad to think about. Relationships ending, ones that had seemed so strong before. It could all come crashing down any moment, it made each second one second closer to the end. They should just all seize the moments when they arrived.

"The ring?" she asked, "Her ring."

"I'll just put it somewhere," Jericho answered, "Safety deposit or something."

Or on Stephanie's finger, if that's what she wanted when this was all over. Hopefully it would be. He withheld the smile that was trying to come through his face and scowled at Trish, indicating his anger over the personal question. Trish, knowing better, decided not to interfere for right now.

"Well, I'm going to go," she said, "you know, get dressed and then get to the arena. Closer to the action."

"Yeah," he said, "I'll see you later."

"Should we practice our kiss?" she asked jokingly.

"No thanks."

Stephanie licked her spoon clean of the chocolate sauce that was covering it. Christian and her were getting an ice cream sundae in the soda shoppe that was in the hotel they were staying it. She felt the need to indulge a little. He smiled at her, taking a napkin to wipe some chocolate off of her face.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, "So you excited about tonight?"

"Definitely," he said, "I'll be sure to kick Jericho's ass for you."

Stephanie gave him a grin, "Good, that's all I want to see."

"I know, and I plan on giving you what you want."

"You're perfect," she answered as his cell phone began to ring.

"Hold on," he said to Stephanie as he picked up, "Hello?"

"Christian, it's Trish, we need to discuss the match later," she said.

"Edge, I told you we're leaving at one," Christian said into the phone, making sure that Stephanie wasn't listening to the phone, but she was too interested in her ice cream sundae. Stephanie had a pretty good idea of who was on the phone, and she knew that it probably wasn't Edge. She just played the innocent bystander and ate her ice cream in peace, trying to glean what they were talking about from Christian's side of the conversation.

"Stephanie there?"

"Yeah, one."

"Oh, ok, I'll make this quick then, my room, in twenty minutes, we need to talk."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll meet you there in a while."

"Good, I'll call Edge and tell him I called you so in case Stephanie asks about the conversation, he'll know what's up."

"Cool," he said, "Bye."

"Bye."

Christian hung up and looked at Stephanie, who was looking up from her rather large bowl of ice cream, "Brothers."

"Edge again?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup, he wants to meet me, so I'm going to go upstairs, are you going to be alright down here?"

"I'll be fine, go talk with…Edge," she said, pausing before saying Edge's name because she suspected that it wasn't Edge at all.

"Thanks, see you in a while."

"Uh huh."

Trish hung up her phone and walked down the hallway to her room. She had been thinking for a while now. Well, since she had been talking to Jericho. What he had said really affected her, especially about Stephanie. They had crumbled, much like her and Christian had crumbled. But when she thought of Jericho and Stephanie, they're names were really synonymous.

"Trish!"

She looked up and saw Randy. A weak smile came to her face, but she hid it as he came closer, "Randy, hi."

"Hi yourself," he said, hugging her, "I've missed you."

She hugged him back lightly, "I missed you too."

"How's your back?"

She didn't have the heart to tell her that he had been faking that whole injury. It was better for him to think that she was actually hurt, "I'm better."

"Great, you here to watch my match tonight?"

"Yup, you know it."

"We're going to kick ass," he said, "And afterwards, maybe some dinner between you and me?"

She smiled at him, "Ask me at the show alright, there's some business that I need to take care of."

"With Jericho?"

"No, but we'll…talk ok?"

Randy studied her face, looking deeply into her eyes, "Are you ok?"

"Uh huh," she said, nodding slightly, "I was just thinking. A friend said something and it really hit close to home."

"Oh," he said, "Anything I can do to help?"

"Um…no, I think I need to figure this one out on my own."

He nodded and then leaned in to kiss her quickly. She let her lips linger on his for a moment before pulling away. She gave him a small smile as he ran his hand down her cheek to cup her chin, kissing her softly again. Then he was gone, having to go meet with Evolution about their match. Tonight was the biggest of all shows, and everyone was preparing.

She licked her lips and walked quickly back to her hotel room to wait for Christian. She opened her door and went straight for the mirror to look at herself. She was flushed from Randy's kisses and her eyes were shining. She couldn't tell if it was because of Randy or because they were tears. She didn't have time to think about it as there came a knocking on the door.

She opened it, "Hey."

"What's wrong?" were Christian's first words.

"What?"

"You look like you're about to cry."

Christian looked at her face. She looked like she was in distress and he wanted to help her. She let him in fully and closed the door behind him, but still he stood there, staring at her. She was feeling herself break under his scrutiny and scurried to the couch where she could bury her head in her hands. Christian, worried, walked to the couch and sat down next to her, putting his hand on the small of her back.

"Trish, did something happen with Randy?" Christian asked, wondering if she had a spat with her boyfriend.

She looked up at him, the pain clear and naked in her eyes, "Christian, what went wrong?"

"With Chris and Steph, I'm not sure…I just don't bother with it."

"Chris is going to win the match, and I'm going to kiss him at the end," she said, "That's the plan."

"Ok, that sounds good," he told her, "But I don't care about that right now, I'm more concerned about finding out why you're about to cry."

"I'm--I'm confused," she said, "I'm so confused, and I don't know what to do."

"Whoa, Trish, where is this coming from?" he asked.

"Chris and Stephanie, how could it all turn to shreds, like it is, how could it? Why do good relationships go bad so suddenly?"

"Hey, don't worry about them alright, if it makes you this upset, think about happy things."

"I don't want to live in fear of the things that could've been," she told him, looking into his eyes, "I don't want to think about what I could've had if only I hadn't turned it away, if I had kept it when I had the chance."

Christian looked at her peculiarly. He had no idea what she was talking about. It all sounded like gibberish to him at the moment. He simply took her in his arms and rubbed her back, trying to make her feel better. Trish clung to him and just let herself listen to his heartbeat. How many times had she been in this position? How many times had these been the arms that she wanted to be in?

"Christian?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still love me?"

Christian was hit with the question hard. He hadn't been expecting that question, not from Trish anyways. She was with Randy, and he had to swallow that feeling he had for her. He thought there was a chance for them, when they hadn't been able to keep their hands off each other a few months ago, but when she said it was over, he had figured that it was over, and he had tried to get over Trish.

"Why?"

"Just need to know."

"If you need to know, then yes, I still love you," he told her.

She pulled away from him and gazed into his eyes. She was happy to see that look. She was stupid, Jericho's words and recent actions tipping her off to that fact. Life was short, if you found love, you held onto it, tight. If there were bad times, you got through them, if there were good times, you reveled in them. This was time to take that chance.

"I do too," she told him, "I've been telling myself I don't, I believed it for a while."

"Randy…"

"I don't know," she said, "All this planning with you, having fun with you, it made these feelings resurface. And I don't want to end up like Chris and Stephanie, I don't want to lose that feeling, that complete feeling, and the only time I've ever had that was with you. I don't know what it means, but Christian, I don't want to go the rest of my life thinking that I lost 'it.' I want to know if I had it with you."

"Trish, what are you saying?"

"Do you want me back?"

Christian looked at her. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful in every way possible. He had missed her, when she was mad at him. Plotting and planning with her had been fun, and he had fallen for her all over again, though he never told her. He almost couldn't, because he kept thinking that she would never want him again. Now here she was, wanting him again. He was almost shocked speechless, but managed to speak, if only for one word.

"Yes."

She smiled, "Then there is no Randy."

She put her hand at the nape of his neck and looked up at him. She gave him a smile and then leaned in to kiss her. Christian, still in shock over the entire conversation, failed to kiss her back for a few moments. Regaining his senses, he kissed her with an intensity that took her breath away. They pulled back, both panting for breath, her lips red and swollen, but she wouldn't trade this moment back. She leaned her forehead against his and smiled as she looked at him.

"Can we just take it slow though, you know, get acquainted again?"

"Absolutely," he said, "So what are we going to do about tonight? You're kissing Chris."

"I don't think I can go through with it," she said truthfully, "I've done so much for this plan, and now I want to do something for me, Chris doesn't even like Stephanie, and I love you, and…I want you to win."

"Over Chris?"

She nodded, "Over Chris."

"Stephanie wants me to beat him too," he told her, "Three to one, I guess I should win."

"I can interrupt."

"On my behalf."

She wiped his lips with her thumb, "Yeah, and I can even cost Chris the match and turn on him and…join you…if that's what you want?"

Christian had dreamed of this. When he was with Trish before, he had dreamed, time and time again about being out there with Trish on his arm. But she had always been saved by other guys, every single time he was beaten to the punch. He grinned; this was like a dream come true. Coming to work with Trish on his arm, it was almost too good to be true.

"Is that what I want?" he scoffed, "It's what I've wanted for over a year!"

She hugged him, "Then that's what's going to happen! It's about time we did something."

"Are you going to tell Chris?"

"I don't know," she said, "I don't think he'd like it too much, and I want it to be our secret for a while."

"And Randy?"

"I'll tell him," she said, kissing him again, "But you better go, Chris is going to be here to drive me soon."

"Alright."

He got up and she followed him to the door, holding one of his hands in both of hers as he practically drug her to the door. She pulled him back to her and kissed him deeply. He pulled away and smiled, giving her another kiss before slipping out. She leaned against the door and bit her lip before giving a squeal of happiness. Little did she know, on the other side of the door, Christian was happily skipping down the hallway.

"So, I'm going to win, Trish is going to help," Jericho said.

Stephanie looked at him, and smiled, "Good, I'm sure she's telling Christian that right now."

"Yeah…I wish you could be on the show."

"I do too, it's the 20th WrestleMania, I feel like I should be there, you know? Family thing and all that."

"Yeah, but at least you'll be backstage."

"You're right," she said, smiling, "And I'll get to see you win, so I guess I should be thankful."

"Yeah, and you know, go talk to your dad, butter him up, he'll be a good mood tonight, I bet."

"I should do that," she said, "Yeah, I should do that. Thank you sweetie."

"No problem, but you should get back to your room cause I have to go get Trish and go."

"Ok," she said, kissing him, "I'll talk to you later."

Stephanie kissed him again and then left the room. She went to her own room and found Christian standing outside the door, waiting for her apparently. He had a smile on his face and she wondered what he was so smiley about. She casually walked up to him, but he didn't seem to notice her, so she snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Oh hey," he said, "You ready?"

"Yeah, I don't need wrestling gear or anything," she said to him, "What's with the good mood?"

"Nothing, just excited about beating Chris tonight."

"Me too," she smirked, "Let's go get your things and be gone."

Jericho and Trish walked into the arena, Kurt walking with them since they had met in the parking lot. Kurt kept sending little glances to Trish and she kept nudging him with her arm. She wouldn't be surprised if Christian had told Edge what had happened and then Edge had told Kurt.

"Trish, you want to come with me to my locker room?" Jericho asked.

"I'm going to walk Kurt to his if you don't mind," she said, "I'll meet up with you later, so I will see you."

"Yeah, it's fine, just asking," he said, walking ahead.

Trish turned to Kurt, "So spill, what do you know?'

"I know that our friend Jericho is literally walking into a trap," Kurt said, raising his eyebrow at her, "But what do you know?"

"So you do know everything," she said.

"I'm happy for you."

She hugged him, "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"I have no idea, I'm just so excited and happy and nervous at the same time," she said with a smile, "I know that I might hurt Chris tonight, but…it's just…"

"You don't have to explain it to me, Trish, after Chris and Stephanie, I thought you and Christian were a great couple."

She grinned and then jumped up and down, "I'm so happy!"

"Whoa, don't get so happy that you fall out of your top," he said, covering her up with his hands.

She giggled, "I'll be fine Kurt, you go take care of Eddy tonight ok?"

"I'll do my best."

Trish kissed his cheek as they reached his locker room. He walked inside and she stood there, holding herself with a grin on her face. Tonight was going to be good; she could feel it. She turned the corner and saw Randy standing at the end of the hallway. Her stomach dropped as she realized what she was going to have to do. Her head down, she walked solemnly towards him. He spotted her and grinned, jogging over to her, even though he was in a suit.

"Hey there beautiful," Randy said, leaning into hug her. Trish held her hand against his chest, stopping him from doing it.

She looked up at him with serious eyes, "Randy, we need to talk."

"What about?" he asked dumbly.

"I don't expect you to understand, and I don't blame you if you hate me after I tell you this, but it needs to be said now, before I really hurt you."

"Trish, what's going on?"

"I can't be with you," she said, "I'm sorry, but I love someone else, and I need to find out if I can work things out with him before I can move on."

"Christian huh?" Randy said, his face falling.

"I'm truly sorry Randy," Trish said, grabbing his hand, "I was talking to someone today, and they reminded me that I have to seize the moment whenever I can, and…I need Christian, not to say that I don't appreciate everything you've done for me, but cause I do, more than anything. Do you get what I'm saying?"

He nodded, "I get it. Good luck, I'm sorry it didn't work out between us, but I hope that you're happy."

"You should hate me."

"Nah," he said, "There are plenty of other people who I hate more. Maybe once I take care of them I'll get around to hating you."

"Thank you for understanding," she said, leaning up to hug him.

"If you ever do break up with him, you know my number."

"I do, and you'll be the first one I call."

He walked away, his shoulders slumping a little. She really did feel bad about that, but she didn't know what else she could've done. She loved Christian and she couldn't string Randy along any further than she already had. She sighed and decided to just go wallow for a few minutes in Jericho's locker room.

"We have the third match on the card," Christian said to Stephanie as he checked the schedule.

"Cool, that's early, we can go out later or something," she said.

"Yeah, or you know, go back to the hotel and rest," he replied, thinking about spending time with Trish tonight.

"If you're in a good mood than you should go out."

"I can be in a good mood in my hotel room."

She looked at him suspiciously, wondering why he would turn down a night out. He was like his brother, they liked to party. She dismissed it for a second to look at the rest of the card. It looked ok, nothing stood out to her at the moment, except for her ex-husband's match, but that was more because she wanted Hunter to lose than anything else.

"Steph, you coming?" Christian asked from up ahead.

She thought of what Jericho had said, "Actually, I'm going to walk around a little bit, I'll meet up with you though."

"Ok," he said, hoping to run into Trish, "I'll see you."

Stephanie smiled and walked around, staring at all the pictures adorning the walls. Weird to think that twenty years ago, WrestleMania had been right here. She had been a child when that first one happened, still in awe over her Daddy's business. Now here she was, twenty years later, but it seemed more like forty since so much had happened. She found herself in front of her father's door and lightly touched the McMahon nameplate hanging on it. Standing there for a second, she knew what she had to do and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the voice of her father.

She opened the door, "Daddy?"

Vince looked up and took off his glasses, "Stephanie, come in."

"How are you Daddy?" she asked.

"It's WrestleMania, I'm wonderful," he said with a smile, "You're here with Christian?"

"Uh huh, he's facing Chris tonight."

"Yes, Chris, he and Trish are an item, or so everyone thinks," he chuckled, "Why don't you sit?"

She sat down tentatively, "I'm just glad that I could be here tonight."

"Yes, I'm glad you're here as well, you are a McMahon."

She nodded, "So Chris and Trish huh?"

"Yes, odd, I think so too, but whatever floats there boat."

"Daddy, why didn't you want me with Chris? You liked him."

"I still do," he said, "At least part of the time. I don't know why now that I hated the idea of the two of you. You could use a man like him, but I'm sure you're happy with Christian."

"So you think I'd make a good couple with Chris?"

"If the situation came up, I'm sure that I would approve."

"Daddy, do you not hate me anymore?"

"Stephanie," he sighed, "I lost my head, as I tend to do, but no, I don't hate you anymore. Don't tell anyone that, don't want to lose my edge."

She smiled, "I don't hate you either Daddy."

"Well good, I'd hate to have to leave the company to someone I don't know," he said with a wink.

"So about a job?" she asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, I don't have anything right now, and I'm not sure that it would be in good taste to have you back, seeing as how it was me who kicked you out, but I'm sure that something will come up, just keep hanging around. You're like a little leech."

"Daddy!" she said with shock.

He laughed his booming laugh, "Go have fun, it's WrestleMania."

"You have fun too Daddy."

She walked out of the office with a smile on her face. Her relationship with her father was getting better by the day and she was so happy to be able to talk to him again. She sighed in happiness and went to go find Christian's locker room. She got there and hadn't even realized the show had started until she saw Christian watching the first match between Cena and Big Show.

"Show's on already?"

"Yeah, started a few minutes ago," he said, "Come and watch. Where'd you go?"

She sat down, "Talk to my father. We're getting back on track."

Christian hugged her unexpectedly, "That's great news."

"Thanks, I thought so too."

"So any word on coming back?"

"No, not yet, but soon, hopefully," she said.

They sat back and watched the match, seeing the Big Show getting beat by Cena. They laughed at his brass knuckles doing the trick. They watched the next match as well, though half-way through, Christian got up to get dressed and tape up his wrists. The match was fairly short, seeing Booker T and RVD retaining their tag titles. Then before she knew it, she was walking down to the gorilla with Christian.

She saw Jericho waiting there, jumping around as he loosened up. She could hear them playing a video package of everything that had led up to this match. If only the fans and everyone knew what the real story was, because it wasn't the sad and pathetic love drama they thought it was. Not on the surface at least.

Christian went out first and she watched as he made his entrance. Jericho looked over at her and she gave him a small smile of support before he went out there. Soon enough, the countdown started and he gazed at her one last time before disappearing behind the curtain. She turned to the monitors to watch the match.

They started off with a little bit of trash talking before locking up. Jericho took Christian to the corner, but Christian quickly turned it around. But then Jericho hit him to the mat and went to hit him some more. He tried to put anger behind it, mostly anger for keeping him and Stephanie apart for all this time. Jericho had the upper-hand for a while, getting in some solid moves on Christian. Christian tried to throw Jericho out of the ring, but Jericho caught himself and after a little brawling, sent Christian out of the ring instead.

Christian climbed up and then Jericho threw himself into a cross-body to the floor, but Christian had broken his fall. Jericho was definitely getting the better of Christian so far, but Christian was looking to mount an offensive. With a failed Walls attempt, Christian tried to make something happen and threw Christian over the ropes. He tried to get some moves in and was pretty successful for a while, until Jericho tried the Walls again, but once again, his attempt was rebuffed.

Stephanie could see the two were really going at it, no theatrics or anything. She glanced over and saw Trish standing there next to her. Trish looked over quickly and then went back to watching. Stephanie watched her out of the corner of her eye and noticed that she was smiling when Christian got moves in. Interesting, she thought to herself.

By now, the momentum was swinging back and forth. Right now, it was Jericho who had Christian up against the ropes before doing a jaunty little jog in place and then hitting Christian from behind. Christian and him exchanged some counter pins, but nothing came out of it. There were some more pins, but still no winner. Jericho tried his bulldog and went for the Lionsault, but was met by Christian's knees to his chest. He gasped for air and slowly got up, Christian trying to do the Unprettier. Jericho didn't get caught in it, but he did get caught in a reverse DDT from the ropes. Christian didn't get the pin.

Jericho reversed another move and they were both down, but not for long. Christian got Jericho down and then climbed the ropes, but it was no use, Jericho got to him, but Christian managed to throw him off the top and then hit a cross-body, but still no pin. They kept on fighting, neither getting the pin, and Jericho wondered when Trish would come down. That's when Christian went for the knee, and then a Texas Cloverleaf, but Jericho got the Walls. This went back and forth for a while, neither gaining a clear advantage, though Jericho did try with a double arm suplex.

That's when Trish decided to show up, and Jericho thought she was rooting for him. Christian smiled as he saw Trish, and she got up on the apron and he saw her and went for her, but pretended like he was going to hurt her. Jericho knocked him out of the ring, preparing to play the night in shining armor act. He went over to Trish and he elbowed her in the face. Jericho stumbled back and Christian rolled him up for the pin.

He was in shock and he looked to Christian who was smirking. Trish was supposed to help him, but she must've thought he was Christian. He stood up and Trish went over to him. He tried to calm her down, but she seemed like she had something to say.

"Chris, I'm so sorry," she kept saying.

"It's ok, you thought it was him."

She looked at him with sad eyes, "I have to do this for me."

Christian came back down and Jericho acted like he was going to go after him, but Trish held him back. This was probably where they were going to kiss. But then something different happened. Trish hit him, and then hit him again and he fell back. Christian came in and gave him the Unprettier and he fell to the ground, more in shock than anything else.

"Sorry man," Christian said as he leaned down to Jericho.

He and Trish exited the ring and looked back at their fallen friend, but as Trish looked at Christian, she didn't have a single regret. He was there, and she was with him, what she wanted. At the top of the ramp, they stared out across all the people and Trish smiled, this was her dream. Christian grabbed her and she looked up at him seductively. He leaned in and kissed her deeply, and she returned.

"I love you," she whispered as she pulled away.

"I love you too," he responded.

Jericho was in shock. What the hell was going on? He was pissed! How could Trish disregard the plan for Christian? What about Stephanie? He spit the bad taste out of his mouth and got out of the ring slowly, intending to get some answers.

Stephanie watched as Christian and Trish came backstage, acting happy. They saw her and she glared at them. They stopped and actually looked guilty for a moment, before Christian smirked for a moment and wrapped an arm around Trish's bare waist.

"You wanted me to kick his ass."

"You and Trish?" Stephanie asked, "When?"

"Earlier," she said, "You hate Chris, and I don't want to end up hating Christian. Sorry Stephanie."

"You could've told me!" she said.

Vince came striding up to them, "What is going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Jericho said, also walking up.

"Look, we want to be together alright," Christian said, "So what?"

"You were betraying my daughter that's what!"

Vince's outburst on Stephanie's behalf caused the four people involved to look at him. They didn't expect him to come to Stephanie's defense like this. Christian looked to Trish, who looked to Jericho, who looked to Stephanie, who looked to Vince.

"What Daddy?"

"You cheated on her in front of the world!"

"Daddy, it's ok, let them go," Stephanie said, "Please Daddy!"

"No, how could you, my daughter liked you!"

"Daddy, it's fine, I'll get over it," Stephanie told him, going to him and putting a hand on his arm, trying to calm him down, "Everything is fine."

"No, it's not!"

"Christian, Trish, get out of here," Stephanie said, "Go have fun, congratulations."

"Thanks Stephanie," Trish said, gazing up and Christian, "Thanks."

They walked away and Jericho and Stephanie watched them go before she turned to her father, who was looking at her in disbelief. He didn't know why she had just sent her boyfriend off with another woman.

"Stephanie, aren't you mad?"

"They love each other, I can't be mad," she said, then looked down, "I guess this means, I can't come around anymore."

"You can, I don't mind you being here," he said, "But I'm going to make sure that Christian and Trish pay for hurting you!"

He started to go and Stephanie out of desperation, grabbed his arm, "Daddy no!"

"Stephanie, what is it, you were with Christian and he betrayed you like that, I'm going to go dock his pay or something."

"Daddy, you've got it all wrong!"

"Stephanie!" Jericho just stood there, watching the two of them. The tension was growing thick in the room, and something was happening, though he couldn't be sure what it was exactly. A strange feeling was creeping into his stomach and he swallowed hard as he mopped his brow with a towel.

"Daddy, I love Chris Jericho!"

The room froze.

Time stopped.

Everything had changed in an instant.

Another WrestleMania with a twist.


	189. Raw, March 15, 2004

A/N: Ok, I need to apologize to someone who sent me an IM today. Apparently someone sent me an IM and I accidentally declined the message and I have no idea who it was, and I'm REALLY sorry to whoever it was, and I don't know who it is, but whoever it was, I really feel bad that you might've thought I didn't want to talk to you. And whoever you are, IM me again, I swear I won't decline!

And glad you guys liked the twist last night. :)

* * *

_The room froze._

_Time stopped._

_Stephanie stood there with her eyes wide as she regarded her father. She couldn't believe that she had done that. Had she done that? It was like an out-of-body experience. She saw herself say it, but it was as if she was dreaming. The words spilled out of her mouth like water from a faucet. They were too quick for her to catch._

_Jericho's eyes were wide as well. His breath came in short pants as he swung his head back and forth from looking at Vince and Stephanie. An outsider might think he was looking at a tennis match, watching the ball go back and forth. He thought he might turn to ashes right then and there, maybe a hole would open up in the ground and swallow him before Vince's hands tightened around his neck and squeezed until he was blue and dying._

_Vince's mouth was held open, staring at his daughter, his eyes unblinking and seemingly unfocused. The words had hit him like a physical blow, but he didn't move a muscle. His words were caught in his throat, stuck there, if they were even words at all. The idea of language and coherent thought were lost on his as he sought answers out of his daughter's frightened face. _

_Time started again and they heard the cheers of the crowd, the music, the backstage crew. But for those three people the world had stopped spinning on its axis and thrown them into some sort of whirlwind of confusion and emotion. Jericho didn't know what to do, Stephanie didn't know what to say, and Vince didn't know how to react._

_Stephanie swallowed, "Daddy…"_

"_Stephanie," he said, finding his voice as well, "Repeat yourself."_

"_Daddy, you heard what I said," she answered briefly, almost terrified to utter the words again lest they choke her to death with their weight._

_Vince nodded, and finally turned his head towards Jericho. Jericho's eyes were stricken, his hair matted to his face from his match and the profuse sweating problem he had seemed to develop in the last few minutes. The instinct to run was great, but Vince's powerful stare kept him rooted until he felt like he was making roots into the floor itself._

"_Chris Jericho."_

"_Yes sir," Jericho said, suddenly becoming formal in addressing his boss._

"_Stephanie McMahon."_

"_Daddy," Stephanie said worried about what his reaction would be, her lip quivering as she stared at her father and the man she loved._

_Vince nodded, what about they couldn't begin to decipher. They stood there, not attempting to look anything like a couple. Maybe if the words weren't uttered again, they could be forgotten, or something, like they never existed. One cannot take the words they have said, but they can wish upon wishes for selective amnesia to hit the person who heard them._

_Before anyone could say anything again, before another step was taken, eye was blinked, Vince had turned and walked away. Not a word, not a single word had been said between anyone before Vince just up and left. Stephanie and Jericho stared after him, wondering if there was anything else left to do. They didn't dare take a step closer to each other, in case lightning decided to smote them._

_There they stood, for what seemed like hours, but was only minutes, before they too left, separately, still not looking at each other. _

_Wondering what was going to happen now…_

"Do you think he was mad?" Kurt asked as he and Stephanie sipped some coffee at the local coffee shop.

Stephanie took a big gulp, "I have no clue. He just…looked at us, with nothing, no emotion, nothing. I at least expected anger, but nope, no anger."

"I'm still hurt you didn't tell me about you and Chris," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"And I'm still hurt that you didn't tell me you were in on a plan with everyone under the sun to keep me away from Chris."

"Fine, you got me there," Kurt said, "But dear God Stephanie, what were you thinking?"

"I don't know, I don't even think when I'm talking to my father, he just instills the fear in me and I just blurt things out," she said, shaking her head, "Oh God, he's going to kill Chris and then he's going to lock me up in my room forever."

"I don't think he can do that," Kurt chuckled.

"He would do that!"

"So have you seen Chris since last night?"

"No," she said sheepishly, "I haven't even talked to him. I don't know what he's feeling either. Is he mad that I told, does he hate me because I told? I know that he wanted it to be a mutual decision to tell, to say that he had feelings for me to Vince, and now I've shot it all to hell."

"If you think that he's going to hate you because of a simple slip of the tongue, you're wrong Stephanie. Look at what the man has done for you, I mean, seriously, he would do anything for you," Kurt pointed out.

"I just wish I knew what was going on. My father probably hates me again, after learning that, or if he doesn't, he'll hate me because I didn't tell him about this sooner."

Kurt put his hand over Stephanie's, trying to calm her down, "Stephanie, you had your reasons. If you explain them to your father, than I'm sure he'll understand."

"I'm not so sure," she said, biting her lip softly, "I just wish that I knew what was going through Chris's mind."

Jericho sat on the couch in his hotel room. He stared at the picture of him and Stephanie. What the hell had she been thinking last night? He couldn't believe that she had told her father. In the blink of an eye, everything was turned upside down, and he had no perspective whatsoever.

"So what are you going to do?"

Jericho held the phone to his ear as he leaned back against the couch, "Tell me again how your sister got so crazy?"

"I'm thinking I might have dropped her on her head when she was little," Shane said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Your dad is going to murder me, he'll probably bury me in your backyard, I'll make nice fertilizer for your mother's flower garden."

"He's not going to murder you, hurt you a little, maybe, but not murder."

Jericho rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome," he said, "Have you talked to her yet?"

"No, I just don't know how to go about it. Part of me is angry at her for blabbing, and the other part…"

"Yeah…"

"Is so happy that she finally told that I want to do a victory lap around the country."

"Around the country huh?"

"And maybe parts of Canada," he added.

"Now is this the bigger half?"

"Yeah."

"Good, why don't you go talk to her and set things straight, if I know Steph, and I've known her for 27 years, she's probably scared that you're mad at her."

"Damn it," Jericho cursed, "I didn't even think of that. You're right Shane. I'm more pissed at Trish and Christian."

"Why? It's not like you had feelings for Trish."

"Yeah, but they could've at least told me so I didn't end up looking like a complete fool out there, thinking that I was going to win."

"Well, it's not like you were laying down for him to get the pin, you were honestly duped."

"But still, man, they could've fucking told me," Jericho muttered lowly.

"Ok, take the anger down a notch, and go find my sister. Talk to her!"

"Ok, ok, hey Shane?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think your dad is going to do?"

"If he's smart, he'll clap you on the back and tell you to marry his daughter immediately. He knows what a good guy you are Chris, there's no way he can think that you'd be anything but perfect for Stephanie."

"I'm sure he thought that about Hunter too."

"Not really," Shane answered, "Always kept one eye on him. But you know, let him know how you really feel about Stephanie, let him know how long you've been with her, and if he thinks that you aren't good enough, tell him to talk to our mom."

"Yeah, ok, wish me luck. I guess I'll talk to Stephanie before I talk to Vince."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it."

He hung up and got up to leave and find Stephanie. He set her picture down with a heavy sigh and walked to the door. The doorknob was cool and he started to turn it, wondering if he was doing the right thing by Stephanie. He could just run away, set Stephanie free and let her run off with someone else so he wouldn't have to face the burden of Vince. He turned the knob and suddenly Stephanie was there.

She turned around startled, "Oh, I was just about to knock."

"Must be psychic," he said quietly, avoiding looking at her.

"I think that we have to talk."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Good, I was hoping you wouldn't blow me off," she said, brushing past him. He stopped her as he was about to walk past and kissed her lightly on the lips, more in greeting than in passion. Her eyes softened and she smiled shyly before walking in. She spied the picture on the table, picking it up and staring at it.

"Hope you weren't using this to pleasure yourself," she said, trying to lighten the mood with a joke, however tasteless it might be.

"Why use a picture when I have the real thing?"

"I didn't see you last night," she said, looking down and then back up at him. The pain in her eyes was there, and she looked hurt.

"I wasn't sure we should be seen together."

"It's strange huh? The fact that he knows and the sneaking around doesn't really have to be anymore."

"Yeah, I guess, I haven't really thought about it," he admitted, "I was more worried about what your dad would do to me."

"Yeah, that too."

"Have you talked to him?"

She shook her head, "No, he hasn't called or anything, I don't know what's going on. Not just with my dad, but with you. Chris, I didn't mean to say those things I said. My dad was going to try and hurt Trish and Christian, and their our friends, and I couldn't let him do that."

"So you tell him about us!" Jericho said, raising his voice, "You could've said something else!"

"I wasn't thinking!" she protested, tears welling in her eyes, "I didn't know what I said until I said it!"

"That's why you think before you speak!"

"I'm sorry, Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry," she said, not masking the anguish in her features, "I'm so sorry."

She stared at him a moment and couldn't bear the brunt of his anger any longer. She wiped her eyes furiously, trying to erase the tears. She should've known he'd be angry with her. She hurried to the door and tried to open it, but his large hand rested on the door from behind, blocking her exit. She could feel him a few inches away. His breath was on her temple, warm and hot and she dared to turn her head and they bumped noses he was so close to her.

"We're not done here," he said, his voice low and serious and seemed to fill her ears with sound.

"You hate me."

He closed his eyes momentarily, "I can't hate you, it's just not possible."

"If I cheated on you."

"Nope, more hurt, than hatred," he said, "Not to mention you wouldn't do that to me."

"So what's going on between us?"

"We've hit an impasse," he said, leaning in so his lips were touching hers ever so softly, "But we're not over, we've just hit an obstacle, but that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?"

She smiled in relief, "Uh huh."

"We've gotten through other shit, we'll get through this."

"You always seem to convince me."

"It's springtime, love is in the air," he told her with an impish grin, "I mean, me and you, Trish and Christian, even though they really should've told me about that."

She giggled, "So you and me, dinner tonight?"

"Sure, where?"

"I was thinking about this place I saw, its kind of fancy though."

"Your choice, you deserve something you want after blabbing all over the world what was going on last night."

"Just to my dad," she protested with a giggle.

"Yeah, which is practically one step away from the whole world," he said, "But I'll just leave as soon as whatever I'm doing is over and then we'll meet for dinner and it'll be my treat, and then I'll treat you to your favorite dessert…"

"Mmm," she smiled, "My favorite dessert?"

"Yup…you know what I'm talking about."

"Yup, strawberry sorbet."

He laughed, "Uh huh."

"Ok, I'm going to go talk to Trish and get the scoop on what's going down between her and Christian."

"Yeah, and then tell me so I know what the hell is going on!"

She kissed the corner of his mouth, "Of course I'll tell you."

He kissed her one more time before leaving him alone again. Now that that fight had ended, he was going to go start another one, the fight for the right to date Stephanie at all. He figured it wouldn't end with a kiss like it had with Stephanie, but he hoped for a handshake and a blessing at least.

He took a deep breath and mentally prepared a speech that he would give Vince. The worst he could do was forbid him to date Stephanie, and that wouldn't stop him. Ok, that wasn't true, the worst he could do was kill him, but he could deal with that, as long as it was in Stephanie's honor. That was an honorable way to die right? He gulped at the answer.

He quietly left his room and went to the elevators. Vince was in the bigger suites upstairs and Jericho got off on the floor he was on and made the short walk to the door. His palms were sweating and his brow was creased as he knocked on the door. He was silently praying that Vince wasn't there so he could avoid this confrontation.

"Come in!"

Jericho took a deep, almost calming breath and walked inside, looking at Vince who was sitting on the couch, papers strewn all over the coffee table, awaiting his inspection. He looked up and Jericho and instantly stopped, taking his glasses off and regarding the blonde Canadian sternly. Jericho froze under the scrutiny.

"Chris, what are you doing here?"

"I came to speak to you about what happened last night. Um, you left before anything could be said."

"I figured that this was a situation in which all parties were better left to cool off before something erupted that was irreversible."

That actually made sense, Jericho thought to himself, but it didn't make this any easier, "It might've been better to get things off our chest last night."

"So where is my daughter? I expected her to be with you." His voice wasn't angry, or furious, it just…was. Impassive and nonchalant.

"She's talking with someone," he answered, "And I figured that, I should be the one to speak to you, at least about some of the things."

"I did want to speak to the both of you," he said, "But I'm sure that we can arrange dinner this evening to discuss those things."

"We could," he said, "Stephanie and I were going to go out anyways, and your welcome to join us."

"Good, where are you meeting?"

"Um, I'm not sure, I can let you know," Jericho said, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Fine," he said, then looking at Jericho seriously, "I'm not going to kill you Chris."

Jericho let out a long breath and just about sobbed in relief, "Oh thank God."

"But I am going to have to ask about your feelings for my daughter. Apparently, she LOVES you…I'm expecting you to feel the same. Or better yet, you better feel the same way."

"I do!" Jericho said quickly, "Vince, I do love your daughter."

"Even after she called you names…and harassed you, and had you beaten up."

He nodded, "Even after all that?"

"Why should I believe you?" Vince asked, raising his eyebrow, "How do I know that you aren't just using her?"

"I could talk to you for hours about your daughter Vince. I could outline every single thing I love about her if you wanted. I could make a list a mile long of all the things I love about her. I love how she puts her feet up on the table when she's working on something. I love the way she leaves her clothes everywhere and then trips on them in the morning when she's half-awake…"

Vince gave him a look, "In the morning?"

"Oh, um, I mean, you know, like, um, yeah, she uh, like yeah, told me, or something," Jericho stammered realizing that he had said WAY too much.

"Told you?"

"Sir…"

"Sir? I like that, this must be pretty serious if you're calling me sir. Well, we'll discuss this over dinner. I am going to want to know your intentions though."

"So you…don't hate the idea of us together?"

"Why would I?" Vince asked.

"Did you know?" Jericho asked, figuring that was the only explanation for Vince's calm attitude about all of this.

"No," he said, "But I figured you two would be going at it years ago."

"Um…well, we kind of have…"

"How long have you two been together?" Vince asked, his eyes narrowing at Jericho.

Jericho laughed nervously, "We should probably tell you that together."

"How long Chris?"

"Um, remember when Stephanie came back to be the General Manager."

"Since 2002!"

"Heh, yeah," Jericho said with a shrug.

"We'll talk later Chris," Vince said, "You and I need to discuss what you want to be to my daughter."

"We will," Jericho said, "You won't be disappointed."

Stephanie sat across from Trish and Christian, who were looking happier than larks. Trish kept looking at Christian and smiling and he kept kissing her cheek and resting his cheek against hers. They were almost too sickeningly sweet for Stephanie, and if she didn't have a boyfriend, she'd be very jealous.

"I just can't believe this," she said, "I'm still just shocked. Because you thought Chris and I hated each other."

"Yeah, and now that we found out you don't, we're liable to break up again," Trish laughed.

"Great, just when I get you back, you go and dump me again," Christian said.

"You know, I knew Christian wasn't over you," Stephanie said, "Didn't I ask you all the time if you were still in love with her."

"She did ask."

"You should've told me," Trish said, smiling at her, "I would've gotten back with Christian sooner."

"I'm jealous of you guys though," Stephanie said, "You get to be on television together, that's so exciting, just showing off to the world."

"We know," they answered in unison.

"Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same," Stephanie smiled.

"So you and Chris, what's going on there?"

"We're fine, and I'm sure the news has traveled that I had a Freudian slip last night and now my father knows about us."

"I'm really sorry," Trish said sympathetically.

"Don't be, it was time," she shrugged, "It was just…time."

Trish nodded, "And I'm sure everything will work out for the best."

Stephanie could only hope. Her father had given her no indication of whether or not he approved of her and Jericho. It scared her to think that she and Jericho might be ripped apart again. She didn't think she could live through another separation. The last one had driven her to desperate times.

She shook the thought away, "So how are you going to explain your actions tonight?"

"You know, the usual, I need a real man routine," she giggled, "Not that Chris isn't a real man, he's just your real man and not mine."

"Lucky for me," Christian interjected.

"Me too," Stephanie added with a laugh, "Chris and I are going out to dinner, I think he's going to try and get the first match tonight so we can leave early."

"You guys have fun," Trish said, then looked at Christian over her shoulder, "I'm going to be having lots of it."

"And that is my cue to get the hell out of here," Stephanie said, getting up, "Because that's something I don't want or need to see."

Trish laughed, "It works every time."

"Have fun you two, don't do anything Chris and I wouldn't do!"

"So that pretty much means we can do everything right," Christian said with a smirk.

"Funny Christian," Stephanie said, giving him a fake dirty look.

"Hey Trish, you would not believe what this one told me one morning when she was half-awake."

Stephanie stared at him, "Jerk! And yet I'm sure she already knows!"

"Uh huh," Trish nodded, laughing, "You're secret is safe with us."

Jericho was already on his way to the arena when Stephanie left. Jericho went into the arena and checked the schedule. He was pretty early in the show, but still not early enough. He knew that talking to Bischoff would give him no way out of the match. He scowled and threw his things down. Once he turned good again, all the favors were out the window.

"Fuck," Jericho said, taking out his cell phone and hitting Stephanie's number.

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Baby, it's me, where are we meeting?"

"It's called Bentley's," she said, "When are you off?"

"I can't get an earlier match," he lamented, "Bischoff hates me and there's just no way I'm getting off. I'll be done around 9:45."

"Ok, I'll make a ten reservation," she said.

"For three," he told her.

"Three? Who's three?"

"Me, you and your father."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, is that bad?"

"No, its just…Daddy."

"I'm sure it'll be fine…you know what Steph, how about we skip dinner tonight altogether, give ourselves a night to relax, and then we go out to dinner with your dad on Thursday or something, you know, so we have time to prepare everything that we want to say."

She grinned, "Yes, I'd like that."

"Ok, I have to go get ready, I'm facing Hardy, I'll make quick work of him so I can come back and be with you."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He hung up and went to his dressing room to get dressed. He was still pissed and scowled as he thought about not getting out of here as early as he'd like. He walked out once he was dressed, intending to go find Vince who he had heard was here tonight. He finally located Vince's office and knocked.

"Come in!" came the same voice as earlier.

"Vince," Jericho said, walking in fully, "It's Chris, um, Stephanie isn't up to going out tonight, and we were wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with us on Thursday, we can hang around here for the next few days at Stephanie's house, we've been staying there for the past couple of days."

"So that's not where you usually stay?" he asked. Jericho cursed himself again. Would he ever learn to choose his words more carefully?

"Um, well, you see, it's like--"

"Not this again," Vince groaned, "Look, I know that you probably sleep in the same bed as my daughter, and I'm sure that you probably have some living arrangement I don't know about. I can wait until Thursday, but my answers better come then."

"They will," he said quickly, "Vince, I really DO love Stephanie."

"I want to believe you, but I have yet to see you two," he said.

"You'll see, I promise."

"Now don't you have a match coming up?"

"Oh yeah," Jericho said quickly, "Thanks again Vince."

"As long as you make my daughter happy, then we're fine."

Jericho smiled as he walked quickly to the ring. As he was walking, some guy shoved a microphone in his face and he frowned as he walked. What was with people who were always in his face? This guy asked about Trish and he just turned and gave him a withering look. Couldn't he see that he was busy? He got out there and wanted this fight over with quickly so he could get back to Stephanie.

He went through the motions of the fight, but it was dragging to long for his taste and so he decided that it wasn't even worth it to continue this match. He started choking Matt with some wires, figuring that everyone would think he was upset over Trish and Christian. Made sense at least. He finally let go of Matt, ending the match with a disqualification.

As soon as he was pulled away, he walked up the ramp, straight to his dressing room and straight back to his car, conveniently parked right outside the entrance. He got inside, not even bothering to cover up and left. Everyone thought it was under the pretense of Trish, but it was really for Stephanie.

He got back to his hotel room and saw Stephanie thinking curiously, "What's up baby?"

"Daddy just said they're doing a whole other draft," she said, "With everyone."

"Everyone? Like everyone, everyone?"

"Yeah, you could go to SmackDown!"

"But--I don't want to go to SmackDown!"

"Let's not worry about that now, what did Daddy say?"

"We're set for Thursday," he said, "So what's going on?"

"I'm waiting for Christian and Trish," she said, "Come sit with me."

They sat and watched the show, laughing at Trish and Christian's explanation. But both their minds were elsewhere. They were on the future, on Thursday, on dinner with her father. They were nervous. There were many secrets and lies that needed to be told, and they were finally telling the truth. It could end up badly, it could end up great.

Only time would tell.


	190. SmackDown, March 18, 2004

"Why do I have to wear a tie?"

"Because I said so!"

"Why do I have to follow everything that you say? Why can't I wear what I want?" Jericho whined.

"Because," Stephanie said, starting to get exasperated, "We are going to a very nice place and I want you to be dressed accordingly."

"We are? Or is this just for your dad?"

"A little from column A, and a little from column B."

"More like a lot from column B," Jericho said as he tried to fix his tie.

Stephanie just stood there and put her hands her hips, looking at him sternly. Her rolled his eyes with a laugh at her look and went back to tying his tie. Stephanie walked over and gently took his hands off. She took the tie and tied it for him quickly, straightening it and then smoothing it down against his white dress shirt.

"I used to tie my dad's tie for him," Stephanie said, "It made me feel like a big girl that I could help my dad."

"That's so cute," Jericho said as he kissed the tip of her nose, "I'm telling you now, don't be nervous about tonight. Your dad knows me."

"My dad knows you as you, Chris Jericho, wrestler, cocky asshole. He doesn't know you as Chris Jericho, his daughter's boyfriend," she said, "That's a whole different ballgame. He's going to drill you for answers until you're crying and begging him to let you go."

"Speaking from person experience?" he asked her.

"You can say that. I lost a lot of boyfriends that way," she said, "Once you got the Vince McMahon interrogation, it was all over for you."

"Well," he said, staring her straight in the eye, "I'm not scared of your dad and whatever question he wants answered, I'll be prepared, because there's nothing I know better in this world than you."

She smiled at his comment, but that did little to qualm her fears at seeing her father. Her father had always been the "make or break" factor in her and Jericho's relationship. He had the power to tear them apart, and if Vince didn't like Jericho as her boyfriend, she knew that he wouldn't hesitate to do everything in his power to make sure they stayed apart. That was what she feared the most.

"You might, but my dad is still going to grill you, preferably over an open flame."

"Stephanie, I'm not going to die tonight," he said, "I'm sure your dad just wants some answers. And we can give him answers, there's nothing that says we can't do that."

"But what if he asks about our future? What then? What are you going to say?"

"If he asks me about that, then I'll send you away from the table and talk to him. There are some things that I can handle myself, without you there."

She sighed, "Why did we agree to this?"

"Because if we didn't, your dad would start asking around and nobody knows about us but a few select people."

"I should have had Mom deal with it," Stephanie said, "Mom knows how to deal with Dad, she could calm him down."

"Yes, but he really should hear it from the source."

"Source, schmource," she said quickly, "Why did I have to blurt that out? When am I going to learn to keep my big, fat mouth shut?"

He smiled down at her and ran his thumb over her soft lips gently, getting a little of her lipstick on his finger, "I think you have a cute mouth. Prettiest mouth I've ever seen."

She frowned, "Don't try to butter me up!"

"Who said that's what I was trying to do?"

"It is and you know it, Chris, we can still call and cancel," she said, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. She hoped he would agree with her idea and they could cancel this meeting with her father. They could just never speak about it again and they could all live in ignorant bliss.

"Even if you cancel, I'm not, I'm going to go there and talk to your father. With or without you."

"Fine," she said, smoothing out her skirt, "How do I look?"

"Lovely as usual."

She scowled, as if that wasn't what she wanted to hear. Perhaps it wasn't. Maybe if he thought she looked bad she could change and then spend the next few hours changing and they'd miss dinner. She was running out of excuses to use to get out of this dinner. She just feared that it would all end terribly, and that was the last thing she needed right now. She didn't need any more added stress.

He held out his hand to her and she looked at it dubiously, wondering if she should take it or not. Even if she didn't, he'd still be going to meet her father. AS long as Jericho was by her side, she could do anything right? He was her rock of sorts, that anchor that kept her from floating away. Or so she hoped he was, after tonight, he might go running like all those old boyfriends of hers. She wouldn't blame him if he did.

Stephanie took his hand reluctantly and let him lead her out of the bedroom. She saw him grab his jacket off the chair and they walked out of the room. She checked herself briefly in the hall mirror before heading to the stairs.

"I've always wanted to slide down your banister," he said, "You think I should?"

"No, because you're going to hurt yourself."

"But I have good balance," he said, "I bet I could make it down the entire thing in one try."

"I don't want to see you do that," she told him. Sometimes he could be such a little kid. She saw him eyeing the banister with a little gleam in his eyes, like he wanted to hop over the entire thing and try to land on his feet on the bottom floor. She squeezed his hand impatiently and tried to pull him down the steps.

"Just half," he said, "I could definitely do half."

"As much as I want out of tonight, I'm not going to have it be because you wanted to slide down my banister and then break your neck."

"You have not faith in me," he pouted.

"Not when you want to do crazy things, so let's go."

He followed her obediently and she went out to her car as he locked the door. She threw him the car keys and he got in the car himself, not even bothering to help her in. She gave a little eye-roll at his rudeness and just sat in the car. Even though he wasn't letting on, he was probably as nervous as she was. She looked over at him and he didn't look nervous in the slightest. How did he do that?

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"Not really?"

"You should be."

"Stephanie, it's not my first time meeting the man, I've been on the short end of the stick with him before, I'm not going to sweat it."

"I hate you."

"Ok, now that might not bode well for tonight's overall appearance of us being the loving, tender couple that we're supposed to be."

"Well, it's true, I hate you," she said, "Why are you always so calm? Can't you be scared or nervous once in a while?"

"Like I haven't?"

"When?"

"Excuse me, when I found out about you and Christian, do you know how scared I was that I lost you. You have no idea how scared I was that you were sleeping with him, that you would fall in love with him. That thought alone scares me."

"What thought? That I'd fall in love with someone else?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's not going to happen, so don't worry," she said, grabbing his hand, "I guess you have gotten nervous every once in a while. I apologize."

"Good, now show me how to get to this place."

Stephanie directed Jericho as he drove to the restaurant. They managed to find it pretty easily, only having gotten lost once, and that was because Jericho missed a turn he was supposed to take. They drove up to the valet parking and let the guy take the car. Jericho held out his arm for Stephanie and she took it with a smug smile. Sometimes he was so weird.

Upon seeing the host, they found that her father wasn't here yet. Stephanie sighed with relief; she was glad that she would get to be the first one there, that way she and Jericho could commiserate on what they were going to say when her father did arrive. They were shown to their table and Jericho insisted on holding her chair for her. He took the chair next to her and they took their menus from the host.

"Fancy place," Jericho muttered, "Don't see why we had to go so fancy."

"So you'd rather have this take place at McDonald's or something?" she asked him.

"Well, that would be lighter on the wallet."

"Oh, Daddy will pay," she said, "I'll make sure of that."

"Ok then, this place is great. So what should I order?"

Stephanie put her menu down and scooted her chair next to Jericho's. Seeing her get closer, he wrapped his arm around her loosely as she leaned her head against his shoulder. He held the menu up with his other hand as they perused the choices. Jericho's hand moved up from her shoulder and gently ran through her silky, brown hair, and Stephanie smiled as she tried to decide what to order.

Vince walked into the restaurant and was about to be shown to his seat, but saw Jericho and Stephanie sitting there, looking at the menu. He told the host that he could find his own seat and stood at the entryway into the dining area, just observing his daughter and her boyfriend. It was strange to think that, and he still didn't believe them up until he saw them right now, but if they weren't together, they were doing an awfully good job of pretending.

He watched as Stephanie pointed to something on the menu and Jericho turned his head to make a grossed out face as she giggled and kissed his cheek. Vince smiled a little, glad to see his little girl happy. Staring at her right now, as if she were just out with her boyfriend on a normal thing, he could see that glow of happiness permeating off of her. She pulled back from Jericho and gave him a light slap on the arm as he pretended to be offended by it.

She shook her head and he whispered something to her, something with she nodded to. Vince saw Jericho's hand move down to wrap around Stephanie's waist and come around to rest on her stomach. He rubbed her stomach gently and Vince's eyes almost bugged out of his skull. Why was Jericho rubbing Stephanie's stomach like that?

Stephanie felt him rub her stomach, "Of course I have nerves."

"Calm down," he said, "It'll all be ok."

"When is he getting here, I want to get this over with."

"Be patient," he said, "Don't worry about it."

Vince swaggered over to the table, in his usual manner and Stephanie could sense his presence before he even got there. She turned her head and gulped as she saw her father standing right there. She had the urge to stand up, but she didn't, staying rooted in her seat instead. She groped around for Jericho's hand and finding it, she took it into a death grip.

"Hello," Vince nodded, taking a seat across from them.

"Hey Vince," Jericho said, then nudged Stephanie hard in the side.

"Hi Daddy," Stephanie said quietly, looking down after she said the words.

Vince looked between the two of them, "How are you two this evening?"

"I'm great," Jericho answered, "Stephanie's her usual self, and you Vince, how are you?"

"Well, other than the shock I'm feeling at seeing the two of you together like this, the happy couple, I'm doing well. But we didn't come here to talk pleasantries, now did we?"

"No, you said you wanted answers, so here we are," Jericho said in a very business-like tone.

"So I did," he said, looking at Stephanie, "You look beautiful tonight Stephanie."

"She looks beautiful every night," Jericho said, gazing over at Stephanie. Vince could tell he was trying to impress him, but when he saw Jericho looking over at Stephanie, he could tell he was being genuine.

"Thank you…both of you," Stephanie said with a small smile, more directed towards Jericho than Vince. She still wasn't quite ready to face her father.

"So Chris tells me the two of you have been together for quite sometime, care to explain to me how this all came about, and how long you two have actually been together."

Jericho knew Stephanie wouldn't take the initiative in this conversation, and he knew that tonight would be mostly him talking. He didn't mind though, he liked talking about him and Stephanie. It was such a weird story when he thought about it. Filled with just about everything a person could think of. But he was glad that it was his story and not anyone else's.

"Well, you hired Stephanie back," Jericho started, "And I was the first guy to go congratulate her, and she wouldn't hug me. I got pretty pissed at her, because I thought we were friends, and so I confronted her about it, and we kid of confessed our feelings. I'd like to say that it was this monumental running to each other in the rain kind of thing, but it wasn't. We went on a date after that and it kind of snowballed."

"All because she wouldn't hug you," Vince said with a chuckle, "Ok, so now I know how and when you began to date. You two have been together for going on two years?"

"Well, we did have a break up, around WrestleMania of last year, but we worked through that."

"So this Burke character," Vince said, "Your 'wife,' she wasn't really your wife was she?"

"Actually Daddy, Burke was me," Stephanie spoke up, "I was just in disguise."

Vince stared at her, "You two were married!?!"

"No!" Stephanie said with a loud voice, "We were pretending, Chris and I we aren't married, but Daddy, I do love him. He makes me happy. Happier than I ever was with Hunter. I love Chris so much, and I don't know if you'll get that by the time this night is over, but I do love him."

"And I do love her Vince," Jericho added, "I'm not trying to use her."

"That was one of my concerns," he said, "How do I know that you aren't using her?"

"Vince, if I was using her for some sort of personal gain, I wouldn't have invested so much into this relationship. I wouldn't have spent the better part of the last two years being at your daughter's beckon call. I do the things I do because I love her. I switched to Raw because of her, I've fought guys because of her. I did so many things because of her."

"That's why you switched sides?"

"We were trying to bring down Bischoff," Stephanie said, "He was needed."

"How many people know about you exactly?"

"Well, there's Edge, Christian, Kurt, Trish, Shane, Linda, and my parents," Jericho answered, knowing that two of those names might set Vince off.

"Shane and Linda did you say?" Vince asked with a frown, "They knew before I did!"

"Daddy, Shane and Mom found out on their own, they guessed that we were together and we just told them. We couldn't risk it getting out because of the Bischoff thing…and then, well," she paused to take a deep breath, "We didn't want you to find out."

"Why!"

"Daddy, you were hating me, you started to turn on me, you didn't deserve to know. Chris is the man that I love, and you didn't love me, and I didn't want you to know because you didn't deserve to know anything about me!"

"I think I deserve to know who my daughter is dating!"

"But you didn't deserve to!"

"Ok, you two, calm down ok, take a deep breath Steph," Jericho said as the waiter came over. They all gave their orders very curtly before returning to their conversation. Jericho rubbed Stephanie's lower back trying to calm her down. He leaned over to her and spoke in a hushed whisper, "Baby, it's fine, don't let what he says get to you."

Stephanie turned her head and looked at him with a grateful smile, glad that she didn't have to do this alone. She never would've made it through this without him by her side. She took his hand again and held it firmly in hers, reassuring herself that he was really there with her.

"Vince," Jericho said, "There is a lot of stuff Stephanie and I have been through. Far too much to get into here, but it was hard for Stephanie to come here and you being here and accusing her of things is not going to help you get any information any quicker. There are only a few people who we confided into and all those people would keep their mouths shut so it's either us or nothing. Your choice."

Vince nodded, "You're right, I respect that. So where do you two live?"

"We live in Florida," Jericho answered, "Stephanie lives with me."

"Oh," Vince answered, "And how long has this been going on?"

"For over a year, with only a couple of times where she didn't live with me. She kind of gradually moved in, until suddenly she was there all the time," he laughed, though it was a bit strained.

"So you two must be serious then?"

"Very," Jericho said, "I…Stephanie is it for me, I know that now. Yes, I used to hate her with a passion, but I don't anymore."

Stephanie laughed, "I hated him too."

"Yeah right!"

"No, I did," she said with a grin.

"Liar," he teased.

"Nope," she said, with a shake of her head, "Hated your stinking guts."

Vince laughed, "I'm glad that you seem to make my daughter happy. And I couldn't help but notice you were rubbing her stomach when I walked in, are we expecting a little something?"

Stephanie, who had just been sipping her drink, spitting her drink back out. She stared at her father in shock as he stared at her with a hopeful smile. Stephanie looked over at Jericho, whose jaw was dropped and his eye seemed to be twitching.

"Excuse me Daddy?" she said, "What? I'm not getting you."

"Are you pregnant?" Vince asked her.

"Daddy, no! What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you haven't been pushing for your job back and I just saw Chris rubbing your stomach, I can hope can't I?"

"Yes, but God Daddy, no way, not until I'm married," she said, "And on that note, I think I need to freshen up."

Stephanie stood up and gave her father another crazy-eyed look. Jericho looked down at his bread plate and played around with his butter. Vince looked over at him, and wondered what exactly his intentions were for his daughter. He was Stephanie's father after all, and he had to make sure that Jericho's intentions were honorable and that he was worthy of his daughter.

"Now that Stephanie's gone, it might be the best time to talk to each other about…some things."

"I guess so," Jericho answered, "Within reason of course."

"Of course," Vince nodded, "Now as you know, Stephanie is my only daughter, my baby girl, and I want to make sure that she is happy forever. The first time she got married, I didn't get to talk to Hunter about it, and I regret it now, that no-good bastard trying to corrupt my daughter. I only accepted that marriage because I would've lost Stephanie if I hadn't. But now you come along and I'll be damned if my daughter has to go through another man in her life breaking her heart."

"I don't want to break Stephanie's heart Vince," Jericho said to him, "I love her, and I would never do that to her."

"That's good, she loves you, I can tell now. How I was so blind before, I'll never know, but I can see it clearly now. You're a good man Jericho, I know this from experience, but how am I to know that you're good enough for my daughter."

"Obviously I'm doing something right if she's still with me."

"Maybe, but what is Stephanie's financial situation in accordance to your happiness?" Vince asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I could care less how much money she has," Jericho answered, "I don't need more than I have, if Stephanie were poor, I wouldn't care. It would take me a while longer to find her because she wouldn't be in the company, but I don't care."

"Good answer," Vince said, "And about the power she could get you in the company, what of that?"

"Vince, I've been with Stephanie for over a year, since she came back as General Manager. Have you seen me get a title shot that I haven't earned?"

Vince thought for a moment, "Good, so you're not using her. Now, you've been trying to get her job back--"

"Vince, please don't tell her about that. It's one of only two secrets I have from her. If you can get her job back, please do, and I want her to know that I was behind it, but only when she actually gets her job back. It's what I've been working for, for so long."

"Really? You mean, the whole thing with Trish?"

"A ruse, it was basically to get you to believe that I wasn't with Stephanie, because we thought you'd disapprove. Then with Trish on my side, it'd seem like she was the one who wanted Stephanie back and not me."

"You would go through all of that for my daughter?"

"Of course," Jericho shrugged, as if it were nothing, and for him it really was. Doing things for Stephanie, they came natural to him, and in truth, he'd do a lot of things for her. Not everything, he wouldn't give his right arm for her, he kind of needed that arm, but a lot of other things, he'd do.

"And the future?"

"Vince, I'm going to marry Stephanie, as soon as the time is right, I'm asking her, I have a ring and everything, I'd show you, but she'll be back any second."

"You have a ring?" Vince asked, shocked. Of course to him, this relationship had really only been in existence for four days, but to know that it was this serious, he never could've imagined.

"Yeah, and it wasn't cheap either, I spent over 75,000 dollars on it."

Vince almost had a heart attack, even with all his money, he would never spend that much on a ring, "I'm certainly impressed."

"Impressed with what," Stephanie said as she sat back down.

"Impressed that we kept ourselves a secret."

"Oh," Stephanie said with a smile, "We're just really good liars."

She sat down with an oblivious smile and looked between the two men sitting there. Her father had a peculiar smirk on his face and Jericho was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, as if her were nervous or something. She was about to ask what she had missed when the waiter came over with their food. She kept looking between Jericho and Vince and caught them sharing looks every now and then.

Something was going on and she wanted to know what it was.


	191. Raw, March 22, 2004

"So what do you think it's going to feel like?"

"What what's going to feel like?" Jericho asked as they walked to their rental car on their way to Raw that evening.

"Going into the arena."

"Um, well, I guess it'll feel like…we're walking, or something," he answered confused at her statement.

Stephanie looked over at him and giggled at his confusion. He obviously wasn't getting what she was saying. She grabbed his hand and moved herself so that she was standing shoulder to shoulder with him. He looked over at her, and gave her an odd smile, wondering what was going through that mind of hers.

"Not like that silly," she grinned, "Together, you and me, together."

"Sounds like a song," he mused, then started to sing in a random tune, "Together…you and me…together…."

"Oh shut up," she said, but she was smiling and nudging him playfully, "It has to feel different don't you think? I mean, this time there's no secrets, no pretending to be something we're not. We're together and that's that."

"Well, I imagine it's going to feel pretty damn good," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek as they got to their car, "I mean, just like the first time you and me…you know."

She looked up at him, "Oh, that WAS good."

"I know," he grinned.

He opened the door for her and she got inside as he closed the door behind her. Jericho walked around to the other side and got in himself. Stephanie could barely contain her excitement for tonight. Not only was it the draft, which meant that Kurt would be there so she could see him, but she and Jericho would get to finally, and she meant FINALLY get to flaunt each other to everyone. That was going to be the crowning moment of the evening.

"Stephanie, if you don't stop shaking, the car is going to tip over or something," Jericho laughed as he looked over at her.

"I can't help it," she said, "I'm just so happy, I mean, everything is going to be great, I can feel it."

"I hope you're right," he said, "What do you think about this draft?"

"Wherever you go, I'll follow," she joked, "Because frankly, where else am I going to go. I mean, if we're on Raw, we can hang out with Trish and Christian, and if we're on SmackDown, we can hang out with Kurt and Edge, it's a win-win situation."

"Yeah, when you put it that way, it could be good either way."

"Yup," she smiled, "And either way, you still have me!"

"And isn't that what it's all about? Just you?"

She nodded as they pulled into a spot at the arena. She let herself out of the car and waited for Jericho to catch up with her. He jogged over to her and caught her hand in his. She gave it a squeeze as they walked slowly to the arena. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she was. She shouldn't be, because there was nothing to be nervous about, she had Jericho by her side and her father back, she was on top of the world.

They walked inside and they went to check the schedule for the evening. They knew that the draft would take up most of the evening, but there was a chance that Jericho would have a match regardless. He ran his finger down the piece of paper and saw that he didn't have anything planned, which was just fine with him. He had to stay for the draft, but it was alright, he didn't mind as long as Stephanie was here.

"Well, well, well, here's a sight I never thought I'd see."

Stephanie turned slowly as she recognized the voice, "Oh my God, what are you doing here!"

That grin was unmistakable as Stephanie went over to hug her friend tightly. Edge hugged her back and shot Jericho a smile over his shoulder and then made a little gesture towards Stephanie as he raised his eyebrow, silently asking what the hell was going on that the two of them could be so out in the open.

"Well, there's a draft tonight isn't there? I just want to make sure I'm here in case I get traded, then I can hang out with you and Chris over here," he smiled.

"That'd be great, but poor Kurt would be stuck by himself," Stephanie laughed, "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you, and Chris here…together, and when did this happen?"

"Well, you see, I came back to be General Manager of SmackDown and Chris--"

"Very funny," Edge said, "I mean, this, this whole being together in public thing, when did that happen?"

"When Stephanie decided to just blurt out to her father that she loved me," Jericho said as Stephanie came to stand next to him, "Of course, it was very impromptu."

"Wait, so Vince knows and is alright with it?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "We had dinner, explained and he's cool with it, can you believe it?"

"I'm surprised the news didn't travel to you."

"Well, Kurt's been busy, and Trish and Christian, well they've been busy too, but I'm not sure it's the kind of busy that I want to know about."

"It probably isn't," Stephanie said, "Those two have been…well, they're acting like newlyweds or something."

"I think it's cute," Jericho said, "I just wish they had told me about it before they beat me."

"He's still bitter," Stephanie said, patting his chest softly, "He'll get over it soon."

"Yeah right."

"Well, we're going to our dressing room, but you're welcome to join us," Stephanie said to Edge.

"I'm not exactly sure I want to be with you guys either," Edge laughed, I'm going to go find some other guys and say hello, but we'll catch up later."

"Absolutely," he smiled before walking off.

Jericho and Stephanie went to their locker room, holding hands, and getting some stares. It was like last time they were "together," except this time it felt more real. Maybe because it was real, but it was just better this time. They walked into the locker room and Jericho set his stuff down. Stephanie saw a shirt and hat hanging on the edge of the couch and picked them up.

"I think this is for you," she said, then picked up the note that came along with it, "It says that you should wear this and report to the team locker room five minutes before the show starts."

"Oh great, I have to show team spirit," Jericho said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll be your personal cheerleader," she giggled, "Ra ra, sis boom bah, Jericho is the…something, something, something!"

"Wow, that's the best cheer I've ever gotten," he quipped as he took off his shirt and started to reach for the Raw one.

"Ooh, no, keep it off!" Stephanie held the shirt away from him as he tried to grab it. She took a few steps back as he tried to grab it again. She giggled and started running around the room, Jericho chasing after her.

"Steph, give me my shirt!"

"Nope, you'll have to come and get it!"

"Stephanie, come on, the show is starting in like twenty minutes!"

"Oh, then you'll have to be the only one shirtless," she giggled.

Jericho caught up with her and grabbed her by the waist with one of his strong arms. She held the shirt close to her chest and he was holding her firmly as he tried to grab it with the other hand. She laughed as he was tickling her accidentally while trying to get the shirt. They didn't notice Vince walking in until he cleared his throat loudly.

"Daddy!" Stephanie backed away from Jericho quickly, feeling like a teenager again. Jericho took his hands off of Stephanie, he too feeling like he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

"Well, I'm glad I didn't interrupt when this escalated into something more," Vince said evenly.

"Oh no Daddy, no, no, no, no, no!" Stephanie said, shaking her head fiercely, trying to make it seem like she was still his innocent little girl. Jericho just smirked and didn't comment. Stephanie hit him in the stomach with her elbow, hard, and he grunted at the contact.

"Oh yeah Vince, nothing of the sort."

"I wasn't born yesterday you two," he said with a shake of the head, "I was wondering what Stephanie would be doing while the draft was going on, as you know, you are not allowed on television."

"I was just going to hang out here or something," Stephanie shrugged, "I'm fine with that."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come watch the show with me, I need someone to help me record all the goings on, since I'll be out and about I want to make sure that new contracts get drawn up properly."

"You want me to help?" Stephanie asked incredulously.

"Only if you want to."

"Of course," she said, her voice filled with exuberance. She flew into her father's arms and hugged him tightly. Jericho watched on with a smile, glad that she and her father were on good terms again. Stephanie pulled away and gave Jericho a hug as well, just for good measure.

"Well, come to my office whenever you're ready," Vince said, "I'm sorry I interrupted."

"Daddy, you didn't interrupt anything, I swear, he was just trying to get his shirt," Stephanie explained.

"Ok Princess, I believe you."

Once Vince left, Stephanie squealed in happiness and started jumping up and down. She clapped her hands and hugged Jericho again. This time, he returned the hug fiercely, holding her tightly until she felt the breath was going to be taken from her completely. She pulled away and kissed him deeply.

"Did you hear what he said?"

"No, I went temporarily deaf, what did he say?"

"Chris, this could mean I could be getting a job soon," she said, her voice raising a few octaves, "I may be getting my job back!"

"I know baby, I'm excited for you," he smiled, kissing her softly, "Now can I please have my shirt?"

She giggled and threw it at him, making it land on his face. He gave her a dirty look before slipping the shirt on him. He grabbed his wrestling tights in case he had to wrestle spontaneously. She ogled him as he got dressed and he just gave her an look of amusement. Then he laced up his boots and tied them quickly.

"Should we head on down there now?" Stephanie asked him.

"You're walking me down there?"

"Yeah, it's about fifteen minutes until show time, and that gives us time to hang out a little before the show. If you want to that is?"

"Sure, let's go."

They held hands again as they left the locker room. They didn't know where the team locker room was so they wandered around a bit, trying to find it. Stephanie finally saw a sign down one of the hallways and pointed to it. It was the Raw locker room sign and she smiled in triumph that she had been the one to locate it. He just smiled at her behavior and let her pull him to the locker room. There wasn't a lot of people in there yet, just some people milling around. She was sure that more people would show up soon. Jericho took a seat on a table in the back and Stephanie came to stand in front of him. She put her hands on both of his thighs as he wrapped his legs around her.

"So, you nervous?" she asked.

"About what?"

"Switching shows, now that it's closer to the actual thing."

"Nope, I'm just hanging out," he said with a grin.

"With me," she added with a smile.

"Yes, with me," he told her.

He leaned into her and kissed her. What started as an innocent kiss soon escalated into a full make-out session. They didn't even notice the people who were streaming into the room, wide-eyed as they saw what greeted them. Stephanie stepped closer to him and he wrapped his arms around her waist as he sat up a little more to kiss her more comfortably. She ran her hands through his hair and he rubbed the nape of her neck softly.

They were so wrapped up in each other, that they took no notice that three of the members of Evolution had walked into the room. Hunter glanced around superiorly, knowing that wherever he walked, he owned the room. It was just that cocky nature of his. He smirked to his buddies in Evolution, before his eyes fell to the corner of the room. He saw two people making out and from the back, one of them looked suspiciously like…

His eyes turned red with anger, redder than the shirt that he was forced to wear. He stalked over to the couple and tore the woman away from whoever the guy was. His first thought was that it was indeed Stephanie. His second thought was to find out who the guy was. His jaw dropped as he was looking at the smirking face of Chris Jericho.

"I was trying to kiss my girlfriend," Jericho said snottily.

"Your WHAT!" Hunter's huge nostrils were flaring. Stephanie smiled as she stood in front of Jericho, letting his hands snake around her waist as he leaned up to put his chin on her shoulder.

"Boyfriend Hunter," Stephanie said, "You didn't expect me to actually pine for you did you?"

"What the fuck, you hate each other!"

"Yeah, years ago," Jericho scoffed, "Stephanie and I have been together for over a year, almost two years, right baby?"

"Yeah sweetie, it was nice to finally find a man who could take care of me in every way possible," Stephanie said sweetly.

"I knew you always wanted her," Hunter said snidely, staring at Jericho, animosity flowing between them, "It must've killed you that I had her first, doesn't it. And don't you ever forget that Jericho, I had her first."

"Yeah, but…who has her every night?"

"You do sweetie," Stephanie giggled, "Over and over again."

"You bitch, you were cheating on me weren't you?"

"Would that make you happy to hear?" she asked him, "If it does, then sure, I was cheating on you."

Hunter gritted his teeth, "Hope you like sloppy seconds Jericho."

"No, I don't, but it doesn't matter because I love Stephanie," Jericho said with the sincerest of voices, "Nothing you say is going to deter me from that."

"We'll see," Hunter said, narrowing his eyes.

"Now if you'll excuse us," Jericho said, kissing Stephanie's neck, "We were busy."

Hunter tuned on his heel and walked away angrily. Stephanie giggled and turned back to face him, a huge grin on her face. They had both been waiting almost two years to do that to him. Now that the moment had come, it had been so much fun, and absolutely worth the wait as they saw the look on Hunter's face. It was a mixture of shock, anger, fury, and sadness. It was the sadness that made them laugh the most.

"That was the best!"

"I know," Jericho said, "Finally, I get to rub it in his face."

Stephanie giggled, "And flaunt you did."

"God, I love being with you," he said, leaning up to kiss her again.

"Ditto," she whispered against his lips.

"Well, it's about time you two got together," a distinctly Canadian voice said.

Jericho looked to the side and smirked at Chris Benoit, "Hey Champ."

"I may be the one with the belt, but it looks like you got the real prize," Benoit said to him.

Stephanie blushed as Jericho leaned his head against hers, "You can say that."

"Nice to see you again Stephanie."

"You too Chris, I don't think I've gotten to tell you congratulations on winning the championship, you really deserve it. Also, it made me really happy to see someone else lose it."

"Glad I could help," he said, grinning that famous grin of his.

"Oh, you did," she smiled, then looked at her watch, "Oops, baby, I have to go, I'll talk to you after the show right?"

"Yeah, have fun with your Dad. Don't screw up or you'll never get that job back," he winked.

She gave him a playful shrug, "Jerk. I'll see you later."

They parted with a sweet kiss and Stephanie waved as she walked out of the room. Jericho smiled to himself at his good fortune. He glanced over and caught Benoit giving him a look. He rolled his eyes and shoved his friend jokingly. Benoit just shook his head and sat down next to him.

"So how far gone are you for her?" Benoit asked.

"About as far gone as one could possibly be," Jericho mused dreamily.

"Disgusting," Benoit said, "So why aren't you two hitched?"

"You can't rush things like that Chris," Jericho said, "So when do I get to go after that belt of yours?"

"Why don't you pull some strings with your girlfriend," he joked.

"Oh, then I'll just have you stripped of it, and put on me," he said with a smile.

"Very funny."

"Hey you," Trish said as she sauntered over to Jericho and Benoit, with Christian holding on to her tightly, "Have you seen Randy?"

"Nope," they both said.

"Oh, I was just worried, I really hope that I didn't hurt him," Trish said, then smiled up at Christian, "I just don't want him to feel badly or think he did something wrong. I just couldn't hold in my feelings any longer."

"I'm sure he understands Trish," Jericho said, "Don't worry about it, if he doesn't get it, then he wasn't worth your time anyways. You and Christian should be happy and worry-free."

"Oh, we are most definitely happy," Christian said, holding Trish tighter against him, "Very happy."

"Yeah," Trish said, sighing happily, "You two have fun tonight, we're going to get some seats."

"Hope you don't get split up," Jericho said.

Trish scowled as Christian went to find them some seats. That's what she was deathly afraid of, them getting split up. They had just gotten back together, and actually got to be together on screen and what if they were just split up again? She didn't think she could handle that. She had prayed to God that they could be kept together. She just hoped that he had heard her, and granted her wish accordingly. She sat down in the seat next to Christian's and felt him wrap his arm around her and she leaned against him.

"You don't think we'll get split up do you?" Trish asked him.

"No, of course not, the odds are in our favor," he said with a smile and a kiss to her temple.

"I'm scared," she said, "What if they take you away from me?"

"Trish, don't worry, we'll be fine, and if we should get split up, then I will follow you wherever you go, if you stay here, I'll come here with you," he said, "I just got you back, I'm not about to let go of you so soon."

She smiled up at him, "I love you, you know that right?"

"I do now," he said, kissing her again.

The show started shortly after, everyone sitting in anticipation of what was to come. Nobody knew exactly what to expect with this draft. It hadn't really been explained properly to them, so they were all-new to this and had no clue if they were all going, or some, or what. So they just sat there, waiting, wondering who would go and who would stay. Some of them wanted to leave their shows, but others wanted to stay with their friends. Jericho could really care less.

Stephanie sat down across from her father as he handed her some files. She was going over the contracts that he had written up. All they really needed was their names filled in. That would be what she was doing, making sure each contract was correct and sound, so there were no loopholes.

"I really appreciate you doing this for me Stephanie," Vince said as he rose from his desk.

"I don't mind Daddy, it makes me actually think I have a purpose. It's been terrible not having a job," she said, then ducked down as she remembered how she had ended up jobless in the first place.

"Well, I have to go talk to the General Managers, you just rest in here, and wait until it starts."

She nodded as she left. A small smile crept on her face as she looked at the contracts. She felt almost like she had a job. She knew she didn't, but this was the most needed she had felt in months. It was good to have something to keep her occupied. Usually she was occupied with Jericho or something, but now she had a job to do. Hopefully this would lead to better things.

The show started and she watched as the first pick was made. It wasn't a big one, but it did break up a group. Dupree came out and picked a fight. She was looking over a contract when she heard the familiar countdown. She smiled as she saw Jericho walking quickly down the aisle. She set the contracts down, intending to look at them later as she watched Jericho get in the ring.

He had that intensity that she loved in his eyes and she knew then that he would win at all costs. Dupree, being a coward, ran out of the ring and Jericho chased after him. Jericho took control of the match easily, with Dupree trying to play catch up. Jericho was a veteran, of course he would have the upper-hand, she thought to herself, she was rooting him on silently. She watched him give a springboard drop-kick off the second rope, sending Dupree to the ground. She clapped to herself; he was doing so well.

The match itself was short, only going for a few minutes. But that was all Jericho needed to kick Dupree's ass and win the match. He smirked to himself as he walked backstage. Maybe he'd have time to go visit Stephanie before going back to the team locker room. He was walking down the hallways when he ran into Kurt and the two greeted each other happily.

"Stephanie's been looking for you," Jericho told him, "She's in her father's office, so if you want to go see her, that's where she is."

"I'm sure I'll catch her after the show," Kurt said, "I don't know if we're allowed to even leave those locker rooms. It's like being in enemy camps."

"Well, that's how everyone is treating everyone else. It's stupid really."

"So how are things with you and Stephanie…and Vince?"

"Great," he smiled, "Oh, and we finally got to tell Hunter, and he was quite surprised."

"Damn it, and I missed it!"

"Too bad too, it was classic."

"Well, I better get back to the team," Kurt said with an eye roll.

"Oh yeah, conversing with the enemy, I should be captured or something," Jericho said, "This whole thing is a joke."

"Don't tell that to the future father-in-law."

"I should, I should be using my power for the forces of good, instead of the forces of evil that Hunter did," Jericho laughed, "Geez, that sounds weird, I can have power around here."

"Oh please, don't make me lose to Spike Dudley Mr. Jericho," Kurt kidded.

"Stay on my good side then kid, and you'll make something of yourself," Jericho said, "If you go to see Stephanie, tell her I said hello."

"I probably won't see her before I see you, but I'll tell her if I do. Bye."

"See ya."

Jericho walked back to the team locker room and took his seat in the back again. He nodded his head to Benoit and looked over to see Trish and Christian talking quietly with each other. He was glad that they were happy and hoped they wouldn't get split up by this silly draft. And if they did, maybe he could use Vince's power to not split them up. This whole being with Stephanie thing was starting to have its perks.

"Is your match coming up soon?" Trish asked Christian.

"They said after SmackDown's third draft pick," he answered, "And we're only on the second picks, so we still have some time."

"By the time your match rolls around, we may be split up," Trish said morosely.

"Trishy, what did I tell you, we're going to be together, no matter what. It won't matter who goes where…"

"I want to believe you," she said, smiling up at him, "I really, really do. But I have this knot in my stomach."

"Shh, just worry about my match."

"I'm not worried about that, you're going to beat Spike easily."

Everyone sat anxiously at the next draft picks were made. Nobody wanted to be broken up, and it seemed that pairs or groups were the ones who were being broken up. Then the bombshell hit when Heyman announced his third pick, Hunter. Everyone gasped as Hunter looked on in shock. Jericho laughed to himself, first he found out about Stephanie and him, and then he found out he'd be away from his precious Evolution. Things were certainly looking up tonight. Then the entire locker room joined in a rousing chorus of singing goodbye to Hunter, Jericho even gave a little wave to him.

Trish and Christian were leaving as well, getting ready for their match. Trish took off her Raw shirt and took Christian's from him and tucked it into the back of her pants for safe-keeping. Together they walked down the hallways and to the ramp. They made such a great couple and they were happy they got to show that off to the world. Trish walked down the ramp and beckoned for Christian to follow her. He did and gave her a little smile at her flirty behavior.

They got into the ring and just stayed with each other until the last possible second. Then Trish went out to wait on the outside of the ring. The match began and Spike went after Christian. When Trish got up on the apron to help her boyfriend out, Spike went after her and she dropped to the ground. He started chasing her around and she got into the ring to try and escape him, but the heels were really hindering her. Christian looked over and saw someone touching his girlfriend and got angry. He went after Spike and hit him.

Every time Christian tried to get a big move, Spike ended up countering it, and he was getting frustrated. Trish was too, she wanted this match over as soon as possible so she could hear about the draft and find out her and Christian's fates. Finally, Christian got the Unprettier on Spike and got the win. Trish counted the three along with the referee and then climbed in the ring after the win. She held Christian's hand up in victory and they had their own little victory stare as he held her for a moment before they got out of the ring and walked backstage, ready to find out if they would indeed be separated.

Stephanie smiled as she saw how happy her friends were. She was almost glad they had beat on her boyfriend at WrestleMania, if it meant they could be together again. It was how it should be. Vince walked back into the office and sat down at his desk again, looking tired.

"Rough night Daddy?" Stephanie asked.

"With two whiny men that are running my shows, absolutely."

She laughed, "I'm sorry Daddy, but you did bring it upon yourself."

"I did, didn't I? Next time, remind me never to be so stupid."

"If we're on speaking terms, right Daddy?" she said with a smile.

"Yes, if we're on speaking terms," he said with a smile, "So how's the show been looking?"

"Good, it seems the SmackDown roster is getting the better deals with this lottery. As much as I hate to admit it, Hunter is a big acquisition. I don't think many people can top him."

Vince thought for a moment, "Well, SmackDown is lacking in the big star department, so maybe that's to their advantage."

"Maybe, or maybe they need more, who knows right, we'll see how it goes."

They watched the rest of the picks, there were some surprises, such as RVD and Edge, those were two pretty big names. Stephanie smiled as she thought about how fun it would be to have Edge on Raw while she was with Jericho. Hanging out with Edge had always been fun.

"I think you're right about SmackDown getting the better end of the deal," Vince told her, "But that's why we have the trade deadline."

"Do you really expect those two to make any kind of fair trades?" Stephanie asked, "I mean, they can barely even co-exist, do you expect them to be able to trade with each other."

"They better learn to cooperate, at least for a little while," Vince said, "Because I want this draft to work out."

"I know Daddy," she said, "I know."

Bischoff announced his last pick and Stephanie actually let out a gasp. Even Vince was a little bit surprised. If Heyman was chosen for Raw, that left SmackDown without a General Manager. Stephanie stared at the television for a moment, wondering what it all meant. No General Manager, and she with no job.

"Daddy?" she said, looking over at him, "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting that to happen," Vince said, "I guess I'll have to find a new General Manager."

Stephanie had to figure out how to go about this subtly. She couldn't just say it outright that she thought she should have the job. She sat there and sighed loudly, going over the contracts again meticulously. Vince looked over at her and smiled to himself. He knew what she was doing, and he had to smile at her persistence.

"I will keep you in mind Princess," Vince said, "But don't get your hopes up, people still think I hate you."

"But you're saying that's a maybe!"

"Maybe," he nodded.

Stephanie's eyes lit up and a smile that hadn't been seen on her face in a long time came upon her. She hopped up from her seat in gratefulness and excitement and circumvented her father's desk to give him a big hug. He hugged her back with a laugh. It was at times like this that she reminded him of the little girl that used to want to watch him work all the time and steal the candy from his desk when he wasn't looking.

"Oh, I have to go tell Chris," she said, "He'll be so happy!"

"Ok, you go tell him, but remember that I only said maybe."

"That's practically a yes Daddy!" she said running out of his office and going to go find Jericho.

She turned the corner and bumped into a hard body. She looked up and groaned. She had run into Hunter as he was walking to the ring for his match with Eddy. She rolled her eyes and tried to move past him, but he moved in front of her. She gave him a dirty look and tried to move past him again, but once again, he moved in front of her. She was about to duck under his large arm when he pushed her up against the wall and her back hit pretty hard, causing a dull thump.

"Oww, you bastard," she said, trying to push him away.

"I'm SmackDown now Stephanie," he said quietly, "Doesn't that suck?"

"I don't know what that has to do with me," she answered.

"Well, you know, you could help me get back on Raw."

"I don't work here," she said, "I can help you with that."

"Oh, then there's something better I guess," he said menacingly, "I know that the General Manager position is open again, and I know you're Daddy's Little Girl again, so what does that make me think?"

"It means nothing, I still have no job."

"It's only a matter of time before you come back Stephanie, I know this," he said to her.

"You know nothing," Stephanie said, "You didn't even know that Chris and I were together and we were together for a year and a half."

"This is what happens when people fall out of touch with other people. Isn't it sad how far apart we've drifted away from each other?"

"No, I hate you, you caused me nothing but a miserable existence. I'm happy with Chris, he loves me."

"Or maybe he's just using you for the power like I did."

"Don't play these games with me Hunter, you don't think I don't know what you're up to. You're trying to break us up, but it's not going to work."

"Oh, no, no, no, that's not what I'm trying to do Stephanie, I just can't wait until we can work together again."

"It'll never happen," she spat out, "I would never work with you again."

"I think you will," he smirked, "You never could resist me."

"I hate you!"

"Oh Steph, the harsh words, they hurt you know, so people don't use them on me anymore. But don't worry, you'll get accustomed to the idea once we're both on SmackDown, I'm sure Daddy will give you your job back."

"I won't do anything for you."

"If you cherish Chris, then you will," he said, "Now I have myself a championship to win."

Hunter walked off and Stephanie backed away from the wall. She watched Hunter go and Jericho passed him and gave him a dirty look as Hunter just smiled nonchalantly at him. Jericho spotted her over Hunter's shoulder and walked quickly over to her. Stephanie just stood there, her happiness dissipating in the face of having to work with Hunter again.

"Did something happen Steph?" Jericho asked her as her ran a hand over her head.

"Nothing," she said with a smile, but it was forced, "I was just talking with my dad."

"Cool," he replied.

"He may let me have the General Manager position," she said, trying to sound excited again.

"Really? That's great!" Jericho hugged her and she let him hug her, and she tentatively wrapped her arms around him. She then tightened the hug, holding onto him tightly, as if her life depended on it. He just held her and that's what she needed right now. She hated Hunter, and she didn't want to be around him, alone.

"Yeah, great," she said, "Maybe I can trade for you or something."

"You should, I'd love to work under you," he said with a wink.

She cracked a real smile that time, "I wish, but I guess we'll see right?"

"Yeah, this is great news, we should go out and celebrate…hey, are you sure you're ok?"

"Hey Chris," someone called out, "There's a huge brawl breaking out, let's get out there!"

"Hold on!" he called back and then turned to Stephanie, "Baby, are you sure you're alright?"

"Go out there," she prodded him, "Show them who's boss."

"Stephanie, this isn't over," he said, "I can tell something's wrong, did something happen with Hunter?"

"No," she lied, "I'm just really overcome right now, that I might get my job back."

"Ok," he said, "We'll celebrate when I get back.

He kissed her quickly before running out with a bunch of Raw superstars to charge the ring. Stephanie watched him go and smiled wistfully. Suddenly this whole getting her job back idea didn't seem so great. She didn't want to be stuck on a show without Jericho and with Hunter. Then Hunter's threats, or whatever they had been were bad enough in themselves.

Suddenly she was hoping her father's maybe turned to a no.


	192. SmackDown, March 25, 2004

"So are you excited for tonight?"

Stephanie didn't answer, but just sat there on the window seat in the bedroom of her house. She had been thinking a lot since Monday, especially about the job that her father had offered her yesterday. He had told her that if she wanted, she could take the General Manager position on SmackDown. Now it was Thursday morning, and she had to tell her father in two hours whether or not she wanted the position.

Jericho had noticed that she had been distant since yesterday when her father had offered her the job. It had puzzled him because he couldn't understand why she wasn't jumping and screaming in happiness. She had been sitting on the window seat, looking out into her backyard for the past hour. He had left her alone for a while, hoping she would come down and talk to him, but the minutes had passed, and still she sat there, just staring out the window.

Actually, now that he thought about it, she had been reserved since Monday. He wondered if something had happened to her when she wasn't around him. He didn't like thinking that something was wrong with her and he didn't know. He was supposed to know everything about her, but this was troubling him, because he knew something was wrong and yet she wouldn't give him any information.

"Stephanie?"

"Hmm?" she said, not turning towards him, and only giving him a mumble.

"Wanna talk?"

"I'm not really in the mood Chris," she said, wrapping her arms tighter around herself.

"Well, you don't have to be in the mood," he told her, "I could just talk and you can just listen. I'm sure that I can think of something to talk about, you know, the weather, or the show, or whatever is bothering you."

"I'm fine," she told him, but made no attempt to back that up with a smile or a laugh or anything. Her voice was just dull and lifeless.

Jericho sighed and looked at her, trying to think of a different approach to his inquiry.

"You know, I'm not stupid, I know that not everything is fine with you. If you tell me, I can help you."

"No, it's nothing," she told him again.

Jericho let out a breath. When Stephanie wanted to keep her mouth shut, she really did keep that mouth of hers shut. It was getting frustrating. He went over and sat behind her, pulling her back against him. At first, she seemed to resist his touch, as if he burned and she couldn't touch him for fear of burning too. But then she remembered just who he was and sunk against him. She brought his arms around her, letting them settle on her stomach. Would this be a position they would share in the future, she thought to herself. She could see years to come, sitting here, just staring out in the yard, maybe she'd be pregnant or something, or they'd be watching their kids in the backyard, playing, with smiles on their faces. Or maybe Hunter would try to tear everything apart like he had been doing since she found out she was married to him.

"Care to tell me what's really wrong?" he asked her softly, his ear right up to her ear.

"Not really," she told him, smiling for the first time that day, "I'll take care of it my myself."

He caressed her hand gently, intertwining their fingers together, "You sure?"

"I'm just thinking about the job," she told him, "You know, it's a big decision."

"Is that the only thing?"

"Yeah," she lied.

"I thought you'd be so excited that I'd have a hard time calming you down," Jericho said to her.

"Well, it's just, I have to think about it."

"Well, your dad needs the answer soon, are you going to the Towers soon?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Do you want me to come with you, maybe we can go pick up some lunch afterwards, maybe eat outside since it's such a nice day," he said, trying to appeal to the things she loved, of which, food and being outdoors being big ones.

"Maybe we can meet each other afterwards," she said, "I'd much rather go by myself."

"Ok," he said, not really wanting to argue with her when she was in this kind of mood. He'd just accept it and move on. "You better get ready soon though, you're still in your pajamas."

She looked down, "Oh yeah."

She untangled herself from his comforting embrace and stood up. She walked into her bathroom and he heard the water running a few seconds later. He thought about joining her, but she had an appointment so he went downstairs to grab some juice from the fridge. He once again thought about whether or not Stephanie was going to take this job. It was pretty imperative that she did. At least for his plans to ask her to marry him. He took the ring out of his pocket and smiled, thinking he may actually get to use it soon. He only hoped that she accepted this job. If she didn't, then the ring would just go back to its usual hiding place.

He sat up on the counter, drinking his juice, waiting for Stephanie to come down here. He leaned his head back against the cupboard and closing his eyes. He didn't know how long he sat there, but suddenly he heard Stephanie breezing into the room. She wasn't really dressed for an appointment, but it was only her father. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, still wet from the shower. She was wearing a black hoodie and a pair of tight gray pants with red running shoes.

"You look nice," he told her.

She gave him a real smile, "Thanks. I better go though, I need to talk to my dad."

"I know, so I'll see you in a while then?"

"Yeah, it won't take long, I don't think," she said, pursing her lips.

He laughed and hopped off the counter, landing right in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, letting them settle against her lower back. She looked up at him, her face bare of any makeup and showing off her natural beauty. He gave her a lopsided grin and couldn't help but lean up and kiss him softly. He deepened the kiss for a moment, but then pulled away lest they get carried away.

"Good luck with Daddy," Jericho joked.

"I'll be fine, I think," she told him, "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"Nope, and I've been waiting ALL day to hear it," he said, pretending like he was exasperated, "It's something that I just can't live without."

"I do love you," she told him, taking his face in her hands, "You do love me back right?"

Jericho was a little suspicious of the seriousness of her voice, but shook it off, "Of course I love you back."

"No matter what?"

He laughed, "Yes, no matter what. Why do I feel like you're going away forever or something?"

"I just needed to know that," she told him.

"Well, you knew that already...Stephanie?"

"Goodbye," she said, kissing him again.

Jericho couldn't shake the feeling that Stephanie wasn't being forthright with her. He watched as she walked out of the kitchen, heading to the front door. He didn't want to follow her and seem suspicious of her, but he really was. The way she was talking about him, it had been kind of weird, almost sounding very final. He began to get worried, but tried bravely to put the feeling away, at least for now.

Stephanie got in her car and leaned her head against the steering wheel. Why was she letting Hunter's words get to her so much? She shouldn't be afraid of him; she was the one in control around here, he should be fearing what she could do to him. But she knew that Hunter could easily tear her and Jericho apart, just because he felt like it. He was just that manipulative. How else would he have convinced her to marry him?

She drove to the Towers to go visit her father and to explain what was up. At least the things that she could talk about. She really didn't want to talk to her father about what Hunter had said. She didn't want to talk about anything Hunter had said. She wanted to forget him altogether. Just say poof, and he'd be gone. If only things could be that simple. But if things were that simple, she would've said poof a long time ago.

She parked her car and got out, walking slowly into the building. She greeted the receptionist in the front and let herself walk through to the elevators. She stood there waiting for a while, there were too few elevators in this building. She sighed as she mentally prepared herself for what she wanted to tell her father.

"Fancy meeting you here."

She turned her head, "Get out of my face."

"Now is that any way to talk to your ex-husband? The man who loved and supported you for two years, until his wife decided to lie and manipulate him."

"You would've done the same thing to me eventually."

"See, no, that wouldn't have happened, because I can't get pregnant Steph, did you fail high school biology," Hunter said snidely.

"What are you doing here?"

"I figured you'd be here," he said, "And do you know why I figured you'd be here?"

"I don't want to know," she said, keeping her gaze on the little light that would indicate the elevator had arrived. Why was it taking so damn long?

"Because I think that you're going to be the new General Manager," Hunter said answering his own question, "And since I'm figuring that to be the case, then you know what that means."

"Hunter, go away, I'm not listening to you."

"But Steph, you should listen to me…or is this about your little boyfriend?"

"Leave Chris out of this," she said, giving him a death glare that would freeze anyone on the spot. Anyone except Hunter, who seemed to be the devil's spawn.

"I always wondered how Jericho got his own little show. I never figured him for one to use his power in the best way possible. I have to hand it to the guy. All he puts in is fucking you, and he gets power. Too bad he can't get at the belt since Benoit is holding it. Or are you going to change that too?"

Stephanie bit her lip. She closed her eyes to try and block out the things he was saying? That was not what Jericho was with her for? He could care less about the power. She KNEW this, she really, truly did. So why did Hunter saying it make her doubt Jericho's love? Why were his words so much different than anyone else's? If he were anyone else, she would've slapped them by now, but she stayed rooted to that one spot, just willing the elevator to show up so she could end this horrible conversation.

"Chris isn't with me for the power," Stephanie said with resolve.

"Oh really? So it's for the money then? Another commendable reason."

"He's with me because he loves me," Stephanie said in a small voice.

"Oh, is that so?" Hunter said, "Well, then that changes everything now doesn't it? Because he LOVES you, is that what you keep telling yourself Stephanie? I don't think anyone is capable of loving you. I mean, we all know what you're really about? Being a slut…whore…bitch…ho…"

The elevator finally dinged to signal its arrival, and Stephanie thanked the Lord that it had arrived. There was no way that Hunter would follow her up there, since she was going to her father's office, which took up one whole level and led directly into his office. She stood there as Hunter stood opposite her, looking at her.

"See you when you come down…Boss."

Stephanie looked down to avoid his gaze and breathed a huge sigh of relief when the doors closed. She leaned back against the wall and tried to compose herself. She would have to deal with him every week, and Lord knows what he'd try to make her do. She was feeling dirty just thinking about it and wrapped her arms around herself tighter. Jericho wouldn't be able to protect her all the time, he had things of his own. What if he had a Fozzy show one night and Hunter tried something? She wouldn't be able to defend herself. And with Kurt under the weather and needing recuperation, and Edge on Raw, she wouldn't be able to do anything, and that scared her more than anything.

She reached the top floor finally, and looked in the mirror on the sides of the elevator. She looked alright, albeit a little pale. She could just chalk that up to being tired, rather than drained from the recent conversation with her ex. The doors swung open to reveal the lavish office of her father. He had recently had it redone in a lot of early 20th century furniture, so there was a lot of wood around. She stepped in and saw her father working at his desk. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Stephanie, you're here finally," Vince said, gesturing to some chairs in front of his desk, "Come here and let's talk."

"Hi Daddy," she said kindly and went to sit down in one of the chairs, "How are you?"

"I'm good," he said, "So you've thought about my offer?"

"I did," she nodded slowly, "Daddy, I don't want the job."

Vince looked surprised, as well he should be. Stephanie had seemed so excited the other night when he had told her that maybe she could have the job. Now she was sitting here, looking down at the ground and saying that she didn't want the job. Something wasn't gelling right. Vince knew his daughter, and she was off right now.

"Stephanie, you said you did the other night," Vince said.

"I know I did Daddy, but I was thinking about it, and I really don't want it right now," she responded.

"Stephanie, what changed your mind?"

"I just thought about it, and I don't want it," she said, starting to get a little angry, her voice raising, "Isn't that reason enough?"

"No, not really," he answered, "You just don't want it? That's not what you were saying before? What happened to change your mind?"

"Daddy, nothing happened, I just don't want it."

Vince scowled, "Does this have something to do with Chris? Has he been pushing you not to take this job?"

Stephanie looked her father straight in the eye, "Dad, this has NOTHING to do with anything Chris told me. He didn't even know of my decision, and he still doesn't. He would never try to deter me from anything."

Vince nodded, glad that she wasn't being controlled by her boyfriend. That was something he would not tolerate at all. But if it wasn't about Jericho, then it was about something else. He took his glasses off and studied his daughter's face. She was always a bit guarded about her feelings, and now was no exception.

"Ok, if it wasn't Chris, then what was it?"

"Well, Chris works on Mondays, and you know, I go with him, and then there would be SmackDown on Thursdays, and you know, that's two different days, and I just don't want to be without him, and travel and stuff," she rambled, not even knowing whether that made sense or not.

"Chris is welcome to go to SmackDown as long as he doesn't show up on television," Vince said to her, "Or somewhere a little down the line, you could trade for him?"

"Daddy, I don't want to take that chance, and I really think it's better for me right now to not take the job. I'm sorry that I didn't give you a lot of time to find someone else, but there's just no way I can accept this job."

"Well, it's your choice Stephanie," he said, "And I respect that choice. There is someone I have in mind to take the position, so I'm not in that tight a spot. I thank you for being honest with me. Now, if anything should become available on Raw, would you like for me to inform you of that?"

Stephanie smiled, "I would love that Daddy, thank you."

"Don't thank me, I haven't done anything but not given you a job."

"No, you did do something, thank you."

"Come here and give your old man a hug."

Stephanie laughed and went around the desk to hug Vince. He hugged her back and kissed her forehead before letting her leave, making her promise to come visit him and her mother sometime before she went back to Florida. She smiled and took a deep breath before getting on the elevator again. She rode down to the ground floor and the doors opened. To her horror, Hunter was leaning against a wall, waiting for her.

"Stephanie, back so soon?"

"Get out of my way," she said, sneering at him as she went to walk past him.

"Get me back on Raw," he told her.

"I didn't take the fucking job!" Stephanie said loudly, not embarrassed that people were looking at her.

"What do you mean you didn't take the job?" Hunter asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You fucking heard me," she said, her voice not lowering, "I didn't take it, I'm not going to deal with you. So go take your problems to whoever my dad hires."

Hunter grabbed her forearm and held her in her spot, "Why the fuck didn't you take that job? You were my way back to Raw, you bitch. I don't want to be on that shitty show. You better go back upstairs right now and beg Daddy Dearest to give you that job before I do something worse than grabbing you."

"If you did, I would have Chris kill you," she said, getting in his face.

"He couldn't kill me if he couldn't find me…"

"He'd find you," she retorted, her eyes burning with hatred.

"Stephanie?"

Stephanie and Hunter both turned their heads to see Kurt standing there, in a suit no less. He had just walked in. Stephanie was grateful to see him, but Hunter let go of her quickly and the anger that was in his eyes, quickly disappeared into a tranquil calm. Kurt walked over to them, looking at Hunter suspiciously before going in to hug Stephanie. She hugged him back tightly.

"What are you doing here Kurt?"

"You're looking at the new General Manager," he said, with a bright smile.

"YOU were my dad's backup guy!" Stephanie exclaimed, happiness in her eyes.

"Yup, and I just got the call," Kurt said, "I'm management now baby."

"I can't believe it," Stephanie said, "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm happy for me too, but I have a meeting with your dad so I better go," Kurt said, "Be sure to watch me tonight alright, I'll be making my first appearance on SmackDown."

"Kurt," Hunter said, "You and I…we need to talk."

"After I get done Hunter, I am your new boss after all." To this, Hunter scowled. Kurt gave Stephanie another hug and sent her on her way.

She left the building hoping that Hunter wouldn't notice that she had already left. Maybe now that she was free from the job, he would stop harassing her. She knew that was probably a pipe dream, but at least for the time being she had him off his back. That was probably the best she could've hoped for.

She didn't know what to do with herself, not feeling comfortable enough to go see Jericho right now. She ended up just driving around, until she found a little park a little ways out of the city. She parked her car and got out to go sit on one of the benches. She wished she could've taken that job, but she just couldn't put herself through that. Hunter wouldn't have gone back to Raw if she was the General Manager. He would've stayed, just so he could play with her mind, like he had been doing since Monday. He was so insecure, she thought, to be so damn jealous two years after they had gotten divorced.

Jericho sat outside on Stephanie's patio, wondering where she could be. They were supposed to go to lunch, but it was now almost five in the afternoon and ha hadn't heard from her. He didn't want to get overprotective and start calling around, but he was that damn close to doing just that. The phone rang and he rushed inside to answer it, hoping it was Stephanie.

"Hello?"

"Jericho, it's Kurt."

"Oh hey Kurt, I thought you were Stephanie," Jericho said a bit sullenly.

"Oh, yeah, I saw her earlier, when she was leaving your dad's office."

"She left already, you saw her leave?"

"Yeah, before I went to talk to her father about being the General Manager," Kurt said proudly.

"Wait a second, you're the new General Manager over there?"

"Yeah, I'm calling from the limo that's driving me to the arena," Kurt said with a laugh, "Can you believe it, me with a position of power. I already got some trades done. Hunter's back on Raw by the way."

"Just great," Jericho scoffed, "He's the last one I need to deal with."

"Yeah, I think Stephanie feels the same way, judging by how she was acting today."

"Wait, Kurt, what do you mean? How was she acting?"

"Didn't she tell you?"

"She hasn't been back yet," he told Kurt, "And I haven't heard from her."

"Weird," Kurt said, "Well, when I walked into the building, they were having what looked like an argument, I'm not sure, it might not have been, but I'm pretty sure he had her by the arm."

"Like grabbing her?"

"It might have just been touching," Kurt said, "I'm really not sure Chris."

"Oh, well, did she say she was going anywhere?"

"No, she just left," he answered, "I wish I could be more informative, but I'm at the arena and I have to worry about the show now. Get into the management groove. Watch me tonight."

"We will," Jericho said, "We wouldn't miss it for the world. I mean, you in power, I fear for the wrestlers."

"Thanks Chris, I'm glad that I have your vote of confidence. But I have work to do. Like actual work," Kurt said.

"Jeez, one day on the job and already you think you're better than the lowly wrestlers."

"Well, it's true, it's true," Kurt said laughing, "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, and…if you hear from Stephanie, can you tell her to call me."

"Of course."

Jericho hung up the phone and sighed. What was going on with his girlfriend? He was getting a little bit worried now, because it was getting dark, and he still didn't know where Stephanie was. He shouldn't panic, he told himself, that would only make things worse, and he couldn't have that. He just needed to stay calm and wait for her to get back. She would come back; she had to come back.

His mind wandered to what Kurt had said about her and Hunter. What was going on there? Were they arguing…or something else? No, they couldn't be…she loved him, not Hunter. That was a given. So then where the hell was she? He sat down on the couch for a few minutes, but his attention span wasn't being very good and he kept getting up and pacing. Then when he tried to stop doing that, he would end up tapping his fingers impatiently against something. None of this was working. He wanted to know where Stephanie was, and what had possessed her to not take the job. He was supposed to propose to her, and now he couldn't do it…again.

Finally, when it was completely dark outside, the door opened quietly and he heard footsteps in the foyer. He rushed to the door and saw Stephanie walk in and put her purse down on the front table. He went to her and snatched her up into his arms, holding onto to her desperately.

"Where have you been?" he asked, his voice rushed with worry, "I've been waiting all day for you."

"I'm sorry, I went to this park and lost track of time," she answered softly.

"How did you lose track of time? It's dark outside, you've been gone since earlier today."

"I just lost track of time," she said again.

"Stephanie, why did you turn down the job?" he asked as he pulled away to look at her.

"I just didn't want it," she explained, "I didn't want to travel so much, that's it."

"Stephanie--"

"That's it!"

"Ok, I've been calm all day long, but I don't think that I can be calm about this anymore. What is going on? First you're distant, then you're crabby, and then you turn down the job you've been pining for, and disappear, and now you're angry."

"Chris, I don't want to get into it right now, I'm tired, and I want to go to bed," she said, starting to make her way towards the stairs.

"I promised Kurt we'd watch him."

"Tape it."

"Stephanie, talk to me, please."

"Chris, I'm really, really tired, can we please just drop it."

"No, I'm not going to drop it until you tell me what the hell is going on."

"Fine! You know what's going on, I'm sick and tired of everyone questioning my fucking decision. If I don't want to be the General Manager, then I'll do what I fucking want, because you can't tell me what to do."

She started rushing up the stairs and Jericho didn't hesitate to run after her. He took the stairs two at a time and managed to reach her just as she reached the top. He took her and spun her around so she faced him. Remembering what Kurt had said, he grabbed her right arm and pulled the sleeve up. Just as he had suspected there was a slight bruise there. He stared at it a moment and then looked up.

"Hunter huh?"

"He's an ass," Stephanie rolled her eyes, "He's just a jerk."

"Stephanie?"

"He threatened me alright? Does that make you happy to hear now?"

"Yes Stephanie, it makes me happy to hear that your ex-husband has been threatening you," he said sarcastically, "It makes me tingle with happiness."

"Chris, it's over now," she said, "He was going to make me being the GM worse than I wanted it to be, and I turned the job down. I can wait until Daddy finds me something on Raw. I'm patient."

"I don't like what he did."

"And I did?"

"I don't know what kind of game Hunter is trying play, but whatever it is, he better watch out."


	193. Raw, March 29, 2004

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys. :D

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"Sometimes I wonder why I stay with him. At times like these, I don't know, it's like, he's so far away from me that he might as well be gone again, and then I feel badly, because I'm supposed to love him. Part of me does, really, it does, and then there's this big chunk of me that wants to break away from him. Tonight, tonight, I thought that I could do it. I thought that if I let Kurt hurt me, or pretend to, that it would all be over. But he didn't hurt me, not enough anyways. I wasn't afraid when Jericho came up to me. I thought that he would hurt me, but…he didn't. Strange, I know, but there was something in his eyes, it was almost…compassion, or something like that. I don't know what to make of it, but it was there. Maybe I do have the courage to break this entire thing off, maybe I can finally be free of Hunter, maybe…maybe this time…"

"I sounded so pathetic," Stephanie said as she watched Jericho throw the letter into a box, "Can you believe I wrote that?"

"Compassion huh?" he said with a smile, "I don't know if it was compassion that I was feeling that evening."

She gave him a smile, "If it wasn't compassion, than what was it?"

"Hmm, revenge maybe, or I don't know, something," he told her.

"Well, that's what happens when you start using a new suitcase," Stephanie said as she looked through the other pockets of her suitcase, "You find things that you had forgotten about."

"Yeah," he said, "You sure you want to come with me tonight, he'll be there."

"I know he'll be there," she said, "But you're with me, and Trish and Christian will be there. Hell, even Edge will be there. I think that I'll be safe."

"Promise me that you won't go wandering off by yourself."

"Sweetie, I'm not three years old, you don't have to keep me on a leash," she giggled, "I'll be fine."

"But what if you run into Hunter again? Or even worse, what if you run into Evolution? They'll beat you up or something."

She thought about that for a moment. She wouldn't put it past Hunter to beat her up, and she wouldn't put it past Evolution either. They were just the kind of bastards who would brutalize a woman for fun. It sickened her to think that they were capable of beating up an innocent person, but to Hunter, she was anything but innocent. He had never really gotten his revenge for the fake pregnancy. Sure, he had gotten her kicked out, but she had come back. He was still probably hurting over that. In truth, she couldn't blame him too much.

"Fine, I'll make sure I'm with someone," she told him, "Does that make you feel better?"

"Yes, it does," Jericho told her, "I just want you to be safe."

She twirled his hair around her finger and gently pulled him closer, letting her lips touch his. He kissed back deeply and put a hand on her side to steady himself. They didn't break apart for a little while, but when they did, they both had looks of lust in their eyes, and could think of nothing more than going into the bedroom.

"Um," she said softly, "When do we have to leave?"

"We have time," he said with a smile as he pulled her into the bedroom.

Christian sat outside the dressing room door and let out a breath. Trish had been trying on clothes for the past hour, and he had sat there, looking stupid with her purse in his lap. He had been approving or disapproving the outfits she had been trying on. Any other time, it would've been boring as hell, but all he could think about was the fact that he was with Trish again.

When she had come back to him, to tell him that she still loved him, he hadn't believed her at first. Obviously, because he had done something he had thought she would never forgive. But he had given her time and space, and surprisingly enough, she had come back to him. He had, for sure, thought that once she had started seeing Randy, that they were through forever. But he guessed that plotting for Jericho and Stephanie had brought them closer together again.

"Chrissy, I asked if you liked this one," Trish said.

Christian looked up and saw her in a pair of tight black pants and a white fur top thing that he couldn't even identify. That didn't really matter because she was wearing it pretty low-cut and she looked amazing. He nodded his head enthusiastically and smiled at her.

"I really like that one, wear it tonight," he said, "I can show you off."

"When don't you show me off?" She leaned down to kiss him quickly.

"I have every right, I got you back, it's an amazing feat, even by my standards," Christian said, "So I must flaunt you around for all to see."

Trish walked back into the dressing room to grab her clothes. She tore off the tags to the outfit she was wearing, intending to hand it to the cashier to pay for it, "Well, you just turned on the patented Christian charm, and I couldn't help but want you again."

"Lucky for me," he told her, "Do we have anything planned for tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be on the Highlight Reel," Trish said, "You know to explain my actions. I was thinking though, you know, the fans really like this whole thing we set up."

"What thing?"

"With me and Chris, hating each other, and you hating Chris, and all of that, they really get into it," she said, "You should see all the stuff I read on the internet about it. Some people are really up in arms."

"Why? Because you and Chris didn't get together."

"Yeah," she said, "I mean, I love Chris and everything, but the thought of me having to…ugh, I don't even want to think about it. I'm glad that I'm with you on television now. People should love us, because we really do love each other. It's all so romantic."

"If you say so," Christian said, "We can talk to Chris about it."

"Call him right now and tell him that we should meet before the show."

"Ok, I'm just going to use your phone," he told her, "Are you almost done?"

She came out with a pile of clothes in her arms, "Yeah, stay here, I'll go pay for these. Call him."

"Ok, geez, already pushing me around again."

"Christian we've been back together for two weeks, and I've been pushing you around the entire time."

"True…maybe you should cut that out."

She just laughed and walked away after grabbing her wallet from her purse. He smiled and unzipped her purse again, grabbing the phone. He looked up and noticed some women snickering at him. He had the urge to tell that this wasn't his purse, but he figured it was a lost cause. He dialed Jericho's cell phone, and waited for an answer.

"This better be fucking life or death," Jericho growled angrily as he answered the phone. Stephanie giggled as she looked up at him.

"So I'm guessing I called at a bad time?"

"Christian?"

"Yeah, hey."

"What the hell do you want?"

"Well, that's not exactly how I was hoping that you would answer the phone, but I guess it'll have to do. Are you busy?"

Jericho stared down at Stephanie who was gazing up at him seductively, "You can say that."

"Oh really, what're you up to?"

"I think that question is better left unanswered," Jericho responded.

Christian didn't get it at first, but after a moment, clarity rang through his head, "Oh, eww, eww, ugh, why didn't you tell me!"

"Oh yeah, that's exactly something you just casually bring up into conversation," Jericho snorted, "What the hell is going on?"

"Trish wanted to meet with you before the show, because she's your guest on the Highlight Reel."

"Oh," Jericho said, "Yeah, we'll meet up, so can I go now?"

"Please do, because this is giving me the creeps," Christian shuddered as he hung up.

"Ready," Trish said, walking over, "Did you get a hold of Chris?"

"Unfortunately." He got up and he and Trish started heading towards the exit.

"Why unfortunately?" Trish asked him.

"They were doing…stuff, when I called."

"Oh," Trish said, making a face, "Yuck."

"Yeah, I thought so too, I feel dirty now, I think I'm going to need a shower."

"I'll join you."

"But see, that defeats the whole purpose…whoa, wait a second, did I just turn down a shower with you," Christian said, slinging his arm over Trish's shoulder, "On second thought, I think I'll take you up on that later."

"Thought you might."

Stephanie adjusted her shirt as she and Jericho headed down to their car. His hair was a little messy and she turned to him to try and fix it for him. He laughed and swatted her hand away. He accidentally caught her bruise and she pulled her hand back quickly as she let out a hiss of pain. Jericho quickly looked at her and she tried to put on a brave face.

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

She shook his head, "It's ok, just a little tender to the touch. It'll go away in a couple of days."

"Yeah, and I wish Hunter would go away too," Jericho said bitterly, "I swear to God, that asshole doesn't know what the hell is going on? He thinks that he's the best. Yeah right, only in his and Evolution's wet dreams."

Stephanie laughed, "I love when you get all protective of me."

She took one of his hands in both of hers as they walked downstairs. They got into their car and drove to the arena. Jericho recounted what Christian had said over the phone and what they should do with Trish on the show. Stephanie expressed her wish to be out there with him and he smiled as he drove.

"I'm sure someday you'll get to be a guest on my show," he told her, "You just have to be patient."

"If only Daddy could find a spot for me on Raw, I mean, then I could come on the show as part of my 'Welcome Back' tour."

"I like that, I'll be the first one to congratulate you…again."

"Yes, and maybe this one will end with a kiss as well."

"Hmm, a real kiss in front of the world? I think I like that idea," he told her as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.

Christian tapped his foot and waited for Trish to get back with her food. He was really bored, as he usually was before the shows. Even with Stephanie around, it was a little boring because she was always trying to find out what Jericho was doing. Finally Trish walked in with some pasta and chicken on her plate.

"What took you so long?"

"I ran into your brother," she said as she sat down, "We were talking for a couple of minutes."

"Consorting with the enemy are we?"

"The enemy?" she asked in confusion.

"Cause Edge and I are still supposed to hate each other," he said with a laugh, "Remember?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed, "Do people still think that? God, and it's been so long since you two became friends again that I forgot you two were even fighting in the first place."

"I guess," he said, "I'm wondering where Jericho is."

"He'll be here."

"And here I am!"

Christian and Trish turned their head towards the door just in time to see Jericho entering, his arms outstretched like he expected them to get down on their knees and praise him. Stephanie was standing behind him and she rolled her eyes at them as they laughed. Jericho looked behind him and Stephanie gave him a classic innocent look and he just glared at them all.

"So what do we have to discuss?" Jericho asked them as he took a seat in one of the chairs near the wall. Stephanie came to sit on his lap and he put his hand on the small of her back to steady her.

"Well, Christian and I were talking, and you know, the fans love the interaction between the three of us, and I don't see why we can't just go on pretending that this whole thing is real. I mean, that is if you want. It's not some secret plan to get you two to stay apart," Trish said, "We promise."

"Yeah, I don't see why we couldn't do that. We never really resolved it anyways."

"Exactly," Christian said, "So you go out there, insult each other a bit, and I'm going to go see Bischoff."

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"I was thinking we could have a rematch at Backlash, you don't have a match right?"

"Nope," Jericho answered, "The last match was really good, I think that they'd like to see that."

"You guys," Stephanie said, "I think I'm going to go find Edge or something, this is really boring to me."

"Aww, baby, I'm sorry," Jericho told her, rubbing her back, "We can talk about something else."

"No, it's fine, you guys, I'll just go find Edge and hang with him for a while. It's not a problem."

"Baby," Chris whispered, "Are you sure you want to go walking alone out there?"

"I'll be fine," she said, "Don't worry about me."

"Ok, if you say so," he said, though there was apprehension in his voice, "But be careful."

"Why does she need to be careful?" Trish asked as she and Christian had leaned in closer to try and figure out what the two of them were saying.

"No reason you guys," Stephanie said, "It's not a big deal."

"It might not be, but we're your friends, and if something happened where you don't feel safe, we kind of want to know about it," Trish said.

"Hunter just, well, he," Stephanie stammered, "Here, I'll just show you."

She turned in Jericho's lap to face them, and Jericho looped his arms around her waist and laid his head against her back in comfort. Stephanie rolled up her sleeve to show them the bruise. Christian and Trish gasped at seeing it, even though it wasn't that bad, it was the fact she had a bruise at all. Christian was so incensed he actually got out of his seat.

"Where the hell is that bastard, I'm going to teach him how to treat a woman!"

"Christian, it's ok," Stephanie said, "Please don't make me have to calm down another man about this."

"She spent three hours trying to get me to calm down," Jericho mumbled against her back, "I'm still barely restrained about it."

"It wasn't anything," Stephanie reassured them, "Kurt came in before he could do anything and we were in the lobby at Titan so nothing would've happened."

"Stephanie," Trish said, "How could he do that?"

"He's Hunter," she shrugged, "Who knows why he does anything."

"Be careful," Jericho told her as he kissed her temple, "I don't want you coming back with any bruises."

"What if I trip and fall and bruise my knee?"

"Then you better find some nice cover-up because I don't want to see it," he said firmly, "Please, just be careful."

"Stop being a worrywart," she said, kissing him, "Bye guys, happy plotting."

Stephanie walked out into the hall, despite feeling three sets of eyes staring at her as she left. She didn't know what time it was, but judging from hearing a crowd, she guessed the show had started. She and Jericho hardly arrived before the show started if they knew that he would be on late. Why come when you weren't needed?

She wandered down the hallways, occasionally stopping to talk to someone. There were some old SmackDown guys that were there now and she caught up with a couple, namely Rhyno. He told her that he was happy to see her and she just smiled and laughed as he recounted how terrible Heyman had been. He had to go though and she was alone again.

"Look at little Miss Popular."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, and you're not?"

"Miss Popular, nah, Mr. Popular, sure."

Stephanie turned to face Edge, "You were who I was looking for."

"I was, I feel all special now, but where's the significant other?"

"He's plotting what he's going to be doing with Trish later on, what are you doing tonight?"

"Who knows?" he said cryptically, "We'll just have to wait and see won't we?"

"What's with the enigmatic riddles?"

"It's all part of the new Edge," he said, "The mysterious Edge."

"Weren't you mysterious when you first came? You know, 'You think you know me' and all that?"

"Thanks for ruining it," Edge joked, "So feeling a little left out with the rest of them were you?"

"Not really, just bored."

"I heard you turned down the job. Kurt told me."

"Yeah, it was the right thing to do."

"Well, at least now you get to be with Chris, so I guess it all works out right?"

"Precisely."

"I have to go talk to someone right now, but I'll talk to you in a while alright."

"Ok, bye Edge."

"Bye," he said with a hug.

Stephanie watched him walk away and turned around to go back to Jericho. When she turned around, she caught Hunter staring at her while leaning against the wall. She thought about going another way, but she wasn't going to let him know that he intimidated her. She walked towards him quickly, intending to just walk by.

"What? No hello? No 'hey, what's up?' I'm a little insulted Stephanie."

"I'm not wasting my time with you."

"Too bad. I got traded back," Hunter said, "Your little friend was pretty eager to let me go back. I guess that he's still upset about what happened between us and how you chose me over him. Cause you always choose me right Steph?"

"Wrong."

"Too bad, because I would love to be with you again. You know, after you have the boss's daughter, all other woman kind of pale in comparison," Hunter said as he ran a finger down her neck, "You know, all those people were laughing at me last week when I was sent to SmackDown. You weren't laughing were you?"

"I did," she smirked, "And what are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, bringing out the attitude now are we? Obviously you didn't see what I did to Benjamin earlier."

"No, and I don't care. You don't scare me," she told him, "I've never been scared of you."

"Too bad," he said, "I like it when they're afraid."

"You can take your finger off of me now," she said, smacking his arm away with lots of force. He glared at her angrily and she didn't back down. Who the hell did he think he was? She was Stephanie McMahon damn it, and she wasn't about to be afraid of this overgrown lump.

"That was a bad idea Stephanie."

"Why is that? You going to hurt me again Hunter? Are you going to slam me up against a wall this time? Maybe smack my head against it so I get a concussion? Or maybe you'll kick me or punch me, would that be it? Did I guess right? Because I know you have no shame Hunter, so do your fucking worst."

He started laughing, "This is why I loved you. Because you didn't take anyone's shit. Why the hell are you with Jericho, Stephanie? You know you could do better."

"As far as I'm concerned, I have the best. It was easy to trade up after you," she said coyly.

Hunter's eyes turned dark, "Oh Stephy baby, when will you ever learn. You and I are meant for each other, we always have been. You can't deny it and try to go after that blonde loser."

"I already have him, and I love him Hunter, and nothing you try to do is going to change that."

"Think about it Stephanie, who did you have more fun with?"

"Him," she replied without hesitation.

"Then why the hell did you keep your relationship a secret? Obviously you didn't love him enough to want to tell anyone you were together."

"What I did or did not do concerning Chris is none of your business. I didn't ask for your two cents on the matter, and I don't need them either. We're divorced Hunter, that means you are no longer a person that I want to be around. So you can take your sorry ass away from me or you can wait for my boyfriend to come and beat your ass. It's you choice Hunter."

"Funny Steph, you're so funny," he said, laughing sarcastically, "Me not being able to take Jericho. I think I've proven time and time again that I'm capable of beating his ass into the ground.

"Well fuck off then," she said, "And leave me the hell alone from now on."

She brushed past him and he just stood there laughing at her. Yes, she would be a challenge, but she would be one he had fun trying to break. He felt someone walk up to him and turned to see Randy next to him, his IC title slung over his shoulder. Randy looked at Stephanie walking away and then at Hunter.

"What did I miss?"

"Nothing," Hunter said, slapping Randy's chest, "Don't worry about it."

"You know," Randy said, "Don't underestimate her."

"I've known her longer than you have, I know everything about her," Hunter said as he walked away.

Randy muttered to himself, "I don't think you do."

Stephanie walked down to Trish and Christian's locker room and knocked on the door. Nobody answered and so she knocked again. She wondered where they could be and opened the door slightly to make sure that they weren't there. Seeing that they weren't, she decided to go down to the gorilla and watch the show. She had already missed a lot of it in talking with various people. She scowled as she thought about her encounter with Hunter. He had never cared about her before, but the second he finds out that she's with Jericho, he had to come and harass her. That man had problems.

She found Trish and Jericho at the gorilla, preparing for the Highlight Reel. Jericho looked over and saw her and smiled, waving her over. She smiled back and went over to him, where he immediately hugged her to him and she hugged him back.

"So you two ready?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think we'll have fun out there," Jericho said, "And make sure you listen to everything we say alright?"

"What else would I be doing?" she asked, "It's not like I have something I have to do."

"Just listen ok," Jericho said, sending a look over to Trish.

"Listen to your man Stephanie, or else he'll go crazy thinking you're not watching."

"I'll watch, I swear," she told him, crossing her heart, then hearing his countdown go off, "That's your cue, good luck."

"Watch," he said mysteriously as he went out for his entrance.

Stephanie turned to Trish and gave her a questioning look, "What is going on with him?"

"He's just excited, that's all. He…thought of something, and…just watch."

Stephanie looked at Trish in suspicion, "What did he think of?"

"Something," she said, "And I'm not supposed to tell, but you will find out shortly. And when you do, remember, that he's not thinking of me, he's thinking of you."

"Ok, now you've got me all confused, where's Christian?"

"Talking with Bischoff about the match, but don't worry about that," Trish said as she heard her music start, "Don't forget."

Stephanie felt like she was missing something when she turned to the monitors. What were they talking about? She was going to watch regardless of whether or not they wanted her to. She saw Trish walk out there and talk about how Jericho wasn't allowed to touch her. Stephanie laughed a little, thinking that Jericho wouldn't want to touch her anyways.

Jericho was having fun. It had been so long since he had been on this side of the fence. The fans cheering him on as he degraded another woman. Trish was telling her side of the story, which wasn't entirely true. And by entirely, he meant that none of it was true at all. But the fans bought it, and that was what counted. It was fun pretending to hate her.

Then he started in on the insults and he really did feel like he was in a time warp. The premise had changed a little, and the person standing across from him was different, but the intent was still there. It was fun insulting Trish, but it had been WAY more fun to insult Stephanie. Stephanie always got this look in her eyes when he insulted her, like she wanted to just haul off and rip his head. Then she'd get all red and angry and sexy, even though at the time Jericho hated to admit that. He could almost say he missed those days, if it weren't for the fact that he actually had Stephanie now.

Stephanie giggled as she realized what this sounded like. It was her and Jericho, going back in time, it was them exactly. Except she had been truly angry and insulted by his words. And there had been pie, and kisses, and so many more things that all floated into her memory. She remembered many a battle that she had had with Jericho over the years. How much fun had that been, so much she could barely remember. Then the words flowed out of his mouth and she gasped.

"Filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding trash-bag ho…"

She broke out into an all-out grin, and she could see Jericho's face as he said it, and repeated it, over and over again. She laughed along with him as he got the crowd into saying it. This was what he had been talking about. Trish had said that he would be thinking about her and not about Trish, and she couldn't believe she was hearing those words again. Years in time she went back, when those words cut through her.

But now they only brought a giggle to her lips as she gazed at Jericho still directing his "chorus." Finally the segment ended and Stephanie's face was just lit and sparkling. Trish came back first and winked at her. Stephanie gave her a smile as she left, most likely to find Christian. Next Jericho came backstage and grinned at her with a shrug.

"Did you like my little shout-out?"

"I felt like I was back in time," she admitted.

"I figured, the insulting, the sparring, it isn't the same with Trish. It's not as fun with her. I mean, I should be having battles with a fiery brunette with one hell of a bitch slap."

"You're crazy," she told him, "I can't believe you brought that out!"

"Well, I figured that I could, you know, because it's my 'Stephanie' insult and always will be. It should be you out there with me…"

She gave him a little smile and a kiss.

"You never know Chris Jericho, maybe it will be soon."


	194. SmackDown, April 1, 2004

A/N: I'm SO sorry this is up so late. First, was down, and I couldn't put it up, then I was just plain lazy, so forgive me my laziness. But here you go, and think of it this way, you get two chapters in two days, so that's something good at least. Enjoy. :)

* * *

"So tell me again why we're going to your parent's house?"

"I told you a million times already."

"Yes, but I think that the synapses from my ears to my brain aren't functioning correctly, and I don't get why," Jericho said with a little smile.

"Look, my dad just wants us all there as a family, that's how he put it. You know, I know he doesn't mind, but he's really taking this entire thing too overboard."

"You think so?" he asked her, "Why?"

"Well, he's my dad, he's supposed to act all protective and want to check you out and interrogate you and all that stuff, and my dad really…hasn't."

"I've known him for over four years," Jericho said, "I'd like to think that he at least knows me a little bit."

"But that wasn't like how you really are. That was employee to employer."

"I don't think there's a real difference, I mean, not the way that Vince interacts with people. Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous," she said, "I'm just wondering is all."

"You are nervous, but it's not at seeing your parents," he told her, studying her carefully, "It won't be so bad."

"I know it won't," she said, "I just don't know what it's going to be like."

In truth, she was a bit nervous, but not for any of the normal reasons. She was afraid that her father would goad Jericho into proposing to her or something, and that thought scared her. Not that she didn't want to marry Jericho, but he had made no inkling to her that he wanted to marry her, and she didn't want him to feel pressured into anything, or worse, run away from the prospect altogether.

"Stephanie, I have met everyone in your family," Jericho laughed, "I know them all, there's no need to be worried, I promise you. I'll even pass on seconds during dinner so I don't look like a pig."

She giggled and walked over to him wrapping her arms around his waist. He rested his head against hers and she sighed in content. She wondered if he thought about marrying her, she knew he had, but she didn't know if he had thought of it lately. More and more she had been wondering if that was in their future.

"Sweetie?"

"What?"

She took a breath, "Should we bring wine or something to dinner?"

"Why?"

"You know, because people always bring wine and stuff when they go to dinner parties, it would be a nice gesture."

"Steph, this is your family," he told her, "I don't think they would mind if we didn't bring anything."

"I'd feel better if we did," she told him, pouting up at him.

He rolled his eyes, "Why do you always think that look will somehow get me to change my mind? Just ask me nicely and I'll tell you that I will, don't give me that little whimpering, pouty look."

"Fine, will you go buy some wine that we can take to my parent's house?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes baby, I will," he told her, leaning down to kiss her, "Just give me some money."

She shoved him playfully, "You pay for it!"

"Um, yeah right, you're the one who wanted to bring this thing in the first place, I think that it's only fair that you pay for it."

"But you love me," she answered.

"You love me too," he said, "What difference does that make?"

"Well, I love you more," she said with a kind smile.

"Not working, but I'll pay for it anyways, because I know my odds of winning this argument are very, very slim, and I'd rather just go now than fight for another ten minute and lose."

"See, with that logic you can't go wrong," she said, "Get good stuff!"

"Oh, so if it comes in a box, then I shouldn't get it."

"Very funny," she said, "Now, I'm expecting you to buy the most expensive wine you can find."

"Yeah, not likely," he said as he went to the door and left, "But I'll grab another price tag to make it look expensive."

She laughed and went back to sit on the couch. Picking up the remote, she flipped on the television and watched it for a few minutes. It wasn't enough to keep her distracted though as she started flipping through a magazine, hoping that would keep her from being bored. The phone rang and she was happy for the distraction as she ascended from the couch and went to the kitchen to grab the phone.

"Hello?"

"Alone?"

"What are you doing calling me now?" she asked angrily, "Do I have to get a fucking restraining order against you?"

"It wouldn't stop me."

"Then what would?" she asked, knowing that she was walking into a trap.

"You."

She rolled her eyes, "Stop calling me Hunter, you should know that you are the last person that I want to talk to right now."

"So when would be a better time to reach you?"

"Never," she answered, her tone annoyed, thinking that she never should've answered the phone.

"Sorry, but that's probably going to be unlikely," he told her, "I just wanted to call and talk to you."

"We have nothing to discuss, Hunter, we are divorced! That means no longer obligated to care about the other and let me tell you, I am certainly not caring about you."

"Well, that just breaks my little heart."

"I know what your problem is," she told him, "I'm not stupid Hunter, I know what your motive is in all of this, and it's not going to work."

"It's not?"

"No, you're just fucking jealous that someone else has me."

"Oh, Steph, you're so wrong," he said condescendingly, "You have me so wrong. Nobody else has you, and nobody else will ever have you as long as I'm in the picture. Don't you get that?"

"In the picture? Oh please, you haven't figured out that you are so very out of the picture in my life? Don't be daft Hunter, you're nothing to me, you've been nothing to me for a very long time now."

"You say that, but Stephanie, we both know that Chris is probably just using you."

"Using me? Where do you get your information Hunter? Because whoever your source is, they're really wrong. Chris loves me, unlike you, who only used me to get power and titles. Chris actually cares about me."

"So you say Stephanie, but you have to look at the man's track record? Going so quickly from hating you to liking you, I mean, didn't you ever wonder why he came out that night to talk to you, when you became business partners, didn't it ever pique your curiosity to know why exactly he wanted to talk to you?"

It hadn't until Stephanie thought about it just that moment. She had never really thought back to why Jericho had come out to talk to her that night. She just figured that he wanted to get back at Hunter and intimidate him for their match at WrestleMania. That made the most sense, and that was what he had told her his primary goal was. He wouldn't lie about that.

"He did it to get at you," Stephanie told him snidely, "Because he wanted to beat you."

"So he says, but you know what Stephanie, right before he went out there, I saw him talking to your father, and your father I believe, slipped him a little cash to take care of you."

"You're lying," Stephanie told him, "Why would he even do that?"

"Seems Daddy Dearest wanted someone to look after you so I wouldn't hurt you, and I'm guessing that he paid Chris to escort you around. Why do you think he did all those little favors for you? I'm sure he was getting paid well for it. Maybe even got to hold the titles for as long as he did because of it."

"You don't know what you're talking about Hunter, Chris did all those things because we were friends, we were attracted to each other, he wouldn't have done that just because he was getting paid to do it. That's ludicrous."

"Is it Stephanie?"

Stephanie refused to even think that Jericho had taken cash in exchange for taking care of her. He did it because he truly wanted to be friends, and he knew that she was good about trying to get at Hunter. He wouldn't be paid to do all of those things, Jericho wasn't like that, he wouldn't do that kind of thing. Hunter was just trying to get inside her head, but she wouldn't let him.

"You're such a liar Hunter."

"I only know what I see Stephanie, and what I saw was your little boyfriend securing his spot, but securing his spot with you. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that he was doing the same thing now. Maybe your dad did know about you two all along, maybe Jericho has been duping you this entire time."

"Oh shove it up your ass Hunter," she spat out before slamming the phone down angrily. She took a few calming breaths to get that stench of that conversation off of her. She tried not to think about it as she walked back into the living room, but it was still weighing in on her mind. She didn't even hear Jericho come back home until he physically walked into the room, holding up a bottle of wine triumphantly.

"Got it!" he exclaimed then saw Stephanie looking thoughtfully at the wall, "Steph, I got the wine, we can go now."

She looked up, "Can we go?"

"Um, yeah, I just said we can go now," he told her, narrowing his eyes, "Weren't you listening?"

"What? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening," she told him as she stood up.

"What's wrong with you? Oh come on, you can't be nervous about tonight, trust me, your dad will be cool."

"That's not what I was thinking about," she told him, "Before we go Chris, can we talk?"

"Steph, we're going to be late, and I don't want to keep them waiting," he said, then kissed her quickly, "I promise that we'll talk later alright?"

"Later…"

"Uh huh," he said, grabbing her hand, "Let's go."

She was silent for most of the car ride there as she glanced over at Jericho, studying her profile. She knew Jericho, she knew him better than anyone else in her life, and there was no way that he would lie to her about that. But then, back then, they had hated each other. What if he had taken money from Vince? What would she do then? They're entire life would've been built around money and lies.

Was that why he hadn't asked her to marry him? Maybe he was still getting money and that's why he hadn't asked her. That would explain so much, but she couldn't believe that he would actually do something like that. Not HER Jericho, not the man that she loved. She took his hand and held it with both of hers in her lap. He glanced over at her and smiled.

"You sure you're ok, we can skip out on this and just go pick up something and eat it in bed back home," he told her with a smile.

She smiled, no way was Hunter telling the truth "I would love to, but we should at least make an appearance. My parents would be disappointed if we didn't."

"Your mother is like a saint, what is this, the fiftieth time she's taken your dad back?"

"Just about," she laughed, "I guess when you love someone that much you just can't get them out of your system…"

"I know how that goes," Jericho said to her as he grasped her hand and kissed it before returning them both to her lap.

Stephanie smiled at him and leaned across the seat to lean her head on his shoulder as they drove. Hunter was nothing but a huge liar and there was no way she was going to take his word over Jericho's. Jericho had never done anything to displace her trust, and he wouldn't have kept something like that a secret. Not for this long. Still, she would kind of like to know.

But that would have to wait as they pulled up to her parent's house. Jericho parked and then grabbed the wine bottle before they got out. When they got to the front door, it opened almost immediately and Stephanie smiled as she caught sight of her mother. Her father came into the foyer to join in the welcoming.

"You two are looking wonderful as usual," Linda said, "I've missed seeing you."

"Me too Mom," Stephanie said, giving her another hug, "We brought you wine."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," Linda told them, "Just seeing you is a gift enough."

"Yeah, but we thought it'd be a nice gesture."

"Or Stephanie thought it was a nice gesture, and I just went along with it," Jericho laughed, causing the rest of them to laugh.

"Stephanie, would you like to help me in the kitchen so that we can have dinner ready faster? I'm sure the last thing you want to do is spend all night with your parents."

"Sure Mom," Stephanie said, then looked over at Jericho who was talking quietly with Vince. She wondered what they were talking about, but she didn't want to pry, "Sweetie, I'm going to go help my mom, you going to be alright in here?"

"Of course," Jericho said, "I'm sure your dad and I will find something to talk about."

She smiled hesitantly and then followed her mom into the kitchen. She got sent to work on chopping some of the vegetables for the salad. Her and her mother chatted idly about safe topics, the weather down in Florida, the shows, other banal topics. Finally Stephanie took a deep breath and stared in on a subject she really wanted to broach.

"Mom?"

"Yes Stephanie?"

"I was just wondering, remember when Chris and I became business partners?"

"Of course," she said, "I think everyone was pretty much shocked about that one," she laughed, "Talk about your unlikely duos."

"Yeah…um, did you think there was anything suspicious going on?"

"What? Like you and Chris were together? Because if you're going to spring on me that you two have been together for three years, than--"

"No Mom, we weren't together, but you know, motives-wise, did you think that anything was going on that was…suspicious?"

"Not really, was there?" Linda asked her.

"No," she answered, wondering even more what Jericho and Vince were talking about.

Jericho slid the ring across Vince's desk to get his opinion on it. Vince took the box from the tabletop and opened it to see a very large stone facing back at him. Vince looked up at Jericho, impressed by the size of the ring before taking it out. Jericho had said there was an inscription and Jericho smiled to himself as Vince read it.

"This is really nice Chris," Vince said, sliding the ring and its box back across the desk.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Jericho said, "I think that's why I got it for her."

"So how long have you been holding onto that ring?"

"Since right around Christmastime," Jericho answered, "I have the perfect way to propose to her, but see, it involves her getting a job back, so I'm just waiting on that."

"Putting the pressure on me are you Chris?"

"Of course not, I just hope that she does get a real job soon, because it's getting harder and harder to hold onto this thing and not give it to her. I think she's just about the only one who doesn't know about it, I'm that anxious."

Vince laughed, "I think you'll be good for my daughter."

"Thanks," Jericho responded, "I think so too."

"I never got to thank you though," Vince said.

Stephanie had snuck out of kitchen, promising to set the table. She had done it in record time just so she could go find her father and Jericho. She didn't see them in living room so she snuck around downstairs, before coming to her father's office door, which was slightly ajar. She stood outside just in time to hear her father say he had to thank Jericho for something.

"What would that be?" Jericho asked.

"For taking care of Stephanie, for all this time, even when I…didn't want anyone to. I know that you went above and beyond the call of duty."

"Well, it is Stephanie after all," Jericho said.

"But you've been doing it for so long now, even when I asked you to. I even offered you money…"

Stephanie barged into the room, her eyes angry as she looked to a startled Jericho and Vince, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"Steph?" Jericho asked confusedly.

"How could you! How could you offer him money to take care of me," she asked her father accusingly, "What kind of man does that!"

"Stephanie--" Vince tried to answer.

"And you," she said, turning her attention to Jericho, "How could you take money from my father! How could you! I thought that we were friends back then, I thought you liked me for me! Everything has been a lie! Is he still paying you huh! I'm just collateral or something right, your fucking safety net!"

"Stephanie, what're you talking about," Jericho said standing up, "Your dad--"

"I heard you! I heard that you offered Chris money to protect me! I can't believe you would do that!"

Stephanie wiped angrily at the tears of hurt that were in her eyes. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing that she was hurt by all of this. By this time Linda and Shane, who had just arrived, were standing in the doorway, watching all of this unfold. She turned to look at everyone before running out of the room and for the front door.

"Chris, what was all that about?" Linda asked.

"I have no idea," he said, "But I'm going to find out."

He took off after Stephanie and managed to see her as she fumbled for the locks on the front door. Her angry state was causing her to lose focus and she was struggling to figure out her parent's complicated lock system. Jericho reached out and steadied her hand and she swung around with her arms swinging, hitting him in the side of the face and he stepped back, grabbing his face where she had hit him. She started swinging at him blindly and he calmly grabbed her wrists to stop her.

"Let me go! He was right! I can't believe he was right!"

"Steph, what is going on with you?" Jericho asked her, trying to calm her down. He pulled her struggling body against his and held onto her tightly until she wasn't squirming as much. Just when he thought it was safe to let her go, she elbowed him hard in the stomach and he staggered back.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

"Stephanie, what's the matter?" Jericho asked again, not getting where this anger was stemming from.

"I trusted you," she said, crying, "I'm leaving! Maybe I'll go back to Hunter, he's the only one who seems to tell the truth around here!"

She didn't know where that came from, but seeing the look on Jericho's face had been worth the statement alone. His face crumbled and he stared at her in disbelief. For a moment she felt badly for saying it, until she remembered that Hunter, of all people, had been right in his assessment of the situation. God, she hated it when he was right.

She turned to the door again and, this time, she managed to get the lock undone. Putting Jericho in his place like that had done wonders for her focus and temper. She opened the door, only to see it slam again as Jericho lifted her over his shoulder. She screamed and tried to break free from him, but he held onto her thighs firmly.

"Vince, Linda," Jericho said as he looked up, "We have some discussing to do, we'll be upstairs."

Vince and Linda only nodded as they watched Jericho carry Stephanie upstairs. Knowing his way around pretty well, he walked down the long hallway before he reached her bedroom and opened the door. He deposited her on her bed before going to close and lock the door. Stephanie sat huffily on the bed and stared at her hands.

"Ok, now you and I are going to talk and figure out just what the hell is going on around here," Jericho said.

"We have nothing to discuss."

"When you throw a hissy fit the size of that one, then yes, we do have things to talk about. And I didn't appreciate you even suggesting that you would go anywhere near Hunter."

"Well, what am I supposed to do when you find out your boyfriend took BRIBES to hang out with you?"

Jericho sighed, "So that's what this is about."

"Well, it's certainly not about my mother's dinner choice," she huffed and crossed her arms.

Jericho kneeled in front of her and put his hands on her knees, "It's true, your dad did offer me money to protect you."

Stephanie pouted and her lip quivered, "Yeah, he told me so."

"Who told you what?"

"Hunter, he told me all of this, I didn't want to believe him, I told him he was wrong, but, God, he was right!"

"Hunter? When? When did he tell you this?"

"Today, I thought he was just trying to get under my skin, but I never thought he could be right."

"You talked to Hunter today?" Now Jericho's temper was flaring up.

"Yes, but he's just been bugging me, it's not like I've been doing things with him, though I probably should now, because Lord knows what's really going on around here. I should've slept with him."

Jericho ran his hands through his hair, "Don't say that, please don't say that."

"It would serve you right! You lied to me! You took money to protect me--"

"Now that's where you're wrong," he said, "I turned your dad down."

Stephanie looked at him, "You….what?"

"You heard me Steph, I turned him down. He offered to pay me to protect you, yes, but I never, not once took the money from him. I couldn't. I told him that if I were to go out there and talk to you, it would be on my own terms. And I did, I went out there because you were alone, and you wanted to crush Hunter, and fuck, did I think you looked sexy that night, and I saw this amazing opportunity in front of me," Jericho said, pushing one of her bangs out of her eyes, "You were standing out there saying that Hunter would win at WrestleMania over your dead body in those cute tan leather pants and black leather halter top, and damn if I didn't admire your courage. Hunter could've come out and Pedigreed you, but you would've taken it. I went out there because I wanted to, not because anyone paid me."

"So you…didn't take any money?"

"Take money to spend time with you? Never. Spending time with you is good enough for me. Except when you make me buy wine that wasn't even necessary."

She threw her arms around him as they fell to the floor, "I knew that he was lying!"

"Wow, way to back-peddle there Steph," Jericho laughed as he hugged her back, "Just a few seconds ago you were saying how he was right."

"Yeah, but I didn't believe it," she said, feathering his face with kisses.

"But this brings up a greater question, Hunter's been calling you?"

She looked at him, "Yeah, and bugging me."

"Bastard," Jericho said, "He's so fucking jealous isn't he?"

"Yeah, he can't stand the fact that someone else has me, but there's something I think he hates even more."

"What's that?"

"The fact that YOU have me."

"Well, you know what, he's going to have to get used to the idea, because there's no way that I'm going to give you up that easily."

"He'll try," she said seriously.

"He can try his damnedest, but it's not going to happen. I don't care what the bastard thinks he's capable of, because he's not capable of breaking the two of us up, not a chance."

"Good," she said, kissing him again, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, can we go eat now?"

"Yeah, we can go eat, and just because you're so sweet, you can have seconds."

"Woo-hoo," he cheered.

They got up and dusted themselves off as they went downstairs to eat. The dinner was rather uneventful, and Stephanie's nerves disappeared as she sat next to Jericho and he held her hand the entire meal, even eating with his left hand so they wouldn't have to break contact. Her father didn't even hound him about a proposal, much to her relief.

As they were walking out to the car, Stephanie stopped Jericho, "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"It's alright, you had reasons," he told her.

"I never should've--"

He silenced her with a kiss, and then whispered against her lips, "Don't worry about it, we all make mistakes. Though I don't think that accusing me of taking bribes was your biggest mistake."

"Then what was?"

"Believing Hunter…I mean come on Steph, have a little self-respect."

She just laughed and shoved him towards the car.


	195. Raw, April 5, 2004

A/N: The poem that's in this chapter does not belong to me. :)

Thanks for the reviews everyone. :D

"You still could've told me."

"I didn't think it mattered."

"So you didn't think that I would care that my father offered you money to take care of me?"

"But the thing is, I didn't take the money, that's the part that you need to focus on."

"That's beside the point, don't you think that I deserved to know about this in the first place. It should've been the first thing you told me. 'Stephanie, I really like you, and you should know that your father offered me money to take care of you, but I turned him down.' Is that so difficult?"

"By the time that I fell for you, it was so long ago, it didn't really matter anymore."

"Fine, fine, I'm just saying, that's something that you should've told me."

Jericho pulled Stephanie into his lap and nuzzled his face into her neck, kissing her softly. He sighed and leaned his head in the crook of her neck. He hated fighting with her at all, and while last night had been a pretty mild fight, he still hated arguing with her. She kissed his head and then leaned her cheek against his soft hair.

"I'm sorry that I brought it up again, I know you hate it."

"That's right, so can we please drop it and focus on the show."

"Ok, I'm focused…focused on doing nothing because there's nothing for me to do here."

See, now you're making me feel badly for you. It almost makes me want to drag you out to the ring as my valet, contract be damned!"

She smiled to herself, "You know you can't do that. I'd be a liability, and if I got hurt, my dad would be in big trouble."

"Oh, that little thing…who's to say that I couldn't protect you. I'm Chris fucking Jericho, and I would protect my woman with my life…besides, I'm only facing Matt Hardy."

"Still, that's someone in the ring who can hurt me."

"He wouldn't touch you, nobody would."

She scowled, "Hunter would."

He pulled away from her neck and lifted his head up. He tilted her chin to look him straight in the eyes. He hated the fact that Hunter had been harassing his girlfriend. That bastard just couldn't get over the fact that Stephanie was happy with someone else. He was so fucking possessive it made Chris want to scream. He let the anger flow through him, not letting it build up until he exploded. Nobody needed that. Instead, he leaned forward and closed the gaps between his lips and Stephanie's, kissing her sweetly.

"Hunter is not going to get his hands on you. Whatever game he thinks he's playing, he doesn't realize he's going to lose time and time again."

She smiled softly as she returned his intense gaze, "You don't even know how much I love you."

"I've got a small idea," he said to her.

"Wow, talk about your sap…"

Stephanie and Jericho turned to the door and saw Edge smiling that huge grin of his. Stephanie rolled her eyes at him, until she saw his arm and saw that he had a cast on it. She looked at him confusedly, wondering what the hell had happened to him. Edge just shrugged and held up his arm in defeat.

"Broke it."

"How?" Stephanie asked, alarmed.

"Training," he said, "It's not a big deal, don't worry about me. How are you two?"

"Could be better," Stephanie said.

"Oh great, are you two on the outs again?"

"You got us Edge," Jericho said, "We're on the outs again, and yet, here we sit, together, kissing and what not. But of course, we're on the outs."

"So what is it then big shot?"

"It's just Hunter," Stephanie answered, "He's been bugging me lately. It's nothing serious or anything, it's just he's been calling and stuff, and it's getting pretty tiresome."

"Why does he keep calling you?"

"He's just jealous," Jericho said, "Can't stand that I have Stephanie."

"Well, I'll tell him to join the club," Edge said with a wide grin, "He can join in the 'We Liked Stephanie, But She Didn't Like Us' Club. Of course, the idea of being in the same group with Hunter is pretty scary."

"He's not in your league," Stephanie said, "He's just doing it because he's Hunter, and he likes to think that he controls everything."

"Yeah," Edge said, "I can see that….oh, before I forget, Chris, Trish and my brother wanted to talk to you tonight about what they want to plan for your match or whatever. I was sent here to give you the message."

"Why couldn't they send it themselves?"

"Would you really like to see the two of them, I swear to God, they're worse this time around. I cannot wait for that honeymoon period to be over. Christian wanted to share locker rooms, and ten minutes with them I was searching for some place else to stay."

"You're welcome to stay with us," Stephanie said.

"Hey! I didn't agree to that!" Jericho turned to her indignantly and she just kissed him quickly before turning back to Edge.

Edge shook his head, "It's cool, I'm already sharing with Benoit. I just could not stand to be around those two anymore. I mean, I'm really happy they're back together, but keep it PG around the rest of us. I thought they were just going to do it with me in the room."

"Aww, poor Edge," Stephanie said sympathetically, "Now that you're on Raw, you should try to get with one of the divas, that way you can have someone too."

"And then you can flaunt it in front of Christian and Trish so that they know how much is sucks to be around them."

"Well who are my prospects?"

"Is Victoria still with Stevie?" Stephanie asked.

"I think so," Jericho answered, "There's always Stacy."

"Scary," Edge said, "Well, I'll think about it. The idea of rubbing it in Christian's face is a very tempting one indeed. I think that boy should be put in his place, at least a little bit."

"That's the spirit," Jericho said jovially. Then he picked up Stephanie and put her on the couch next to her. She looked up at him and he leaned down to kiss her, "I'm going to go talk to Trish and Christian. You going to come?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay here."

"Ok, I'll be back in a while," he said, kissing her again, "Take care of my woman Edge."

"I'll try my best, is your match coming up?"

"Soon, it's pretty early in the show," he told him, checking his watch, "I'll probably just stay with them until my match, you can go down to the gorilla and watch me. In fact, I order you to go down to the gorilla and watch me."

She shook her head, "Don't order me around."

"So sorry mademoiselle, pardon me my error. IF you feel like coming down to watch, I cordially invite you too," he said with a deep bow.

"That's more like it," she said with a smile, "I think now I will come and watch."

"Great," he said, "Until later my love."

Jericho left then and closed the door behind him. Stephanie watched the door until it clicked shut and then turned her attention to Edge. He got up from his seat and went to go sit next to Stephanie. She leaned against him and he wrapped his arm around her companionably.

"So this whole thing with Hunter, you're not really downplaying it are you?"

"No, it's not really anything Edge. You don't have to go protective big brother on me too. I already have Shane doing it, and Christian, and I'm sure Kurt is going to do it too. Then of course there's Chris. Wow, what a formidable group, I bet you could take on the whole of Evolution."

"Could…how about would. If it ever came to that, don't you worry, we'd take care of them."

"Aww, you're so nice to do that for little 'ol me."

"And if Trish ever needed it. We take care of our women."

"You make us sound like a group or something."

"Aren't we?"

She paused and looked at him, "A weird group…but yeah, a group."

"Hey, I have to go talk to Benoit about something, but did you want to come with me?"

"Nah, I think I'm just going to stay here until Chris's match, and then I'll head down to the gorilla to watch."

"Are you sure? Who's going to walk you?"

"There's lots of people around Edge, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive, don't keep Chris waiting."

"Ok, just as long as you think you'll be alright."

"I know that I will, maybe I'll even just watch in here. I promise, nothing is going to happen."

"Ok, bye Steph."

"Bye Edge," she said playfully.

He left too, and she sat back against the couch and grabbed the remote, turning it on the show. She saw Benoit walking out there and thought that Edge must not have caught him in time. She wondered if Chris's match was coming up. She had forgotten when his match was. Stephanie wondered if something would happen with Trish and Christian, since they were playing up to the fans with this little "feud" of theirs.

Just as she was about to turn on the volume, she saw a slip of paper slide underneath her door. She went over to the door and opened it, but didn't see anyone there. Shrugging, she bent down to pick it up and read what it said. It was probably a note for Jericho about the show or something.

"Steph, I came up with a little surprise for you, meet me in the garage. Your loving boyfriend."

Stephanie giggled as she read the note. So that's what they were up to. She was a little suspicious when Edge had left to go talk to Benoit and then Benoit showing up on her television. This was probably Jericho's way of making up to her for not telling her about the bribes. She walked happily out of the locker room and in the direction of the garage.

When she got there, she saw a wine bottle with a note sticking out of it. She looked around and didn't see Jericho standing there so she smirked and walked up to the bottle and pulled out the note. Jericho and his stupid little romantic things to do. She unfurled the note and went to read it.

Nature's first green is gold/

Her hardest hue to hold/

Her early leaf's a flower/

But only so an hour/

Then leaf subsides to leaf/

So Eden sank to grief/

So Dawn goes down to day/

Nothing gold can stay

"Very funny Chris," she called out.

"Stephanie."

She turned around to see Randy standing there, "Randy…"

"Um, I heard that Trish was looking for me the other week," he said, walking up and standing right in front of her, "Something about forgiving."

"Yeah, that's right," she said, "She was sorry about the whole Christian thing," she said, looking around.

"Steph," he whispered, "Go back to your locker room."

She strained to hear him, and looked around again, "Randy, why don't you go find Trish, and talk to her."

"Steph," he whispered very quietly, "Get out of here."

Randy turned to walk away very quickly. He went into the hallway where Hunter was waiting and he went to walk quickly by him, but was stopped by Hunter's hand on his chest. Randy looked down before looking up at him.

"Did you distract her?"

"Yeah, I told her about Trish," he said, leaving the other part out. Stephanie was Trish's friend, and he still liked Trish, and he couldn't let Stephanie get hurt, not for doing nothing to anybody. So he warned her, he just hoped she took his advice.

"Good," Hunter said, "Go back to the dressing room."

Stephanie stood there confused, Randy was probably trying to set her up or something. She expected Jericho to be here, and he was probably having Hunter wait in Jericho's locker room or something. She fiddled with the paper before she saw a shape lurking in the shadows.

"There you are," she said excitedly, "What are you up to silly man?"

"Nothing you need to be worried about," Hunter's voice growled as he came out from the shadows, "Don't worry Stephanie, Chris won't be able to save you, he's too busy facing Matt Hardy. I think that Trish and Christian are out with them too. You know, three of your most important friends out there, nowhere near you."

Indeed, Jericho, Christian and Trish were all waiting their cues, oblivious to what was happening in the back of the arena. They had discussed what they were going to do, and Jericho had brought up an old tactic Stephanie had used, bringing a chair out and watching the match from the ramp. It gave just the kind of intimidation that they wanted to give.

Stephanie took a step back and looked around. God, she had thought Randy was setting her up, but he was really trying to help her. Of course he would, Trish swore that he wasn't a bad guy, and the one time she didn't listen, and now Hunter was bearing down on her.

"Leave me the hell along Hunter, I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's not working! Intimidating me, harassing me, calling me, it's not going to work!"

"Stephanie, my poor Stephy, I don't mean to scare you," he said, "It's just…I still love you."

She shook her head wildly from side to side, "Don't you dare say that to me! Don't you fucking say that to me!"

"But it's true," he said, giving her an honest look, "I thought that I didn't anymore, but when I realized that you were with Jericho of all people, it came rushing back to me. I still love you Stephanie, and all I want is you."

She looked down, "You asshole! You don't want me! You're such a fucking liar! You just don't want Chris to have me!"

Hunter took a step closer and pressed his cheek against her own, his skin warm against hers, turning her cheeks red from the warmth, "I'm not, I really do still love you. Think about it, I'll be waiting here after my match, just please take me back Stephanie. We never really got an ending, you left me heartbroken, I haven't been the same."

He pulled away and looked at her, and damn it, he looked sincere. She stared at him as he walked backwards, keeping eye contact with her. She didn't dare move a muscle for fear that she might slap herself to make sure this was real. Just before he was about to leave, he turned back to her.

"Nothing gold can stay Stephanie, you and Chris, you aren't happy, choose me."

She stood there for a long time after he left, processing what he had said. She didn't know what to think, she didn't even think she could think coherently at the moment. It was all a blur in her mind. Had he actually told her that he LOVED her still? Of all the things, no, he was…but he looked so honest. She finally drug herself to the gorilla just in time to see Jericho come backstage, going over to laugh with Trish and Christian over what had just happened.

"Steph, did you see the match?" Jericho asked.

"No, I'm sorry," she said, still a little dazed.

"You should've, it was hilarious. Remember when you and Hunter would bring like chairs and stuff out to the ramp and watch the matches?"

At the mention of Hunter, she blanched a little. Jericho didn't notice however as he went over to her and casually wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer to him. He rubbed the little skin that was exposed between her pants and her blouse.

"Yeah," she told him.

"Trish and Christian did that to try and 'distract' me, and then after the match they kissed and stuff to intimidate me, it was pretty good. The fans are totally behind me going into the match."

"Should we let Chris win this one Christian?" Trish asked.

"We'll see, I may want to beat his ass again," Christian joked.

The three of them laughed, but Stephanie was distracted. She saw Hunter walking into the area to get ready for his match. He glanced over at her and smiled. She looked away quickly and tried to focus on something else. Jericho noticed her odd behavior and looked up to see Hunter there. Suddenly Stephanie was all alone and she looked up to see Jericho charging towards Hunter and pushing him.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Hunter said nonchalantly, "Is it a crime to not look at anything or anyone?"

"When it's MY girlfriend, then yes, it is a crime," Jericho said angrily, "Just stay the hell away from her, do you hear me? Don't call her or harass her or whatever you plan on doing. Just get over the fucking fact that she chose me you son of a bitch! You're not getting her back."

"Whatever you say Jericho," Hunter said with a smirk and then turned his sights to Stephanie, "Bye Stephanie."

"God, what is his problem?" Trish asked as she rolled her eyes, "He's on such an ego trip."

"Yeah…" Stephanie's voice failed her as Jericho came back over to hug her.

"You alright?"

"Don't protect me Chris. Not from him."

"Ok," he said, then kissed her forehead, "I'm sorry I got so carried away."

"You guys, I have to go put my ring boots on, but Chris, I'll see you during my match right?"

"Why are you going to see her?" Stephanie asked, turning her head to Jericho.

"Oh, I'm interfering, seems Christian left out the minor detail that Trish is in a match with me and him, so yeah, she can't go after the Women's Title. So I'm just going to cost her the match, do something interfere, that way she won't be bogged down or whatever."

"Good thinking," she said, "Can we go back to the locker room now?"

"Yeah, of course."

Stephanie let Jericho lead her back to their dressing room and she sat quietly down on the couch, mulling over what Hunter had said. He had sounded so sincere, she was having a hard time not believing him. If his words were true, then she had so much to think about. Hunter might love her, LOVE her, that was monumental. She had to admit that a long, LONG time ago, that thought would've excited her. But then she thought back to their marriage, an din the beginning it hadn't been bad, in fact, she had liked being married to him for a while.

"Steph, have you seen my shirt?" Jericho asked as he rooted through his things.

"They should be under your jeans," she answered absently.

"Yes! Thanks baby," he said, leaning across the couch to kiss her cheek, "What would I do without you?"

"Walk around shirtless."

"Something like that," he laughed then grabbed remote, turning the volume up, "God, I hate him, I hope that Shelton wins."

"Me too…"

"Ass," Jericho muttered as he watched Hunter wrestle for a second.

Stephanie looked at her ex-husband. How could he still want her after all the things she had done to him? Faking a pregnancy, buying a company without his permission, being a valet to guys that he didn't even like…there were so many reasons and yet he had forgone them. She liked the fear that came along with being Hunter's wife. There was so much power to be had, so much havoc to be wreaked. She smirked to herself, yes, Hunter had taught her how to be vindictive and calculating, and how to get what she wanted. Oh, and she wanted Hunter alright, she wanted him bad.

"Chris," she said, standing up and facing him.

"Steph, I have to go watch Trish's match. It's coming up right now, and I have to interfere. I guess I could push her or something, what do you think would be the best way to interfere, you've done it enough times?"

"We need to talk," she said, giving him a look, "This is serious."

Stephanie watched Jericho interfere in Trish's match, tripping her and causing a distraction. Jericho laughed as he saw Trish's face, lying there on the ground. She was trying to act indignant, but it wasn't exactly working. Trish wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the situation. This whole thing was just so much fun. Stephanie saw that fun in their eyes and turned away from it, walking back to the garage to meet Hunter.

She found herself alone in the garage again and looked around. Leave it to Hunter not to show up. Finally, just when she was about to give up, Hunter walked inside, and saw her standing there. He walked up to her and she smirked at him, letting it slowly develop into a smile.

"So you thought about what I had to say?" he asked.

"I did, and Hunter, you are so right," she said, "I couldn't believe that you had loved me this entire time, but you know what, it's really what I've wanted all along."

"I knew it would be, you weren't happy with Jericho were you?"

"No," she shook her head, "And I want to be the first lady of Evolution so badly, reigning Raw with you again. God, how I loved the rush."

"Yes," he said, running his hands up and down her arms, "I knew you were only out to get power. You're back home baby."

"And it feels so good," she said.

She leaned in to hug him, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She let the contact be for a second before pulling away and staring deeply into his eyes. He smirked and went to lean in. He closed his eyes as his lips got closer to her. She looked over his shoulder and then heard the metallic clunk as metal hit Hunter's back. Stephanie took a step away from him as he fell to his knees and gasped in pain. She looked down at him, glaring before looking up to see Jericho with a chair in his hands.

"Did you really think that I would fall for your lame attempt at trying to sucker me in with you again Hunter?" Stephanie sneered, "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"You bitch," he spat out.

"No, I was just onto your little games Hunter, and you should know that I can play them right back. You taught me everything you know and its just funny that its all come back to haunt you now."

"Isn't it funny Hunter," Jericho said, "Once upon a time, you were hitting me with your sledgehammer because you thought I was hitting on Stephanie, and now here I am, hitting you with a chair because you were trying to come onto Stephanie. The irony is just hilarious."

Hunter stood back up, but Jericho just undercut him with another blow to the quad this time.

"Oh wow Hunter, was that like the time we took you down before WrestleMania," Stephanie said, stepping around him as he lay there grabbing his quad. She stood in front of Jericho, who wrapped his free arm around her waist as he held the steel chair in his other.

"You should've known better than to mess with her," Jericho told him, "I thought you of all people would've figured that out."

"Goddammit," he swore as he held his knee, "I'll get you two for this."

"Try it," Jericho jeered, "I'd like to see you even try Hunter. It's time you learned that Stephanie is MINE, and I'm not going to tolerate some asshole trying to hurt her. Try something like this again and you'll get it even worse, consider yourself lucky this time."

Jericho threw the chair away and he and Stephanie walked away, leaving Hunter lying on the ground, still gripping his leg. He'd be fine, but it didn't hurt to shake him up a little. Jericho wrapped his arm back around Stephanie as they walked down the hallways.

"I'm glad you told me what he had done," Jericho whispered to her.

"I had to, you needed to help me," she said, "I knew he was lying, he sounded so sincere, but you know what, I can't trust that man, he's just so…ugh, I don't even know, horrible."

"Remind me to thank Randy for tipping you off."

"No," she said quickly, "I have a feeling he doesn't want anyone to know about this."

"Ok, but I'm thinking it. I can't believe he would stoop so low as to tell you he loved you."

"It's just something he would do. He really underestimates us."

Jericho stopped her and kissed her, "But he won't ever again."

They went back to the locker room to watch the rest of the show. They knew that Edge was planning on sticking around for Kane's match and since they had driven him there, they had to wait. They stuck around for the end, just to see what was going to happen and saw Hunter walking down the ramp with his sledgehammer. They laughed at how mad he looked and how much of it was probably with them.

Hunter was pissed beyond belief. He really hadn't thought that the bond between Jericho and Stephanie was that strong, but he had been wrong. He wouldn't be wrong again, he thought as he caressed the top of his sledgehammer. Next time, he'd break them. He may have had one set back.

But he wouldn't have another.


	196. SmackDown, April 8, 2004

"So you know what to do right Stephanie?" Stephanie rolled her eyes at Jericho, who was sitting on the opposite end of the couch.

She was currently on the phone with Christian, and he was being a royal pain in the ass. Jericho leaned over and rubbed Stephanie's knee comfortingly. She put her hand on top of his and rubbed it with her thumb.

"Yes Christian, I don't think that it's so hard. You act as if I'm not getting the concept of what you want to do, but I get it, I'm not dumb."

"I know you aren't, but Stephanie," he whined, "You really do owe me?"

"Did I not tell you that I would do your bidding?"

"I know, but still, you owe me."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, who was the one who got you back to coming to shows? That would be me, and I'm the one who kind of got the ball rolling with your father. See how much you actually owe me?"

"Well, when you put it like that, how could I not do what you ask...oh wait, I was already going to do what you asked!"

"You're annoying."

"Aww, thanks," she said sweetly, "Where is she right now anyways?"

"She's in the shower, so just call in like fifteen minutes," Christian told her, "And then you know what do after that?"

"Yes Christian, now may I go or are you going to keep on talking to me for the next five days?"

"Well, I was going to actually talk for the next two, but you obviously want to go so I guess I'll let you."

"Thank you, I'll call in a bit," she said, hanging up before he could get another word in.

Stephanie scooted herself over to situate herself next to Jericho. He kept reading the magazine he had been perusing as she wrapped one of his arms around her. She just laid back against his chest as she watched him read whatever he was reading. She liked being quiet with him, it had a very peaceful quality, and she just loved to sit with him. This was just one of the many things that had been missing when she was with Hunter. Like she would've even considered going back to that asshole.

"Serious thinking?" Jericho asked as he leaned his mouth to her ear, the breath soft and warm, and tickling her neck, making the hairs stand on end.

"No, not really," she said, "I was just thinking about the differences between our relationship and my marriage."

"I hope they're all very good on our end."

"They are. I could never just sit here with Hunter, you know, just sitting and being quiet, reading. He'd always be off at the gym, wanting to bulk up for his next match, making sure he was always in top physical form. I just wanted some sort of closeness. In the beginning, we kind of had that, but by the end, there was nothing of the sort. Maybe when I faked my pregnancy, but that was under false circumstances."

"Well, I'm glad that I can be that person for you then," he said, "If this is what you want?"

"You shouldn't even have to ask," she told him, "You're perfect."

"You're pretty perfect too," he said, "So when are you calling Trish?"

"I guess I should call her in a few minutes," Stephanie said, glancing over at the clock. You know, I really am happy for the two of them. It's so good to see that they're actually back together. I honestly didn't think it would happen."

"That makes two of us," Jericho said back, "I mean, after Christian cheated on her, and that whole fiasco with them not being able to keep their hands off each other, who'd have thought right? I mean, its strange."

"Stranger than us?"

"No, we take the cake," he laughed, "I think we take the prize for all of those strange awards."

"Oh good, we have things to put on the mantle now," she giggled, "I better call Trish now. I don't really feel like going shopping but--"

"Whoa, hold the phone! You DON'T feel like shopping!"

"Get off my back," she said with a pout, "I wish I could just stay with you all day and be quiet. Just no talking or anything."

"Well, that would be hard," he said, "We're big talkers."

She laughed and went to reach over to the phone. Before she could grab it, Jericho grabbed her back and brought her back against him. She laughed as he leaned in and kissed her. She tried to break free to call Trish, but he just kissed her harder. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, making sure that she wasn't going anywhere soon. She rubbed his shoulders before lightly pushing him away. He whimpered slightly at the loss of contact.

"I have to call Trish or Christian is going to kick my ass," she told him breathlessly.

"I'll protect you."

"Sweetie, they've helped us SO many times, this is the least I can do," she told him earnestly.

"You're right," he said, "Go ahead and call her. Why Christian had to pick today of all days to do this, I don't know, but whatever, I won't question it, I'll just stay here all day by myself doing nothing, probably starve or something without any food here, but it's fine, I'll just stay alone..."

"Wow, how about you whine just a little bit more, I don't think you got totally pathetic, give it another shot."

"I just don't wanna be without you today," he said pitifully, "I wanna be with you!"

"So come with, nobody said that you couldn't come along, so come along. That way you can tell me if everything I buy is nice."

"Will you buy lingerie?" he asked eagerly.

"Would that make you less of a baby?"

He nodded vehemently, "Yup, it would totally make me less of a baby and more of a manly man!"

"Ok, you can come, just don't breathe a word of anything to Trish, ok?"

"I can do that!"

She crawled across the couch and grabbed the phone off of the side table. She crawled back over to Jericho and settled herself back into his arms. He wrapped his arms back around her, letting them settle on her lower abdomen. She rubbed his leg with her foot as she dialed Christian's number. It took a few rings for someone to pick up, but they eventually did as Stephanie heard the click.

"Hello?"

"Trish, hey, it's Steph."

"Oh hey Steph, what's up?"

"Well, Chris and I were going to go shopping and maybe get some lunch, and we were wondering if you wanted to come along? We knew you were in town for the weekend and thought it might be nice," she said, hoping that would convince Trish enough to come along.

"I'm not doing anything," she said, then turned to Christian, "Christian, are we doing anything today?"

"Nope," Christian said quickly and with a hasty shrug.

Trish turned back to the phone, "Yeah Steph, I'm free, do you want me to drive over there?"

"Yeah sure, just come on over now, we're all dressed and stuff."

"Great, be right over, bye," Trish said, hanging up the phone, "I'm going to Chris and Steph's. You want to come with me?"

"Nah," Christian said, "I was going to go out with Edge today. You know, brother stuff. So you just go and have fun today."

"I will," she said, kissing him quickly before grabbing her purse and heading for the door. She bounded down the few steps to the walkway and scrambled to her car, getting in and pulling out of the driveway to go to Jericho and Stephanie's house. The drive was short and before she knew it, she was pulling into their driveway, alongside Stephanie's car. She got out of the car and went up to the door, ringing the doorbell. Stephanie answered a few moments later, Jericho right behind her, kissing her neck and causing her to laugh.

Stephanie grinned in Trish's direction. "Hey Trish," Stephanie said happily, "Should we go right now?"

"Yeah, I'm ready, my car?"

"Sure," she said as she pulled Jericho out of the house and locked the door.

"Can we go get food first?" Jericho asked as he followed the two women to the car, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving, so that leads me to believe that you are not actually starving, but really you're just a liar."

"I may be, but can we just go get food because I'm hungry," he said.

"Fine, whiner," Stephanie teased as she got into the passenger side of the car.

Jericho got into the back and watched them talk as Trish drove them to a local coffee shop that they all enjoyed. He didn't know how he got stuck in the backseat, but it was probably better because they were discussing Stephanie's latest perfume. They got to the coffee shop and took on of the booths next to the window. Jericho looked through the songs on the little jukebox they had at every table. Stephanie slid into the seat next to him and casually rested her hand on his leg. He reached down absently and held her hand, almost out of instinct than anything else.

"So how's your weekend going?" Trish asked as she put down her menu.

"It's not the weekend yet," Jericho answered, glancing over at her before going to look at the songs again. "

Yeah, but it's like a weekend for us," Trish said, "That's why I was asking in the first place."

"In that case, great," Jericho said, "And yours?"

"It's been fun. I still have to get used to the idea of coming back down to Florida all the time. I got so used to going to Canada all the time."

"Understandable...oh, before I forget," Stephanie said, "I really need to thank Randy on Monday. You were right about him Trish, he really is a good guy, despite being with Evolution. I stand totally corrected."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, if I had listened to him, I probably wouldn't have gotten myself into the trouble I did," Stephanie said with a short laugh, "He tried to warn me, I thought it was a trap, it wasn't, but he tried."

"Stephanie, what are you talking about?" Trish wondered aloud, "Did something happen that we don't know about?"

"Just my lousy ex-husband being a prick," Stephanie said with a groan, "He tried something really low on Monday, the asshole actually thought that I would fall for his lame ideas to get back at me."

"What'd he pull this time?"

"He told me he loved me."

If Trish had been drinking water, then she would've spit it out, but she didn't, so there was no spitting, but she was shocked all the same. Hunter actually telling Stephanie that he loved her. As a trick no less. That really was a dirty thing to do, playing with someone's emotions. Obviously it hadn't worked since they were still here and together.

"What a dirty trick," Trish hissed, "Of all the things to do...what happened?"

"Well, you know, I thought about it, and there's no way that he would ever be serious about something like that. So I enlisted Chris's help and we got back at him..."

"How?" Trish asked, now eager to hear the conclusion of the story.

"We just lured him into a false sense of security and he was jumping at me practically. Then when his back was turned, Chris came up and hit him with a chair. So really nothing out of the ordinary."

"I would've paid to see that," Trish said with a laugh, "I bet that he was a sight to see."

"Oh it was," Jericho answered, "But Randy did try to warn her."

"That's so nice of him. I feared that I had done some damage to him, leaving the way I did, with no real conclusion, but I didn't see any other way to go about it."

"Yeah, but you had to do it, if you love Christian."

"And I do love Christian," Trish said dreamily, "I never should've been stupid and ignored it for so long. It sickens me to think of how long we could've been happy."

"Don't worry Trish, I've been there," Stephanie said as she leaned into Jericho purposefully, "But see it's all worked out for the best."

"It has," Trish said, "But I knew Randy was a good guy, I just think that...I don't know, he thinks he needs Evolution to be big, but I don't necessarily think that's the case. I think it's really all about Ric and Hunter. Dave's not bad either."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "But once you get under Hunter's thumb, it's hard to get out from under it."

They ordered their food then and then talked about different things. Stephanie and Jericho tried to keep her occupied for as long as possible. Christian wasn't giving up anything on what he was doing, but they figured it was something romantic. It would make sense, since he wanted Trish out of the house all day long.

"So what are you guys planning on doing for Backlash?" Stephanie asked as they ate their food a short while later.

Trish and Jericho looked at one another for a moment and shrugged simultaneously, then Trish answered, "I actually have no idea. I'm not sure I like the idea of it being a handicap match, but I guess we're just going to have to deal with that."

"Wouldn't it be cool if I could have a partner to make it a tag match?" Jericho mused.

"Yeah, a partner, with who? Molly? I think she's the only diva who can actually wrestle that's not in a match already."

"I was thinking more along the lines of...you," he said, turning to Stephanie, whose eyes widened at the prospect.

"Me? But Chris, I don't even have a job, that would never come to fruition."

"Yeah, I realize that, but you know, a guy can dream can't he? It would be so funny to see me and you against Trish and Christian."

"Yeah, we'd kick your asses," Trish said jokingly.

"Yeah sure Trish," Jericho said, "We'd so pin you for the win."

"At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Lita tried to join up with you," Stephanie said, "I mean, Trish, did you even explain to her what's going on?"

"Not exactly," Trish said, "I haven't talked to her for a while. I guess we've just both been kind of busy with work and stuff like that. I'm sure she's seen you two around so she must know that you're not really mad at me. I don't know, I hope that she doesn't approach you, that would be so stupid of her."

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed, "Especially since I'll be around you all the time. In case she pulls something."

Jericho just shook his head, "And what makes you think I would want to take those advances? I'm sorry, but Lita is definitely not my type. I mean, yeah, she's just not my type."

"You know, I really can't see you with someone like her," Trish said, "Even if you weren't with Stephanie, I really can't picture you with someone like Lita. I think you're too different. I mean, you need someone like Stephanie. You two go well together."

"Well, thanks for the compliments," Jericho said, "But now I want to eat."

Stephanie and Trish watched as he started to devour his food. Stephanie looked at Trish and laughed, "Yeah, and who else is going to stick around with that."

Trish just laughed and went about eating. After they ate, they drove to one of the local shopping centers. They had fun, even if Jericho whined some of the time because he was tired of shopping. The only fun part for him had been when that had gone into the Victoria's Secret and helped Stephanie pick out something sexy to wear. Stephanie suggested that Trish get something to wear for Christian, much to Jericho's disgust at having to think about the two of them.

After a few hours of shopping, Jericho was starting to drag behind them, but it didn't seem like Stephanie or Trish was going to slow down anytime soon. As they walked into one of the stores, Stephanie's cell phone rang and she excused herself to go answer it.

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Stephanie, it's me."

"Christian, hey, what's up?"

"Well, I was ready for you guys now, so you can wrap up the shopping trip now, so she can come back home."

"Ok, great, because if I spent anymore, than I would be in the poor house."

"Thanks for doing this," he told her.

"It's fine Christian, we had fun today, and we got to embarrass Chris, that's a great day in my book."

"Ok, I'll talk to you later," Christian said, "Bye."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up and went back over to Jericho and Trish who were looking at some tank tops. Well, Trish was looking, Jericho was yawning. Stephanie yawned as well and announced that she was really tired and now might be a good time to stop shopping and go home. Trish agreed with her, and the three set out to the car, much to Jericho's relief. He wasn't up for all this shopping, he didn't know how Stephanie could do it so much. His feet were killing him and his hands hurt from carrying all their bags.

They found the car and drove back to Jericho and Stephanie's where Trish dropped them both off. They said their goodbyes and Trish was back on her way. The drive home seemed to take longer, but that was probably because she was tired. Finally she got back home and grabbed her bags to bring them inside. She walked inside and went into the living room and promptly dropped her bags on the floor, laughing the entire time.

The room was filled with streamers and party balloons and Christian standing in the middle with a party hat on and one of those party favors where you blow on it and the little streamer comes out. She laughed and looked up at the two signs hanging from the ceiling, "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Anniversary."

"Christian, what is this?"

"Well, can't you see?" He asked her, "It's a party for our anniversary and your birthday."

"Christian, are you off your rocker? My birthday was months ago and our anniversary, what anniversary?"

"Well, see, we weren't together for your birthday, and we weren't together on the anniversary of when we first got together, seeing as how they were both in December, so I wanted us to celebrate it as a couple."

"But Christian, you got me something for my birthday, my necklace with the ruby pendant, remember?"

"Yeah, but we weren't together. I'm not saying that we're just going to be all mushy. I just wanted to celebrate with you because I love you so much and I know that I'm just lucky to have you in my life again, so I'm just trying to celebrate that."

"That's so sweet," she said, launching herself into his arms. He hugged her back, slipping a party hat on her head. She pulled away and laughed, adjusting it on her head and putting it on a tilt, "So what did you get?"

"Well, junk food of all kinds, a cake, the usual party stuff."

"This is so sweet," she told him, "You really didn't have to do this."

"Well, you know, you didn't have to take me back, but you did, so I figured that I should do something for you as well."  
"Christian, I took you back because I love you."

"I know," he said, kissing her, "But still, you don't know how much I wanted you back only to think that it would never happen again."

"Yeah, well that'll teach you to assume," she told him, "So how about that cake now?"

"I'd love some."

"Me too, and then when we're through, we need to discuss some things."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Just who the hell is going to win this thing at Backlash."


	197. Raw, April 12, 2004

"If he even tries anything, I'm going to kick his ass."

"Sweetie, there's no need for violence," Stephanie responded, "Besides, after last week, he should know not to mess with us."

"Steph, he's an asshole, and for some reason, you're what he wants, and he's going to try and get you."

She looked at him, "What do you mean 'for some reason?' Are you saying that you can't imagine anyone wanting to be with me?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, because everyone knows you're mine, so why anyone would want you knowing that they'd have to mess with me is beyond my brain capacity."

"Slick answer."

"Hey, when I dig a hole, I make sure I have a ladder with me to climb out of it," he said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes at him, "I'm just saying that I think Hunter is going to keep to himself this week. We pretty much handed his ass to him last week, he'd be stupid to try and come after us again."

"Yeah, but look who we're talking about," Jericho pointed out.

"Ok, you've got me there," she conceded, "But still, he should be too preoccupied with the title match on Sunday to care. Speaking of which, have you and them figured out an ending to the match?"

"Not yet," he said, "We'll probably discuss it tonight, or this week. Maybe closer to the actual date, you know, I'm sure they want to win, but don't you think its only fair that I win this one since I lost so unceremoniously at WrestleMania?"

"Well sweetie, if it were up to me, you'd win every match that you were in," Stephanie said as she leaned over to kiss him, "Mmm, your lips taste like cotton candy."

"Really, are you sure you're not just tasting the lip gloss of my secret girlfriend," he said with a serious face.

"Well, ask her where she got it cause I have to get me some of that," she replied with a smirk.

"I'll make a note of it," he told her, "Actually I just ate a Jolly Rancher, so that's probably what you were tasting."

"Wait, so there is no secret girlfriend?"

"Nope."

"Damn it, and here I thought that we could share the workload," Stephanie shrugged, "But I have to take care of you all by myself."

"But you like to?"

"Who says?"

"I said," he said with a cute grin. She smiled at him, despite herself and leaned over to lick his lips again, "Yum."

"Eww, disgusting display of affection!"

"Hey Edge," Stephanie said without looking over at him.

Stephanie backed away from Jericho, who was sitting on the other side of the small table situated in Catering. They were sitting a little ways away from where everyone else was sitting, creating some distance so they could have a little privacy. They were still getting incredulous looks and gossipy whispers wherever they went, so they tried to remain off-limits so they wouldn't have people coming up all the time to question them.

"Can't you two quit it for like five minutes?"

"He was sharing his candy with me," Stephanie told Edge. Edge looked like he wanted to throw up and she could only imagine what he was thinking at that exact moment. She had a feeling that it wasn't appropriate for a young audience.

"Um, candy means…real candy right?" Edge said hopefully, praying that the answer would be in the affirmative.

"She just liked the taste of the Jolly Rancher I ate," Jericho answered for her, "It wasn't a code name for something else."

"Great," Edge said relieved as he pulled up a chair and flipped it backwards as he straddled the seat and leaned his arms on the back of the chair, "I was a little afraid there."

"Hey Edge, sure you can join us," Jericho said sarcastically.

"It's a public place," he responded, "I can sit anywhere I want."

"Yeah, but you know, we were having a private conversation."

"So?"

"Ok, fine, sit with us."

"Isn't it great that I'm on Raw now?" Edge said, slamming his unhurt hand on the back of his chair, "Now we can hang out again and everything, its great!"

"Yeah, it is," Jericho said, "Especially when you interrupt me and my girlfriend."

"Its just Stephanie."

"Hey!" she said loudly, "What is it with tonight? Is it like 'Make Stephanie Feel Insignificant' Night?"

"What'd you do?" Edge said looking to Jericho, "Obviously this is not my fault."

"Oh, but its partly your fault," Jericho answered, "I only made an innocent remark, but you, you had to go too far. Tsk, tsk…"

"Great, so now I'm in trouble?"

"Yes, big trouble," Stephanie said, picking a chip off of Jericho's plate, "So how's the hand?"

"Fine, getting better and all that, at least that's what they tell me, how am I supposed to know how its doing. I don't have a portable x-ray machine."

"Well, this conversation is so exciting," Jericho said as he stood up, "I'm going back to my dressing room to get dressed."

"He has to sparkle, right Stephanie?" Edge said with a laugh.

"If my man wants to sparkle, then he'll sparkle," Stephanie giggled, "I'm going to stick around with Edge for a while sweetie, I'll meet you back at your dressing room."

"Ok baby," he said, leaning down to kiss her sweetly, "I may be with Christian and Trish if I'm all ready, so just head there if I'm not in the dressing room and you need me."

"Will do," she said, waving as he walked away.

Jericho left the room, glancing back once more to see Stephanie talking animatedly to Edge who was just shaking his head and burying his face into his arms as he laughed. He smiled to himself as he walked to his locker room. He turned the corner and saw Trish and Christian having a heated discussion and Trish collapsing her body against Christian in a fit of laughter.

"Hey you two," he called out, causing them both to turn their heads in his direction, Trish still leaning against Christian.

"What's up Chris?" Trish asked.

"I just need to talk to you two later about tonight. I was thinking about something, and I know that we agreed to do what needed to be done to make this 'feud' seem believable, but I still just want to run this by you."

"By me?" Trish questioned.

"Yeah, its just, yeah, so come by in a little while."

"Will do," Trish answered, "I'm totally curious now as to what you've done."

"You'll have to wait," he called out teasingly as he continued to make his way to his own locker room.

He saw someone standing in front of his door, poised to knock. Judging from the very much dyed red hair, he figured it to be Lita. He didn't know what she wanted, but he wasn't really in the mood to talk. He sighed as he walked up, putting his best smile forward.

"Lita, what can I do for you?"

She turned to him, smiling, "Oh, hey Chris, I just found out I'm your guest tonight on the Reel."

"Great," he said, "Um, so why are you here?"

"I just wanted to come by, tell you that, maybe talk about what you wanted to talk about or something," she said.

"Well, I bet that we could come up with something," he told her, "Since you're challenging for the title on Sunday, that could be one of our main focuses. And maybe whatever thing you did to Trish last week."

"Yeah, that bitch," Lita muttered, "I mean, she really is a slut, jumping from you to Christian in a heartbeat like that."

Jericho looked at her strangely. Didn't Lita know that he and Trish were on completely good terms and that everything that had happened wasn't even that big a deal? Obviously someone was really out of the loop about things, but he almost didn't want to tell her just to mess around with her.

"Um, Lita, I'm dating Stephanie."

"Yeah, I heard, I also heard that you took a break with Stephanie to go out with Trish. At least you had someone to go back to when you got dumped, unlike me with Matt," Lita said bitterly.

"Um…yeah," Jericho said as he looked around anxiously, "Yeah…"

"But don't worry about it, Trish doesn't deserve you anyways, you're too good for her."

Was Lita trying to hit on him? It was beginning to sound a little too much like a come on. Jericho just stood there awkwardly, not exactly knowing how to proceed with this conversation. He had never really liked Lita. Sure, he had protected her or something a few years back, but that was more out of convenience than anything else. That was around the time the whole Dean Malenko fiasco happened, and everyone knew there was little love lost between him and Malenko, dating back to their WCW days.

"Thanks," he said, hoping that Stephanie or Edge, or anyone would show up right now and save him from this conversation, "Was there anything else that you needed?"

"I don't think so, I'm just glad that I get a chance to go on your show. You know, its kind of cool and all that."

Ok, that had definitely sounded like flirting and Jericho was getting even more uncomfortable, "Well yeah, it is the best show out there and stuff."

"Yo Chris!"

Jericho breathed a huge sigh of relief as he heard Christian call out from behind him. He turned momentarily, staring at them with the most grateful expression they had ever seen. He mouthed 'thank you' and then turned to Lita, giving her a really cheesy false smile. Christian and Trish sauntered over moments later.

"Hey Jericho," Trish said, pretending to be in character, "Ready to get your ass handed to you at Backlash."

"Yeah right Stratus, in your dreams."

"Oh, I know you dream about me Chrissy, but you can't touch this," she said, running a finger down her chest.

"Like he'd want to," Lita interjected, "You're such a slut Trish."

"Whoa, big words," Trish said, "Get a new insult Lita, that one's a little on the old side."

"I can't believe I was friends with you," she said, "Turning your back on a great guy for that slime."

"Ok," Trish said, shaking her head, "If that's what you think."

"Ooh, a meeting and we weren't invited!" Stephanie exclaimed, bounding over happily as she threw herself into Jericho's arms, kissing him deeply, "I love you so much."

"Edge, what the hell did you do? Get her drunk?" Jericho asked as he looked down at a overly smiling Stephanie.

"No," Stephanie said, "I'm just glad to see you is all."

"Well if that's all," he said, hugging her to him.

Stephanie sent a suspicious and wary glance over to Lita, wondering what she was doing here, and why she had been making googly-eyes at her boyfriend as she stood there. She wasn't about to let some redheaded tramp try to steal her man away from her. She leaned her head against Jericho's chest and listened to his heartbeat.

"I better be going," Lita said, "See you on the Reel Chris."

"Uh huh," he said as she walked away, then he turned to the others, "Jeez, that was weird."

"She doesn't know this is all a game?" Christian asked.

"Apparently not, someone is out of the loop big time."

"So what is it you wanted me to watch?" Trish asked.

"Oh, I'm going to go find someone I need to talk to," Stephanie said, "So I'm going to leave you guys alone for now."

"No, wait, I want you to see this too," Jericho said with a little smile, "I had to call in a favor from Linda for this."

"You called my mom?" Stephanie asked as they all walked into the dressing room, "What for?"

"I needed to get a little something for tonight," he said, standing up as the rest of them sat down, "Ok, now, you guys know that I have to humiliate Trish in order to look like she actually hurt me right?"

"Yeah," Trish said, "I'm fine with that."

"Ok, well, there was this promo I wanted to cut, where basically Trish, I compare you to a dog," he said, clearing his throat, "And well, I thought I could use some visual aid."

"I'm not following," Trish answered.

"Ok, well, maybe I should just show you," he said as he turned and pushed the play button on the VCR before turning away from the television to watch with the rest of them.

What played on the screen was a scene from the Raw on March 5, 2001. One of the Raws that Trish surely wanted to forget. She saw herself looking cheap and trashy, and on her hands and knees, barking like a dog for Vince. She winced as she watched herself and remembered the time period. It was one of those times where you feel like the biggest dope on the planet.

Stephanie stifled a laugh as she saw it. She remembered that well, it was after she and her father had slopped up Trish really well, because Stephanie was the dominant female in the company. That's when her and Trish had been on bad terms, even going so far as to have a match against each other. That was also when Jericho hated her guts. Jericho turned off the tape and stared at the other four.

"So, Trish is it alright if I use that for my Highlight Reel?"

Trish didn't know what to say, but was interrupted by Christian's soft laughter. She glared at him, telling him to stop, but he just kept laughing, harder and louder this time. Edge joined in moments later, chuckling to himself. Jericho was next and then Stephanie who tried to look sympathetic towards Trish, but it really was hilarious.

"Oh yeah, that's nice, just laugh at me," Trish said, surrounded by various guffaws and peals of laughter. Finally, she too gave in and started laughing. It had been pretty funny looking back at it. And all that for Vince, it was really disgusting.

"Go ahead Chris," Trish answered finally, "I don't really care, it was in the past."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "Back when I hated your guts."

"I'm glad I'm not in that time again," she said, "But yeah, go right ahead Chris, doesn't matter to me."

Jericho walked over to her and ruffled her hair up, "I knew you'd accept."

"Great, now I'm going to have to go Jan to get my hair fixed…again," Trish said, sending a little look over to Christian who smiled guiltily. Stephanie, Edge, and Jericho all looked at each other with disturbance in their eyes.

"Ok, now I'm going to go," Stephanie said, "I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Jericho asked.

"I just need to talk to someone," she said, "I won't be long."

"Ok," he said as she left.

"Chris, after you get dressed, come with us to the locker room so we can discuss Sunday," Trish said, as she pulled Christian out of the room as well.

"Good, I want to discuss it at length though too this week," he told them.

"We will."

"I'm gone too," Edge said, "They want to tape my fingers or something like that, so I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Jericho said as he suddenly found himself alone.

Stephanie hung around the Evolution locker room, trying to remain inconspicuous. She didn't want Hunter to come out and find her or anything so she was partially hiding in one of the empty locker rooms. She needed to talk to Randy, to thank him for what he had done. It had been too risky to call him, not knowing who might pick up, and then Hunter might find out that she had been asking around for Randy's number and then he would know something was up. Finally, Randy came walking out and she grabbed his arm as he walked past. Randy, startled, tumbled into the room.

"What the hell? Is this some kind of set-up!"

"Shh," Stephanie said, "Its only me."

"Me who?"

Stephanie turned on the light, "Stephanie, see, just me."

"Stephanie, what are you doing? Are you trying to get the both of us killed?"

"Nothing of the sort…I just…well, Chris and I, we just wanted to thank you," she said, almost timid now that she was facing him, "I should've listened to you when you told me to get out of the garage last week. You were trying to warn me and stupid me thought you were trying to lure me into a trap."

"It's no big deal Stephanie," he said, trying to shake it off.

"No, actually it's a really big deal," she answered, "Hunter tried to play a trick on me, stupid, low trick, and you tried to warn me. I don't know if you're different from the rest of the guys in Evolution, or if Hunter is the only asshole around there, but, thank you, seriously."

"It was really nothing. Look, I really liked Trish, like really did, and maybe someday I'll get another chance with her. But you're her friend and not only that, but you deserved better than to have Hunter act like an ass around you, I just…I actually really don't condone hurting a woman," he told her, actually embarrassed to say that.

"You're a good guy Randy, just don't let Hunter drag you down to where he is," Stephanie said, "You'll regret it…I did."

He looked at her, "I'll be fine Steph, and hey, he can't be all bad, he did teach you how to create an ambush didn't he? He told us what happened."

She laughed softly, "Ok, not all bad, but I hope that we can…well, stay whatever it is we are right now."

"Sorta friends?"

"Sorta friends," she said, sticking her hand out. He shook it quickly.

"I have to…"

"Yeah, me too," she said, "Thanks again, I mean that."

"You're welcome, I mean that too."

Randy slipped back out of the room and smiled to himself. She was right, he couldn't let Hunter drag him down, but he didn't plan on letting Hunter control him completely like he seemed to want to do to everyone. Stephanie left the room minutes later and walked around to find Jericho, but came across Christian and Trish hugging around the make-up center.

"Trish, you look upset."

"Oh, hey Steph, no biggie, that guy Eugene thought my name was Slut. Kind of hurt you know, to be known as that when I'm not. I didn't want to get angry at him because he's…well, you know, but yeah, it kind of hurt."

"Want me to slap Chris on the back of the head for calling you that."

"Nah, all part of the job, but tell him that his thing is coming up soon."

"Will do."

Little did she know that as she left, Jericho was walking up to the twosome after he had been searching for Stephanie. Stephanie arrived into the locker room and saw a vase of red roses sitting on the table. Thinking that Jericho had surprised her with flowers, she went over and inhaled the rich scent they provided. She saw a card and giggled as she plucked it from its little holder. She took out the small card and opened it up.

"Watch out for the thorns, wouldn't want the pretty Princess to bleed…not yet anyways."

She dropped the card onto the ground, letting it lay carelessly on the floor. She glanced around quickly, expecting Hunter to leap out from the shadows and terrorize her. She realized her paranoia and damned Hunter to hell for actually making her afraid. She picked up the vase and threw it against the wall, the glass shattering on impact, falling like rain onto the floor, pooling in the puddle of water from the vase. The roses lay strewn about haphazardly, but she didn't care as she stormed out of the room, hoping that he wasn't waiting for her.

Jericho was just about ready to make his entrance when he saw Stephanie rushing into the open area around the gorilla. He made his way over to her quickly and she held onto him tightly, burying her face into his chest. He didn't know what was going on so he just held her tightly, smoothing her hair back, hoping the commercial that was the signal for his entrance to never end.

"What's wrong baby?" he whispered.

"He sent me flowers," she told him, her voice muffled.

"Hunter?"

"Yeah, and he said that he wanted me to bleed."

Jericho's eyes darkened, "That's it! I'm going after him."

Unfortunately, his music hit and he was absolutely torn between going out there and cutting that promo and staying here with Stephanie. He was going to stay when he felt himself pushed away from her. He looked down at her and she was telling him silently to go out there and do his job.

"Christian?" Jericho called over.

"Yeah?" he answered, walking over.

"Take care of Stephanie while I'm out there."

"Ok," he said, having seen the way Stephanie had gravitated to Jericho's arms. Stephanie hugged herself to Christian and he wrapped an arm around her waist as Jericho left.

Jericho wanted to be anywhere but out here at the moment, but put on his best face for the crowd. The sooner that he got this over with, the sooner that Stephanie could be in his arms, or Hunter's face would be under his fist. Either scenario was looking pretty good right about now. He walked into the ring and thought that if he made this as funny as possible. Hopefully if he could make Stephanie laugh, then she would feel better and take her mind off of Hunter. Whatever game Hunter was trying to play, Jericho didn't appreciate it one bit. This was the thought going through his head as he went through his little spiel and abbreviation marathon.

He brought out the "Stephanie Insult" as well, as it had come to be known. He couldn't say those words without thinking of her. They were hers first and only Trish's as an off-beat tribute to the woman that he loved. Yeah, it was weird, but what were him and Stephanie if not weird? He rolled his footage and managed a smile. He remembered back then, he had been the Intercontinental Champion; life was good. Life was better now, but life was pretty good back then too. At least Stephanie was in his life at that time, though not in the capacity he had come to love.

Next was his turn to introduce Lita and he tried to come up with a nice way to introduce her. He wracked his brain, trying to think of something nice. What he came up with was that she was the woman to eliminate Trish, and that she was the Queen of Extreme, granted there were no other "extreme" women wrestlers on the roster…certainly there were better wrestlers, but he guessed they were "extreme."

Lita came out and Jericho's eyes widened as Trish ran out and attacked Lita. He wondered if something had gone on backstage to upset Trish enough to come out and beat up Lita. Or maybe it was just Trish's temper. He got out of the ring and up the ramp to see what the commotion was about. Bischoff came out then and announced a match-up right now between the divas. Jericho was a little shocked and as the two women went down to the ring, Jericho absently followed, wondering if it would be inappropriate to just leave so he could be with Stephanie.

They started brawling and Trish got the upper-hand. Jericho watched on the outside, not exactly wanting to root for Lita, but what else could he do? He couldn't root for Trish, because he was supposed to despise her. The match wore on and then Jericho saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Christian ambling down the ramp. Jericho instantly became worried about Stephanie, now that she was apparently alone. Christian looked apprehensive to even come down there and Jericho envisioned horrible things happening to Stephanie and Christian coming down to try and tell him that Stephanie was in trouble.

Unfortunately, due to the match, he could only stand there worrying about Stephanie, hoping that she was going to be alright backstage. Lita and Trish continued to fight, the match going either way, but Jericho was silently rooting for Trish. But every time that Trish seemed to gain a clear upper-hand, Lita would come charging back. Trish tried to get the Stratusfaction, but Lita managed to counter it. Jericho was just looking for this match to end, but no such luck. Lita charge towards Trish and she fell to the outside of the ring, grimacing in pain for a moment. She didn't have time to think about the shot as Lita flew through the air to hit her down. Lita got up again but it was futile as Christian threw her roughly into the barrier.

That's when all hell broke loose, or at least to the viewers at home. Jericho found himself with Christian in the ring and then quickly disposed of him, going into his part for the time being, pushing thoughts of Stephanie out of his brain. He found himself alone with Trish and thinking back to things he used to do with Stephanie he grabbed her and tried to put her into the Walls. She didn't have the same zest as Stephanie did, where she would try to slap him, but he would always thwart her attempts. Maybe it was different because Trish didn't really hate him at all. At any rate, he didn't get the hold because Christian had come back into the ring.

Christian held him as Trish slapped him. Not too hard, but enough to look believable. Jericho felt himself getting set up for the Unprettier and just let himself take it, knowing this was for appearances only. Christian set him up again and he fell to the ground. Christian and Trish both went down and started what appeared to be trash talking.

"She's with Edge, don't worry," Christian whispered as Trish covered Christian's words with the screaming she was doing so that nobody would actually hear.

Jericho was suddenly relieved and tried to get up, but Trish took him down one final time. He didn't care though, he knew that Stephanie was alright and that was the only thing that mattered. He got back up again, with no help, and walked backstage. Stephanie was indeed fine and standing off to the side, talking with Edge. She saw him walk backstage and ran over to him, throwing herself into his arms as he lifted her off the ground.

"So did I make you laugh?" he whispered into her neck.

"Yeah, but don't worry, you won't be funny-looking forever. You'll grow out of this gawky stage," she giggled.

"I was afraid that you weren't ok and that Christian was trying to come out and tell me that," he told her.

She broke away from him and saw the worry in his face. She looked at him with loving eyes and brushed his hair back and away from his face. She knew that he worried about her far more than he had to, but she didn't know any way to actually stop him. She guessed that just went along with loving someone, because she knew, when he was in difficult situations, she acted the same way.

"Nope, I'm just fine, there's a little broken glass in the dressing room, but other than that, I'm fine."

"Good, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"You'd make sure that nothing of the sort were to happen, so don't worry anymore," she said, lightly kissing him, "You wanna go back to the hotel and just relax."

"Relax?"

"Or not," she said, implying more.

"Guys, we're heading out!" Jericho called out as he and Stephanie walked quickly away.

Maybe it was too quickly because they didn't notice Hunter watching them with a sinister smile on his face. He knew Stephanie would react the way she had to the flowers. He had been banking on it. But the threats wouldn't stop coming. He intended to break them apart at all costs. But there was something Hunter didn't see, even in his so-called "infinite wisdom."

He didn't notice that he too was being watched. No, he was too stupid to know that the man who was going to make sure that he didn't harm Stephanie was on the inside, was one of his own. There was someone watching Hunter watching Stephanie. He was going to make sure that Stephanie remained safe and sound and with the man who actually loved her and not the man that wanted to manipulate her for his own personal gain. Maybe if Hunter had been just a little more observant he would've seen it…or maybe not.

But Randy Orton knew, and he was watching, always watching.


	198. SmackDown, April 15, 2004

"I love you."

"I know you love me."

"I love, love, love you."

"What do you want?" Jericho asked her kindly. Stephanie looked at him innocently and just kissed his chin. He held her tighter and gave her a look that said everything he wanted to say.

"I don't want anything, I promise."

"Sure, so what is it?"

"I just wanted to tell you something, but I don't know how you're going to take it," she said, biting her lip a little.

"What is this something? Oh no, you've decided to take Hunter up on that offer and you're joining Evolution aren't you, you're going to show up on Sunday and you're going to join in with Hunter! This is my worst nightmare come true, how could you Stephanie?"

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," she balked, "But yeah, it does have to do with Evolution. I didn't know how to tell you this but--"

"Are you saying that Hunter did something else to you? Stephanie, I told you to tell me if he did something so that I could take care of it."

"No, its not about Hunter," Stephanie reassured him, "Its actually about Randy."

"What about him?"

"I talked to him on Monday, thanked him actually."

Jericho didn't know what to think about this. What Randy had done did go above and beyond the call of duty and Jericho was extremely grateful that he had tipped Stephanie off to the plan. But he wasn't sure that he liked her talking to him without someone else present. You never knew when Evolution was lurking around.

"Stephanie," Jericho said with a reprimanding lilt to his voice.

"Sweetie, I just wanted to thank me for what he had done, I mean, don't you think that I'm worth it?" She batted her eyelashes at him comically.

"You're worth it," he told her, kissing her lightly, "But next time, please tell me when you decide to go cavorting with the enemy."

"He's not the enemy, he's my friend," Stephanie said proudly.

Jericho cocked an eyebrow, "You're…friend?"

"Yeah, we came to an understanding. He's really not a bad guy. If Trish didn't really want Christian back, I would've so been on board with her dating him. He's really a sweet guy when you get to know him."

"Get to know him?" Jericho's heart beat a little bit faster than it normally did at the statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you know, actually talking to him, having a conversation with him and all that."

"When were you having conversations with him?"

"When I talked to him on Monday, I told you that already," she said, sticking her tongue out, "Don't you listen when I talk to you?"

"Yeah, I just didn't know what you meant by that," he said as the phone started ringing, "Oh look at that, saved by the bell."

"I loved that show!" Stephanie exclaimed as she got off of his lap and walked into the kitchen to get the phone, "Hello, Stephanie and Chris's house."

Jericho smiled to himself after hearing her say that. Before, when they were still in hiding, they had had to answer the phone with "Chris's house," and Jericho had to answer the phone more times than naught, lest Stephanie get caught. But now, now it was alright to answer the phone with, "Stephanie and Chris's house." He just really loved the way that sounded together.

"Stephanie, it's Kurt."

"Kurt, hey, what's up Mr. General Manager, are you working hard like you should be," she asked him, with no malice or contempt in her voice for having him take the job that should've been hers.

"Yeah, I was just a little bit lonely, wanted to talk to you," he said, and she could note the sadness in his voice. It made her sad because it was true, he was lonely over there, not really having anyone there to talk to anymore.

"Hey Kurt, how about I do you one better," Stephanie said, "What if Chris and I came over there and hung out with you tonight. It's not that long a plane ride to Indianapolis."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure, why the hell not," she said, "Its not like we have anything better to do. Cause we're just lazy bums who hang around the house and you know, do nothing."

"I'd LOVE it if you came over, you would probably be here before the show if you left soon."

"Kurt, it's only early afternoon, of course we'd be there in enough time, so I'll let you go and we'll go pack and stuff, I'm sure that we can find somewhere to stay when we get there. Call the limo to pick us up."

"Ok, and you guys can stay with me, I'm in the master suite at the hotel I'm booked at and there's like five rooms in the place."

"Ooh, slumber party!"

"Bye Steph," Kurt said laughing, "See you soon."

"Bye," she said, hanging up and then skipping into the living room, "Get packed."

"You're kicking me out of my own house! What'd I do," Jericho asked dramatically.

"We're going to go visit Kurt, I'm going to call the airlines right now and book us a flight, and you are going to go pack for me and you. And when I say pack that means that you actually put clothes into my suitcase, not try to pack no clothes so I have to be naked all weekend. I know that its some sort of sick fantasy with you, but I want to see my clothes actually packed."

"Geez, one time, I tried ONE time to pack nothing for you. And you caught me anyways, its not like you didn't catch me. And I didn't want you totally naked, I did pack you lingerie."

"Sick pervert," she muttered.

"But your sick pervert, right baby?"

"Uh huh," she called out as she was already dialing the phone.

Jericho went upstairs and grabbed one large suitcase, grabbing some of his clothes and sticking them on one side and then grabbing some of Stephanie's clothes and started putting them on the other side. Then he thought for a second, he hadn't even been given an opinion in going to see Kurt, she had just told him that's what they were doing. Jesus, he was so whipped. Now here he was packing because she told him to.

"I got us on a flight, but we have to leave in like ten minutes, I'll get the bathroom stuff."

"Stephanie?"

"Yes sweetie," she called out.

"You didn't even ask me if I wanted to go," he called back, "You just ordered me."

"Oh did I?" she said, coming back out of the bathroom with some makeup bags with their stuff in it. There was no remorse in her voice, or apology of any sort. Jericho looked over at her and she shrugged helplessly. "Can we go visit Kurt?"

"I'm so fucking whipped, look at what you've done to me," he told her, shaking his head in disgust of himself.

"Yes, you are whipped, but sweetie, is it really all that bad?"

He looked at her, how could he even be mad at her, "No, its not that bad, just ask me next time so I can have at least a little bit of my dignity."

"Oh, I would never leave you with no dignity," she said, kissing him as she slipped the bags into the suitcase.

He zipped up the bag and picked it up. She slipped her arm through his and they walked out of the house, making sure everything was locked up and closed. They drove to the airport just in time to catch their flight. They were sitting in the first class cabin, talking the entire way to Indianapolis.

"This is nice," she said as the plane was making its final descent.

"What is?"

"Traveling with you."

"Because we don't travel enough as it is?"

"No, you know, just going where we please, when we please, it has a certain amount of fun attached to it, like adventure or something. Like we're on a great, big adventure."

"Don't you think that's what life is, a big adventure?"

"Yeah, with you, I think that I'll never have to worry about not having an exciting life," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Is that your way of saying I'm trouble?"

"Yes Chris, you're big trouble."

He laughed and pulled her to him, "If I didn't love you as much as I do, I'd probably let Hunter have you by now."

"That was mean," she said pouting.

"Aww, forgive me?"

"Maybe," she said as the plane landed, "But I'll have to think about it."

Jericho followed her off the plane and down to the baggage claim where they saw the sign that their limo driver was holding. After getting to the car and getting in, they were on their way to the arena. Jericho laid himself languidly across the seat on one end of the limo. Stephanie watched him from the other end, watching the scenery go by, like the RCA Dome where the Indianapolis Colts played.

"We're here," Stephanie said as they pulled into the arena, "Chris, we're here."

"I heard you Steph," he said, sitting up, "I was just resting my eyes."

"I'm going ahead," she said, hopping out of the car, "Meet you in there!"

Stephanie ran out of the car and then into the building, her hair flowing behind her. It felt weird to be back on SmackDown and not be the General Manager, but she didn't really mind it. She was actually fine just going with Jericho to Raw and hanging out there. She was sure that she'd be back soon, she just had to be patient. She found Kurt's office and threw open the door.

Kurt looked up from some paperwork that he was looking at and saw Stephanie standing there, a big grin on her face. He stood up and went around the desk to intercept her. She ran to him and he engulfed her in a huge hug, so glad to see her. He actually picked her up and she just kept hugging him.

"I've missed you!"

"I missed you too," he told her, "I miss being with everyone, even Edge is on Raw now."

"Yeah, I know, its weird huh, because at one time, we were all on the same show."

"Yeah," he said, still keeping his embrace with her, "Now I'm all alone."

"If I didn't know any better, I swear that I might start to get ideas about the two of you."

"Hey Chris, she drag you along?" Kurt asked.

"Doesn't she drag me along everywhere."

"Now that's true," Kurt said, "I guess I shouldn't have expected any different now right?"

"Nope," he answered, plopping himself down on the couch, "So what's happening tonight, anything interesting?"

"Depends on what you like, but I'm not going to be giving away the entire show right now, you're going to have to watch for yourself."

"What's the fun in that if you know the guy in power than you should know what's going to happen. Its not like I'm going to go down and interfere in a match or something," Jericho pointed out, "I'd get in trouble with Vince."

"Like you aren't Vince's golden boy," Kurt said, finally letting go of Stephanie who went to sit in his chair.

"Where the hell did you get that idea?"

"Well, figuring you are dating his only daughter, I'm going to guess and say that you are now on the top of his list of favorite wrestlers. You have such an in man, I kind of envy you."

"But you're management now, that's higher up."

"Yeah, but you're practically part of the McMahon family, definitely a higher honor right there."

"Ok, while you two argue, I'm going to walk around. I can actually walk around by myself and not feel like Hunter is lurking around the corner," Stephanie said with a smile.

"See you later baby."

"Bye Steph."

Stephanie stepped out of the office and looked to the door. It said "Kurt Angle" in plain letters and she smiled wistfully. Once upon a time it would say "Stephanie McMahon" on there, but not anymore. She traced the sign for a few seconds, before she heard the crowd cheering. The show was obviously starting.

"Stephanie McMahon?"

She looked up, "Big Show."

"I thought you got kicked out of the company," he said snidely, "I wasn't sorry to see you go either."

"I did get kicked out of the company, but I'm allowed to come back if I want to, my dad said so, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be going."

"So you're good with Daddy now are you?" he said, blocking her path, which wasn't difficult to do considering her size.

"Yeah, I am, so I guess you don't talk to anyone on Raw do you?" she asked, knowing that everyone on that show knew she was with Chris Jericho and that she was back in her father's favor.

"Why, should I talk to someone over there?"

"It might give you a better perspective on things," she said, "Now, I'm going, I think I hear Kurt."

"How about you get me a title shot?" he told her, smirking as if he were in power around here.

"I don't have any power here," she told him, "So telling me anything is useless, I'm only here to visit Kurt."

"See, there you go, you're good friends with Kurt, pull me some strings."

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Can't, sorry, you're just going to have to do that yourself I guess."

"Bad idea Stephanie."

"Baby, you wanna go watch Kurt?"

Stephanie looked past Big Show and saw Jericho standing there. He looked calm, like he knew that the Big Show wouldn't try to hurt her. She wasn't sure if that was a true or not, but she quickly ducked under Big Show's massive arm to go over to Jericho. He hugged her and then gave a quick look to the shocked Big Show.

"You…and her…and him," Big Show stuttered.

"Wow, someone who didn't know about us," Jericho said, "Hey man, Stephanie and I are dating, have been since she started the job of General Manager over here. Get in the now man, get in the loop."

Jericho walked off with Stephanie, who was giggling as she buried her face into his shoulder. She loved how he could so casually just say that and be so mean at the exact same time. It was a talent of his. They went to the gorilla to check out the show and saw they had just missed Kurt and that he was now in his office again. Jericho stood behind Stephanie and rested his arm over her shoulder down to her other arm.

"Miss it?"

"Not as much as I thought I would, I think I'm doing alright. I think what makes it easier not being on the show is the fact that you and I aren't hiding anymore."

"How does that make it better?" he asked, turning his head slightly to watch her profile.

"I don't know, it just does," she told him, "You know what's always fun?"

"Hmm?" he asked, still watching the television.

She leaned up to whisper in his ear and his eyes widened as he stared at her. She wiggled her eyebrows at him and giggled. Jericho just stared at her hungrily and he pulled away from her as she started walking down the hallways towards any empty room with a lock. Jericho just followed her.

It was some time later they emerged from the locker room they had found. Jericho adjusted his shirt and fixed his hair as Stephanie checked her lipstick. They walked back down to Kurt's office and went inside but didn't find him anywhere. The show seemed to be coming to a close, they had spent an awfully long time in the locker room, doing stuff. Jericho sat on the desk and looked at the television only to see Kurt rushing somewhere.

"Hey Steph, come here," he said quickly. Stephanie came over to him and then followed his gaze to the television to see Big Show holding Torrie Wilson over some sort of landing.

"What the hell?" Stephanie muttered, then looked at Jericho in confusion, "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but Kurt's on the case."

"I hope he helps her. I mean, I don't have any love lost for her or anything, she came on to my dad too, but you know, that's dangerous."

"I know," he said, pulling her against him as they kept their eyes trained on the television.

They both watched with baited breath as Kurt tried to coax Torrie out of Big Show's large hands. He eventually did but then turned his sights on Kurt himself. Stephanie's breath was caught in her throat as she watched Kurt tossed over the edge and she couldn't see what happened next. She froze, her eyes unmoving and unblinking. She couldn't even turn her head to look at Jericho, but she didn't feel his warm breath on her cheek and figured he was waiting too. The sight that greeted them was not pretty.

"No!" Stephanie said, her voice choked.

They saw Kurt laying broken on the ground and they just stood there, not knowing what to do. They couldn't move, couldn't even speak. The pool of blood around his head did nothing to calm their fears. Stephanie wanted to do something, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the image on her screen until it faded to black.

"KURT!" Stephanie tried to run away, but Jericho stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"To Kurt, he's hurt, oh my God, he's hurt!"

"Stephanie, Show could be there!"

"I don't care," she said, breaking free from him again and rushing out of the room. Jericho could do nothing but follow her, having to make sure that she wasn't going to get hurt either.

When they arrived at the scene, there was still nobody around. Big Show seemed to have disappeared, but they could hear Torrie's broken sobs coming from the landing. Too concerned were they about Kurt though as Stephanie rushed to his side and gasped at how much blood there really was. She grabbed Kurt's hand, but it didn't grip back.

"Kurt, KURT! Speak to me," she said, tears coming to her eyes, "Please Kurt, talk to me."

Jericho got out his cell phone and dialed the local authorities who said they'd be there as soon as possible. He hung up and turned to Stephanie who was sobbing uncontrollably now, still trying to revive Kurt. Jericho kneeled down next to her and checked for a pulse. There was one, but it was weak, but at least there was one.

"Where the fuck is everyone around here!" Stephanie was screaming now, looking around, "Are they so fucking afraid that they couldn't come help their boss!"

"Stephanie, calm down, freaking out isn't going to help Kurt, we have to stay calm," he told her, "He has a pulse, that's a good thing, we just have to wait for the ambulance to get here."

"Someone should've fucking called as soon as it happened!" 

"Shh," he said, hugging her tightly, "Stay right here with him while I go get Torrie."

He could feel Stephanie shaking, but he knew that Torrie was in a bad state as well. He went and climbed the steps to where she was still laying against the concrete. Jericho walked out cautiously, hoping that he would scare her. She was really close to the edge, almost looking over it. Jericho went closer to her, kneeling down on the ground.

"Torrie," he called out softly.

"He…oh God, he threw him," Torrie said.

"I know, but we have to get you down from here alright, so just give me your hand and we'll go back down."

Torrie hesitantly reached for his hand and he pulled her away from the edge. He took her downstairs and brought her over to where Stephanie was still hovering around Kurt's prone form. The ambulance came screeching in moments later and Stephanie was forced to step back as they went to work on Kurt. They strapped him to a gurney and put him in the ambulance.

"Wait, I'm going with him!" Stephanie called out and then turned to Jericho, "Meet me at the hospital."

Jericho nodded and turned to Torrie, "Do you want a ride back to your hotel?"

"Please."

"Ok, come with me."

Jericho led Torrie out to their limo and helped her inside. The trip was tense and silent, both thinking back to what they had seen. When they reached the hotel, Torrie got out with a quiet thank you and then Jericho was on his way to the hospital. The ride took a little while and Jericho tried to get the image of Kurt falling out of his mind. Damn that Big Show!

He arrived and got the room number from the nurses station, going up to the room. He found Stephanie sitting next to the bed, holding Kurt's hand. He walked in quietly and stood behind Stephanie, putting his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently in comfort.

"What'd they say?"

"Tests, tests, and more tests," she said brokenly, "We won't know for hours."

"Fuck," Jericho mumbled, "Of all the times for that to happen, while we were having sex, if we had half a brain, we wouldn't have been doing that so we could've persuaded Kurt to be more rational than that."

"Oh be quiet Chris, Kurt would've gone out there anyways, you know how he loves to be the hero."

"True, but look at him now, beaten and broken and God knows what else."

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens," she said, "But this makes Sunday not as fun anymore."

"Oh God, Backlash, are you going to come with me, or stay with Kurt?"

"I'm not sure yet, it depends on where I'm needed."

"Well this just put a whole dampening on my mood."

"Mine too," she replied, "I just hope he's going to be alright."

"I'm sure he will Steph, don't worry, he's Kurt, he'll be fine."


	199. Backlash, April 18, 2004

"So how's Kurt?"

Stephanie sighed, "I just left this morning, they said that he'll be ok, over time it was pretty bad."

Trish sighed as well, "That's terrible, when Christian and I saw it, oh my God, I think my heart stopped beating."

"Yeah," Edge said, "I actually leapt out of my seat, I'm going to go see him after Raw on Monday. I'll fly down there on Tuesday and go visit him. You did say that he's allowed visitors, right Stephanie?"

Stephanie nodded, "Yeah, he's allowed visitors."

Stephanie, Jericho, Edge, Trish, and Christian were all sitting around a café table talking about what had happened to Kurt before they went to the arena for the show that evening. Stephanie and Jericho had stayed at the hospital most of Thursday night, waiting for Kurt's family to arrive. The doctors wouldn't tell Stephanie or Jericho anything because they weren't family, so they had to wait for Kurt's mother and brother to get there before they found out what was wrong with him.

The doctor had told them that he had a grade 3 concussion, a broken leg, and some internal injuries, so he was still in the hospital as of now. While Jericho had flown to Edmonton the day before, Stephanie had stayed by Kurt's bedside until this morning. She didn't want to miss Jericho's match that night at Backlash. Even if it was against two friends.

"Good, because I definitely want to visit him," Edge said, "Trish, Christian, you guys want to come?"

"Yeah, actually, I'd feel a lot better if I saw that he was, you know, there and alive if I went to see him in person," Trish said, "Help squelch those fears I've been having. I can't believe that Big Show would do that. I mean, what has to go through a man's mind to throw someone off a landing like that."

"Its jut deranged," Jericho said, shaking his head, "I don't even know."

"And why Kurt? He was just trying to help," Trish said, "It makes no sense, I swear…I just, I don't want to think about it."

Christian kissed her cheek, "Then try not to, we have a big night ahead of us."

"That's right, God, with all of this Kurt stuff, we haven't even really talked about the show tonight, or the match," Trish said, "Chris, we've decided to be generous and let you win tonight."

Jericho laughed at the way she said that. It seemed like she was just being gracious, like he had no say in this at all, "Well thanks, I'm glad that you told me, but are you sure I'm winning or is Stephanie going to come out, kiss Christian and then join you guys."

Trish laughed, "Damn Steph, he's on to us."

Stephanie took a sip from her latte before responding, "Sorry sweetie, there's just something about Christian. I guess this'll make the second time you lose one of your girls to him."

"Trish wasn't my girl though," Jericho answered, holding Stephanie's free hand, "Just you."

"The love fest, I can't stand it," Edge said, "When did you two become so freaking domesticated. Where the hell is my brother and Chris Jericho, the guy who could have any woman he wanted?"

"We're getting old man," Christian said, "We had to settle down our bachelor ways sometime right?"

"Yeah, but I'm still out there, having fun, sowing the wild oats."

"I did that," Jericho said, "I'm over it, I just want Stephanie."

"Aww, I want you too sweetie," Stephanie said sweetly as she leaned over to kiss Jericho in thanks for his kind words.

"Talk about being out of place," Edge muttered to himself, "I wish that I could be transported into some sort of harem with fifty girls ready to do my bidding."

Jericho raised an eyebrow in question before shaking his head, not wanting to even ask. Instead he turned to Christian, "So anything in the match that you think we should do? I mean this is supposed to be my 'revenge' match after all."

"Well, you should get your hands on Trish for a little while--"

"I hope you weren't going to assume that I would just go along with this without getting asked," Trish said, "I at least should get a say if you're going to be touching me."

"You make it sound like I'm going to grope you in the middle of the ring," Jericho said, "Hey, maybe I should grope you in the middle of the ring…"

"I don't think so," Stephanie and Trish said at the same time, then laughed at each other.

"Well, looks like there won't be any groping tonight," Edge laughed, "Too bad Chris, you'd have two lovely women in the same night."

"Edge is trying to hit on our women," Christian said to Jericho, "This isn't looking good. We may have to kick your ass Edge."

"Great, so I'll get beat on twice tonight. I wish that I could just go up to Kane and say something like, 'hey Kane, buddy, old pal, I'm winning tonight.' That'd be something. I'm going to probably get spanked tonight in the ring, what was I thinking?"

"Spanking!" Jericho exclaimed then looked at the other four who were giving him strange looks from around the table.

"Um…sweetie, I hope that you're not thinking about us tonight in our hotel room."

"I hope you weren't either," Edge told him, "Because…that's just wrong."

"No, no, no," Jericho replied, "Tonight in the match, I just take Trish, spank her a little bit and then let her go, batta bing, batta boom, and the revenge is given. How bout it Trish?"

"This isn't some sort of weird way to touch my girlfriend's ass is it?" Christian asked with mock suspicion.

"No, besides I've got a fine ass waiting for me at home," Jericho said, grinning smarmily at Stephanie. Stephanie blushed and ducked her head to keep the look of embarrassment off of her face.

"And again, too much information," Edge said.

"You can spank me Chris, I figure that way I don't actually get hurt, and it makes you look better."

"Probably warm you up for later too huh Trish," Edge said impishly.

"You know, we should probably get to the arena," Stephanie said, "Unless you guys want to be late."

"Maybe your dad will give you a job as the official time watcher or something," Edge said, "You know, making sure everyone gets there on time or something."

"That's just what I want to do," Stephanie said as they all got up, "I can stand by the door looking at my watch and tapping it impatiently as someone walks in late."

"See, you already know what you'd do."

"Funny Edge, funny," Stephanie said as Jericho reached out to grab her hand.

They all got into their respective cars and drove to the arena. The topics discussed in the cars were varying. Stephanie and Jericho were discussing the title match and how they hoped that Benoit won. Trish, Christian and Edge were all cementing their plan to go visit Kurt during the week. They got to the arena at roughly the same time, Jericho a little earlier because of his tendency to speed.

He and Stephanie got out of the vehicle and Stephanie grabbed his bag for him. Jericho grabbed it back, insisting that he be the one to carry it. Stephanie protested, grabbing it back and this went on for a little bit until Trish and company arrived to break up the mini-fight the two were having in the parking lot.

"It's my bag, I think I should carry it."

"Well, I was just trying to help," Stephanie scoffed.

"I know," he said, rolling his eyes at Edge, "Its cool."

"Don't roll your eyes at me," Stephanie called from in front of him where she was walking with Trish.

"How does she fucking do that?" Jericho muttered to the guys, "I swear, she sees everything."

"She's good man," Christian said.

They all parted ways as they walked inside the large building. Jericho and Stephanie walked to their locker room, where Jericho set his things down. Stephanie checked out the room and deemed it acceptable as she sat down on the couch, crossing her legs. Jericho kissed the top of her head as he grabbed his wrestling tights and walked into the bathroom to change.

"Why'd you go into the bathroom?" Stephanie called out.

"Because who knows who could walk in here and see me with my pants around my ankles…"

"As long as I'm not kneeling in front of you, I think they wouldn't care that they walked in."

"No Stephanie, YOU wouldn't care if you walked in because you've seen everything, but if Christian or Edge walked in, I may have to never talk to them again."

"Why? They'd be jealous?" she joked.

"I don't even want to think about that possibility because that would make me think of things that I don't want to think about…ever!"

"Ok, I guess I'll just think about it then."

Jericho came out and stood in front of her, "No you won't."

"Oh, you always ruin my fun," she said, flipping on the television, "Shows about to start."

"Well, whoop-dee-doo, I have third match, so I can just sit back, relax with my favorite girl and watch the festivities," he said, plopping himself down on the couch and watching the television.

"Is it weird to be cheered again?"

"No, I feel that I should always get cheered."

"Ok, but I was just wondering, its been so long since I've been cheered, since I've been out there, God, people might think I'm pregnant or something since I've been away so long."

"Really? Are you?"

"Oh yeah, you know, I'm just really good at hiding it," she said, "Very, very good."

He patted her stomach, "Obviously."

"Now I'm hungry," she said, "You've woken up my stomach."

"Go to catering and get food."

"Good idea, you want anything?"

"Um, water would be nice, and yeah, water would be nice."

"Ok, I'm on it," she saluted.

She walked down to catering where a few other wrestlers were talking and eating or drinking water, which seemed to be the beverage of choice around there. She got some potato salad and Jericho's potato chips. She grabbed his water and felt an overbearing presence behind her.

"Don't turn your back on people, it gives them the opportunity to give you a sledgehammer to the back."

"In plain sight, I don't think so."

"Then you underestimate me."

"Just like you underestimated me?"

"I didn't know you had it in you to think of something so clever," Hunter whispered harshly.

"You should know better than to think that I would just drop everything in my life to run after you," she answered, turning around to come face to face with him, "I thought you were smarter than that Hunter."

"So you mean I have to work at it then?" he asked her, raising his eyebrow.

"Work all you want, do everything you want, but I have so many people behind me Hunter, you wouldn't get very far even if you tried."

"You talk a big game Stephanie, but you know deep down that you're still that scared little girl that I married in that drive-thru in Vegas. The more things change, the more they stay the same right."

"You may THINK that I have some sort of bottled up love for you, that I'm even missing you, but you're wrong, I haven't missed you in years, and I intend to keep it that way."

"You just don't know where your loyalties lie Stephy, you just don't get it do you. Once you have me, you don't just escape me."

"Hunter…I sent you the tape," she said, "You know, of the fake doctor, essentially, I sent it to you. I sent the tape to my mom, who sent it to you, and look what happened. So to say that I am the one who's pining after you, when it was ME who get out from under you is pretty stupid."

Hunter remained silent for a moment at these words. She knew that it probably bugged him to know that she was the one who really initiated everything that happened between them. It was never about her missing him. She didn't miss him, why in God's name would she?

"So you've been cohorts with Jericho for how long now? Since he kissed you at King of the Ring back in 2000? You cheated on me, didn't you?"

"Would you believe that I actually stayed faithful to your sorry ass? Unbelievable huh? I know, so many wasted opportunities for me to sleep with Jericho or Kurt, but no, I didn't, damn me."

"See, you were under my spell, you can't get away from me Stephanie, I invade you."

"The only thing you're invading is personal space, but that's easily corrected as I go and bring my food and Chris's water back to his dressing room."

"Stephanie, how long you and Chris been together?"

"Two years this July," she said smugly.

"Two years, that's a long time," Hunter nodded, "Ever wonder, you know, think about…why hasn't he asked you to marry him? You think that he would've asked you by now, but I don't see a ring on your finger…what's with that?"

Stephanie glared at him, "That's none of your business!"

"Oh, so he hasn't even asked has he? That's too bad. I would've figured after two years, was it, that he'd have asked, if he really loves you as much as he says he does."

"He does love me, more than you ever could," she told him, her tone strong and unwavering, "You don't scare me Hunter, you just don't."

Stephanie turned on her heel and left quickly, anticipating Hunter following her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he wasn't, but she didn't lessen her pace any as she walked into Jericho's dressing room. He was still sitting on the couch, now watching the beginning of the Tajiri and Coach match.

"Hey, what took you so long?"

"Nothing," she said, "Just didn't know what I wanted to eat, you know how it is…"

Jericho looked at her and saw that she appeared a bit nervous, but she looked fine so he dismissed his feeling as she handed him his water. Stephanie sat down next to him with her plate in hand as she began to eat. She knew that Jericho was on the end of his rope with Hunter as it was, and she didn't want to tell him about what happened because he might go off the deep end. Even so, Hunter's words were echoing in her brain a little.

"Chris?"

"What?"

"Did…I mean, do…do you ever think about marrying me?"

Jericho looked over at her in surprise, wondering if she knew anything about the ring he had bought her, or the negotiations that he had been having with her father. Jericho had been talking to Vince over the past couple of weeks, trying to fit Stephanie in somewhere. They hadn't figured something out yet, but Jericho was hoping it would happen soon. He swallowed hard, maybe Stephanie had found out what he had been doing.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's a simple question isn't it? I mean we HAVE been going out for almost two years, barring two minor break-ups, which were barely even break-ups. I mean, you know, you have thought long-term right?"

"Yeah, I have…" That was as much as he was going to tell her right now.

"So, I mean, you must've thought about marriage at some point, correct?"

"Yeah…I guess."

"So why haven't you asked me?"

"Well, um, you see, I just…well, with the…you know, with the," he was stammering, trying to think of something that would be appropriate to answer her. He wasn't too sure that, "I have your ring in my pocket," would be a good answer, because this was not how he planned it to go.

She looked at him, studying his face, but couldn't read his thoughts. He was saved however as someone came knocking on his door telling him his match was in a couple of minutes and he had to go out there right now. He stood up and Stephanie followed quietly, still wondering what his answer would've been. Jericho, on the other hand, was trying to do serious damage control.

They walked quietly to the gorilla, where Trish and Christian were already waiting. Jericho stood off to the side with Stephanie, who was now fidgeting with the bottom of her t-shirt. Jericho tried to think of something to say to what she had asked, and was coming up blank at the moment. He needed to approach this delicately. He heard Christian's music and knew that his cue would be coming soon. Sure enough, moments later he was hearing that familiar countdown.

He took one last look at Stephanie and leaned in close to her ear, "I haven't found the right moment yet."

He pulled away to see a beautiful smile reaching all across her face, from her lips to her shining eyes. Knowing he had said the right thing, he kissed her quickly, wiping off her lipstick with his arm as he ran to make sure he got out there and ready for his match. He got down to the ring where Trish and Christian were waiting.

They all had their serious faces on, but just below the surface, they knew they were going to have fun out there. Christian and Jericho started out the match with each other, with Jericho getting most of the offense in. Jericho went for a pin, not serious though, and got two, much to his surprise. He thought that Christian would put up more of a fight. Jericho turned to Trish to talk a little trash to her when he got clotheslined by Christian. They had to make the match look believable for the audience, instead of the funny thing that it really was.

They brawled a little bit more, both inside and outside of the ring. Trish was playing a part, albeit a scaled down one since neither man wanted to see her hurt. He tried to play the broken-hearted one as the build-up to this match had dictated, and he didn't think the crowd could tell the difference. He and Trish had played them all like fiddles, it was pretty rewarding actually, to know that they could get SO many people to actually think they were in love. Heh, in love with Trish, what a far-fetched idea, he though to himself. Him and Trish, Trish and him, no way, uh uh.

Finally, Trish was tagged into the match, though she didn't really want to. She was having fun out there, despite the "Slut" chants that were being directed her way. She kicked Jericho, but then soon after that tagged in Christian again. The match went on for a while before Jericho thought it was a good enough time as any and started to spank Trish. She pretended to be indignant, but was really about two seconds from laughing her head off. As he spanked her, she said just loud enough for him to hear.

"Save some for Steph."

Jericho just about lost it right then and there and could barely finish the rest of the match. He could hardly look at Trish and keep a straight face. Luckily the match didn't go for too much longer as Jericho won with a running enziguri. When he got backstage after the match, he was cracking up and walked over to Trish and Christian who were talking with Stephanie.

"Thanks a lot Trish, I could barely finish the match after what you said."

"What did she say?" Stephanie asked.

Trish giggled, "When he was spanking me, I told him to save some for you."

"Trish!" Stephanie cried indignantly as she covered her open mouth with her hand. She laughed a little as she looked to Jericho who was just shaking his head.

"You had to go and say that, I thought I would fall to the ring laughing."

"Maybe that was part of Trish's plan so that we could win again," Christian said, "We were trying to distract you the only way we know how, through Stephanie and everything related to Stephanie."

"It almost worked," Jericho laughed, "So close to working."

"Well, I feel dirty so I'm going to take a shower."

"Yeah, I need a shower too," Christian said, "Hey Trish, let's save water and just take one together."

"Didn't need to know that," Jericho called out as they walked away and turned to Stephanie, "Hey there beautiful."

"Hey," she said, a little shyly, which was strange, "You were great out there. I mean, I know that you were going to win anyways, but you were still really great out there. I'm proud of you."

"Good, that's all I care about…well that and how the crowd reacts, but that's only second to you being proud of me."

She hugged him, "I love you."

He kissed her head, "I love you too. How about we take this love-fest to the dressing room so I can shower and maybe we can head out or something, get some food, like real dinner."

"I kind of wanted to see the other matches and stuff," she said, "If that's alright with you."

"Of course," he said as he took her hand as they walked back to the dressing room, "Whatever you want, I want."

When they got back to their dressing room, Jericho grabbed his shower stuff and went to take his shower and stuff. Stephanie sat down and watched the Women's title match. She laughed as she recalled when she had been the champion. What a joke that was. The match was already more than half over when she had started and the next match was the Randy Orton and Mick Foley match.

As much as she liked Mick, she wanted Randy to win. He deserved to win, so she hoped that he could pull this off. She knew it was going to be brutal, Mick was in it after all and he pulled out all the stops when there was a hardcore theme involved. But Randy wasn't used to it and she wondered if that would be the x-factor in this match.

She watched the match progress, Jericho still in the shower, and watched in horror as move after move was pulled and the match got worse. She just hoped that Randy would be alright. That was weird, her wanting a friend of Hunter's to be alright, it just didn't seem to mesh. Mick took out a can of gasoline and she gasped.

"What the fuck," Jericho said loudly as he walked out of the bathroom, "Oh my God, is he going to--"

"I think…"

She was stopped by Bischoff, who came out to tell Mick that he couldn't light anything on fire or they would have to close shop. Stephanie was glad for that, but then her gladness turned back to horror as she saw what Mick was doing. Jericho sat next to her silently, shocked by the carnage that was going out in the ring he had just been in earlier. The match seemed to go on forever and Stephanie cringed whenever something happened to Randy. He was bleeding pretty good and knew he wouldn't be a pretty sight tomorrow.

The match was finally, mercifully, over when Randy got a second RKO on Mick, not to mention it was on a barbed wire bat. Stephanie was glad that Randy had won, but at what price had he won really. He looked terrible right now and she could just imagine he'd feel worse later on.

"That was…brutal," Jericho said, "I don't know any other way to describe that. Maybe horrendous, but Jesus Christ, that was…"

"Brutal…"

"Yeah."

They sat there silently, mulling over what they had just seen. Stephanie got up, kissed Jericho's cheek and left wordlessly. Jericho went after her and grabbed her arm. She turned to him, and he looked at her curiously. He knew where she was going and he smiled a little.

"Be careful alright, you could get both of you in trouble."

"I will, don't worry, he's probably with the trainers anyways, or you know, alone or something."

"Just be careful, I'm going to go talk to Edge before his match, but I want you to find me if anything goes down."

"I will," she said, kissing him, "I love you."

"You better, or else I wouldn't let you go off and sneak around to see another guy."

"You have nothing to worry about," she said with a smile, "I love you and he still likes Trish."

She rubbed his cheek a little before turning to go the other way. She walked to where the trainers were stationed and listened in on the door for a second. She didn't hear any voices and figured that Randy would be alone. She opened the door quietly and saw Randy laying on a table with an ice pack over his face. There were bloody towels lying here and there too and she walked in fully before closing the door.

"What is it now?"

"Randy, its Stephanie, I just wanted to come make sure that you were alright."

He took the ice pack off and looked over at her, his face not looking too well, "Well hello Miss Stephanie, thanks for coming to check up on me."

"You seem to do the same for me," she told him, "It was the least I can do. Where's Evolution?"

"Pepping up Hunter," he said, "Have to make sure he's good to go for later."

She came to sit by him, "Makes sense I guess, he always did want his ego stroked badly."

"Where's Chris?"

"With Edge."

"Does he know you're checking on another guy?"

"Yeah, he knows," she told him, "What do you think I'd go running off to check on you without telling him?"

"Yes, from what I hear, you're a spitfire Miss McMahon."

She laughed, "I may be that, but I know where my heart lies. You'd be surprised to hear the story about Chris and me."

"I'll have to hear it sometime," he said, "I'm sure it's a doozy."

"It is," she told him, "You were great out there you know?"

"Thanks, Hunter said I was a legend now. I think that he thinks that it's a tit for tat thing and that I have to go tell him how he was the greatest champion to ever live. It never ends with him does it?"

"No, not really," she answered, "Why do you care so much about what happens to me Randy?"

He thought for a moment, "One of these days, I'm going to break free of Evolution. I don't know when, but I will, I figure I should have at least a couple of friends to fall back on. There's nothing worse than being a loser with no friends."

She smiled, "Well, you know, Chris would come and talk to you too if he could, but it's a little easier for me to slip in and out of places."

"Yeah, tell him that I appreciate him letting you come and talk to me."

"I'll tell him, but he doesn't LET me come, I tell him I'm coming and he says it's fine because he loves and trusts me."

"Good, wouldn't want him thinking that I was going to steal you from him."

"You couldn't even if you wanted to, I'm pretty damn devoted to him."

Randy smiled at her, "Good, it makes what I'm doing that much easier than. Stephanie, Hunter's out to get you, he wants you back, but its not because he loves you or really wants to be with you. He can't stand the fact that someone who he has always felt inferior to him. He hates Chris Jericho, despite them partnering in the past. He hates that he has you because he thinks that you are more of a power tool than a person. Be careful around him because he's willing to do anything to get you back. Well, you know, not kill Chris or anything, but within reason, he's willing to do it."

"And you're not in on this right? I mean, you aren't setting me up."

"I swear on my life, I'm not doing this to trap you into a false sense of security. I'm risking a LOT by doing this, but it's the right thing to do. You're a good person, and I like you Stephanie, and Hunter…I know that you and Chris love each other. I saw a picture of you two in Trish's house. She tried to lie and say that it was from when you were with Chris last October, but it wasn't and I kind of figured you two out before you told everyone."

"You did?" Stephanie was kind of shocked that Randy had known for so long that she and Jericho had been together.

"I tried to gauge Hunter's reaction on it, and I knew it would be bad. Its bad, so be careful."

"I will, you be careful too, I don't want you to get caught."

"As long as we keep this hush-hush, we'll both be alright. I'll see you tomorrow on Raw?"

"If you're there," she said, "You might be too sore to get up."

"I'll be there," he said, "Bye Steph."

"Bye Randy, and thanks."

"No, thank you, you're the first person to actually want to know how I was really doing."

Stephanie smiled as she left, only to see Jericho walking casually past the door as he grabbed Stephanie so it looked like they were just walking along. She looked up at him and stopped him with a hand to the chest. She kissed him deeply, smiling as she pulled away from him.

"What was that for?"

"I don't know, but I felt that the situation deserved one."

"Ok, how'd it go with Randy?"

"It went well," she answered, "I think we have a real ally in him."

"Get ready for more fun and games."


	200. Raw, April 19, 2004

A/N: 200 chapters, wow, that's a lot huh? Well, for those of you who haven't read every chapter, here's a quick little recap for you…

Stephanie wouldn't hug Chris, he got mad, confronted her and they got together. Chris went to Raw because they wanted to bring down Bischoff. They were a secret for a while, then Kurt found out. Then Edge found out. Then Christian found out when they reunited Edge and Christian. Then Shane found out, and then Linda found out. Then Christian and Trish got together. All was well for a while until Chris and Stephanie broke up at WrestleMania XIX. That didn't last very long, and they got back together, only to have Charlie Haas kiss Stephanie, causing another breakup. Chris dated Molly for a while, until he realized he wanted Stephanie, and they got back together. They were happy for a while, still in secret, and living together in Florida. Christian and Trish broke up because Christian cheated on her with Molly. Then Chris and Stephanie broke up again as a plan to get Stephanie back in the company. Chris bought Stephanie an engagement ring, which is part of the plan. They got back together after figuring out everyone's plan to keep them apart. Then Christian and Trish got back together, and basically that's where we're at right now. That was a piss poor summary, but at least you get the gist. It's hard to sum up 200 chapters in one paragraph. ;)

Anyways, enjoy. :)

* * *

"This is where I used to live," Jericho said as he pointed out a dilapidated building out to Stephanie, "Where I spent the better part of a few months."

Stephanie looked at the building, hardly believing that Jericho has actually lived in something so…rundown. For her, it was odd to actually have to live in something so unkempt. She looked to Jericho, who had a knowing grin on his face. He could tell exactly what Stephanie was thinking as she looked at it.

"Yeah, hard to believe I would actually voluntarily stay in something like that huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, when you're poor and just starting out, you have to live somewhere right, and it was better than living in my car," he shrugged, "You do what you have to do in order to make it in the thing you love."

"I get that," she said, "I just…I don't know, I guess because I've never actually seen or done the things you have to get in the business I've never…thought too much about it."

"Its ok, I mean, it wasn't the Ritz or anything, but it was good enough for a struggling wrestler. Just think though, if it hadn't been for me moving here, pursuing my dream of being a wrestler, I might never have met you at all," he said, leaning in close to her ear to tell her.

"That's right," she said, kissing him, "So I guess its good that you didn't give up or anything. I probably would if I had to live in something like this."

"Yeah, God forbid," he joked.

She elbowed him in the stomach, "I'm not that bad."

"I doubt you could do what I did, but it doesn't make you any less dedicated to what you do, we just got there by different paths," he said, hoping that she wouldn't misconstrued what he was trying to say. It could easily go both ways.

"And look at you now," she said, "The great Chris Jericho, one of the main attractions of WWE. Its kind of storybook don't you think?"

"Yeah, when I started in this business, I never, in a million, trillion years, and I mean NEVER thought that I would date Vince McMahon's daughter."

They walked along the sidewalk back to their car to go to the arena. Jericho had just wanted Stephanie to see his roots, way back when he had studied the trade in the infamous Dungeon of the Hart family. Stephanie was glad she was able to see where Jericho had been before her. She liked learning about his past, it was so much more colorful than hers. She had just grown up in the business, and entered the business, albeit in a pretty low position, but still, she didn't have to struggle and claw her way up to get where she was…well, where she had been since she wasn't in the company at the current moment.

"Well, you never know what life is going to throw at you," she answered.

"I never thought it would throw me at you. When I started, the WWF was like, wow, the real big times, sure WCW was around, but really, the WWF was the place to be and be seen. Vince McMahon was like this, well, he seemed unapproachable you know, like the Wizard in the movie. And here I am, holding hands with his daughter, walking down the street."

"You make it sound like you don't deserve me," she said as they got into their car.

"Well, part of me thinks that I don't, I mean, who am I to have someone like you."

"Oh, get off of that. You're perfect enough to be with me. I'm not some sort of royalty or anything. I'm just Stephanie."

"Never, you'll never be JUST Stephanie," he said, smiling over at her as he began to drive to the arena.

Edge got out of the car quickly. He had to stop riding with Trish and Christian to and from the arenas, they were just too much to take sometimes. On the way there, they had been playing little lovey-dovey couple. When they would go back to the hotel after the show, they would be in their, "we're going to have fun tonight" mood, and Edge was about on the brink.

"You two are disgusting!" he called out as he walked to the arena, "Disgusting!"

"Edge, you need to learn how to take a joke!" Christian called out to his brother, "We were just joking."

"Sure you were," Edge said as he slowed down, "Now I really need to get a girl, just so I can act disgusting and rude around you guys. Who's available?"

"Lita," Trish said with a mocking laugh, "Get with Lita."

"No thanks," Edge said, "I think she has issues or something, especially after the Matt fiasco. Did you see her with Jericho the other week?"

"No Edge, we didn't, we were just standing right there," Christian answered, rolling his eyes at Trish, who laughed at her boyfriend.

"Whatever," he said, "Can't you two just tone it down for a little while, at least around me?"

"Fine," Trish said, "We didn't know it bugged you so much. You think he'd be happy that we're back together, don't you Christian? I mean, he's your brother, he knows what we've been through and we have to tone it down for him."

"I get it Trish," Edge said, giving her a look, "I'm just going to my locker room."

"Have fun," Trish called out as she turned to Christian, "That was funny."

"I know, I love making him feel uncomfortable."

"Me too," she said as he held the door open for her to lead into the arena, "Let's see what you have on tap."

They followed the string of hallways until they came to the place where they knew the schedule would be hanging. They looked at the schedule and saw that Jericho and Christian had their match first. Looking down the list, that seemed to be the only thing had to do tonight.

"Yes! We get to leave early," Trish said, doing a little dance.

"Yeah, unless Edge wants to stick around," Christian responded.

"Damn it," Trish said, "Why did--" She didn't finish her sentence as she looked past Christian.

"Trish, what's wrong?" Christian asked as he saw her face.

"There's a guy staring at us," Trish said softly, leaning in closer to Christian so whoever the man was wouldn't hear her speaking about him.

"There is?" Christian asked, "Who is it?"

"I don't know, but he's big and kind of scary looking," she said, "He keeps staring at us with his arms crossed."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," he said, then turned to face the guy, "Um, hey."

"Hi."

"Well, my girlfriend couldn't help but notice that you were staring at her, or us, hopefully us because I don't want you staring at my girlfriend, but yeah, why are you staring?"

"I've been watching the show, you got a problem with this Jericho guy."

"Um…well, I guess I do…what does that have to do with anything?"

"I can help," the guy nodded, "I can help solve that pesky problem."

"Well, we can sort of--"

"We'd love it," Trish said, "We have a match, well, my boyfriend has a match and if you could run in and you know, help us win, that'd be great. And your name is…"

"Tyson, Tyson Tomko," he answered shortly.

"Well Tyson, thanks for the help, we'll be seeing you," Trish chirped as she drug Christian away and down the hallway.

Christian turned to her, "What the hell Trish? Chris is our friend, you practically just told that guy to beat up our friend."

"You were going to say NO to….that…..that guy! Besides…we'll tell Chris what's going on, but I do NOT want to be on the bad side of that guy, scary…"

"Fine, fine, but you better know what you're doing!"

"Ugh, let's just go."

Jericho let Stephanie into the arena ahead of him and she walked in front of him until they got to the schedule. He smiled when he read he had the first match. That meant that they could leave early. Stephanie jumped into Jericho's arms as he kissed her happily. She got giddy over the smallest things, it was quite endearing.

"Yay, we can actually leave early and maybe go out and have a nice dinner."

"If that's what you want," he said.

"It is…I wonder if Randy is going to show up tonight," she mused.

"He'll probably show," Jericho answered, "If only to gloat about his win."

"Yeah, but I kind of wanted to talk to him."

"Why?"

"What's this I detect in your voice? Jealousy, but that can't be," Stephanie joked as she pulled away to look into Jericho's face. She could detect the slightest hint of jealousy in his eyes and she thought it was adorable that even after all this time he could still be jealous of any guy.

"I'm not jealous of him, I was just wondering."

"Sure you were," she replied, "How many times to do I have to tell you that I love you and only you and I would never, not once, not one time, ever cheat on you, because its you I love more than anyone in the world?"

"Um, once more would be nice actually?"

"I love you more than anyone in the world," she told him.

"Thank you," he said, "But really, why?"

"I just want to see how he is, you know, after seeing his match last night, its just, I would rather see him and make sure that he's alright."

"You know, maybe we should tell the others that you're actually in cahoots with Randy right now."

"Cahoots?"

"I couldn't think of a better word!"

She laughed, "Yeah, we're in cahoots, but well, we should really keep this quiet, because Randy could get in a lot of trouble if he's caught talking to the enemy."

"And yet you go see him."

"Oh shut up," she said, "Let's go to your dressing room."

"Avoiding the subject, I'm so right."

She stuck her tongue out at him as she skipped happily down the hallways to his locker room. Jericho just watched her, happy to see her smiling and giggling. It was a far cry from the Stephanie that had been around the past few months, when she would mope around and be sad all the time. He was so grateful that they had been able to come out and say they were together.

"Here we are," she announced as she pushed open the door.

"I wonder if Trish and Christian are going to come over to discuss the match tonight," he said, "You know what would be the best?"

"No, what?"

"If you could accompany me to the ring, you know, be my valet," he told her, "How great would that be? Interfering in my matches, just like old times."

"Would you save me from getting exposed to the world?"

"Yeah, of course, I think I did a pretty good job the first time around, minus the little incident over the table of course."

"Ugh, don't remind me," she said with a grimace, "Talk about your embarrassing moments."

"Aww, my poor baby, she got humiliate on national television."

"So? You had your towel pulled off, so HA!"

"Damn it, I forgot about that," Jericho said, pulling Stephanie to him as he hugged her tightly, ruffling her hair, "Why do you remind me of things I don't want to be reminded of?"

"Remember when I was married to Hunter…"

"There you go again!"

"I'm not doing anything!"

"You guys can we come in!" They heard Trish's voice call out to them.

"Yeah, come in."

Trish and Christian walked inside as Jericho let go of Stephanie. Stephanie pushed him off of her and he fell down against the couch as the other three laughed. He pulled Stephanie down into his lap and she settled herself into his lap. Christian and Trish took a seat in the chair next to the couch.

"So we have a match tonight," Jericho started.

"Yeah, and well, we're going to win," Christian said, "We have a sure-fire way to win, and we just wanted to let you know."

"Oh, and what is this 'sure-fire' way?" Jericho asked.

"His name is Tyson Tomko," Trish answered, "He was really creepy and wanted to be Christian and my bodyguard. So we said yeah, so he's going to interfere tonight. I mean, if he hadn't approached us, we would just let whoever win, but well, this guy was freaking scary!"

"Really?" Stephanie asked, "How scary?"

"Very scary, not Kane scary, but like…scary, I don't know how to put it, creepy scary, hardly spoke, just stood there, kind of just, it was weird," Trish answered.

"And he's going to run in?"

"Yeah, we just thought we'd give you a heads up since our match is in ten minutes. That's what happens when you are on the top of the show. I think they said we could have like fifteen minutes or so though, so we get enough time to really shine out there before you know, you get hit and stuff."

"Well, gee thanks," Jericho said sarcastically, "Now how about you guys leave so I can change into my tights before I go out there to lose."

"Its not our fault," Trish shrugged, "I'm telling you…creepy."

"Kind of like a creepy, little bastard," Jericho replied, looking at Christian.

"Not funny man," Christian said as he and Trish got up to leave.

Stephanie sat there, thinking about who this guy could be. The way Trish described him she didn't exactly want to find out what this guy was like. But nobody could be worse than some of the guys around here. For some reason she thought back to when she almost had to marry Undertaker. That was the scariest thing ever, she shuddered at the memory as Jericho changed into his tights.

"Steph, you walking me to the gorilla?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, getting up, "Have to give you your good luck kiss."

"What would I do without that?"

"Suck."

He laughed and they walked together to the gorilla. They didn't see any new guys around and figured they hadn't seen this Tyson guy yet. Shortly after they got to the gorilla, Jericho's music was starting and he quickly pecked Stephanie on the lips before going out for his entrance. She waved to Trish and Christian before they went out for their match. She turned to the monitor to watch this WrestleMania rematch. It was sure to be really good.

Jericho looked great the first part of the match, and he was definitely in control of it, which made Stephanie proud as she watched. Jericho managed to get two near-falls, and still this guy was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he would chicken out and leave Jericho alone. She could only hope. She laughed as he went to spank Trish again, he had the funniest look on his face, like he was being a naughty little boy or something. She liked that look, she concluded.

Stephanie kept one eye trained on her surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse of the guy who might beat up her boyfriend, but found her eyes were going back to watch the match attentively. Trish was doing a good job of distracting the referee and getting in a few shots at Jericho. The three of them were really great actors, being able to pull this off perfectly. When Jericho had grabbed Trish by the hair, Stephanie had figured he might kiss her, like Jericho had done to her on two occasions, but he simply pulled her into the ring. She remembered that fear she had felt when Jericho had grabbed her, she had though at the time that he would throw her in the ring, but then a kiss had come and she was in shock during the whole thing. The mind conjured up the strangest things sometimes.

The match wore on and was filled with a countless number of near falls, it was as if every few seconds one or the other was trying to pin the other. Maybe it was out of desperation to get the match done with before this guy came out there, whatever it was, she didn't care as long as Jericho came out of the match unhurt and coherent.

Jericho was pushed back against the ropes by Christian as Jericho said, "Where's this guy of yours?"

"How the hell should I know?" Christian responded, "Maybe he won't turn up."

"That'd be a lucky break," Jericho said, before pushing Christian away from him again and continuing with the match at hand.

Stephanie saw a blur out of the corner of her eye and turned quickly to see a male figure rushing past her. She turned her eyes to the screen quickly in order to see the action inside the ring. She saw the man kick at Jericho and then saw Jericho lose. Christian and Trish celebrated accordingly, even though she caught Trish checking on Jericho for a moment.

Trish and Christian walked up the ramp, being followed by the guy. Trish kept glancing behind her to see the man following them wordlessly. She looked at him in trepidation. Did he have to be so damn…weird like this? It was very disconcerting and she wrapped Christian's arms more tightly around her. They walked backstage and Trish looked over at Stephanie and mouthed the word "creepy" to her as they both laughed at each other. Christian went through the pretense of introducing the guy, for formality's sake of course.

Jericho walked backstage, walking over to Stephanie, who held him at arm's length for a minute to check him over. Deeming him alright, she leaned in to kiss him, despite him being really sweaty and kind of smelling. She made a face as she turned away from him. They walked back to his dressing room to let him take a shower. She watched the television, wondering if Randy was here. She hadn't seen him or any of Evolution around, and she figured they weren't here yet.

She smiled as Benoit walked out to the ring. She was, once again, happy that he had won his match. Benoit deserved that belt just as much as anyone and had paid his dues in WWE to get that belt. It didn't hurt that he also beat her smarmy ex-husband; that was just the icing on the cake. Very good icing though, very, very good.

"Hey, there's the champ," Jericho said as he walked out in his towel, "Its pretty cool that he won in his hometown, you know, too bad I won the championship way far away from home."

"Yeah, and I wasn't even there," she said, pouting a little, "But I'm glad Benoit has the title, I guess if it can't be you, then he's a good second choice."

"I just want to get my hands on that gold again," Jericho said, sounding greedy even to his own ears, "All in due time I guess."

"I'm sure you'll get it. If Benoit can do it, you can do it. You were the first Undisputed Champion after all. The FIRST one, not even Hunter can say that. Hey, Hunter played sloppy seconds to you that time."

"I don't think you're sloppy seconds Stephanie," Jericho said as he looked for clothes.

"Yeah, but I guess I am tainted goods," she said, "I mean, I'm divorced, I have a failed marriage under my belt."

"Yeah, but look at the guy you were married to, I actually commend you for putting up with that dumbshit for two full years."

"Well, yeah, that is a good way to look at it," she said, more to herself than to him.

She watched the women's match idly as she continuously looked over at Jericho who was changing. She found that sight to be inherently more interesting. Jericho slipped on a pair of pants and looked up at Stephanie who he saw was watching him. She leaned her chin on her hand and just watched him so he danced around a little, putting on a little show for her.

"Aww, but you're putting it on and not taking it off."

"Hey, your boy toy just got here," he said, nodding towards the television.

"Well its about damn time," she said as she saw Hunter getting out of the limo as well, "And look what he dragged with him. Randy has stitches and cuts all over him and he still looks better than Hunter on a good day."

"Harsh," Jericho laughed, "I like it."

"I'll wait a little while before I go talk to him."

"You might want to go really quick and catch him before he goes out to talk about his win last night."

"You're right, is he going like right now?"

"Seems like it, maybe you should wait until after."

There was a soft rapping on the door and Stephanie looked over to Jericho before going to answer it. She was surprised to see Randy standing there and she ushered him in quickly. Jericho nodded at him in hello before slipping his shirt on over his head. Stephanie closed and locked the door before turning to Randy.

"Randy, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to say hi before I went out there, I don't think we're going to get to talk much tonight, but I needed to see you," he said, "Hey Chris."

"Hey," Jericho answered, going over to wrap his arm around Stephanie, "I really appreciate what you're doing for us. I mean, you know, you really didn't have to."

"Yeah, I know, but, you know, Trish was…is, she's, well your friends with her, and I…"

"Say no more," Stephanie said, sending a secret glance to Jericho, who just gave a little smirk. They had never seen Randy so tongue-tied before, especially over a woman. It made him seem more human this way, compared to how he usually carried himself.

"Oh, congratulations on your win last night," Jericho said, "That had to be brutal."

"Yeah it was," Randy said, "But as you can see, I'm still in pretty much one piece."

"Yeah, lucky you," Stephanie said, "Your head looks like someone sharpened a knife or something."

"Yeah, I know, well, I have to make this quick. We had a little discussion tonight in the limo before the show…and the topic was you Stephanie. Hunter basically told us to intimidate you any time we get a chance. So be on the look-out for Flair and Dave. Flair probably won't be a threat, but I'd expect Dave to be pretty intimidating, considering."

"Yeah, he is kind of scary," she agreed.

"Yeah, Hunter said not to hurt you or anything, but to just get under your skin. Thought you should know in case it happens."

"Thanks Randy, I'll keep my eyes open for it."

"Not a problem, glad to help, I'll see you guys later…maybe, or not, but yeah, just keep in mind what I told you guys, see you."

"Bye," they both said as Randy slipped out of the room stealthily.

"Well, that was nice," Stephanie said, "At least I know what to expect now."

"Yeah," Jericho said, "I'm glad for that. He isn't such a bad guy after all. And I don't think he has any feelings for you like that."

"Oh, what tipped you off, that whole stammering thing when he tried to mention Trish, I didn't think it was that obvious," Stephanie said sardonically.

Jericho just left her standing there and went to sit on the couch and watch Randy's little speech. He actually appeared to be humble about it, which was a far cry from his cocky self. Then Edge came out and basically told Randy that he didn't like him…wait, that was EXACTLY how he had said it.

"The way Edge said that I expected it to be followed by, 'because you took my favorite dolly," Jericho laughed and looked over to Stephanie, who didn't have a smile on her face. "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking, Edge is our friend, Randy's our friend, and they don't know that we're friends…well, Randy may know we're friends with Edge…do you think that's why he wouldn't spit on Edge?"

"You know, it could be a possibility."

"Wow, if that's the reason, I respect him even more now. He could've just given in and spit on him. That's really big of him to do that."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any easier knowing that Edge hates him."

"Yeah, but we have to respect Randy's wish to remain anonymous."

"You're right," Jericho told her, "It just might complicate things."

"Its all Hunter's fault. I wish he would just leave me alone."

"At this point, I don't think that's possible."

"How very, very sad."

"Well, isn't that what Hunter is all the time? Just…plain…sad?"

They both looked at each other and laughed.

"Yeah, he is pretty sad," Stephanie said, "Even sadder if he thinks that we're not going to put up a fight against his stupid attempt to 'reclaim' me or whatever it is he's trying to do."

"The only way to get through to Hunter is through his sledgehammer."

"True, we'll just have to outsmart him I guess. His game is old and tired," she mused.

"And about to be shut down."


	201. Raw, April 26, 2004, Part 1

A/N: Thanks for the well wishes on my 200th chapter. :)

Unfortunately, I've been really sick over the weekend and today, and that's why there was no SmackDown chapter and why this Raw chapter seems so incomplete. I tried to write a chapter tonight, but couldn't finish it because of the fever my body has decided to come down with. So this paltry excuse for a chapter was written while I'm half-delirious so forgive it being so crappy.

I didn't want to jip you guys with a chapter, so I'm posting what I managed to write, and think of this as a teaser if you will. Once my fever comes down and I feel up to it, I'm going to finish the chapter. I think I left it at a good enough spot to keep you interested. Sorry it's so short.

Enjoy anyways, hopefully.

* * *

"So how long are you going to go along with this little 'feud' of yours?"

"Well, I don't know, when we decide there are bigger and better things to move on to," Jericho said to her, "But until then, the people seem to like what's happening right now."

"Well, that's good," Stephanie said, holding his hand, "I just wish that you were going after the World Championship. It deserves to be around your waist. As much as I like Benoit, and I do, I really think that you deserve to have it. I mean, its been way too long since you've had it."

"Steph, I appreciate the concern, but you should let me handle this," Jericho said, kissing her head, "I'll earn it again, I can feel it."

"I just wish you could feel it now," she said, "What good is it having me as your girlfriend if I can't get you a title match every now and then…or every week…and then you could have you know an eight year reign or something."

Jericho smiled down at her. He did appreciate the lengths she was willing to go to make him champion, but he really did think that was something he should earn himself. He figured that people already thought that he was with Stephanie because of her last name and the last thing he needed was to get a title shot out of nowhere. That would get the rumor mill working overtime.

"As nice as that sounds, I'm perfectly happy right now. I don't need gold around my waist to be happy."

"Hunter always did," Stephanie pointed out, rather correctly.

"Yeah, but am I Hunter?" Jericho asked, "And if you say yes, or that I remind you of him, I may be forced to go drown myself in the bathroom sink. I can think of no worse fate than being likened to Hunter."

"You have never been like Hunter. You've always been very unique and very much your own person," she smiled, "That's why I like you, because you don't remind me of Hunter."

"Well then that's good then, wouldn't want to look like that overgrown lump."

"No, you don't look like him at all."

Stephanie leaned her head against his shoulder, sniffling a little. She was just getting over a little cold and she was still feeling a little under the weather. Jericho rubbed her temple gently, hoping that would soothe her. It worked, too well in fact because pretty soon she was asleep on his shoulder. He leaned down to press a kiss to her head and slowly laid her down on the couch.

He wasn't planned to do anything tonight, but he knew Christian was, and what better way to get at Christian than to interrupt him during his little match or whatever it was he had. He went over to his bag and pulled out his wrestling shirt and changed from his regular polo shirt to that one. He took off his pants as well and put on his vinyl pants. It was hot in the arena, but he liked the look for him.

He checked on Stephanie one more time and then left to go look for Trish and Christian. He just hoped that they weren't with that Tyson guy. Trish had said she wasn't as afraid of him anymore, but he still gave her the creeps a little bit. He didn't blame her, the guy WAS kind of odd to look at. And what business he wanted with Trish and Christian was yet to be seen.

He turned the corner, hearing cheers already and he looked for a local clock, seeing what time it was. It was about ten minutes before the beginning of the show, but the crowd was already ready for the show. He spotted Edge up ahead, polishing his tag team belt. Jericho laughed as he walked up to his friend.

"Getting a little attached are we?" he asked.

"It just feels good to have gold again," Edge said, "It's been way too long."

"I know how you feel," Jericho said, "Stephanie and I were just discussing the possibility of me getting a title shot any time soon."

"Think again," another voice interjected.

Jericho turned and smiled cheekily, "Well if it isn't my old nemesis Chris Benoit."

"What's this I hear about you taking my belt?"

"Just a thought for the future," Jericho said, "No need to get all pissy just because you're keeping my belt warm."

"You wish," Benoit said, clapping Jericho in the back, "Where's your woman?"

"Sleeping in my dressing room," he told them, "She's just really beat."

"Poor thing," Edge said, "This thing with Hunter getting to her?"

"Yeah, it is," Jericho said, "You just never know where that man is going to turn up next you know. I hate the fact that she has to constantly look over her shoulder waiting for something that may or may not come."

"What's all this about Stephanie and Triple H?" Benoit asked, confused by the other men's discussion.

Jericho turned to him, "Hunter's been a jackass to Steph ever since he found out that we were together. He's just trying to intimidate her or something, but with Hunter, you never know what's going on in his head. I don't like that Stephanie has to be afraid when she shouldn't be."

"That sucks man," Benoit said, "If I get in the ring with Hunter, I'll be sure to give him a crossface from Stephanie."

Jericho laughed, "Thanks, I'm sure she'll appreciate that. So you two defending tonight right?"

"Yup, against Batista and Flair," Edge said.

"Good luck with that," Jericho said, "Hey Edge, would you happen to know where your brother and Trish are?"

"They are….I don't know," Edge said, "Around I'm sure. Try catering, I bet they're in there."

"Ok, thanks, good luck again."

Jericho said goodbye to the men before going to look for Trish and Christian again. He went down to catering, but didn't see them there. He shrugged and left, wandering down various hallways, not seeing them or their locker room. He was about to give up when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see Trish with a big smile on her face.

"Chris!" She yelled with outstretched arms.

He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, "Hey you, what's up?"

"We're not doing anything at the moment, just walking around, limbering up for Christian's match, well he's limbering up, I'm being a nuisance, right Chrissy?"

"But she's a pretty nuisance," Christian said as he walked up to the twosome, "So what's up Chris?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your match later on and something that perhaps I can help you with. You know, to make me look good, to make you look bad, because isn't that what this entire thing is about?"

"Come on, let's go to our locker room before Tyson jumps out from the shadows," Trish said, pulling both guys along, "He still gives me the heebie-jeebies."

Stephanie woke up and looked around, she didn't see Chris anywhere, but he had been right there when she fell asleep. She sat up and tried to fix her hair, making it presentable as it had gotten tousled when she was sleeping. She turned on the television and saw Coach talking. Finding this incredibly boring, she put it on mute and got up. She went into the bathroom to check her makeup really quickly before walking out into the hallways. Jericho probably was with Trish and Christian in their locker room so that was her intended target. If only she knew where that locker room was.

She wrapped her arms around herself a little, a small chill coming over her as she was walking. Someone must have turned the air conditioning up or something because it was unnaturally cold. She turned a corner and saw Hunter fumbling down the hallway. She walked closer to get a look at what was going on. He was coming towards her and she wondered vaguely if he saw her and was after her.

She tried to move out of the way, but it seemed to be too late. Hunter couldn't see anything because of the green mist in his eyes, but he could see a shape ahead of him. He didn't care what it was though, whoever it was would just have to move the hell out of his way because he needed to see Bischoff immediately.

He shoved Stephanie out of the way and the force of the shove knocked her into the wall. She let out a squeal of both surprise and pain as she toppled into the wall. Her shoulder took the brunt of the force and she yelped again because she could feel the pain flaring up. She sunk down to the ground, clutching her arm with tears welling into her eyes.


	202. Raw, April 26, 2004, Part 2

A/N: Here's the conclusion of last night's chapter. Enjoy…and thanks to everyone who sent me get well wishes. :)

* * *

Jericho, Trish and Christian laughed as they saw Hunter storm into Bischoff's office and proceed to yell at…a plant. It was just too funny for words, him yelling at a plant. Of course, Jericho was always up for seeing Hunter making a fool out of himself, and this was no exception. He had laughed even harder when Hunter had been green misted by Tajiri. Anything that made Hunter look like an idiot was just fine with Jericho, even if he wasn't the one to dole out such punishment so to speak.

"He looks like The Hulk," Christian said with a laugh, "He's all green and mad. Hey, if they make a sequel he should be in that."

"He'd be perfect for the part," Trish added.

"I know," Jericho answered, "I hope that Stephanie woke up so that she could see this."

Stephanie was still on the ground, clutching her shoulder. The pain was dull and she tried to move it, but it hurt so bad that she just left it where it was. She stood up and winced as she jarred her arm a certain way. She couldn't believe that Hunter would do that…well she could, but she had a feeling that he hadn't known it was her. But even if he had known it was her, she figured that he would've hit her anyways, just because it was her.

She saw someone walking down the hallway at the far end and she tried to put her best face forward. She was going to let her arm drop to her side, but as she tried to, she grimaced and groaned in pain. Hunter was a very strong man and his shove had a lot of force behind it and now she knew that for sure. He had never really hit her before on purpose, this time wasn't exactly on purpose either, but she had never been shoved so hard before, not into a wall anyways.

Randy was meandering down the hallways when he heard someone groan in pain. He could tell that sound anywhere, pain was a distinct sound. He turned the corner quickly and saw a woman at the other end, very far away, holding onto her shoulder protectively. He looked around, seeing if there was anybody nearby before jogging down to see who it was. He couldn't quite make them out at first, the hallways were long, but then he saw it was Stephanie, and walked a little faster.

Stephanie looked up to see Randy coming towards her and she tried more than ever to act nonchalant. She managed to put her arm at her side, however forcefully and forced a smile on her face. Randy looked around again before going up to Stephanie, she looked at him trying to act happy or something of that nature, anything but suspicious.

"Steph, are you ok? I heard you groan in pain," he said, still glancing around lest anyone catch them.

"I'm fine," she said, gritting her teeth a little as she moved her arm in the wrong way.

"Are you sure? What are you doing around here alone, I thought that Chris didn't like you wandering around by yourself."

"I was looking for him," she said, "I fell asleep in our locker room, nothing happened."

He looked at her curiously, "Are you sure that nothing happened?"

"Randy, stop worrying about me, I'm perfectly fine. I was just trying to find Chris and got frustrated because I can't find Trish and Christian's locker room, you wouldn't happen to know where it is?"

"I think I saw it a few hallways over," he said before hearing footsteps, "I have to go, we don't want to be caught."

"If someone came up, you could just harass me," she said, "That's what you're supposed to be doing anyways isn't it?"

"We both know that's the last thing I want to do… and for the last time, are you sure that you're ok."

"It's sweet of you to worry about me, and I appreciate it, but I'm fine," she said, pushing him away with her good arm, "Now get out of here before someone catches you and you're forced to explain to Evolution why you were consorting with the enemy."

"I'm just here to bother you," he winked, "I'll talk to you later."

She smiled as he walked off behind her and she watched him go for a second. He turned the corner and almost smacked into the very large, very muscled body of Batista. He had a small smirk on his face as Randy looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He wondered if he had seen him with Stephanie. He hoped that he hadn't, but in all likelihood, he had.

"So, you're doing what Hunter told you to do?" Batista said, adjusting the sunglasses on his face. He was decked out in a suit tonight, looking great, like he always did. The man did have style.

"Yup," Randy lied. Best to keep this in the dark. He liked Dave, he was a good guy mixed up with the wrong people. Maybe one day they could ditch Hunter and Flair. One day.

"Great, I haven't gotten my chance yet, but I'd love to rough her up a little."

Randy kept the smile on his face and resisted the sudden urge to punch his friend, "Well, leave it up to me for now Dave, I've got plans."

Dave slapped him on the shoulder, "I'm sure Hunter is going to be happy to hear that. I was just on my way to see him, seems he got himself in trouble."

"Let's go."

Stephanie sat on the couch in Jericho's locker room and clutched her arm to her chest. She never should've let herself try to act normal because now it was hurting even more than it was before. She silently let the tears stream down her face, the pain just too much for her to handle. She rocked back and forth a little, trying to get the pain to subside, but it wasn't.

Jericho whistled as he walked down the hallway, still chuckling over Hunter's little faux pas in Bischoff's office. He wanted to see if Stephanie had seen it. He hoped she had, she needed a good laugh, and what better way than at the expense of Hunter. God, he hoped that Stephanie had seen it, it would make this so worth it. He walked happily into his dressing room and saw Stephanie hunched over on the edge of the couch, crying to herself. His eyes widened in surprise and he looked around, expecting an ambush right then and there. None came and so he rushed to Stephanie's side.

"Steph, what happened?" he said, quickly, frantically. He took her into his arms and hit her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain, "Stephanie, baby, what's wrong?"

She didn't know how to tell him so she pulled away from him. She stood up and turned to her side. She took her good hand and lifted up her shirt sleeve. Jericho's eyes widened then narrowed as he saw her shoulder, which was just now turning sickly shades of purple and black. He stood up, feeling the anger slowly taking over his body as he walked over to Stephanie. He took her arm gently in his hands and gently probed around the bruise.

"Oww, Chris, that hurts," she said, now angry that she had broken down like she had.

"Sorry," he mumbled, still not asking the question she had expected to hear first off, "This is pretty bad."

"Yeah, I know, that's probably why it hurts so much," she said sarcastically.

"Who did this to you?" There was the question she was expecting. She should just lie and tell him that she had been clumsy and fallen. He'd never believe that though. Jericho was smarter than that, he wouldn't believe a stupid, lame-ass story like that.

"Hunter," she whispered, wincing as she thought of Jericho's reaction.

Jericho tried to keep himself composed, "When?"

"He was storming down the hallway and I was just walking and he shoved me into the wall…I don't think he knew it was me."

"He probably didn't, but that doesn't excuse him," Jericho said, acting a lot calmer than even he thought he could at the moment, "Why don't we take you to the trainer and get you checked out?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Stephanie said, giving him a small smile.

"I'd feel better if you got this checked out baby," he said, leaning down to kiss her shoulder gently, "For me?"

She gave in to him, just like always, "Fine, let's go."

He pulled her sleeve down a little and moved to her other side where he grabbed her good hand. Stephanie looked over at him; he was being amazingly calm, something she didn't think that he could be in a situation like this. They walked silently to the trainer, both consumed in their own thoughts, which were mostly about the other person. Jericho just needed to hold it together for Stephanie for a while longer.

The trainer looked over Stephanie and said that she had a pretty banged up shoulder and that it was probably a bone bruise. He grabbed a sling and put it on her arm, telling her to move it as little as possible for the next twenty-four hours so that she didn't go and sprain it or anything. She thanked him and then he left, leaving Stephanie and Jericho alone. Jericho was sitting on a folding chair in the corner, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Chris, I'm done," Stephanie told him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, but continued to sit there as if she hadn't spoken at all.

She hopped off the table and went to sit on his lap. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist, and that was the only indication she had that he even knew that she was there. She ran her good finger over his stubble, hoping to get his attention. It eventually did as he let his eyes roam to her arm in a sling. He sighed as he saw it and shook his head.

It was that moment they heard someone yelling in the hallway, obviously irate. Jericho's ears perked up as he heard the voice and very unceremoniously put Stephanie down and stood up. Stephanie tried to stop him but it was too late, he was already throwing the door open. He stepped out into the hallway and saw Hunter's back.

Jericho scowled, "You mother fucking son of a bitch!"

Hunter turned around and frowned, "What the fuck do you want Jericho?"

"I want you to fucking pay."

Jericho charged at Hunter, taking him down with a spear, causing the other people in the hallway to gasp in surprise. Jericho mounted Hunter and started throwing punches at the other man, a few of them connecting solidly with his face. Hunter threw up his hands and shoved Jericho off of him, trying to get on the offensive. Stephanie went over to them, but Hunter shoved her away.

"Chris, please stop," Stephanie pleaded as Jericho shoved Hunter away from him and hopped to his feet.

"How dare you even touch Stephanie!" Jericho shouted, "I'm going to teach you to never even look at my girl again!"

"She was mine first!"

"No she wasn't jackass! You never loved her!"

"Is that what you think? You think that I didn't love her? Well that's where you're wrong Jericho!"

Stephanie looked between the two men who were now face to face in a showdown of some sort. They were both breathing heavily as they stared the other down. She couldn't believe that in essence, these two men were fighting…over her. It was strange, considering both these men had hated her at one point, one still hating her.

"You didn't love her, you never would've treated her the way you did if you loved her! You never would've abandoned her, or hurt her in any way if you loved her!"

"She hurt me!"

"Who gives a shit," Jericho said, then got an air of superiority, "She's mine now, and she doesn't give a shit about you anymore, get over it, you bastard!"

"Chris!" Stephanie yelled, physically pulling him back away from Hunter, "Please stop…"

"See that Jericho, even she doesn't want to hear you say that when its not true. You're not hers."

"Shut up Hunter," Stephanie spat, "Just take your stupid ass and get away from us!"

Stephanie glared at him for a moment, while Hunter just smirked and walked away. Stephanie turned to Jericho, who was still seething. She put her good hand on his chest, and felt that his heartbeat was racing. She stepped a little closer and moved her hand to wrap around his waist as she laid her head on his chest.

"Don't you EVER do that again!"

"Huh?" Jericho said, looking down at her.

"What are you trying to do Chris? Get your ass beat down by Evolution? Just stay away from him," she chastised.

"I don't like this."

"I don't like the thought of you getting beat up, how's that?"

He scowled, "He hurt you."

"Yes, he did, I doubt he knew that it was me though."

"He probably would've done the same thing had he known it was you."

"Probably, but we'll never know will we?"

"No."

"Now don't you have to go do something or something because I just heard Christian's music."

"You did?" Jericho said.

"Yeah, I did."

"Come on, let's go."

Trish was walking down the aisle, letting Christian hold onto her. She was so proud of him and smiled whenever he would whisper something into her ear. They got down to the ring and he motioned for her to go up. She thought he was going to hold the ropes for her, but he didn't so she climbed in herself. She knew that he had wanted to talk a little to the crowd beforehand and she was all up for it.

Stephanie held onto Jericho tightly as they watched Christian say his piece about the recent goings on. She was so happy for her friends, she could see how much they loved each other in the way Christian was looking at her in this moment. She unconsciously tightened her arms around Jericho.

Trish got out of the ring before the match began. She knew that Christian was going to win. Grandmaster Sexay was no match for Christian, it was almost laughable this whole thing. She saw Tyson standing near her and she edged out of the way a little, keeping her distance from him. She was still a little frightened by his appearance, though less so than before. But she still wanted to just stay away from him. She was happy when Christian won, though not surprised.

She heard Jericho's music go off just like she thought she would and Christian sent out Tyson to go check it out. That was just a diversionary tactic seeing as how they didn't really want Jericho to get kicked or hurt by Tyson. Jericho came running up from the crowd when it was appropriate and pushed Christian out of the ring, although Christian did a lot of the propelling by himself. Then Jericho turned to Trish and smiled, almost leering at her. She withheld her own smile and tried to chick kick him, and just like they timed, he caught her and put her in the Walls, albeit lightly. She felt herself get pulled out of the ring and thought it was Christian for a second, but it wasn't. She couldn't get away from Tyson fast enough as they walked backstage, Jericho basking in the glow of his "attack."

When they got backstage, they saw Stephanie standing there watching, and Trish knew she would be there. Wherever Jericho was, Stephanie was soon to follow. Stephanie turned to her friends as she heard them behind her and Trish gasped as she saw Stephanie's arm in the sling.

Trish rushed over and lightly put her hand on Stephanie's hurt arm, "Stephanie, what happened?"

"Hunter happened," she said drolly.

Christian walked up to them after he had dismissed Tyson for the evening, despite Tyson wanting to stay, "Did you say that Hunter did this?"

"Yeah--"

"Oh, that's IT!" Christian's eyes narrowed and his jaw set as he started stalking off. Stephanie ran awkwardly after him and caught his arm.

"He didn't mean to," Stephanie said as she spin him around, "He had the mist and he didn't see me."

"That's no fucking excuse!"

"Christian, please stop, Jericho already tried to beat him up for me, I don't need you going all chivalrous on me too."

"But Steph…"

"Listen to the woman, she's very persuasive," Jericho said as he walked up to them, "She practically kicked my ass for fighting with him."

"I'm fine, its just a bruise."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, I'm going to have Chris taking care of me and babying me all night long, I don't need you guys doing it too," Stephanie said, really trying to get the spotlight off of her, "Now, Chris, lets go watch the rest of the show."

That's just what they did. They sat there and watched the rest of the show. They saw Hunter walking out for his match and saw him dabbing at his eye. They knew it wasn't because of the mist in his eyes, but probably due to the black eye he was sure to have from Jericho's fist.

Hunter walked down to the ring. He found it funny that Jericho had tried to come after him, to defend his "woman." He had to hand it to Jericho, he put up with Stephanie, and that was no easy task. He smirked to himself, he'd have a shiner in the morning, but it was worth it. Didn't know it was Stephanie, heh, yeah right.

He knew it had been Stephanie in that hallway all along.


	203. SmackDown, April 29, 2004

"It's not the bad Stephanie."

"Well, that's good to hear, when I saw the trainer at my work, he said that I only had to keep the sling on for a day or so, but I wanted to make sure with an actual physician."

"I'd keep it on for at least a couple of more days. You're a lot more vulnerable to dislocation and spraining it if you move it around a lot."

"But it doesn't require anything severe like a cast or anything right," she asked the doctor that she had been visiting. Jericho had been bugging her for the past couple of days with babying her over her arm so she had decided to go see a doctor to confirm that it wasn't as bad as Jericho thought.

"No, you just have a deep bone bruise, you must've been clocked pretty hard."

"Yeah, I got shoved into a wall," she said, "The dangers of being in the wrestling business I guess."

"Yeah," he laughed, "Well, I think we're done here, and you said you weren't really in any pain?"

"Not unless I get it jostled," she answered, "But if I'm not doing anything, then it doesn't hurt at all."

"That's good, you don't need any medications or anything then, just try not to overuse that arm in the next week or so, I don't want you having to come back her and get fitted for a cast."

"Thanks Dr. Dondero," she said.

"Have a good day," he said, smiling at her as he wrote in her chart.

She walked out of there and then out of the doctor's office. Now that she knew she was going to be alright, she didn't have to have Jericho taking care of her so attentively. It was nice at first, but he got so…overprotective of her. Maybe she wasn't use to having that, but it still got her sometimes. She had become so used to being alone in her first twenty-six years of life that it was odd to suddenly have someone care for you so much.

Jericho was waiting in the car, where Stephanie had forced him to stay. So he had turned on a metal CD and was currently playing the air drums, occasionally banging the steering wheel with his palms. Stephanie walked up to the car and stood just outside the driver's side door. Jericho had his eyes closed as he was too caught up in the music to pay attention to her.

She leaned her good arm on the lowered windowsill of the car and then leaned in, putting her mouth near his ear, "Good music?"

"DEAR GOD!" Jericho said, jumping so high he actually hit his head on the top of the car. He turned his head to see Stephanie cracking up as he put a hand to his heart, "Jesus baby, don't scare me like that!"

"Do you have any idea how much of a goof you just looked like?" she asked as she walked over to her side.

"Well if my girlfriend had actually let me come in to the doctor's office with her, then maybe I wouldn't have been scared shitless, but no, she has to be all 'independent woman' and go by herself."

"Oh, yeah, that's precisely why I didn't want you to come, because I wanted to be all independent and showing all my womanly strength. I didn't let you come because if I let you come inside, then you would've forced your way into the examination room, and if you got into the exam room, you would be asking all these unnecessary questions and then I'd suddenly find myself getting knee surgery or something," she told him.

"Well you make me sound like I'm some sort of bad guy because I don't want to see you hurt…I hope that when we have a baby, you'll allow me in the delivery room, maybe you won't, maybe they'll have to be a three state gap between you and me, you know, because I'd make a scene."

She rolled her eyes, "When we have a baby, I swear, you can wait in the lobby."

"Wow, thanks! You're the best," he said, mock enthusiastically, "I bet if your mom were here you'd let her come with you."

"Are you acting petulant now?"

"Yeah, because God forbid I ask you how you are, I don't think that was in the contract that I signed."

"I'm fine, just a bone bruise, nothing bad about it like you think there was. I just have to wear the sling a few more days and I'll be as good as new."

"Ok," he nodded, "Now that we know that you're going to be ok, when do I get to royally kick Hunter's ass. I want to wrap my hands around his neck and make him choke, and then I want to make him bleed."

"Oh my, you are being very male right now, I kind of like it," she pointed out, "But there's going to be no live murder on Raw anytime soon."

"Ok, so we save it for a Pay-Per-View, but I'm thinking it'll bring in tons of ratings. Come on Steph, I deserve to punish him for what he did to you…pretty please."

"I believe just as much as anyone that he deserves to be punished, but that'll only provoke him and he'll want to hurt you. Chris, did you learn nothing from your feud in 2000. It led to a Last Man Standing match, Last Man Standing, talk about your scary situations, I thought both of you were going to die by the time that night was over."

"Like you didn't want me to die."

She took his hand and rubbed it, "I didn't want you to die. Get horribly injured, bloodied up, sure, but dead, no, of course not."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, "Glad you didn't want to see me lowered into a grave so that you could dance on it."

"Nah," she told him, "So can we please go home now?"

"Yeah, we can go home, are you hungry though? We can pick something up on the way home."

"I just want to go home," she said, "So basically that's a non-stop trip from here to our house."

He started the car and started driving home as Stephanie told him about what exactly the doctor had said. She knew that he wouldn't believe anything she just said so she tried to use as much doctor jargon as she possibly could to validate her story. Jericho was just someone who was not easily swayed one way or the other without substantial reason to change sides.

"Isn't it funny how in one action, you turn from a bad guy to a good guy in the fan's eyes," Stephanie pondered aloud as she turned to Jericho, "Like when I came back to be General Manager of SmackDown and I threw Bischoff out, despite my past, and all the bitchy things that I did, suddenly they all loved me."

"Yeah, what were they, crazy?" he joked.

"You're so lucky my left arm is in a sling or I'd slap you in the chest for saying that," she said, pouting.

"Aww, well, I didn't love you back then," he said, "You must forgive me."

"Pfft," she said, sticking her tongue out, "Or like the fans with you, you save Trish once, and suddenly they're all ga-ga over you again."

"Hey, they wanted to cheer me, they just need an excuse," he said as they pulled into their driveway.

"Yeah, or they just all liked Trish and any guy that came out they would've cheered," she said as she got out, "The universe doesn't revolve around you Chris Jericho."

"Nor does it revolve around you Stephanie McMahon."

"Just open the front door," she said as she waited for him.

"Keep your panties on, it's not like you don't have two good hands…or maybe not."

"Jerk," she muttered as she opened the door, "I'm going to go get a tan."

"Wow Steph, don't strain yourself or anything!"

"The doctor said I had to take it easy," she pointed out, "So I'm taking it easy by lying out on a pool chair all afternoon. Then I have to watch my stupid friend Kurt go back to SmackDown. I don't know why he's doing that so soon after his accident."

"Stupidity?" Jericho shrugged, thinking of no other plausible explanation.

"Yeah, that has to be it," she said, then gave him a sweet look, "Chris, sweetie, love of my life…will you do me a favor, because you love and adore me and want me to be so happy all of the time."

"What?"

"Will you help me put on my bathing suit?"

"You thought I wasn't going to agree to THAT!"

"Well I don't know," she said, "You might not want to, you might have more pressing issues or--AHHH!"

She screamed as he rushed over to her and swept her up in his arms. He grinned at her as he climbed the stairs. Even now, so long after they had gotten together he could still surprise her in the smallest ways. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, before letting her kiss slowly travel to his mouth. By the time they reached their bedroom, they were fully making out and he laid her down on the bed. She reached her good hand down to undo his pants.

Things were just getting fun when their doorbell rang. Jericho groaned against Stephanie's mouth. She pulled away and shrugged, telling him that she didn't expect anyone to come over. Jericho got up and pulled on some boxers and then a pair of jogging pants. Stephanie sat up, watching him do this. He was just to the door when she cleared her throat.

"Chris, I can't dress myself you know," she said, looking down at herself, "I need your help."

"Well, I have a feeling that its either Trish, Christian, or Edge at the door, and if it is, then I'm sending them away immediately, and if its not them, and its some fucking solicitor then I'm going to slam the door in their face, and if it's a Girl Scout selling cookies, I'm buying some and then I'm sending her away too."

"Ok, but hurry back."

He licked his lips and smiled lecherously at her, "Are you kidding me? Knowing that you are waiting up here looking like that, I'll be back as fast as I possibly can."

Jericho jogged down the stairs, thinking how appropriate it was that he was wearing jogging pants. He threw open the door prepared to throw out whoever it was, but it was such a shock that he didn't say anything. Randy was standing there, smiling a little sheepishly, if that was the right word, considering Randy had never been sheepish before in his life, or so Jericho thought.

"Randy, this is…a huge surprise," Jericho said, nothing else coming to his mind at the moment.

"Yeah, I know, I just…I heard what had happened to Stephanie on Monday, and I just wanted to make sure that she was alright."

"So you flew down to Florida?"

"Well, it's just about the only time that I actually don't have to spend with Hunter and the rest of them, and kind of snooped around for your address, and yeah, here I am. I guess Trish didn't tell you for my penchant to just drop by unexpected."

"No, she didn't," Jericho said, "Stephanie's fine by the way."

"Good, I wanted to make sure."

"Chris! What the fuck is going on, if that is you Edge, get the hell out of here, we're busy!" They heard Stephanie yell from upstairs.

"Oh shit," Randy said, "I totally interrupted something didn't I? And I think now I've learned my lesson. Next time, I'll call."

"Um, no, actually I was helping her put her bathing suit on, with her arm in a sling, she can't exactly dress herself. Just give a second or two and I'll bring her down, you can come in if you want."

"Thanks," Randy said as he walked into the house, "I appreciate you letting me stop by."

"Not a problem, as you could probably tell we get unexpected visitors all the time, make yourself at home," Jericho said as he went back upstairs.

Randy walked around the living room that he had been led into. It was a lot different from his house and from the rest of Evolution's houses. They were all very…sterile and clean and neat and modern in a minimalist kind of way. Their house had a very lived in, homey kind of feel to it. He kind of wished that he could live like this. He probably could if he wanted to, but…nah, he guessed he just wasn't the kind of person.

He saw tons of photos on their fireplace and along the walls. There were a lot of wrestling ones from Jericho's various accomplishments in the business, which were numerous. Many of the other pictures were of him and Stephanie. He saw some really old ones and it only reinforced how long they had actually been together. It was hard, even now, to think that they had been dating for almost two years. Everyone had thought they were incompatible, not that he really knew, he had been a kid when they started hating each other.

"Randy, what are you doing here?" Stephanie said as she walked into the living room, dragging Jericho behind her.

"You're ok, good," he said, nodding to her, "Nice pictures you have here."

"Thanks, we're like picture fiends, you should see our office upstairs."

"Our office," Jericho said, pulling her against him, "When did it go from MY office to OUR office?"

"When I said so," she countered, "But yeah, our house is full of pictures, go look at the fridge for more proof of that."

"Yeah, just don't go looking under our bed, that's where all the bad photos are," Jericho joked.

"Pervert," Stephanie said, "So Chris told me that you wanted to check up on me, that's really sweet Randy, but I'm fine, see."

"Yeah, but that's--"

He was interrupted with the doorbell ringing once again. Jericho groaned for the second time that day. He was going to have to uninstall that freaking doorbell and just put in a revolving door judging from all the people that came to their house. He let go of Stephanie and went to the door again, opening to see Trish and Christian.

"Hey TRISH, hey CHRISTIAN!"

"Shit," Stephanie said, "They can't see you here, they don't know about everything!"

"Oh," Randy said, standing there not knowing what he was supposed to do.

Stephanie grabbed his arm with her good hand and started pulling him towards the stairs. She rushed them upstairs and looked around frantically, she finally just raced to the nearest door, which happened to be to her and Jericho's bedroom. She rushed them inside and shut the door behind her, panting a little.

"So this is your bedroom?" Randy said, looking around a little awkwardly, "Nice."

"Excuse the mess," Stephanie said, kicking a bra under the bed, "I'm messy, Chris hates that sometimes."

"Nah, its not too messy," he said, looking at various piles of clothes around the room, "It's nice. Oh, look, Chris has the replica old WWF belt over your bed."

"Oh of course, its like those tapestries they had in olden days," she said, "You know, symbol of pride. That's the one they gave him when he was the Undisputed Champion. Its been hanging there longer than I've been living here. The WCW Belt is in our office, but this one holds a more special place in his heart."

"Why?"

"Because it wasn't until he got to WWE that he actually got the chance to be a big star, and to be the first guy to represent the union of the company really felt special to him, so yeah, instead of some beautiful painting, we have a mounted title belt over our bed, but I love it too…its what brought us together," she finished with a smile.

"You and Chris are a great couple," he said, "I don't think I've seen any other couple quite like you guys."

"Thanks, I guess, everyone says we're lucky we found each other cause nobody else would put up with us," she laughed, "It's probably true."

"Yeah, um, Stephanie…"

Stephanie looked at him, "Oh God, you're going to confess your love for me!"

He actually laughed, "No, that's not it at all. I've seen what Jericho can do, I saw the shiner he gave Hunter. There's just something I need to tell you, something that Hunter said. I think its better that I tell you now when Chris isn't around, because I heard about his temper and this isn't going to make him happy. I figure it might be better coming from you if you tell him."

"I don't keep secrets from Chris," Stephanie said, "So just tell me what it is."

"Hunter knew what he was doing. He knew it was you all along in that hallway. His eyesight wasn't as bad as everyone thought it was at that moment. He said that it was just a ruse so that Jericho and company wouldn't think that he actually knew about pushing you, but he knew."

Stephanie sighed, "Chris and I both said that he would've shoved me anyways if he could see. I'm not surprised by anything Hunter does anymore, putting me in a sling is just one of the breaks I guess. I'm glad you told me though, I was really willing to give him some slack on this one. I should've let Chris break his jaw."

Trish looked at Jericho suspiciously, "Why aren't you letting us in?"

"Because we're busy," Jericho said, "Can't you tell?"

"No," Christian said, "Where's Stephanie?"

"Upstairs," he said suggesting that she was there for a reason, "So why don't you just go?"

"No, I need to borrow a necklace of hers, Christian and I are going to Toronto for the weekend and we're eating dinner with his mom and I want a nice necklace, and I know one that Stephanie has that would go perfectly with my turquoise dress," Trish said, "So let me go get it from her."

"No! I'll go get it for you," Jericho said.

"Chris, it'll take one minute, you can give Stephanie warning if she's naked or something," Trish said, "I just really want the necklace, you don't even know which one it is and I do."

"She's not naked," Jericho said, then cursed himself, she should be naked, that way he could warn her wherever she and Randy were at the moment.

"Oh give me a break," Trish said, pushing his arm out of the way, "I'll go up myself, Chrissy, keep him busy!"

"This is breaking and entering!" Jericho exclaimed as he was held back by Christian, "Let me go man!"

"Sorry man, I can't help you there, she's my girl."

Trish went down the upstairs hall to the door of Stephanie and Jericho's bedroom. She knocked on it loudly, "Steph, it's Trish, and you may be naked or something, but I wanted to borrow your necklace, you know the one that would go with my turquoise dress."

Stephanie shoved Randy into the closet before going to open the door, "The one with the light blue swirls?"

"Yeah, so you weren't naked?"

"I can't undress myself with this damn sling," she said, "Here let me get the necklace, oh, and I have a matching bracelet do you want to borrow that too?"

"Hell yeah," Trish giggled, "I'm visiting Christian's mom this weekend. I know she likes me and everything, but she knew about the break-up…"

"Who didn't know about the break-up Trish? You guys were broken up for months and months, it wasn't like me and Chris who couldn't stay apart from each other."

"Yeah, you're right, I just want to make her believe that I'm good for her son, you know," Trish said as she put Stephanie's necklace and bracelet on so she could hold onto them properly.

"Yeah, I know, remember, Chris's mom hated me, I tried to do everything in my power to get her to like me and it always seemed so freaking futile."

"Well, I'm off, wish me luck."

Stephanie hugged Trish with her good arm, "His mom loves you, his mom loves everyone and you know it."

"She does," Trish laughed, "She's kind of like Edge in that way, I mean, even when Edge was saying how much he hated Randy, all he could say was 'I don't like you,' oh my God, next time we're all together, we HAVE to bring that up!"

Stephanie laughed, "Yeah, it was like he couldn't even say that without that stupid grin on his face."

"Where he bares all five million of his teeth," Trish laughed.

"Ok girls," Jericho said, "Is the little gab-fest over?"

"Yes," Trish said, rolling her eyes to Stephanie discreetly, "Sorry we interrupted whatever top secret mission you were on Chris."

"Get out of here Trish," Jericho said good-naturedly, "Let me show you to the door. Hopefully it'll hit you on the way out."

"Ha ha," Trish said as they all walked away.

Stephanie closed the door partially and opened the closet door. Randy was sitting against the far wall where she had her tops so there was space to lean against the wall and not be surrounded by clothes. She looked at him sympathetically for a moment.

"I'm sorry you had to hear her," she said, going over to sit with him.

"Its ok, I'll be ok," he said, "It's just, I never really got a chance with her."

"Well…you know, not all relationships last forever, even the ones you think are really great, and who knows, maybe you and Trish…"

"She seemed pretty happy with Christian," Randy mumbled.

Stephanie rubbed his knee companionably, "Well, I know it was hard for Trish, you know, I mean, you're a great guy, despite what everyone thinks about you. You may be the 'Legend Killer' or whatever title, but that doesn't mean you can't also be the 'Nice Guy.' You've proven that title over and over again."

"Thanks Stephanie, I don't think I've ever been called that."

"I just don't think you let that guy out enough," she told him, "I mean, you let me see it and you let Trish see it, even Chris, but maybe someday, you can let everyone see it."

"Maybe," he said, "And then maybe I'll find a girl who'd stick around for a significant amount of time."

"Let me tell you a little story Randy. I was married to a horrible, horrible man. By the end of my marriage, we barely spoke, I wanted out so badly that I faked a pregnancy," she said with a snort, "The last thing I ever thought I deserved or needed was a guy, or love. I thought that I was such a lost cause that I would just be some old divorcee who nobody likes and who just lives alone immersed in her work forever. Then this really great guy came along and proved me wrong, which I hated, HATED…and you know what, you'll find that girl, she's out there, you're only, what, twenty-four. Take it from someone who knows, and is older than you, you have plenty of time."

"Thanks Stephanie, Chris is really lucky to have you. Hunter was lucky to have you too, almost too lucky."

"You can say that again," Jericho said from the door, "I told myself that for years."

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Not much you old spinster," Jericho said, "You two hungry or anything, I think that someone, coughRandycough, needs some serious wallowing food."

"Oooh, wallowing food, that's always the best kind," Stephanie said, jumping up and running over to Jericho, giving him a high five.

"You two don't have to do that for me, I'll feel like I'm imposing," Randy said.

Jericho looked from him to Stephanie and back. He shook his head.

"Friends don't impose…" Stephanie laughed and winked at Jericho.

"Unless we're…busy."


	204. Raw, May 3, 2004

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. :D

* * *

"It's getting pretty risky around here."

"You're telling me, we're the ones at the heart of this thing," Jericho said, running his hand over Stephanie's sling, "Hey baby?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think that maybe we should cut Randy loose?"

"What do you mean," she asked, looking over at him.

"I mean, you know, with the history and the things going on right now, is it fair to have to put him through this, not to mention we're also keeping this from our friends. And some of them don't like Randy."

"You're referring to Edge, right?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, even you had to notice the animosity between them. How good would that be for us, caught between the two of them?"

"We could just tell them about him," Stephanie suggested.

"But then what if the rest of Evolution gets a wind of it, they're going to kick Randy's ass," Jericho said, "And do we want that to happen?"

"So then what do we do Chris, I mean, Randy has protected me and provided me with vital information like what Hun--never mind," she said quickly, realizing that she hadn't told Jericho what Randy had told her last week.

Jericho was too quick-thinking to not hear what Stephanie had said, "What did Randy tell you?"

"It doesn't matter," she said, "Don't worry about it."

"I heard you say something that sounded like it would have the word Hunter in it and you don't want to tell me. Am I going to have to beat it out of him?"

"Chris," she warned, "That would solve nothing, and you know it."

"So, it would make me feel better, that's for sure," he told her, "And I'd love to see him with an even worse black eye than the one I gave him last week, how would that be?"

"I'd love it, but I don't want you to do that, Chris, sweetie, beating him up isn't going to change anything, it's only going to make him more angry at me…at you…at the idea of us. He's just jealous," she said, "Jealous and stupid. He wants what he can't have."

"The day that he gets you back is the day that I kill myself," he said, taking a hold of her, "If you don't want me to beat him up, then I won't, I promise."

"Really? You do?"

"I do," he sighed, "I'll think it though, because that nose could just to be smacked around a little, but when I make a promise to you, I keep it."

"Fine, um…Hunter pushed me on purpose last week. He knew that it was me, and so he…pushed me."

Jericho kept his composure but only because he had promised her that he would. Internally, he was struggling not to come up with ways to castrate Hunter and then kill him in cold blood. There was jealousy, and then there was this, this twisted game that Hunter thought he was playing with him. He didn't like it, not when it involved Stephanie. Hunter could hate and despise Jericho for the rest of his life, but he would not bring Stephanie into that core of hatred.

"I'm not surprised," Jericho said through clenched teeth, "Not surprised at all."

He got up from their couch and Stephanie looked up at him curiously. Even though he was acting calm, she could tell he was angry. If she even brought up Hunter's name, he got angry; it was almost instinctive. She got up after him and put her good arm on his arm. He looked back to her and smiled. She put her hand on his cheek and caressed the edge of his goatee softly.

"I hate this thing."

"You always hate my facial hair," he told her.

"I know, I like you all nice and clean shaven."

He knew they were avoiding the serious subject, but this was safe and wouldn't end up in a fight. "I know, but sometimes I like to grow it out."

"Chris, I was married to Hunter for two years."

"I know," he said, but he didn't sound happy about it, "Do I need to be reminded all the time about it?"

"No, but sometimes, I get the feeling that you'd rather forget that about me."

"I would."

"But you can't, it's a big part of who I am. Chris, did you ever stop to think…if I hadn't married Hunter, if I hadn't been his wife, turned bitch, been vindictive, I would probably be married to Test and have two kids by now," she told him.

He hadn't thought about that, but he didn't even want to put her marriage to Hunter in a positive light, "Yeah, you're right."

"I know I'm right. Things worked out, maybe it's not the best situation in the world, maybe I would've been better off if I had divorced Hunter sooner or something, maybe I shouldn't have let myself get attached, but it happened that way, and that's it. We can't turn back time."

"I know," he said, looking down, "I don't need the refresher course of your life, I was here for the past four years you know."

"I know," she said as she leaned up to kiss him, "So where are you going?"

"I was just going to change, I wasn't going to go anywhere," he said, "What, did you think I was going to go kill Hunter or something?"

"Well, yes, the thought had crossed my mind, especially because I know that you hate him."

"Yeah, I do, but I promised, you," he said, "And besides, he has first match and the show started ten minutes ago."

"Where does the time go?" she asked with a laugh.

"I could say a cheesy line right now, but I'm choosing not to," he said, kissing her, "Hey, would you happen to know how I got that new entrance video? I don't think that I had mentioned that to anyone, to get it changed."

She shrugged, "No idea, I guess someone just thought you deserved a new one."

"Oh, so like a certain person didn't pull a few strings to get it made for me," he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Now who would do that?"

He smiled and shook his head as she turned away to smirk to herself. She couldn't keep anything a secret from him. He went into the bathroom to change and she watched Hunter wrestling out there. She was glad for the separation as she felt the sling on her arm. She just never felt comfortable knowing that he could be just outside her door, waiting for her.

She saw as Randy and Edge fought each other. She didn't like thinking that two of her friends hated each other so vehemently, but she guessed that's just the way things had to be for now. She didn't exactly get why Edge didn't like Randy, maybe he was under the false pretense that he was a bad guy because he was in Evolution. Stephanie knew better than to listen to that as a basis for disliking Randy.

"I'm going to go find Matt Hardy, he's my guest tonight," Jericho whispered in her ear as he leaned over the couch.

She turned her head to face him, "Ok, have fun."

"I won't, but I'll think of you to make me feel better," he said.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Jericho walked out and went to find Matt's locker room. He and Lita had been getting back on track lately and that was probably the driving factor for him to be on the Highlight Reel this week. Everyone loved a good love story, look at him and Trish, people were so captivated by it, they had extended it, even if it had been pretty much fake the entire time.

He knocked on Matt's door and stood around waiting for him to answer it. He and Matt, and to an extent Jeff had been friends for a while, way back in the day. But then they had sort of drifted apart, for various reasons, not being anyone's fault. Sometimes that happened. Hell, he had been great friends with Chyna once upon a time, and he hadn't talked to her in years.

"Hey," Matt said as he answered the door, "You here about the Highlight Reel?"

"Actually yeah, I just wanted to know what you wanted to discuss."

"Lita," Matt said definitively, "There's some stuff I need to say to her."

"Ok, that's cool, whatever you want, the floor will be yours," Jericho said, the less work for him the better, either way he got a paycheck at the end of the day, "So you can say whatever you want. You thinking about getting back together with her?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded, "I mean, you know how you can't escape someone, even though you're broken up?"

"Yeah, I definitely know the feeling," Jericho answered.

"I guess I've been trying to run away from the inevitable, but here it is and I don't think I want to run away from it anymore," Matt said, "So I figured that tonight would be a good time to tell Lita that."

"Well, you can tell her that on the Highlight Reel, I'm sure she'll love it," Jericho said, "Even ask her out there or something."

"That's a good idea, got any more?"

Stephanie was watching the end of the match, giggling with happiness as Hunter lost. She was sad it was at the hands of Randy, but by definition that was a Hunter lost and those were always nice to have. She then saw Coach talking to Garrison Cade and rolled her eyes, talk about boring. Then she saw her father walking up behind them and physically jumped out of her seat.

"Daddy," she breathed excitedly. It had been a while since she had seen her father.

She rushed out of the room and to the place where she knew her father had just entered. She looked awkward running with her arm in a sling, but she didn't care, she wanted to see her father. Ever since they had gotten on good terms and he knew about her and Jericho, she had been happy to see him any time they were at the same show. It was like the old days when she was "Daddy's Little Girl" and the apple of her father's eye.

She saw her father walking ahead of her and called out loudly, "Daddy!"

Vince turned around and saw his daughter's brown hair flowing behind her as he ran to her, "Stephanie…what is that thing on your arm?"

She went up to him and hugged him with her good arm, "I bruised my bone Daddy. It's just to keep my arm from twisting around or anything."

"How did this happen?" he asked as he examined the sling itself.

Stephanie had to lie. Her father had a worse temper than Jericho, which was pretty hard to do considering that Jericho had a pretty bad temper. She knew that her father might be so bold as to fire Hunter for hurting her. Well, maybe not that far, but he certainly wouldn't be too kind about it.

"I fell, I'm so clumsy sometimes," she said, rolling her eyes, "Chris and I were swimming and I slipped on some water on the edge of the pool and landed on my shoulder. It's not sprained or anything though, just bruised."

"Is that the only place you were hurt?"

"Uh huh, otherwise I'm fine Daddy," she said with a smile, "I promise, I just need to learn not to run next to the pool."

"I thought that was something you learned when you were seven," he scolded playfully.

"Yeah, yeah, I know…but what are you doing here Daddy, I didn't expect you to be here tonight."

"Well, didn't you hear? I'm here to watch the championship match, it's sure to be a classic one," Vince told her, "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's talking to Matt Hardy," Stephanie explained, "He's the guest on the Highlight Reel tonight, so Chris wanted to confer with him over what was going on, good business skills huh Daddy?"

"Yes," he said with a smile, "Are you trying to butter him up for the future?"

"If everything goes the way I want, he'll be part owner Daddy," Stephanie said, hanging onto her father's arm as they walked down the hallway, "And you don't want an idiot running your company."

"You divorced Hunter, I don't see that happening," Vince said with an uproarious laugh.

Stephanie allowed herself to laugh as well, "So where are you going to watch Daddy?"

"I got my own box, how about you join me for the show?"

"I don't know Daddy, won't the camera focus on you sometimes?"

"I'll make sure they keep it trained on me," he said, "I never get to spend time with you now that you live in Florida, and now that I know that you live in Florida."

"Well, I still checked my messages from the house in Connecticut."

"Yes, but it's still nice knowing your actual phone number in case I need to reach you for something important."

"Like a job," she said hopefully.

"Yes, like a job," Vince said, "One that will hopefully be popping up soon."

"I wish I could just show up once," she mused, "Just a huge surprise or something."

Vince patted her arm, "Don't worry Princess, I'm sure it'll happen shortly, we have to make sure the fans will love you upon your return…or hate you depending on how you come back."

"Yes," she said as they walked down the hallways and up the stairs to where the boxes are, "Oh, maybe I should've left a note with Chris telling him where I was going to be. I don't think he has his phone with him, since he said that nobody would call him during the show."

"Don't worry about Chris, he has work to do anyways, he'll be fine."

"But he likes to know where I am…he worries about me," she said with a shy smile.

"Oh he'll be fine Stephanie," Vince said as he held the door open for her.

"If you say so Daddy," Stephanie said as she walked inside and took a seat.

Jericho walked back into his locker room and expected to see Stephanie there, but she wasn't there. He looked around and wondered where she could be. Possibly with Trish and Christian. He walked back out again, wanting to find her and tell her how much he loved her. After talking with Matt, it became apparent how much he missed Lita, and Jericho was so happy that he didn't have to suffer through that with Stephanie and he just wanted to reaffirm how much he loved her.

He walked to Trish and Christian's locker room, but there was no answer there, so he figured they must all be in catering. He headed down that way into the open area where catering was located and didn't see anyone he knew there and frowned. Where could Stephanie be? He spotted Trish and Christian walk in and headed over to them.

"Hey you guys, seen Stephanie?"

"Nope," Trish said, "Haven't seen her all night."

"Oh, ok, well, if you see her, tell her I'm looking for her," Jericho said.

"Of course," Trish said, "We'll see you later."

Jericho walked out of there and then down the hallway again. He looked around for Stephanie again, but still no sign of her. He sighed, he had to be on in like fifteen minutes and he really wanted to talk to her. He looked up and saw Hunter walking, still sweaty and disheveled. He looked over at Jericho and smirked that cocky smirk of his.

"Where's your woman Jericho?" Hunter asked.

Jericho would've kept on walking, but he just…couldn't. He stared at Hunter and cracked his neck, "None of your fucking business."

"Oh, did you two have a fight? Trouble in paradise? Is she missing Jericho?"

Jericho bit his lip, "What's it to you?"

"Nothing, just wouldn't want the lovebirds to be on the outs," Hunter said, pretending to be sympathetic, "I mean, your like the 'it' couple now, and we can't have you two being at each other's throats. I wouldn't be surprised if you were looking for her right now."

Jericho snapped, thinking that Hunter knew exactly where Stephanie was, and wasn't telling him. If he had taken Stephanie, he would kill him on the spot. As it was though, he shoved Hunter up against the wall and held his arm across his throat. Hunter didn't do anything but smile and look at Jericho, despite being in this uncomfortable position.

"Where the fuck is she?"

"I don't know," Hunter said.

"Yes you do asshole, where the fuck is she!"

"You can think I'm lying all you want Jericho, but I don't know. Maybe she's with another guy. This IS Stephanie we're talking about right, you never know when she's on her back."

Jericho pressed his arm tighter against Hunter, "Don't you ever, and I mean EVER talk about her like that again!"

"Why not? Truth hurt? I find it so ironic that you get so angry at the things YOU used to call her."

"I was wrong about her," Jericho said, "You were the one who was controlling her and making her the bitch she was."

"Oh of course, that's right," Hunter answered, "It was all me. Don't be so naïve Chris, look at Stephanie for what she really is. She'll leave you, just like she left me, she'll move on, she'll find someone she likes better just because she can. You and I, we're exactly the same. I loved Stephanie, I loved her and I wanted to have kids with her and she took that away from me, and she'll take it away from you too. Just wait and see."

Jericho let go of Hunter and took a step back, "You forgot one important thing. I'm not you Trips, and I never will be."

Jericho started to walk away and Hunter called out, "I'd check all the dressing rooms if I were you, you never know who she might be with."

Jericho knew he had wasted time locking horns with Hunter and went straight to the gorilla for the Highlight Reel. He didn't want to do it right now, but he had to; it was his job after all. He waited for the music to hit and went out there, putting on his nice, happy face, like he actually wanted to be out here. He was more concerned about Stephanie, but little did he know, she was watching right now.

Vince looked over at his daughter and saw a dazzling smile break out on her face as Jericho walked down the ramp. He didn't think he had ever seen her smile quite like that in all his years of being her father. Stephanie felt his eyes on her and smiled at him before going back to watch Jericho attentively. Vince just wondered when those two would make it official; they obviously wanted to.

Jericho decided to stick to a safe topic to open his show tonight, picking up on the main event of the evening, the match between Benoit and HBK, which promised to be a classic match. It just brought to mind how long it had been since he had a legitimate shot at the title, and it had been a long time, far too long. It had been more than two years since he had held the title and he missed having that gold around his waist. He deserved the shot more than Hunter, that bastard, and Jericho said it too, hoping that Hunter was watching. Jericho smirked at that, he hoped Hunter knew that he wasn't going to run roughshod around here anymore.

He then went on to introduce Matt, and after a short talk with him, he let Matt have the microphone and talk to Lita. Jericho listened to him, and once again wondered where Stephanie was. He looked around a bit, trying to clear his mind. Matt asked Lita to come out here so he could tell her something, and Jericho wondered just what it was. It would suck royally if he was out there to propose, it wouldn't be fair that Matt got to propose before he could.

Luckily that was not the case as Lita's face showed up on the TitanTron. She was telling Matt that she never loved him and that she didn't want him. Jericho felt bad for Matt, he knew how he would feel if Stephanie ever said that to him, and it would be pretty lousy. Then something happened and Kane showed up on the screen, and they saw that Lita was tied down. Jericho wondered if maybe Hunter had Stephanie in the same position right now, and if he did, Jericho would do what Matt had just done, run to save the woman he loved.

He didn't realize for a second that this meant he had no guest. In his dreams, he wished that he could just go right out and say what he wanted to say about Stephanie, that he loved her and wanted to be with her, and then he'd ask her out here like Matt had asked Lita, and then Stephanie would come out with a smile. Realizing everyone was looking on him, he tried to cover by saying he was speechless. He was just going to end the show when Christian, Trish and their "problem solver" showed up. Jericho had no clue they were showing up and was wondering what was up.

Stephanie watched as Jericho got beaten, but she didn't seem to be too concerned, they planned stuff like this all the time. She told her father that she was going to go see Jericho now and kissed his cheek before she left, promising to have dinner with him before he left on Wednesday. She walked down the flight of stairs and to the backstage area, going to the gorilla, where Christian and Trish were just walking behind from.

"Hey you guys, nice stuff out there," she said.

"I think we surprised Chris actually," Trish said, "We didn't tell him we were doing that."

"Oh, yeah, he might be then," she laughed.

"He's been looking for you by the way," Christian said, "Asked around earlier."

"Thanks," she said, "I'll see you guys later."

"Yup."

Stephanie waited for Jericho to walk backstage. Jericho limped backstage a little. He hadn't been expecting that crotch shot from Trish and it had taken him by surprise and he was a little bit sore. Stephanie went up to him and rubbed his back, causing him to jump about a mile high. She giggled as he looked at her.

"I've been looking for you EVERYWHERE," he said angrily.

She looked at him strangely, "Why?"

"Why? Because you could've been hurt or something, or abducted like Lita was by Kane, I mean, there are a million possibilities!"

"I was just with my dad!"

"You could've told me!"

"I wasn't aware that you had to know where I was every second of everyday. I'm a grown up Chris, I know what I'm doing!"

"Hunter could've gotten you!"

"Oh please, he wouldn't take me at a show, how obvious! I was fine, I just wanted to see my dad!"

"Leave a note or something next time, geez, you could've made me have a heart attack or something."

"I can do whatever I want, whenever I want," she yelled, "You aren't the boss of me Chris, if I want to go see someone, I don't have to get your permission."

"So you're mad at me because I was worried!"

"Yeah!"

"Well then fine, be an ungrateful bitch!"

"Fine then, I'll see you later, ass!"

She stormed off, intending to go back to her father. He would let her stay in his suite tonight, he always got the multi-bedroom deals, she didn't know why, but she didn't care because she wasn't going to spend the night with Jericho. How dare he try to control her like that! She was fuming with anger and couldn't see that his words were filled with concern and love.

Jericho stood there, not believing that she had just walked away. But he was so angry right now, he didn't even think to go after her. He didn't want to. He was just concerned and she had taken that to mean he was controlling her every move. He just didn't want her hurt. Hunter walked up to Jericho and clapped him on the back.

"Told you," Hunter said smugly, "She'll turn on you so fast…"

Jericho scowled and walked away.


	205. Raw, May 10, 2004

A/N: Sorry that I didn't write a chapter for Thursday. I've been really sick, and at the moment, I have walking pneumonia, though I am better than I was last week, just suffering from a little exhaustion. I'm taking a sort of hiatus for a little while though because I get tired really easily right now, and it takes a little while to recover, so I'll try to update as much as I can, but it probably won't be a lot for a while, sorry for that.

But, I was at Raw tonight and it was a LOT of fun. And you could see my sign, hee. If you have a tape, watch it and my signs say, "Steph, come back with Y2J" and "Jericho, forget Trish, get Steph." Yup, someone had to carry the Smoochy banner. ;) If you do have it on tape, watch H's entrance at the beginning and you can see the "Steph, come back" part of my sign really clearly. If you're really lucky, you can see the "with Y2J" part, I haven't looked at the rest of the tape, so you may be able to see me more than once, but that part was really clear.

Oh, and at the end of the chapter, where I talk about Jericho getting his boot caught in the cage, that really happened after the show ended. He got his boot stuck on something and had to sit up there for a few minutes until one of the referees came to help him get uncaught on the cage so he could actually stand up on the cage. It was pretty funny.

Enjoy the chapter. :)

* * *

"Is she still mad at you?" 

"Yeah, she spent the entire weekend in Connecticut," Jericho said with a laugh, "She told me that she was visiting her mother for Mother's Day, which is true, but I knew that part of her just wanted to be away from me. I'm too overprotective of her apparently."

"So what did you do all weekend?"

"I went up to Canada to be with my mom for the day," he said, "She kept pestering me to ask Stephanie to marry me, and I told her that when the moment was right that I would."

"Yeah, you should, you've waited long enough," Edge said, "So where is she now?"

"Still mad, she insisted we get separate hotel rooms on different floors. She's four floors up. I think that's enough space for her."

"You don't seem concerned."

Jericho took a swig of his water. He knew how Stephanie was. She tended to get mad at the tiniest things. He just needed to wait it out and she would be fine in a couple of days. Granted it had been a week since they had had their stupid fight, but sometimes she was more stubborn than usual. This was one of those times. But he knew that she would eventually cool down. She always did.

"You know how Stephanie is, I'm not worried, she'll realize I was just trying to mean well."

"Yeah, so are you ready to fight my brother tonight?"

"Yeah, I guess, I mean, what do you do when you have to fight your friend. I'm thinking that I'll picture him as Hunter and then I'll kick his ass that way. I think that it's time to end this whole thing. It really doesn't serve a purpose now."

"Makes sense, you can move onto bigger and better things."

"I'm hoping, you know, Bischoff owes me a title shot, I should be the next one to get a shot, I better be the next one to get a shot."

"Good luck with that," Edge laughed, "I'm just trying to focus on winning that IC title belt. That's the prize that I'm eyeing."

"Yeah, you and Orton right?"

"Yeah, and don't worry, I'll kick his ass, just because he's in Evolution with Hunter."

Jericho nodded enthusiastically, trying to bite his tongue. Their friends still didn't know that Randy was on their side. He didn't think they'd take it too well. Edge and Trish especially. Edge because he was in the middle of this feud with Randy, and Trish because she used to date the guy. It just didn't seem the right time to tell them what was going on.

"So are you and Stephanie going to the arena together or is that going to be against the rules as well?"

"She'll probably try to 'punish' me by hitching a ride with someone else. I don't get why she's angry with me, I was just trying to protect her. That's all I ever try to do."

"Don't worry about it. You and Stephanie always work these things out."

"You're right," he said, "I better get going though. See what my lady love is up to."

Jericho set his drink down on the table and left the café that he had been sitting at with Edge. He walked around the corner to his hotel, the weather being nice enough to walk, even though it was a bit windy. He went into the hotel and went up to Stephanie's floor, chuckling to himself, thinking that maybe this was against the rules.

He walked up to her door and took a breath. He hoped she was in a better mood and wasn't going to be mad at him anymore. He knew that he was asking a lot, considering that Stephanie was one of the most stubborn and hard-headed people that he knew. Not that he didn't love her for that reason.

"What do you want?" she asked when she opened the door and saw him. Yeah, he had been expecting too much.

"Are you coming to the arena with me?" Jericho asked, knowing that he had to act unaffected just like she was.

"No," she said, "Why should I?"

"So you can get to the arena?"

"I'll get a ride from someone else."

"But I'm right here."

"So what?"

"So come with me," Jericho insisted.

"Is that going to be accompanied with an apology?"

"If it's coming from you, then yes, but I'm not apologizing for not doing anything."

"Yes you did, you did a lot of stuff."

"Stephanie, come with me," he said, "Don't start another argument. Just come with me, and then you can leave me for the rest of the night."

"Sounds like a good idea," she said, grabbing her purse and walking to the door, "Luckily it's a short ride to the arena."

"Yeah, lucky for me."

Stephanie scoffed quietly. Jericho ignored her and kept walking. She watched his back for a second before sighing and following him. She resisted the urge to hold hands with him, and scowled instead. He was the controlling one, and maybe she would just have to give him a taste of his own medicine.

The drive to the arena was quiet as Stephanie thought about what she wanted to do to Jericho. She was so evil and mean sometimes she even surprised herself. Jericho looked at her and shook his head, he would never figure her out. Every time he thought he did, she would go and surprise him.

"Ok, I'm gone," Stephanie said as soon as Jericho had parked the car, "Good luck or whatever tonight."

"Oh, you still love me, that's so sweet," Jericho called out as he ran to catch up to her, "So how long are you going to be mad at me?"

"Forever," Stephanie said with a wry smile.

"Well, does that include tonight or start tomorrow?" Jericho said with a smile.

He leaned in to kiss Stephanie's cheek, but she pulled away at the last second. He wrapped his arm around her tightly and pulled her to him. She pushed him away roughly and started walking faster. He ran up behind her and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder. Stephanie huffed and puffed noisily, but Jericho didn't put her down.

"Just because I didn't want to walk with you, I'm being forced like this?"

"Yup," Jericho said, "If you don't forgive me, I'll have to keep you hostage until you do. So what form of torture is worse, watching non-stop Hunter matches or…no, I don't think anything can top that actually."

"Let me go, I want to go talk to someone," she responded.

"Who?"

"None of your business," she said, "Oh wait, excuse me, you want to know where I am at all times of the day, right?"

"Definitely, are you willing to give that information up now?"

"No," she answered, "I just wanted you to think that and lure you into a false sense of security before I crushed you."

"And boy am I crushed," Jericho said, setting her down, "So go, go talk to whoever it is you want to talk to, just leave me all alone."

Before he could say anything he turned to look at her and found that she was already half way down the hallway. Sighing, he went to go find Christian and talk about their match later, hopefully the last one for a while. It became increasingly difficult for them to keep fighting each other week in and week out. Hopefully tonight would be the end of this and they could both move on.

Stephanie walked down the hallways purpose in her step. She had a mischievous grin on her face as she looked for a particular door. She found it rather easily and touched the sign on the door. She knew that she was going to hell for this, or rather, Jericho would be mad with her, furious, ready to kill, but he needed to learn that he couldn't be with her every moment of every day.

She traced her finger across the E, then followed the curve of the rest of the word, "volution." She wondered if he was in there. She knew that he had the first match of the night, she had glanced at the schedule when she had walked in with Jericho. Jericho was on last, rare, but good, she guessed, he would have to stay the entire time, and watch her…well, he'd be here. She raised her hand to knock.

"Stephanie?"

"Hi Randy, is Hunter here?"

"What do you want with Hunter?"

"I want to talk to him, not a crime right?"

"Um, I guess not," Randy said, sidestepping to let her in.

Stephanie saw Hunter lacing up his boots on one of the benches. He didn't even know she was here. She walked over to where he was sitting and sat down next to him. Hunter finally noticed her and looked up. He looked intrigued and stopped lacing for a moment. Stephanie crossed her legs slowly and licked her lips.

"What are you doing here?" Hunter asked, not fully trusting her, and why should he? She wanted to make his life a living hell after all.

"I needed to have a little fun tonight," she said, "You see, sometimes people get too overprotective and it gets nauseating. You don't do that."

"So you come crawling back to me huh?"

Stephanie leaned in close, "The moment that I crawl to you at any time, is the moment that you declare that you don't ever want to contend for the Heavyweight belt again, which is never. I do not crawl."

"So what the hell are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd hang out with you and your boys tonight, is that fine, or should I find other means of entertainment tonight."

"You can't, you're not a part of the show."

"As long as I'm not on camera, I should be fine," Stephanie said, "So you in?"

"What about the pretty boy that you're dating? Am I going to walk around a corner tonight and find him with a chair ready to smash my skull in again."

"You don't worry about him, let me do that kind of worrying, I just want to see the inner workings of Evolution. I find it fascinating really."

"If this is a trick…"

"Trust me, I'm not tricking you."

"Fine, you got yourself a one-night deal."

"You just have to remember that this does not mean I want you. I still hate you with all of my heart."

"I still hate you," he said, then ran his finger around her knee, "Still sensitive there?"

"No hanky panky," she smirked.

"Yo guys," Hunter said to the other men in the room, who were off in the corner talking quietly, obviously about the fact that Stephanie was in here and talking to Hunter. Randy seemed especially concerned.

"What?" Batista asked.

"Steph's hanging out with us tonight. You show her some respect. I was married to her after all."

"Yes, unhappily," Stephanie laughed, "So Randy, care to escort me to catering so I can get something to drink?"

"Um…if you want," Randy said hastily.

"Hunter, did you want me to pick you up a water for your match?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said, still a bit suspicious.

"No problem," she said as she linked arms with Randy and walked out of the room. Randy looked at her peculiarly, wondering why she was talking with Hunter, especially as cordially as it seemed to be.

"What's going on?"

"Don't give me that look," Stephanie whispered.

"Well, what the hell are you doing? I thought that you hated Hunter."

"I do, that hasn't changed."

"Then what are you trying to do?"

"Oh Randy, if you only knew," Stephanie said, patting his arm, "You're young yet, you'll figure it out in no time."

"I don't get this, but I don't like it, I know that much."

"Let's just go get Hunter's water."

Jericho had been talking with Christian about the match. The funny thing was everyone still knew that they were friends in real life, but they were fighting on-screen. Except that Tyson guy. Christian didn't have the heart to tell that poor guy that none of this was real. Might as well have him around if tonight really was his last match against Jericho.

"Chris, where's Steph?" Trish asked as she bounded up to him and Christian.

"I don't know," he said, "Why?"

"I have her jewelry I borrowed and I wanted to return it. Why don't you know?"

"Because they're in a fight," Christian whispered loudly, "The thing they're best at."

"Still, I thought for sure you would've apologized by now," Trish said as she sat in Christian's lap and kissed him.

"For what? I didn't do anything."

"Maybe not, but just apologize, that's all she--holy shit…"

Trish was looking at the entrance to catering, her mouth slightly agape. Jericho turned his head to where Trish was looking and saw Stephanie and Randy walk inside, arm in arm and Stephanie was smiling in his direction. She smirked and winked at him before going over to the water. Jericho got up and went over to her as she reached into the ice bucket for a water.

"Thirsty?"

"No, I'm getting it for someone else," Stephanie said.

"Who?"

"Don't worry about it," she said, patting his arm, and grabbing the water, "See you later."

Jericho wanted to know what was up for her, so he decided to follow Stephanie to wherever she was planning on going. He tried to be stealthy about it, ducking behind crates and sliding into empty rooms. Everyone probably thought he was crazy or something. He saw Stephanie head to the gorilla and she let go of Randy and went over to…Hunter.

Jericho's jaw dropped as she handed him the water and patted him on the arm. Hunter smirked down at her happily and then leaned down to whisper something to her. Stephanie raised and eyebrow and shook her head teasingly. Jericho tried to keep his composure, tried to keep his calm, but it erupted badly as he stalked over to them.

"What the hell is this!"

"Chris, what are you doing here?" Stephanie asked innocently, "I didn't think you had to be over here so soon."

"What is going on?" This time he sounded calmer, not by much, but it was calmer nonetheless.

"Well, you see, Hunter was the person I had to talk to. See, I realized that Hunter never, ever stopped me from doing whatever I wanted to do…unlike some people. And I just wanted a night where I didn't have to worry about someone being overly sensitive."

"So you're trying to make me jealous, is that it?"

"No, not it at all. I'm simply living for the moment…or something like that, but don't be jealous. That wasn't the intention."

"I guess it was me she wanted after all Jericho," Hunter said, smirking a smirk that matched Stephanie's.

"Ok, well, whatever, I don't know what's going on around here anymore, but if you want to hang out with…him, go right ahead."

"I will."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Jericho walked away, still angry and upset over what he had just seen. The smirk on Hunter's face did nothing to help the situation. That smug bastard, always thinking he got his way. He walked into his locker room and turned on the television to the show. Hunter was just coming out to his music for his match and Jericho watched out of morbid curiosity. Luckily he knew that there was nothing going on between them, seeing as how Stephanie…was in Connecticut over the weekend. Surely…nah, it couldn't be. He was distracted for a minute as he saw a sign saying that Stephanie should come back with him. Yeah, he only wished, she probably wanted to come back with Hunter now.

"Bastard," Jericho muttered.

It seemed to him that Hunter was smug throughout his entire match. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but he had this look, this air about him that gave Jericho the creeps. It was like an air of victory. There was no way he'd let that man win back Stephanie's heart, if he ever even had Stephanie's heart.

He marched out of his locker room and back to the gorilla. Stephanie was laughing quietly as Hunter ran away. That wasn't like him, but she found it funny all the same. Served him right to run away like a little coward, she wondered if she could get a tape of the show so she could watch it over and over again. Suddenly she wasn't watching it anymore as she was swung around.

"I'm sorry ok, I'm sorry, so there you go, you got what you want," Jericho said angrily.

"Oh, that's a nice apology," Stephanie snorted, "I'm sure you're being totally sincere with that one."

"Come on Stephanie, quit with this little charade."

"There's no charade Chris, I'm being serious in what I'm saying. I don't want to be looked at as the little princess. I don't need a hero all the time, but you don't seem to get that concept."

"I get the concept Stephanie, I just don't always agree with it."

"It's not yours to agree with. Chris, just give me some space alright, you sometimes smother me," she said, walking away, "Hunter never did."

"So you want Hunter all of a sudden or something!"

"No! I just…I don't know, just don't be my hero."

Jericho watched exasperated as she left. Why did that woman make his life so damn difficult all the time? It was like she knew what buttons to push and so she pushed them just because she could. She was probably going to go see Hunter again. He just couldn't allow that and ran after her again. He caught up to her and stood in front of her, walking backwards so he could face her.

"You're going to trip over something of you don't look where you're going."

"Then I'll fall and you'll feel sorry for me," he said, with an impish smile.

"Nah, I'll laugh at you."

"I'm sorry, ok," he told her sincerely, "I really don't mean to be so protective of you, I just can't help it. When I see or think about you in trouble, it's like this alarm goes off in my brain that tells me to come to your aid. I'm sorry if that's not what you want."

Stephanie smiled and put her hand on his cheek, "I do want it, just, I don't want you to automatically go into panic mode whenever I'm not around and you don't know where I am. I am capable of taking care of myself. I've done it for a long time."

"I know, so you forgive me? Pretty please, with Hunter's beaten ass on top?"

She gave him a little smile and opened up her arms to him. He practically jumped into her embrace. She giggled as he lifted her up and twirled her around. Setting her down again, he captured her lips in a kiss and she ran her hand through his blond hair as she kissed him.

"I forgive you," she said, "I guess I should apologize for getting too worked up over it."

"Yay! Now I have someone to root for me tonight in my match!"

"You always did. I hated talking to Hunter. I wanted to punch him between the eyes, but I was afraid that might make his nose bigger and we can't have that. Talk about scary."

"Excuse me, Chris, can we do an interview with you?" One of the production guys said.

"Right now?"

"In a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, sure," he said, then turned to Stephanie, "Doesn't he know that I'm entitled to makeup sex right now and having to do an interview just cuts into that sex time."

"Well, you are working sweetie, I think that takes precedent."

"Over sex with you! Never! But I'll be back in a few minutes and we'll talk."

"Yeah, 'talk,' I'm sure that's what we'll be doing," Stephanie called out as watched Jericho walk over to get interviewed.

"Leaving me so soon," a voice whispered next to her ear.

"Yeah."

"Too bad, I was really starting to enjoy your company."

"Yup, too bad," she said, "For you maybe, I'm perfectly fine."

"I don't take too kindly to being stood up."

"Oh, well, then try to get with girls who are too stupid to see you for what you really are."

"Pay Stephanie, you're going to pay."

"Yeah, and my dad pays your salary, think about that one genius," she said, as she walked over to stand closer to Jericho, who was wrapping up the short interview. He kept glancing over there, wondering what was going on. When he was finished he walked up to Stephanie took her hand.

"You handled that well," he commended her, trying to sound like he wasn't being protective.

"Yeah, really well," she said, "Now about that makeup sex…"

Trish bit her lip as she saw Randy warming up for his match. She was surprised to see him with Stephanie earlier, and she'd be lying if she didn't say that it stirred something in her. She had broken it off abruptly with Randy and some of the feelings she had for him still lingered, though her love for Christian outweighed them most of the time.

"Randy, hi," she said softly as she walked up to him.

"Oh, hi Trish," he said uncomfortably, staring down at his belt, "I have a match."

"I know," she said quickly, "I just…you and Stephanie, earlier."

"Oh, she was just, um, trying to make Chris jealous," he said, "So yeah…um, how are you?"

"I'm good, great, good," she said, having trouble picking a word, not wanting to hurt him, "You?"

"Can't complain," he said, "I mean, I might lose my title tonight, but I'm going to try to walk out the winner."

"Yeah, good luck, I mean, I'm friends with Edge, obviously, but you know, I can root for both of you. I just…I know we haven't really talked."

"Yeah, maybe we can talk later, but I have my match," he said, pointing towards the stairs to the ramp.

"Oh, of course, yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't want to keep you here for no reason, but yeah, um, good luck."

"Yeah, you said that."

"I did," she laughed hollowly, "But I mean it."

"Thanks," he said, before he disappeared for his match.

Trish sighed and turned around to see him on the monitors, putting on that cocky act for the fans. That so wasn't him, but there was nothing she could do to help him. She walked away, going to find Christian and reassure herself that leaving Randy had been the right thing. She always felt better after she stared into Christian's eyes.

Some time later, Jericho and Stephanie made their way to the gorilla for Jericho's match. They reached it and saw Trish, Christian and their guy over in the corner. Stephanie walked over and tapped Trish on the shoulder. Trish turned and saw Stephanie and hugged her tightly.

"You're horrible, you know that right?" Stephanie said as she pulled away.

"Why? What did I do?"

"Like you don't know, with Lita…talk about cruel. That was something I would've done," Stephanie told her.

"So you're saying that you found it funny?"

"Definitely, best laugh I've had all night," she said with a smile, "Her face was classic. I couldn't stop laughing for like a minute."

"Hey baby, I'm going out there," Jericho said, kissing Stephanie's cheek, "See you after I win."

"So not fighting anymore?" Trish teased.

"Nah, we both apologized for being stupid like we usually are," Stephanie answered, "Besides, how can I stay mad at a man that gorgeous?"

"I don't know," Trish responded, then heard their cue, "Well, I'll be seeing you after your man wins. Or so that's what Christian says. I'll keep an eye out for your boy during the match."

"Thank you," Stephanie said, "Have fun."

Stephanie watched on the monitor as Christian and his posse walked down the ramp. Seeing Jericho inside that steel cage brought back memories. Not necessarily to a cage match, but to a certain Hell in a Cell Match that he had, had against her ex-husband. That had been brutal and she hoped that this one wasn't as brutal. She didn't think it would be considering that the combatants were friends and Jericho and Hunter were like mortal enemies.

The match started out with Jericho baseball sliding into Christian and then pulling him back in the cage. Jericho could already feel the crowd behind him one hundred percent, which was what he wanted. Crowd support was a big thing, especially to a main event. Early in the match, Jericho tried to climb the cage, but it was still too early and Christian caught up with him and Jericho gave him a suplex onto the mat. Jericho tried to again climb out of the cage, but that damn Tyson was waiting with a chair and the idiot would use it on him if he went down there. He was pretty much stuck, which didn't bode well for him.

He saw Christian getting up and he was on the top of the cage. Stephanie saw this from backstage and stood wide-eyed, hoping that Jericho would use some sense and not jump. Jericho shrugged as if he had nothing to lose and cross-bodied Christian from the top. Stephanie saw him immediately grab his knee and wanted to go out there, but she didn't have a damn contract. That shouldn't matter though, she loved him. She was glad when Tyson got banned from ringside, seeing as how that evened the odds. Now there was no one out there who would want to hurt her boyfriend.

The match continued, and Jericho just visualized Hunter in Christian's place and it made the entire thing much easier. He kind of wondered who Christian was picturing as he was slammed into the cage by the other man. Christian was now bleeding pretty heavily and Jericho quickly apologized mid-match, but Christian shrugged it off. They continued to fight each other, and Trish decided that she might as well get involved in this melee.

She grabbed the chair that Tyson had used earlier and brought it in the ring. She knew that they were letting Jericho win, but this was more fun anyways. Maybe Christian would win accidentally or something. She knew Jericho wanted to win, but if he lost, he probably wouldn't care all that much. Jericho caught her into the Walls and she could see Christian climbing the cage. Jericho realized he was putting the Walls on Trish too tightly and gave a little when he turned to see Christian. So this was their little plan. They were going to pull what they pulled at WrestleMania on him again. He chortled a little, they were devious that was for sure.

He went after Christian again, catching him just as he was on the outside of the cage. He managed to bring him back inside, but not after telling him that this game wasn't going to work. He got the Walls on Christian and Christian tried for the door, but it was too late as he was pulled to the middle of the ring where he tapped out. Jericho smiled and let go, glad that he had won and that hopefully he wouldn't have to kick his friend's ass anymore.

He climbed up to the top of the cage and waved to all the fans in happiness. They were all cheering for him and he felt pretty good about himself. He tried to stand up and found that he had gotten his boot caught on the cage and was now stuck. He laughed to himself, more in his stupid predicament than in his win, but he did love marveling in the sweet smell of victory. Finally one of the referees climbed up to help get his boot out and he stood up on top of the cage and waved to the fans, who cheered happily. He smiled towards the TitanTron, knowing that Stephanie could probably see backstage.

She smiled as she saw him climb down and get congratulated by the fans. He was shaking hands and being all smiles. He went up the ramp pretty quickly and was met with her waiting for him. She threw her arms around him happily.

"You won!"

"You knew I was going to win."

"I did," she said, "But still, I had my doubts. Now you can go on to win the #1 Contender spot next week."

"Over my dead body."

"Give it up Hunter," Stephanie said, "You're going down."

"Oh no Steph, you're little boy-toy is going down, don't worry Jericho, next week, when I'm in that ring with you…I'll be sure to make it very personal."

"I look forward to it Trips."


	206. Raw, May 17, 2004

Stephanie jumped up and down as she saw Jericho getting dressed for the show. She was just excited about the Battle Royal later on. She knew that Jericho had a good shot at winning the whole thing, and she just hoped that he could outlast the other nineteen men that would be in the ring with him. She knew that he could beat everyone in that ring. She was sure at some point or another he had beaten most of those men in that ring.

Well, except for maybe one person. Her ex-husband, but she could recall times that Jericho had won against him, even if it wasn't directly. Like the time in San Jose, when Hunter had torn his quad, Jericho had won, even though he wasn't directly responsible for the win. He had been pretty instrumental in Hunter's quad being as bad as it was. She remembered the fear she had for her husband that night, walking behind him as he was practically dragged up that ramp. Who knew that three years later she would be with the man that had hurt her husband?

"Chris, do you remember last time we were in San Jose together?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, I do actually, but we're in San Diego," he said.

"I know, but I was just thinking about last week," she mused, "Do you remember?"

"I just said I did," he told her as he pulled a shirt over his head, "It was when we kissed."

"It was?" she asked, not actually remembering that.

"Yeah, it was," he said, "I'm shocked you don't remember. I was facing Rhyno, you were in that sexy little vinyl number. I kissed the hell out of you, you pretended to be disgusted when I knew you weren't."

"Oh yeah," she said, "I forgot that was in San Jose."

"Thanks, I'm glad it was memorable for you."

She stood up and walked over to him, giving him a languid kiss and a soft smile, "I was thinking about when you hurt Hunter's quad. That was in San Jose too."

"Wow, lots of good things happen there," he said, raising an eyebrow, "Why were you thinking about Hunter's quad?"

"I was just thinking about you beating Hunter. I remember you beat him that night, and beat eight months out of his career."

"I think I remember saying that a long time ago," he said, giving her a smile and a wink.

"You probably did," she said, "Since you're so cocky and all of that. You egotistical bastard."

"Hey!"

"So did anything important happen in San Diego?"

"Again, you don't remember?"

"I guess I have a really horrible memory," Stephanie shrugged, "But I do remember the important things, like our anniversary."

"This was important," he pouted, "December 9, 2001."

"Oh my God, that was here!"

"Yeah, you were kicked our of the company at the time, I remember you came back to give your father that present at Christmas, but when I won, you weren't here. Probably at home screwing your husband."

She rolled her eyes, "That bug you?"

It did bug him on some level. Thinking about Stephanie and Hunter together in any capacity bugged him. It wasn't so much that he couldn't accept what had happened between them, it was the fact that Hunter had, had Stephanie first. Sure, he had Stephanie now, but her and Hunter had this history that he couldn't touch. He and Stephanie had plenty of history as well, but it just wasn't the same somehow. Hunter had always had her first, and Hunter made sure that Jericho never forgot that fact.

"A little yes. While I was celebrating by myself, you were off with that no-good scum you called a husband."

"Aww, my poor Chrissy, had to celebrate all by himself. What you did was an amazing achievement, one that still stands today and you should always be proud of it. Hell, it was you winning that night that made you irresistible to me."

"I was irresistible?"

"Well, the gold you had around your waist was. I wanted to get back at Hunter, and to do that, I had to get with you?"

"So you're saying…say, Kurt had won that night that I had that match against him. You said you wouldn't leave my side that night…but you would've?"

She blushed a little, "Yeah, I probably would have gone with him?"

"Great, so if I had lost that night, you would be Kurt's girlfriend right now?"

"Nah, I'd probably be his wife, since I probably wouldn't have had to hide with him, and he would've asked me to marry him by now, and I would've said yes, obviously, and then we would've gotten married, I could've been pregnant with our first child by now."

"Thanks for the imagery," he scowled.

"Oh, my sweetie is jealous," Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around his t-shirt covered torso, "Honestly…I don't think I would've left you if you had lost. There's just something about you Mr. Jericho."

"Good," he smiled, "So I have a lot of time to kill before the Battle Royal. I wonder how Christian is doing, I heard he hurt his back after last week. I guess I was a little too rough for him wasn't I?"

"Nah, you're never too rough, but do you want to go check up on him?"

"I'd like that," he told her as she linked her arm through his.

They walked out together to go find Christian and Trish. Both men had pulled out all the stops the week before and they were still feeling the repercussions. With the noticeable exception that Jericho hadn't bled in the match, he was still sore from their encounter. The two of them had never really gone easy on each other. It wasn't in their nature to go out there and half-ass it. The only time in recent memory that Jericho could recall himself holding back were his matches against Trish and Lita, but that was for a completely legit reason.

"How are YOU feeling after the match last week?" Stephanie whispered as she lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'll live."

"Well, yeah, I kind of figured that you would," she laughed, "Seeing as how you have died yet."

"I'm a little sore, but nothing a nice fully body massage won't take care of," he said, leaning his head on hers briefly.

"Don't you two make the picture-perfect couple?" Edge said as he ran up to catch the two of them.

"Yeah, we do," Stephanie said, "You making pictures with any of the divas?"

Edge looked at her strangely, "Chris, can you please translate what your girlfriend just said. I'm not a photographer."

"In real people terms, Steph wants to know if you've hooked up with any of the divas."

"Oh, see Steph, if you had just said that, it would've been much better," Edge said, grinning at her, "But no, I haven't hooked up with any of the divas, not that I don't have my eye on a couple of them."

"A couple, how ambitious," Jericho said, "I only tried to get one, and that was hard enough."

"I wasn't hard to get."

"Hey Edge, take note, we have verbal proof, Stephanie McMahon is easy."

Stephanie's jaw dropped, "Well I never!"

"Never what? Dropped onto your knees for half the locker room," Edge said, joining in on the fun.

"Well, I don't know what I did to deserve such verbal bashing," Stephanie said indignantly, "Did I accidentally call out someone else's name in bed or in my sleep."

"Steph, I give you full permission to yell my name out in bed," Edge said with a sleazy smile.

"Yeah, and then you can have her," Jericho interjected, "You did call out Chris the other night. Now, I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but you could've meant Chris Benoit. Now Benoit is my friend, and if you do have some sort of feelings for him, I'll gladly step aside."

"Oh Chris, you caught me, I have feeling for Chris Benoit, how will you ever forgive me."

"Hey Steph, I'm tag team champs with him right now. I can put in a good word for you when I talk to him later. Maybe I can set you two crazy kids up. I'm sure you'd have a great time. It's been a while since you've had a first date huh?"

"The last first date I went on was with Chris here," Stephanie answered, "Probably the last first date I'll ever go on."

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing," Jericho said, "And as I recall, on our first date, you were pretty forward."

"Jeez Steph, way to live up to the reputation."

"I did not sleep with him. I do have some standards," she said, sticking her tongue out, "Where are Christian and Trish? I need Trish here to help soften the blow."

"But she didn't do anything on her first date with Christian," Edge said.

"Oh shut up," Stephanie answered, folding her arms, "You guys bug me."

"Aww, I love you too Steph," Edge said, wrapping his around her shoulders.

"Hey, don't you say that. That's my line," Jericho said.

"Well, I love her too."

"Now, now boys, no need to fight over me. I know I'm beautiful, but you need to stop all the bickering. It'll get you nowhere."

"Well, I have to go find Benoit and talk about the match and tell him that you're in love with him Steph, so I'll see you two later, wish us luck."

"Good luck," Jericho and Stephanie said in unison and watched as Edge walked off to find Benoit. Stephanie smiled up at Jericho momentarily and Jericho leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose.

"It sucks because he's facing Randy," Stephanie whispered to him.

"I know, but sometimes you just have to be the impartial judge," Jericho said to her softly, "Just like you had to be the impartial judge every time that I faced Hunter right? I mean, you really wanted to root for me didn't you?"

"Not all the time," she said as she smacked his arm, "But some of the time…sure."

They continued walking down the hallway until they found Christian and Trish's locker room. They opened the door and saw Christian walking, hunched over, as Trish laughed and helped him sit down. She looked up to see them and laughed as she pointed at Christian. Stephanie gave him a sympathetic look as Jericho started laughing.

"Shut up man," Christian whined, "This is your fault!"

"How is that my fault?"

"You threw me into the cage!"

"Oh yeah, that, well, maybe if you hadn't let me get that offense in, you wouldn't have been thrown into it. How's your back though?"

"How do you think it is!"

"He's touchy," Trish said, "Don't bother with him, he's just mad that he can't be in the Battle Royal later--"

"I would've won too!" Christian bemoaned.

"Yeah, right," Jericho muttered, which caused Stephanie to hit him in the stomach.

"Be quiet," she hissed, "The man is in pain."

"Nah Steph, he's just being a big baby about it all," Trish answered, "And the idiot was trying to warm up to see if he could go and work tonight. He tried to do it during my match, the little sneak, and he ended up hurting himself even more."

"Christian! You know better," Stephanie chastised.

"Well thank your boyfriend over there."

"Hey, my knee is killing me over here," Jericho interrupted, "So you should apologize too."

"Your knee is killing you?" Stephanie stage-whispered to him.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine."

"Why don't you tell me these things?"

"Because you don't have to worry about it."

"You're wrestling tonight, with nineteen other men! Of course I'm going to be worried about you!"

"I. Will. Be. Fine."

She frowned, "Don't talk to me like I'm a child."

"I wasn't, but sometimes you are just too thick-headed to understand what I'm trying to tell you."

"I'm not thick-headed!"

"Well, this has sure degenerated into the arguing room," Trish said, "Different subject, I won my match."

"Oh congratulations," Stephanie said, then turned back to Jericho, "What do you mean thick-headed?"

"You're stubborn, you knew that. Let's not argue about it."

"I'm not arguing, but I'm not thick-headed."

"Ok, you're not thick-headed, excuse me for breathing."

"Thick-headed," she mumbled, "I'd know if I was thick-headed. Stubborn, sure. But not thick-headed."

"You're talking to yourself."

"I know!"

"I was just letting you know."

"Would you two be quiet," Christian said, "Man with an injured back over here."

"Like us arguing has an inverse reaction on your back," Jericho said, "You were the idiot trying to warm up."

"I wasn't being an idiot!"

"Yes you were," Trish said, even as she rubbed his back, "I told you to stay put during my match, but did you listen. You're just as stubborn as Stephanie."

"But not thick-headed right?" Stephanie said, shooting a glare over at Jericho.

"Fine, fine! You're not thick-headed, I'm sorry I ever said it. Attribute it to my poor choice of words. Oh, a concussion would be heaven right now."

"I'll give you one," Christian responded, "It'll be my way of saying thank you for hurting my back."

"You shouldn't have moved in the first place," Jericho countered.

"You did this!"

"So what?"

"Ok, I'm leaving," Trish said, "You guys can argue if you want to."

"I'm going with you," Stephanie said, "Finally I'll be around someone who doesn't think I'm thick-headed."

"Christian, come bash me over the head, I need that concussion," Jericho said as his voice faded out of Stephanie and Trish's earshot.

Stephanie and Trish walked with each other for a while, just discussing what the other had done over the weekend. Christian had gone up to stay with Trish and visit his family. Stephanie and Jericho hadn't done much of anything, but that was usual for them. The weekends were reserved for doing nothing and everything all at once. It actually gave them a chance to be domesticated.

"If it isn't the lovely Trish Stratus."

Trish turned around and smiled widely, "Rocky, what are you doing here!"

"Well, we're in California and you know The Rock is always out here. And what is one of the first things he's greeted with when he arrives, the picturesque beauty," he winked.

"You're crazy," Trish said, going over to hug him, "Is it any wonder that I once kissed you?"

"You wanted to kiss me more I'm sure."

"Maybe at the time, but you do know that I'm with Christian now."

"Christian? You're back with him, what happened to the young boy?"

"Christian and I are back together," she said, "And he wouldn't appreciate you coming here and hitting on me."

"Hitting on you? Never," Rock said with a smile, "The Rock doesn't steal other men's women."

Trish laughed, "Better not. Christian is hot stuff around here now, he won't hesitate to take you down."

"I bet he wouldn't," Rock answered, then turned to Stephanie, "Stephanie McMahon, we meet again."

"Hey Rock," she said with a small smile, "Its nice to see you again."

"A little birdie told The Rock that you were dating Chris Jericho," he smirked, "The Rock knew you two were knocking boots."

Stephanie shook her head and smiled, "Yes, I am dating Chris, and we haven't been 'knocking boots' for as long as you think we have."

"Oh, so all those times when The Rock teamed up with Jericho, you weren't seeing him on the side?"

"No, I wasn't, if I was, do you think I would've tried to help you at No Mercy 2000?"

"But you ended up helping him."

She blushed, "Accidental."

"Well, you could do a lot worse than Jericho, let me tell you. He has the potential to be a good guy. Now that candy-ass you WERE married to, he's a different story altogether."

"Don't I know that," Stephanie said, "I'll let you two catch up though."

"Steph, you don't have to leave," Trish said.

"It's cool, I'll find something else to do. I'll just go find Chris, hopefully he's not arguing with Christian or something."

"Bye," Trish said, which The Rock echoed.

Stephanie walked back to where she had come from, turning the corner to see the whole of Evolution talking about something. Batista was slapping Hunter's shoulder as Randy let his arm rest on Hunter's other shoulder. There was a camera on them, and she figured they were being taped. She hung back a little as she smiled at Randy, while none of the other members saw.

Just as she was turning around a voice called out, "Stephanie, you come for another proposition?"

Recognizing the voice, she answered, "No Hunter, I was just going to walk past, but I can find another way."

"Don't let me stop you," he said, walking over, Batista and Flair trailing closely behind him, but Randy hung back a little. Stephanie narrowed her eyes as Hunter stepped in front of her.

"Is it your personal mission to make my life miserable?" Stephanie asked impatiently.

"Nah, especially after you came to US last week in need of help."

"I was desperate, very, very desperate, so rest assured, it wasn't because I wanted to see you."

"Dave, we got a match to get ready for," Randy said, "Hunter, Ric, you guys should come too."

"You three go ahead," Hunter said, smirking at Stephanie, "I have unfinished business here."

"You should come," Randy said, "It would look more team-like."

Stephanie knew what Randy was trying to do. He was trying to get Hunter away from her. She appreciated his efforts, but she also knew that Hunter was not going to be easily swayed. He only listened to things that he wanted to listen too, and that usually consisted of things that were praising him and his ability to wrestle.

"Just go ahead," Hunter insisted, "You've still got time before your match, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"But--"

"You heard the man, let's go," Flair said, ushering Batista and Orton away. Orton gave Stephanie a last look before he was forced to leave. He didn't want to leave her, but he wasn't seeing any sort of choice in the matter at all. He reluctantly left Stephanie and Hunter, but not without sending one last glance.

"So last week, we never really got to discuss what happened," Hunter said.

"There's nothing to talk about. I was fighting with Chris, but we made up, and I didn't need you anymore. Kind of the credo of our relationship wasn't it Hunter. I ended up not needing you at all."

"You're such a bitch….I love it."

"Oh, you don't love anything except that quest for gold. Why do you think I stopped wanting you in the first place? There's more to life than belts Hunter."

"Like what?"

"Like everything."

Hunter ran his finger down her cheek, causing her to shudder in disgust, "Like this?"

"No, not like this, because there is no 'this' to discuss. Anything we may have had, well, it died Hunter. A long time ago. We were never 'made for each other,' you drugged me and married me. To think that we would last is foolish on your part."

"We would've had you just followed me."

"Never," she spat, "I despise you. I wouldn't take you back if my life depended on it."

"And if it did?"

"You have nothing Hunter. Give it up. You think I'm afraid of that little group of friends that you have? I have friends like you wouldn't believe. Something you practically denied me when we were together. You have three measly guys on your side, and I have so many…some that you don't even know about," she said smugly, thinking about Randy.

"You need to learn some manners Stephanie, that's the bottom line. Last week we had an agreement and you ran away from that agreement," Hunter whispered, "I don't like being played for a fool."

"Of course, you play that part all the time."

She was roughly thrown up against the wall as Hunter pushed his lips against her. She tried, in vain, to push him off, but he was a big guy, bulky, a lot of weight to push off of her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her against him. She struggled to get away, but he grabbed her hair and forced his mouth on hers. She tried to move, but he had her in a death grip or something. He pulled away finally and she gagged.

"You are sick!" she said, spitting in his face, her spit sliding down slowly down his cheek.

He wiped his cheek slowly, "Such fire and passion Steph. You have that with him?"

"I have more than that with Chris," she whispered harshly, "Now let me go."

"I don't think I will."

"I think you will."

"Why's that?"

Stephanie brought her knee up hard into his crotch and he doubled over in pain. She spit on him again as he was in pain. She wiped her mouth sloppily. She shuddered thinking about those lips on hers. God, had she let him touch her once upon a time? She started to walk away, but was grabbed by the arm and thrown back. Hunter's lips descended upon hers again and she once again tried to push him away.

He let go again and instead of doing something, Stephanie ran away at a dead heat. Thank God it had been nice and warm today and she was just wearing a pair of sandals so running wasn't that difficult. She pushed her way into Jericho's dressing room and took a couple deep breaths to steady herself.

Jericho walked out of the bathroom, brushing his hair back, "Where have you been?"

"Out," she said, still trying to catch her breath.

"Why is your lipstick all smudged?" Jericho asked suspiciously, cocking his head to the side to look at her.

"Hunter kissed me," she answered, "Twice."

Jericho dropped his brush to the ground, causing a clatter before he rushed to the door, swinging it open. Stephanie caught his arm, and he tried to wrench it free, but she was literally digging her nails into his skin until he yelped in pain.

"He's not worth it."

"Of all the times that he's worth it, I think he's worthiest right now."

"Get him in the Battle Royal, you can get him then," Stephanie said, "Please Chris. He wants you to go after him. He's baiting you, I don't know what his plan is, I really don't, but if you give in, you're no better."

"Fine, I'll wait until the match, but then during it, I'm targeting that bastard," Jericho said, wiping off her smudged lipstick with his finger.

"I love you," she told him, "You know that, but I really do."

"I know."

They both waited anxiously for Jericho's match. They did have a few good moments before then, like hearing The Rock insult Hunter by saying the only game he liked to play involved strudel, which they both knew what the euphemism was for. When Jericho had to leave for his match, Stephanie put a little extra gusto behind it.

He went out there with one clear thought, that he had to get Hunter, and he had to get him now. Hunter saw him walking down and the two locked eyes for a moment. There was a certain amount of triumph in Hunter's eyes that Jericho could barely contain his anger at. As he climbed in the ring, he walked past him and sent him the dirtiest of looks.

Pretty soon the ring was filled up and Jericho stood in the corner, still watching Hunter intently. The match then began and while Jericho couldn't immediately get his hand on Hunter, he knew the time would come. He fought whoever was available and then saw Hunter free and went over to hit him for a little while. This went on for a while, whenever Jericho saw Hunter, he'd go over and nonchalantly get involved. He saw him eliminate Venis and drop-kicked him until Batista hit him.

The match progressed and Jericho managed to eliminate a couple of guys and skin the cat. He was usually good at these Battle Royals and Royal Rumbles. Now all he had to do was win. As the crowd in the ring winnowed out, he saw that Hunter was available again and started his assault. He repeatedly hit Hunter as he mounted him in the middle of the ring.

"You bastard! Don't you kiss my girlfriend or you'll get worse," Jericho said as he punched her.

"Her lips are soft aren't they?" Hunter said between blows.

This only made Jericho hit him harder, but that seemed to be what Hunter wanted. He was pulled off of him. He tried to stay focused, but then went on to other guys, and eventually eliminated Flair, which made him feel pretty good.

"Dave, get Jericho, and make it stick," Hunter called out to Batista.

Jericho found himself on the ground before he could even think. Batista stood over him for a moment before picking him up. Jericho was hit a couple of times and then thrown over the ring post in the corner. He couldn't even make any move to soften the fall and found his knee connecting with the ring steps…hard. He clutched his knee in pain. Hunter looked on happily and smirked at Jericho's pain.

The referee, Mike Chioda, came over to check on him, and got some of the trainers to come down and look at him. He gingerly got up and was helped backstage where Stephanie was waiting. She walked with him silently to the trainer's room, while he was checked out. She sat there, almost in a daze before they were left alone.

"Steph?"

"Are you hurt?" she asked as she stepped closer.

"I think so, they want to check me out a little more, you know, get a second opinion on this one."

"You keep getting hurt," she told him, "I can't keep watching you get hurt."

"Steph, it's not your fault."

"But it is! If Hunter didn't still want me, then you wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Did you see them out there? They didn't care who they hurt," Jericho said, "They just wanted to eliminate everyone that wasn't them."

"Chris, I can't see you hurt anymore, because of me no less. I can find a way to make sure you don't get hurt anymore, I know a way Chris."

He sighed, "What way Stephanie?"

"I need to leave you. It's the only way around this. If Hunter knows that I'm not with you, you'll be safe."

"Stephanie…no."

"It's the only way Chris, the only way," she whispered as she left.

Chris sat there, staring, not knowing what had just happened.


	207. SmackDown, May 20, 2004

A/N: I have big tests on Thursday and Friday, so here's the next chapter ahead of time, but given the nature of the last chapter, you deserve this one so soon afterwards. Enjoy. :)

* * *

Jericho stared out of the window. He couldn't believe he was going through this AGAIN. Stephanie had refused to talk to him…again…and he didn't know what to do about it. She had holed herself up in her house for the past few days and refused to see him. Then this morning, this morning, he had walked down to grab a cup of coffee and saw the answering machine light blinking. He walked over and pushed the button.

"Chris, it's me, I'm coming over today and we can talk then, ok sweetie," Stephanie's voice fluttered into the silence of the room, "I'm leaving early, so I should be there around 10:30. See you then."

Her voice sounded sad, especially when she called him, "sweetie." He sighed and looked at the clock, 10:17. She should be here soon and he didn't want to know why. Wait, scratch that, he DID want to know why. Stephanie kept running from him. She kept running and he hated it. Granted, the other times they had broken up, or taken breaks, or whatever, he had pretty much initiated them, but she was the one who kept running.

He sighed to himself over his cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. He tried to busy himself with the newspaper from yesterday, but he found himself tapping his fingers impatiently on the kitchen table and glancing up at the clock. Finally the doorbell rang and he jumped up from his seat and ran for the front door, and by running he meant a slow walk since his knee was still killing him after the other night. Swinging it open he was saddened to find…

Christian.

"Well, nice to see you standing upright," Jericho said, raising a mischievous eyebrow at him.

"Very funny, we ran out of sugar at our house and if Trish doesn't get sugar in her coffee, she gets unnaturally mad, so I'm over here, asking for some for my woman."

"Yeah, I've got some, but you have to leave as soon as you get it."

"Why? Is Stephanie upstairs naked and you just came down to get the hot chocolate?"

"Stephanie left me."

"Again?" Christian groaned, "Why this time?"

"Hunter kissed her last night and--"

"With his lips!"

"I don't even want to know what else he could kiss with," Jericho responded with disgust, "Yes with his lips!"

"Oh man, but that…holy shit, she didn't go back to him did she?" Christian asked, his mouth agape in horror.

"If she had gotten back with Hunter, you would've found me in the morgue this morning because I would've killed myself."

"So if that wasn't it, then what?"

"She thinks that because Batista eliminated me, because Hunter was there, that her being with me had everything to do with me getting hurt," Jericho explained, "It's stupid, but I'm hoping to convince her otherwise."

"Good luck with that, you know how stubborn she is."

"I know, but I'm sure that I'll wear her down."

"I guess that would be the best tactic. I mean, you two crazy kids belong together. I'm not going to tell Trish about this though, because you know once she finds out, she'll be over here, scheming on ways to get you two together."

"We're not broken up," Jericho told him, "She just thinks that she has to leave me in order for me to be to be safe. It's a bunch of bullshit if I've ever heard it, and I'm not going to stand for it. She can try to break up with me, but it's not going to happen."

"What if she doesn't accept that?"

"She will, I'll make her accept it. You have no idea how much I love this woman Christian. I don't even know how I lived without her once upon a time. And now that I have her, now that I'm HERE with her, it feels like…like I've been working to her. When I broke into this business, I had goals, achievements. I wanted to be a champion, I wanted to work for the big companies. I did that, I worked for WCW, and then I came here, and I had more goals. I wanted to be the World Champion, and I've done that twice, winning the WCW title and the Undisputed Championship and after that, there were no more goals, nothing I needed to accomplish. Then Stephanie comes along and she's…like that goal that I've been working for my entire life. The business, the titles, the matches, the work, has all somehow led me up to…Stephanie."

Christian had never heard the man speak so passionately about anything before, not wrestling, not music, not anything. But when he talked about Stephanie, it was so meaningful. He was almost taken aback by the look on Jericho's face. If Stephanie couldn't see how much Jericho loved her, she was a fool.

"Wow," Christian muttered, "Tell her that, it'll win her over in no time. You almost just won me over. If I were a woman, I'd be a puddle on the floor."

Jericho laughed, "It's just how I feel."

"I may have to steal that and use it on Trish, she'd eat that up with a spoon."

"I'm sure she would, take it, it's yours," Jericho said, "On one condition of course, that you get the hell out of here before she comes over."

"Sugar then please?"

Jericho walked over to his pantry and pulled out a bag of sugar. He walked back over to Christian and practically shoved the bag into his arms. Christian grunted and gave Jericho a look before turning to walk away. Jericho hobbled to the door behind Christian and opened the door. They were both surprised to see Stephanie there, looking for her house keys.

"Oh, I thought that was your car in the street Christian," Stephanie said, smiling at him.

"Yeah, needed sugar," he said, holding up the bag, "And why go to a grocery store when you have friends just down the street? I went to Edge's first, but he wasn't answering his doorbell, I guess he was still asleep."

"Makes sense," Stephanie said, "Where's Trish?"

"Probably eating the coffee grindings by now," Christian laughed.

Stephanie laughed with him, "How's your back?"

"Definitely better. It just sucks that I couldn't be in the Battle Royal last night. But I guess those are the breaks. There's always next time right?"

"Of course," she said, "But I'm glad you're feeling better, it would've been horrible if you had been injured for more than a week."

"Well, I'm still not 100, but I'm well on my way to being there."

All of three of them knew that Stephanie was stalling. This idle chit-chat, none of them really wanted. Christian was uncomfortable enough standing there with the two of them. He knew what was going on, and worst of it all, he knew that Stephanie knew he knew what was going on. He was trying to get out of there, but he was just about sandwiched in between the two of them.

"That's good, you should take your days off to relax," Stephanie said, giving him advice that was pretty stupid since he probably figured all that out on his own.

"That's what I was planning on doing," he said, "And since I have Trish with me, it makes it better. Having someone around always seems to make a person feel better. Makes them feel loved and wanted." Jericho groaned inwardly, leave it to Christian to be about as subtle as an anvil to the head.

"Yeah, it does," she said, nervously.

"I should go though, Trish is waiting for me," Christian said, staring at Stephanie.

"Oh, yeah, well…say hi for me," Stephanie said, stepping out of his way.

Christian waved goodbye to them and as Stephanie's back was turned, he mouthed, "Good luck" to Jericho. Jericho nodded a little before ushering Stephanie inside the house. She stood in the foyer for a second before she walked into the living room, picking up various things on the floor along the way. She set the things down on a chair, where she would put them away later and then went to sit on the couch.

"I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly on Monday," she said to him, her eyes downcast.

"Yeah, I was just sitting there and you left, kind of rude," he said, sitting down next to her, "Steph, talk to me."

"Do you know how much it hurts ME to see you hurt?"

"As much as it hurts me to see you get hurt," he responded.

"No, ten thousand times worse, because I know that I can prevent it."

"No, you can't Stephanie."

"Yes I can! Hunter hates you, he's always hated you. I can't tell you how many nights I fell asleep listening to him talk about how he was going to kick your ass, or how he was going to pound your head in with a sledgehammer, or how he was going to take pleasure out of making you bleed like a stuck pig."

"How many of those nights did you fall asleep with a smile on your face?" Jericho teased.

"A few," she admitted, "But now that I look back on it, he was so dead serious Chris, he hates you. Because you're better than him in every department and he has never been able to handle anyone being better than him. Chris, he wants to hurt you now, he WILL hurt you now."

"Stephanie, I can take care of myself."

"I don't want you to have to constantly look over your shoulder," she said, "I can help you."

"By what? By leaving me!"

"Yes, exactly!"

Jericho hated raising his voice to her, but this time he had good reason. Stephanie was being completely unreasonable about what was going on. He admired the fact that she was willing to go to great lengths, but he didn't like the lengths with which she was willing to reach.

"Stephanie, that's exactly what he wants to happen!"

"Chris, regardless, he wants to hurt you, and I will NOT let that happen if I can help it in any way."

"He'll just be getting his way."

"I don't care, I just care about what happens to you," she whispered, "I saw you last night, and I've seen you at the hands of Hunter, and Chris, I can't watch it anymore."

"Stephanie, you say he hates me. If he hates me so much, what makes you think that us being apart is going to stop him from hurting me?"

"I don't. But I have to see, I have to at least see if it makes things better for you. Maybe it'll lessen his anger."

"Then what if it doesn't? Are you going to get back with him because that would make it even easier for him to ease up on me?"

"No…" But her voice was soft.

"You'd go back to him if it helped me, wouldn't you!" He was full blown out shouting now, and gesturing around with his hands wildly.

"Yes! Yes I would! If protecting you meant that I had to sacrifice myself, then I'd do it!"

"But I don't want you to do it! That has to count for something!"

She put her hand on his cheek, "I just can't do this anymore Chris, it hurts too much. I love you so much, and I have to do what's best for you. What about that saying, 'If you love something, let it go.'"

"Well that's just a bunch of bullshit," he yelled, "That is just a huge bunch of crap and I hate that you are spouting off crap when you know that you're wrong."

"I'm not wrong, I'm never wrong," she argued, "Look, I don't expect you to understand this now--"

"Now! You don't expect me to understand this NOW…ok, when did you expect me to understand this? When is my moment of clarity coming, because I want to be as prepared as possible for it, because it's not an event I want to miss."

"Once you get over me, you'll understand!"

"Get over you! Oh for God's sakes, haven't you gotten it through your head that there's no getting over you. I can't get over you Stephanie. I've tried, but it didn't work because I love you, I fucking love you and that's not going to change, not today, not tomorrow, not on that fictional day that I'm supposed to understand everything."

"You will get over me, I DEMAND you get over me."

"You're not the boss of me, you can't tell me what to do, and how to feel, and I love you God dammit!"

"I love you too, but I can't see you get hurt anymore!"

"I'm a wrestler, my job is to get hurt."

"No, your job is to wrestle, not to get beat up by my ex-husband. He…he didn't have this problem when he thought I was dating Christian. It's you Chris, it's you that's the problem."

"Why are you letting him dictate what happens in OUR lives?"

"Because I know what he's capable of doing. Don't you remember Austin getting hit by the car? Do you want that to happen to you?"

He thought about it for a moment, no he really didn't want that to happen to him, but who's to say that it would? He would risk his health and well-being for Stephanie, without question. It was that moment that he realized she was just doing the exact same thing. She was risking herself for him.

"Stephanie, please don't do this."

She teared up a little, "I don't want to, but I don't see any other choice."

"There is a choice, you choose to ignore what he's doing."

"How do I do that Chris, please tell me how I do that? Its become a chore to go to Raw, because I keep thinking, what is Hunter going to do tonight? Is he going to torment me some more, or is he going to go after you? I can't live in the constant fear that at any moment the other shoe will drop."

"Then we ignore him, simple as that, ignore him, he does something, we ignore it."

"So if he punches you, we ignore it."

"Turn the other cheek."

"That's silly," she answered, "I just want it all to be over and this is the only way."

"Why don't you see that it isn't the only way? Not by a long shot. Don't let him win Stephanie, don't let him know that he got under your skin."

She sighed, she didn't want to leave Jericho, but she knew that this would work out in the end. If she only believed that it would, then she knew that it would. She just had to stick to the game plan. Stick to the plan, she repeated to herself, if she let Jericho break her, she would fall right into his arms and never leave him.

"I'm not letting him win, I'm just taking a different step in our relationship."

"By saying its over?"

She paused and then spoke softly, "Yeah."

"Well, I've said everything I could possibly say," Jericho said, "I don't know what else I can say."

"I'll go upstairs and get my things then," Stephanie said, "Trust me Chris, you'll understand this."

"Yeah, someday right, some mysterious day in the future that's undetermined as of this moment."

She stood up and couldn't bear to look at him. That had been hard, and she knew he didn't get it right now, but eventually she would. Hunter was just part of the baggage that came along with her, and he wasn't going to go away, not unless she broke it off with Jericho. She did the right thing, she was doing the right thing. She grabbed her duffel bag and suitcase and went upstairs.

She walked into their bedroom and started to gather her things. It was hard since she had so many things. She picked up a top that was slung over the bedpost and stuffed it in her bag. So many things that she had to think to remember to bring. Dresses, pants, shirts, jewelry, everything had to be packed up and shipped away.

Jericho sat with his head in his hands. Damn that Hunter. The next time he got his hands on him, he was going to kick his ass so badly, he wouldn't be able to walk for a week. Think he could steal his girl? Ruin his life? Jericho was going to make him pay dearly for what he had done. That stupid asshole thought that he could manipulate Jericho's life, he was going to find out that nobody controlled Jericho.

"Chris, do you know where my watch is!" He heard Stephanie yell.

First she was leaving him, then she was going to ask him to help her, "I don't know Stephanie, on the nightstand or something."

"I guess I'll find it by myself."

"Do you want me to come up there?"

She didn't want him to because she knew that would make it harder with him watching her leave, "No, I'm sure I'll find it, it can't have gone too far right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Do you want to take some of the pictures from the office?"

"No, you can keep them, I have some at home," she said sadly.

"Ok, take whatever you want then."

"I will."

She went back to searching around for her watch. She didn't see it on her nightstand and so she got down on her hands and knees to look under the bed. It wasn't there either. She really wanted that watch, it had been a gift from her parents on her fifteenth birthday and she had worn it ever since, even when new watches were offered. It just reminded her of a simpler time.

She went into the bathroom and sorted through the various hair care products and make-up. Her watch wasn't anywhere in there either. She sighed, she wasn't leaving without the watch. She would tear up that room until she found that damn watch. She started looking on the bureau and underneath the furniture.

"Chris, are you sure you don't know where it is!"

"NO!"

"Fine, jeez, thanks for the NO help!"

"You're welcome!"

She scowled as Jericho provided her absolutely no help whatsoever. She went over to his side of the bed and looked on his nightstand. Nothing. She opened his top drawer and didn't see it and was about to close the drawer when a black, velvet box caught her eye. She looked around before picking it up.

She opened it up and gasped. Sitting there, pristinely, was a huge, HUGE diamond engagement ring, set in platinum. She blinked her eyes several times to try and figure out if what she was looking at was real. It appeared to be real and she gasped again. She sat down on the bed heavily, just staring at this ring. What was Jericho doing with a ring like this? When had he bought a ring like this?

She almost couldn't touch it. She tried to and pulled her hand back at the last second. She didn't want to disturb it, but she had to touch it, to look at it and think about this. This was a ring, an engagement ring in Jericho's top drawer. She gingerly picked up the ring, not realizing her breath was coming out in short gasps. It was like every moment brought a new surprise.

She turned it over. Etched in the band, delicately and beautifully, were the words, "To My Stephy." She felt herself shake at the words, and she saw her fingers shaking as she put the ring back in the box and snapped it shut. This was her ring. This was a ring FOR her. This was an engagement ring. Jericho had an engagement ring for HER.

She almost couldn't believe this. They had discussed marriage, a lot, but this was real. This was real and it was a complete and utter shock for her to find this ring, this actual symbol of them being together…forever. Why hadn't he proposed yet though? When was he going to? How long was he going to wait to give this to her? She needed answers, but she didn't think her legs could move.

Apparently her legs were working just fine as she found herself descending the stairs and going into the living room. The ring box was still firmly in her hand, hidden from view. Jericho was sitting on the couch and he looked so sad. Her mouth was open and her heart was pounding as she looked at him. He looked up at her.

"Stephanie, is everything ok?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing's ok."

"What happened? Did you find your watch?"

"No, but I found something else," she said, her voice quivering like a tree in the wind.

"What?" he asked, oblivious to what she knew.

She tossed the ring box to him, "Explain this please."

Jericho looked down and his eyes widened. He opened it to make sure he was looking at what he thought he was looking at. He gulped when he saw it and then he looked up at Stephanie, opening his mouth to speak, but no words seemed to come out. He looked down again.

"Well! Explain that!"

"I bought this for you before Christmas, and I've been waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you…"

"You have?" she said, her bottom lip wavering.

"Yeah…I was going to give it to you when you got your job back."

"You were?"

"Yeah, I was going to give you your contract and hand you the pen and it was going to be on the pen," he told her, "The plan, that big, elaborate plan that separated us, I was trying to get you your job back. So I could propose."

"All of this…all of that…was so you could propose?" She put her hand over her heart in emotion of it all.

"Yeah, it was."

"You've had this since Christmas?"

"I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted it to be ideal. You haven't gotten a beautiful proposal. You got…Test. I wanted to give you something to remember. A funny story. I wanted to give you your job and your ring together."

"The job doesn't matter," she told him, "The job really, REALLY doesn't matter right now."

"So what do we do now?"

"You can tell me what I want to hear," she said.

"Steph?"

"Tell me what I want to hear," she said with a smile, "I don't need contracts, or flowers, or poetry, or anything, just tell me what I want to hear."

Jericho took a deep breath. This wasn't how he imagined it. It wasn't how he wanted things to go, but here they were and the moment seemed too perfect for words. He slowly got up and walked over to Stephanie, keeping his eyes locked on hers the entire time. He stopped in front of her and looked down a moment before meeting his blue eyes with hers.

"I love you. I don't know what else to say, except I really do love you. I could make this proposal mushy, but really, haven't we all heard enough mushiness for a lifetime. So just…be with me forever. You make me happy, and vice versa and so how bout it Steph, will you marry me?" He got down on one knee and blushing, he looked up at her.

"You're crazy. You would've let me fucking leave wouldn't you?" she said as she shook her head, "You knew you had a ring up there and you would've let me leave."

"I like making you happy," he said, "So about the question…"

"How many people knew?"

"Everyone, well, all our friends at least. Kurt, Christian, Trish, Edge, Shane, Linda, Vince, my parents…"

"Daddy?"

"He asked my intentions, I told him."

"And they've seen the ring?"

"They saw the ring. Most of them thought I was insane for getting it because of how much it cost me."

"How much?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't it enough that you know it cost a lot?"

"We're going to have joint checking accounts once I marry you, so I'd like to know the value of the ring, and how much of a dent it put into our savings. Not to mention for insurance purposes, I'm going to have to know."

He tuned out everything after she had said that they'd have joint checking accounts once she married him. He grinned and stood up, his knee cracking under the pain. But it was worth that, just to hear her say the actual words that he wanted to hear.

"78,000."

Her eyes widened, "Well shit, I'm going to HAVE to marry you now!"

"So is that a yes?"

"Chris Jericho, you got yourself a bride."


	208. Raw, May 24, 2004

A/N: Hee, I'm glad so many of you liked the last chapter. And I hope that you all keep reviewing, cause that tells me that you still like the fic, which I hope is the case for all of you. :D

* * *

"I love you."

"I love you more."

"I don't see how you could possibly love me more," Stephanie said, "Because I love you so much."

"I love you that much too."

"But I love you more."

"We're getting married," Jericho grinned cutely, like a little boy who had just received his first toy truck.

"Yeah," Stephanie said, biting her lip and blushing sweetly, "We're engaged."

He leaned his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes. They were happy, so incredibly happy and he had to smile at that. He leaned down to close the distance between his mouth and hers and captured her lips in a slow, sweet kiss. She reached her hand up to brush his hair away from his face.

"I still contend that I love you more," Jericho whispered.

"No, I love you more," she giggled.

They went on like this for a while. It was how they had been the entire weekend. The weekend where they had locked themselves in the house, not talking to anyone but each other and staying in bed for most of the time. This was their time to have fun, to just be together and enjoy each other. They had just gotten engaged and they were both ecstatic to the point where they were about to burst from the happiness of it all. Even the prospect of seeing Hunter tonight couldn't dampen their spirits.

Nobody but them knew about the engagement, but they were ready to tell their friends tonight. They at least wanted their friends to know first before it got out to everybody. Of course, the large diamond ring on Stephanie's left hand left little to the imagination, but seeing as how it was firmly encased in his, they didn't think anyone would figure out what had gone down.

"So who should we tell first?" Stephanie asked, "I was thinking, we go out there, make an elaborate deal with me coming out then we blind everyone in the arena with the rock on my finger."

"Yeah, we could do that…but I thought we were going low-key with this for now," he said.

"Ok, if low-key is what you want, then we'll go low-key."

"Well, I guess whoever we happen to come across first gets to be the lucky recipient of the news," Jericho said, "Whoever that lucky person…or persons may be."

"I can't wait," Stephanie said, "What do you think they're going to say?"

"It's about damn time," Jericho ventured a guess.

Stephanie giggled, "Yeah, I'm expecting to hear that more than once…or twice…or a hundred times."

"I don't care if we hear it from every person on this Earth in succession, nothing is going to spoil my mood because I'm marrying Stephanie McMahon."

"You're so cute," she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek, "I can't believe you were going to let me leave."

"I just want you to be happy, if leaving was going to make you happy, then I would've let you leave. If suddenly getting back with Hunter and having his children would make you happy, then I would've let you do that, granted I would've quit the company, moved to a shack in Montana and started sending out mail bombs, but I still would've let you leave to make you happy."

"YOU make me happy," she whispered, "And you should've given me this ring a long time ago."

"But I wanted it to be perfect."

"It was perfect. I never need fireworks or extravagance, I'm perfectly fine with being simple. Not that I don't appreciate what you were willing to do for me, but I would've just been happy with this insanely expensive ring," she finished with a giggle.

"I'm never going to hear the end of that, will I?"

"You spent 78,000 dollars on me, most people don't even spend that in a year, and you spent it all in one moment, on a ring, for me."

"I had the money lying around."

"No you don't," she said, "Because if you did, you'd be buying me nice presents all the time."

"I think we're at a stage in our relationship where I no longer need to impress you."

"What gave you that idea? I like being impressed."

"Because you know every damn quirk and habit that I have, I think that I have no mystery left for you to solve."

"No, I'd like to solve the mystery of what could possibly compel you to spend this much on me."

He leaned down to kiss her, "Because you're worth every penny. Besides, I'm marrying into the McMahon family, I'm set for life."

"Ahh, and it all becomes clear," she said jokingly, "You're only using me to get your hands on the money. Nice plan Jericho, but I foiled that plan, I'm not going to marry you!"

"Very funny," he said, "Look, I make a lot of money, you know that, when I was the champion, I got paid a lot, you also know that, you know how much money I have, and how I'm not Mr. Big Spender, so you obviously know that I'm capable of buying you a fancy, expensive ring."

"And have I told you how much I appreciate it?" She held her hand out in front of her and turned it over to look at the ring. It shined under the fluorescent lights of the hallway and she grinned. She couldn't stop staring at it. It was so beautiful and perfect, and most of all, huge. She couldn't take her eyes off of it, because if it were anywhere in her line of vision, you couldn't ignore it, it was that huge.

"Yes, a lot," he said, "But like I said, you're worth it."

"Hey, you guys!"

Stephanie quickly put her hand back into Jericho's and he covered up her ring with his fingers. Stephanie gave a slight giggle as she turned to him. He grinned at her as they approached Trish and Christian. Well, Trish was dragging Christian, but it was the both of them all the same.

"Christian told me you guys were breaking up, but now I see you here, and I think he was lying."

"I wasn't lying," Christian argued, "You two were going to break up, weren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jericho said with a shrug.

"Me neither."

"See," Trish said, sticking her tongue out at Christian.

"I swear, you two were going to break up, Steph, you were going to leave him!"

"Whatever you say," Stephanie said, giving him a weird look.

"We've been trying to reach you all weekend though," Trish said, "But every time we called, the machine picked up."

They had turned off their ringer this weekend, so any call had gone straight to their machine, not that they had time to check that in between all the celebrating and stuff going on with the engagement.

"Sorry about that we were…busy all weekend," Stephanie said, smiling up at Jericho.

"What is with you two?" Christian asked as he looked at them.

"Nothing," Stephanie said, then brought her left hand up and fanned her face, "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"

"I'm not--" Trish started to say before she caught sight of Stephanie's hand. She squealed loudly and grabbed Stephanie's hand, gasping as she saw the engagement ring on her left hand. Stephanie grinned at her and Trish threw her arms around her friend. "Oh my God, he asked!"

"Well, yes and no," Stephanie said as she hugged Trish back.

"Yes and no?"

"I found the ring by accident and asked him to explain it and then he proposed, so I guess it was an active choice by both of us," Stephanie said.

"But you're getting married!"

"Yup," Jericho said, "We're getting hitched."

"Have you set a date?" Christian asked them.

"Not yet, we can't decide if we want a winter or spring wedding," Stephanie said, then off of Jericho's look, "Ok, I can't decide if we want a winter or spring wedding. Chris said he'd marry me tomorrow if he had a choice."

"You can't do that!" Trish chastised. "You have to have a nice wedding, one where I get to be the maid of honor."

"Of course," Stephanie said, "Can you believe this? I'm actually getting married."

"You act like you've never been married before," Christian laughed.

Stephanie glared at him, "The first time wasn't exactly the best way to get married Christian."

"Yeah Chrissy," Trish said, "Oh man, come on, let's go talk about the wedding!"

Stephanie and Trish giggled again and hugged, jumping up and down in happiness. Jericho just shrugged at Christian, not wanting to laugh at this display, knowing it would only get them a fist to the stomach. Stephanie and Trish walked off quickly to Trish's hotel room, already discussing what Stephanie's wedding dress would look like, leaving Christian and Jericho alone.

"Congratulations," Christian said nonchalantly.

"Thanks," Jericho said, "So how's your back?"

"I'm still not cleared to wrestle, even though it's been better. I might as well go to the show tonight with Trish, we don't have anything better to do anyways."

"Well, why don't you go join the girls and discuss my wedding," Jericho suggested as he opened the door to his own hotel room and letting Christian walk inside ahead of him.

"Yeah, that's my idea of fun, so you're getting married…"

"I'm getting married," Jericho grinned, "That's a really weird thing to say by the way, for future reference."

"I'll make note of it. I can't believe you're going to settle down with Stephanie McMahon. Dude, I never would've imagined a few years ago that I would even say your name in the same sentence with hers that didn't involved 'hit' or 'pie in the face.' You two have come a long way."

"You're telling me, but I'm marrying Stephanie McMahon, I'm MARRYING Stephanie…whoa, that doesn't get any less weird."

"But its weird in a good way right?"

"Fuck yes. Oh, and the sex after you propose, the BEST I've ever had," Jericho said, "Also keep that in mind."

Christian chuckled, "So when is everyone going to know?"

"We just want our friends and family to know right now, we want to savor it a little while longer."

"And Hunter?"

"Oh, Hunter will find out tonight," Jericho laughed, "Sure, we don't consider him friend or family, but we do consider him Public Enemy #1 and since he holds that position well, we find it necessary to tell him of this little development."

"Nice…so what are you doing on the show? Do you know?"

"Highlight Reel, I called in and checked, Randy's my guest."

Christian scoffed, "Good luck."

Jericho remembered that Christian and the rest of their close friends had no idea that they were even on friendly terms with Randy Orton. Randy wasn't such a bad guy, but he really didn't want to tell Christian that. He knew and understood that Christian was still a little sensitive on the fling that went on between Trish and Randy.

"Yeah, thanks, hey, what time is it? I think it's already past nine, but Stephanie wanted to celebrate some more."

"Yeah, it's like nine exactly," Christian said, looking at his watch.

Jericho sighed, "God, I have to get Stephanie and get to the show, she's been so into the engagement, I think she has forgotten everything else."

Jericho was to the door when Christian said, "Hey Chris, you're as much into this engagement as she is right?"

Jericho turned around, "It wasn't the way I planned, but you know what, it was better. I want to marry her Christian, I don't care when or how, or under what circumstances, we're getting married."

"Good luck on the Reel, I'm sure I'll see you later."

Jericho left the room, knowing that Christian would leave soon anyways. He went down the hallway to Trish and Christian's hotel room, luckily he knew the number or he would've had to go all the way back to his own hotel room to find out the number. He knocked loudly on the door and waited for a giggly Trish to answer.

"Chris, we were just discussing the bachelorette party," Trish laughed.

"Yeah, when you take her on that one, can you make sure she doesn't get drugged and then taken to Las Vegas and married in a drive-thru chapel of any sort…unless it's me doing the drugging of course."

"I'll try my best," Trish said.

"Chris, what do you want?" Stephanie said, peeking her head around the corner.

"Time to go to the show, we're already late," he told her, tapping his wrist like he was actually wearing a watch, which incidentally, he wasn't.

"Oh fine," she pouted, "Trish get your ass to the show soon so we can talk some more, I still have to tell you exactly how I want my wedding dress to be. I was thinking strapless, but I'm not sure."

"We'll definitely talk, I've got some great ideas," Trish said.

Jericho rolled his eyes as he grabbed Stephanie's hand and walked down the hallway. She slipped her arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder. He kissed her head as she sighed happily. Everything just seemed so much better today, and had felt like this everyday since Jericho had proposed. It was such a good feeling she didn't want it to ever end.

"Do you think we'll always be this happy?" Stephanie asked dreamily.

"No, but that's why you get moments like this, so that you can savor them when the bad moments come."

"I think we'll always be this happy."

"If you say so, then it must be true."

"Now, you're catching on."

They went down to their rental car and Jericho gallantly held the door open for her. She kissed him on the cheek before getting in the car. He got in himself and they drove to the arena. They swung around to the back where the wrestler's entrance was, and Stephanie looked out her window.

"Chris, is that…is that Hunter sitting there?" Stephanie said, staring out the window as Jericho slowed down.

Jericho glanced over, "Yeah, he's sitting there with Batista."

"What the hell for?"

"I'm not a mind reader Steph," he said as he went and parked the car, "Looks like we'll find out though."

They got out of their car, Jericho grabbing his duffel bag from the backseat. Stephanie took her left hand and put it firmly in Jericho's right hand, squeezing it tightly, almost nervously. Jericho brought it up to his lips and lightly brushed his lips against her knuckles.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she said back to him.

They walked to the entrance, only to be encountered by Hunter and Dave. Jericho rolled his eyes as Hunter stood up from his chair. They couldn't possibly be waiting for them; that would be stupid, and weird. Jericho was prepared to walk right by them, but Dave stepped in front of them, blocking their path, which was easy for him since he was a big guy anyways.

"What do you want Hunter?" Stephanie asked impatiently, "Chris has to get inside."

"He can wait a little while longer," Hunter said, "Hey Chris, is Stephanie using a new lip gloss, tasted like strawberries last time I kissed her."

He was trying to rile Jericho up, but today, today Jericho couldn't be bothered, he didn't have a care in the world. Hunter could beat him up, and he'd still have a smile on his face. Life was WAY too good for him right now to waste any unnecessary energy on Hunter of all people.

"I think she is," Jericho said, "Funny you should notice. I hope you used a mint when you kissed her though."

"Nope, he didn't," Stephanie said, "If you do that again, try to pop one in beforehand."

"What the hell!"

"So Trips, who're you waiting for?" Jericho asked, "Certainly not for us."

"None of your damn business."

"Hey, you kissed me last week, I figured we could be cordial and ask what you were doing."

"Oh, I get it, this is some sort of reverse psychology, you're scared of me, face it," Hunter said, moving in closer to Stephanie, "You should be scared Princess, I still haven't gotten everything I want from you. It'll take a long time for that debt to be repaid."

"What debt is that?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about you bitch!"

"Hey! Don't talk to my girlfriend that way," Jericho interrupted.

"Girlfriend?" Stephanie said with a slight smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry baby, I meant, fiancée," he said smugly. Hunter's face dropped and Stephanie had to laugh at that. He looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

"What are you talking about?" Hunter said through clenched teeth.

Stephanie held her hand out, "Well, see, we're getting married, isn't that great news!"

Hunter looked stunned for a second. And if Stephanie looked really closely, he almost looked, dare she say it, sad. Why would he ever be sad? She thought she must be seeing things, but there it was, clear as day. She didn't know what to make of it, but she didn't have a lot of time to think about it as Hunter started laughing cruelly.

"Good luck with the bitch, she'll tie you up in knots and then cut you loose, just you wait."

"Oh Hunter," Stephanie called as she and Jericho walked inside the arena, "I tied you up in knots and cut you loose because I didn't love you."

Stephanie laughed as she saw Hunter grab the folding chair and throw it towards the ground. She ran to catch up with Jericho and hopped up on his back. Jericho grunted and grabbed her legs as they started walking down the hallway. She saw her father up ahead talking to like ten women and looked at him oddly.

"Chris, is it just me or is that my father talking to a bunch of women I've never seen before in my life."

Jericho looked up ahead, "Yeah, it is, I wonder what he's doing with all those girls."

"I don't know, let's go find out," she said, "I also appreciate how you didn't say they were pretty."

"I'm a taken man now, I can't go around looking at other women."

"Good answer, you are so getting some tonight."

"Damn, this engaged thing just keeps getting better and better, remind me why I didn't ask you months ago?"

"Some stupid plan."

"Yeah, remind me never to do that again."

"I will, if you ever propose to someone again…which shouldn't happen."

"Won't happen," he said as they approached her father.

"Daddy!"

Vince turned his head, "Stephanie, Chris, how are the two of you?"

"We're wonderful," Stephanie said, giggling as a smile broke out on Jericho's face, "Better than wonderful, whatever that is…but Daddy, um, who are all these girls?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you, we're doing a Raw Diva Search and we needed a little incentive, girls, this is my daughter Stephanie and her boyfriend Chris Jericho."

Stephanie caught some of the girls checking out Chris, and while she didn't blame them, since he was a hot guy, she got a little angry that they were ogling her fiancé when she was right there and had just been introduced as his significant other. Jericho put Stephanie down and she thought he was going to shake all these pretty girl's hands or something, but he simply took her hand in his again.

"Actually Vince, Stephanie and I aren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend anymore," Jericho said, somewhat giddily.

"Excuse me?" Vince said, leading the two of them away from the girls, "You broke up? What did I tell you about breaking my daughter's heart Jericho!"

"Daddy," Stephanie said, putting a calming hand on his arm, "We didn't break up, you see…well, Chris and I…we're getting married."

Vince looked between the two of them and then smiled widely, "Congratulations Princess."

Stephanie hugged her father tightly and said, "Thanks Daddy, we wanted to tell you, but don't tell Mom, cause we want to tell her in person, can you keep this to yourself?"

"I'll try my hardest, when did you propose Chris?"

"Last Tuesday," he said, "We wanted it to be our secret for a little while, but we're both really excited."

"Yeah, but we want to go find Edge and tell him, so keep our secret Daddy?"

"Of course I will Princess," he said, kissing her forehead, "Let me talk to Chris for a second though."

"Ok, I'm going to go find Edge and tell him, is that ok Chris?" Stephanie said.

"Sure," he told her, kissing her quickly before she practically skipped off down the hallway. Chris turned to Vince and waited for what he had to say.

"I thought that you wanted to wait until she got her job back," Vince said, "I thought that was the plan."

"She found the ring," Jericho shrugged, "And I couldn't keep it a secret after that, but it was the right time Vince, it's the right time now, and I really want to marry your daughter."

"I've seen a lot of men come through her life, some good, some very, very bad, and…don't hurt her alright."

"I won't, I couldn't," Jericho answered, "I better go find her before she gets herself into trouble."

Jericho shook hands with Vince and then went off to find Stephanie. He found her talking excitedly and very animatedly with Edge who was just smiling at nodding at her. He made a "shh" sign to Edge and walked up behind Stephanie, sliding his arms around her waist and kissing the back of her head before leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Congrats man," Edge said, "I can't believe you two are finally taking the plunge."

"Neither can I," Jericho said, "But I have to keep this girl around somehow."

"You make it sound so romantic," Stephanie said with an eye roll.

"Aww, well, there were flower petals and white satin everywhere and I was wearing a pristine white tux with a top hat and cane, and I did a little soft-shoe routine before asking her, and declared it my visual interpretation of me asking her to marry me, and then when she said yes, I had a bevy of balloons and confetti float down from the ceiling and a disco ball, which made her ring sparkle like it should and then I put on Mozart and waltzed with her across the room."

"I found the ring, he asked, end of story," Stephanie said.

"I think I like Chris's version better," Edge laughed, "The entire of him doing a soft-shoe is entertaining enough."

"Oh, the story will be modified I'm sure," Stephanie said, "Now you should go take a shower, cause you stink."

"Chris, when you marry her, teach her some manners while you're at it."

"I've been trying man, I've been trying," Jericho said as Stephanie slapped his arm, "Damn, stop hitting me."

"Fighting already you two," Trish said as she walked up to them, "It's too early for there to be dissention in your relationship."

"What's up Trish?"

"Well, see, you know the Highlight Reel tonight."

"I'm vaguely familiar with it."

"You see, well, Tyson, he's…I don't know, crazy, is a good word, I'll have to talk to Christian about having let him hang out with us. He wants me to seduce you or something, distract you so he can attack you during the Reel, and I can't say no to him, he's so scary."

"I've seen him, he is scary," Stephanie said, "But not in the regular sense, in the creepy sense."

"Yeah! That's how I feel about him too," Trish said.

"If you want, attack me," Jericho said, "You picked a good night for it anyways."

"Thank you, I wanted to run it by you, he's creepy!"

"We get it Trish," Jericho said, "I'll see you later though, I haven't gotten any alone time with Steph in almost half an hour."

"Oh, to be young and in love," Trish sighed, as she walked away.

Randy happened upon the two and couldn't help but notice how happy they looked. Obviously they hadn't seen Hunter today at all. He was especially irate tonight. He hadn't been so angry earlier, but now he was teeming with anger and Randy knew that it couldn't all be from Shawn Michaels.

"Hi," Randy said in passing, very quietly.

Stephanie looked around, and then hissed, "Randy wait."

"What?" Randy asked, also looking around to make sure nobody was around.

"We're engaged," she said with a smile, "We're telling our friends…and Hunter, but we wanted to let you know cause you're our friend."

"And the guest on the Reel tonight," Jericho added.

"Congratulations you guys," he said, genuinely happy for them, "That's great news, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, so you're on the Reel tonight, don't kill each other or anything."

"RANDY!"

Randy looked over to see Dave and Hunter standing there and he gulped. He tried to remain calm and turned smarmily to Stephanie, "You remember that baby next time you're with this guy over here, you could be with a real man."

"Shut up Randy, you bastard!" Jericho snapped.

"Don't worry Jericho, we'll just figure all this out on the Highlight Reel, see you soon," Randy said, walking away.

"Good job," Hunter said, clapping Randy on the back as he walked over, "Following orders, I like that about you. What were you saying to that bitch?"

"Just how she could have a real man in me," Randy said with a smarmy smile, "Which she could if she wanted."

"I have to go on his show soon anyways, I can't wait to rub it in a little more without him knowing it."

"Yeah, you better go get ready for that shouldn't you?" Batista said.

"Yeah, see you guys later."

Stephanie put her hands on Jericho's cheeks and leaned in sweetly to kiss him. He let his arms fall against her hips and pulled her closer. He just couldn't get enough of her right now. Every second he just wanted to be around her, but he also had a job to do. He hugged her to him and saw Randy approaching over her shoulder. Randy nodded slightly, indicating that things were alright with Evolution. They should've been more careful though, it was stupid of them not to realize that.

Jericho's music hit and he gave Stephanie one last, lingering kiss before going out to the ramp. He smiled the entire way down and into the ring. The crowd was chanting his name and he just stood there and let it all sink in. His mood was only heightened by the people's reaction to him. They didn't know the reason for his happiness, but he knew and that couldn't stop the smile from coming to his face. He was going to be smiling a lot more lately.

Finally the crowd calmed down enough for him to speak. He started off with bashing Christian a little, trying to help Trish have a reason to come out during the Reel. He introduced Randy and they talked pretty cordially for a while, until Jericho brought up his thing with Shelton Benjamin. Randy caught on pretty quickly to what Jericho was doing. Jericho wasn't stupid; he knew that even though Randy had appeared to be hitting on Stephanie, that Evolution would still question his loyalty. Jericho was attacking him because this was the only way to ensure that the secret was kept safe. He considered Randy a friend, and friends helped friends.

Randy put on his usual cocky, self-assured cloak on and bantered with Jericho, even getting in a few jabs here and there. Their words were heated and mean, and completely false. Jericho invited the slap from Randy, knowing that it was coming. What he didn't know was that Batista would be out to help his teammate. In a sense, that was good, they bought the story, it was bad in the sense that now Jericho was getting hurt.

To his surprise, Shelton came out to help him and they cleared the ring effectively. Bischoff came out and announced a match between them and Batista and Randy. Jericho cursed, but had no choice as they cleared the ring. Hopefully this would be over quickly, and where the hell was Trish? Maybe because of Bischoff coming out.

The match started, even though Jericho really didn't feel like fighting. He put a lot into the match though, simply because he was in too good a mood not to be into the match. Despite this problem with Hunter, his life was pretty damn good right now and he had no complaints in sight. Stephanie loved him, they were getting married and nothing else mattered. This match, it was just a match, like any other match he had had over his long and illustrious career, it would go down in history, like any match, maybe forgotten, maybe not, but all that mattered was the brunette standing backstage watching this show.

He was surprised to win, only because his thoughts were on Stephanie most of the match. It was apropos that he wasn't exactly the one to win. He had noticed Trish's music go off and could see her at the announcer's table. He walked up the ramp, pretending not to notice her until she was ready. He went closer to her and expected Tyson to come up behind him. What he wasn't expecting was to be put through the table. He grabbed his back painfully.

Trish was horrified. Tyson has said he would only throw Jericho up against the Tron not this. She resisted the urge to help him, and instead stood over her, trying to make sure that he was ok from afar. She didn't know what to do so she just went backstage and stood with a stunned Stephanie.

"I didn't know Steph," she said, "I didn't know that he was going to…"

"He's fine," Stephanie reassured, "He's in too good a mood today to not be fine. I mean…he's not hurt, he can't be hurt, we're engaged, he's in a good mood." She was trying to reassure herself and Trish recognized this. She felt terrible, if Tyson wasn't so fucking creepy, but he was and she didn't like it. But how could she cut him loose.

They watched as Jericho was put on a gurney with the neck brace and everything. He was alert and Trish wrapped her arms around Stephanie, trying to comfort her. Stephanie was having none of it as she tore herself away and stood right by the entrance when they pushed Jericho through the curtain moments later. Trish raced over too.

"Chris, I didn't know he was going to."

"It's cool Trish, I'm untouchable today," Jericho said, making light of the situation, "Nothing's bringing me down tonight."

"You crazy bastard," Stephanie said as she held his hand, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm on top of the world," Jericho said with a bright smile, "Hey you guys, EMT people, I'm engaged. This pain is nothing, because this woman right here, Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie, she's marrying me."

"Chris, what happened to low-key," she smiled.

"Well, I just want them to know that they're dealing with your fiancé right now and you don't take kindly to things not going your way."

"You are crazy, you know that."

"Just about you."

"No, I'm talking mental institution, straightjacket, padded room crazy," she giggled.

"You guys, I'm not hurt, I'm telling you, you can let me out of this thing right now," Jericho said, struggling to get the thing off.

"But Mr. Jericho…"

"Get me off of this thing. Look, I'm engaged, the only thing that is going to make me feel better is if you let me go and let me be with my fiancée."

"Ok sir, but you should really get checked out."

"I'll take him," Stephanie said. The EMT's just let him out, no questions asked. Jericho got up stiffly, but with a smile on his face this entire time. He looked at Stephanie and she rolled her eyes at him, more out of amusement than annoyance. He walked over to her slowly and picked her up off the ground and swung her around before kissing her.

"See, perfectly fine. You have some sort of healing power over me Steph."

"You should go to the hospital."

"I will, when I'm good and ready," he said, then turned to all the people in the immediate area, which included some personnel and some wrestlers, "Hey everyone, Stephanie and I are engaged."

"Don't mind him, he probably got a concussion."

"I LOVE STEPHANIE MCMAHON!" He shouted while extending his arms like he was singing opera.

"Yeah, concussion," Stephanie said as she blushed, "He's nuts right now. Probably on another planet. Let's go Chris, let's see the doctor."

"I love you Stephanie," he said, kissing her cheek.

"I know crazy man, but let's make sure that you're not hurt or anything."

"I have you, I can't be hurt."

"Yes you can, so let's go."

"Who are we going to tell next?"

"Kurt, ok, now let's go."

"Oh, you just want to have your way with me."

"Caught me," she giggled, "So let's go make sure you're ok, and then we can laugh over how 'mad' at Shawn Hunter is. Even though we both know he's not even angry over that."

"What do you mean by that Steph?"

"I'll explain on the way to the hospital."


	209. Raw, May 31, 2004

A/N: Thursday is my birthday, so I may put a chapter up before then, or after then, or not at all, I just don't think they'll be a chapter that night. :)

* * *

"So why did you want me here again?"

"Because Kurt, you needed a break from all that crap that's going down on your show," Stephanie said with a smile, "We wanted you to come visit us on the good show."

"Are you saying my show isn't good?"

"Well, it doesn't have Chris on it, so therefore it's the inferior show."

"I should've known," Kurt said knowingly, "Wherever Chris is, is automatically the better show right?"

"You bet," she smiled, grinning a little wider than usual, "And you're invited to the show as well. Daddy gave Chris the night off so we got one of the boxes and we're all going to hang out there. Christian's still hurt, so he'll be there, and Edge will be after his match."

"So you're basically having a party?"

"Yeah," she told him. It was a party of sorts, kind of like an engagement party. They were inviting Kurt, Shane, and Linda to let them know that she and Jericho were engaged. She could only imagine the looks on their faces. She could hardly keep it a secret when she invited them, and it was even worse now that she was with Kurt face-to-face.

"What for?"

"No reason, it's just we wanted to get together, we miss you," Stephanie said with a smirking pout, patting him on the shoulder with her right hand.

"So where's your boy toy?"

"He's around," she said, "But I wanted to talk to you for a while, I've missed seeing you all the time. It's such a shame that you're still on SmackDown while we're on Raw."

"Well, you're not on Raw, so you can come visit."

"But I'm at Raw, so it's the same thing," Stephanie countered.

Chris saw Stephanie and Kurt sitting at a table in the hotel café. He smiled as he looked at Stephanie, who was being careful to cover up her left hand. He walked over to them and slid into the seat next to Stephanie, wrapping a friendly arm around her. Stephanie kissed him quickly and then turned to Kurt.

"You guys look really happy," Kurt commented, picking up on a vibe.

"Do we?" Chris said impishly, staring deeply into Stephanie's eyes as she giggled.

"Ok, there's definitely something up."

"Nah," Chris said, "We're just coming up on our two year anniversary and it's pretty exciting."

"Oh man, you guys being together for two years, that is really, really weird, and you're still not married, it's amazing really."

"Yeah, it is," Stephanie said slyly, "Sweetie, why aren't we married?"

"Steph," Chris said with derision in his voice, "You know what we talked about…"

"What did you guys talk about?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Oh, I just decided that I didn't want to get married…ever," Chris explained, "I think it's an archaic institution that facilitates an unreal societal standard and people can be perfectly happy if they don't get married. I mean, we love each other, isn't that enough?"

"Wow, I had no idea you felt that way," Kurt answered, looking at his friend bewildered. "I guess if that's how you feel…"

"It is how I feel, now did you guys want to get to the show already, or are we going to sit here for the rest of the night?"

Chris got up and stormed off a little smirk on his face. That should sufficiently throw Kurt off their tracks. Stephanie had to stifle a giggle as Chris walked away and she turned her serious face on as she turned back to Kurt, who was looking at her sympathetically.

"I'm really sorry about that," Kurt said.

"Don't be, he told me about it already," Stephanie said, "I don't know what to do about it right now, because I do want to get married again, and if Chris isn't the one to do that with me, then I'll have to find someone else to marry."

"Let's go follow him so he doesn't leave us behind."

Stephanie nodded and stood up from her seat, slipping her engagement ring into her pocket. She grasped the back of Kurt's wheelchair and started pushing him to the lobby. They went out the front doors and saw Chris already waiting with the car. Chris got out and helped Kurt get in and then folded up the wheelchair he was using. Chris gave Stephanie a quick peck on the cheek before they both got into the car.

Kurt watched the two of them in the car together and they kept stealing little glances to one another. At one point, Chris reached out to grab Stephanie's left and ran his thumb over her ring finger and then looked over at her. She looked down for a moment before blushing and looking out the window. Kurt didn't even want to delve into what they were thinking. That was just futile, seeing as how they were both totally and completely crazy.

Once they got to the arena, Stephanie started giggling uncontrollably, and Kurt once again, just let it go. She pushed him into the arena and they took the back way up to the private boxes. They went to the one at the very end, the biggest one of all and Chris held the door open as they went inside. Shane, Linda, Vince, Trish and Christian were already there and the only one missing was Edge, but since he had the first match of the evening, they didn't expect him there.

"Hey you guys," Trish said, walking over on Christian's arm, "We were wondering when you guys were going to get here."

"Well, we're here," Stephanie said, holding Chris's hand tightly, "So how are you Christian? Any better?"

"Yeah, comes and goes really," he said, as Trish rubbed his back a little, "Nobody knows I'm here, so you have to keep the secret."

"Nobody knows I'm here either," Chris chuckled, "We're both playing hooky."

"Hey, I'm legit injured," Christian protested.

Chris lifted his shirt to reveal his ribs, which were tightly wrapped in tape. Stephanie winced as she saw them. She knew how in pain Chris was, but he was refusing to let anybody know about it. Trish gasped and gave Chris an incredibly apologetic look as she bit her lip.

"Chris, I'm so sorry, this is partly my fault," Trish said, her eyes almost tearing up at seeing her friend injured.

"It's fine," Chris said, "It wasn't your fault, you didn't put me through a table."

"He always wanted to put me through one though," Stephanie laughed as she saw Shane and Linda coming over, "Hi Mom, hey Shane."

"I don't know why your father dragged us here," Linda said, "But it is really good to see you." Linda hugged Stephanie to her and Stephanie smiled at her father knowingly over her shoulder as Linda pulled away and was replaced by Shane. "This is so nice, having the entire family together here, and for once not fighting."

"Well, I'm glad that for one night at least we can all be happy and together," Stephanie said, glancing quickly at Chris, a look that went unnoticed by some of the less enlightened people in the room.

"Me too," Linda said, patting her daughter and son's cheeks, "So how have you been Chris?"

"I'm fantastic Linda," Chris grinned broadly, "I've got the night off, and not a care in the world."

"That's nice to hear, and taking care of my daughter?"

"The best I know how," Chris said, kissing Stephanie's head.

"Ok, you guys, I've got ten minutes before the show starts, but I had to be here," Edge said, running into the dressing room in his wrestling gear and his boots untied.

"Hello to you too Edge," Stephanie laughed, "We were going to wait for you."

"Yeah, but then I'll want to shower and stuff, so go ahead, if I have to leave I will."

"What's going on?" Shane asked, looking around, "I feel like we're being set-up."

"No, nothing like that," Stephanie said, slipping her left hand back into her pocket and putting her ring back on, "We just wanted you all here tonight to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Linda asked, confused.

Chris and Stephanie grinned and then the four people in the room who knew started grinning too. Shane, Linda, and Kurt just looked at the others in confusion. They felt like there was a big secret that they were being told about, which was the absolute truth, but they would soon be in the loop.

"Well Mom," Stephanie started, then burst into infectious giggles, "You see, things are happening…"

"Stephanie, did you get your job back," Shane said, giving it a guess.

"No stupid," Stephanie said, "I could care less about getting a job right now…unless you happen to have one Daddy, in which case, I'll take it."

"Princess, just tell them."

"Ok, what the hell is going on?" Kurt asked.

Stephanie took her hand out of her pocket and held it out in front of her, "Chris and I are getting married!"

Shane and Kurt's jaws dropped almost simultaneously and Linda's hand covered her open mouth. Chris grinned over at Stephanie as she wiggled her fingers around to show off the diamond. Linda finally gained her bearings and pulled Stephanie into a hug before hugging Chris as well.

"You two! Married, oh my baby is getting married!" Linda gushed as she pulled away to look at the ring on Stephanie's finger, "It's so beautiful, oh, you two, I'm speechless."

"Apparently not as much as those two," Chris said, gesturing to Shane and Kurt, who had yet to either move or pick their jaws up from the floor.

"But--but earlier you two said…" Kurt tried to say.

"We were joking Kurt," Stephanie laughed, "Chris and I have been engaged for almost two weeks, we just wanted to tell you all in person. Well, some of you already knew, but some of you didn't and we just wanted to gather all of you here. We tried to get Chris's parents to come, but they were on vacation."

"Yeah, they go away every year at the beginning of June, so we're telling them this weekend probably," Chris said, "So Shane, Kurt? Uh, what do you guys think about this?"

"It's great, I'm really happy for you," Shane said, hugging his little sister and shaking Chris's hand, "Really happy."

"I can't believe you guys lied to me!" Kurt said indignantly.

"Sorry," they said sheepishly.

"Ok guys, I hate to hit and run, but I've got a match, wish me luck," Edge said, waving to everyone as he went down for his match.

Kurt wheeled himself over to them, "It's about freaking time, is all I have to say. I could see this coming for years, YEARS, I think I was the only one to see it."

"You probably were for a while Kurt," Stephanie laughed as she wrapped her arm around Chris's waist, "Why didn't you give us a nudge in the right direction."

"With you two, I don't think you would've been nudging each other unless it involved steel chairs or pies," Kurt said.

One of the attendants came into the room with a tray of crystal flutes and two bottles of champagne. She pushed the tray to the middle of the room before leaving. Vince had ordered the wine earlier and went over to pop the corks on both bottles as he and Shane poured the wine into the glasses, everyone getting one.

"Ok, I just wanted to make a toast," Vince said raising his glass, "To Stephanie and Chris. Sometimes I'm still shocked that two people who hated each other so passionately could also love each other so passionately."

Stephanie blushed at that and Chris leaned down to kiss her temple.

"And I hope you two are happy together, forever, and if you ever break my daughter's heart Chris, I'll fire you on the spot, so congratulations."

Chris laughed as everyone clinked their glasses and drank from their champagne flutes. After the toast, everyone just mingled with each other, or ate the buffet laid out for them or went about watching the show. Trish came over to Stephanie to discuss some of the wedding plans as the guys watched Edge and Benoit's match against La Resistance.

"So think anymore about the wedding?" Trish asked as she sat down in a chair across from the couch Stephanie was sitting on with her mother.

"Yeah, I think…well, I'm thinking that I don't want it to be too big. I mean, my almost wedding to Test, I didn't really like it, no offense Mom," Stephanie said, turning to her Linda, "But it was just too gaudy and big and I hated every moment of it. Now that I'm older, I don't want it too flashy, so maybe like thirty people or something. Just close friends and family."

"As long as I'm maid of honor, I don't care what the hell the rest of the wedding is like," Trish laughed.

"Of course," Stephanie said, "And we'll have to discuss your dress. I think I know a few other people to be bridesmaids, but I have way more guy friends than girl friends, so unless Kurt wants to dress up in a dress, I'm not sure that I'm going to have more than you."

"Well, if it's small, then you're going to want to keep the wedding party small too, right, so you can just go along with the theme," Trish said.

"You're right."

"Do you know when you're going to get married?" Linda said.

"I don't know Mom, Chris and I have to talk about that, I'm thinking this winter, but then Chris mentioned something about it being outdoors, so we might have to take it to Hawaii or something if we want to do it in the summer."

"That would be so beautiful," Trish said, "Overlooking a cliff, just a little clearing or something. At sunset!"

The guys turned to look at Trish who just blushed and shrugged her shoulders towards them. Chris got up from his seat to come over and sit on the arm of the sofa that Stephanie was sitting on. Stephanie rested her arm against his leg.

"So what're you girls discussing?" Chris asked.

"The wedding of course," Trish said, slapping his knee, "We have to be ready for it. When do you want the wedding?"

"Like I told Steph, you give me a date, and I'll be there, rain or shine."

"But you have to pick the perfect day."

"Well you can never predict how a day will turn out, so you just have to hope for the best."

"If we do get married during the winter, then it's going to be next January," Stephanie said, "I don't want it to be near Christmas, too much to do in so short a time."

"Like I said, any time, anywhere, I'll be there."

"Siberia, December 25, how's that?" Stephanie said, looking up with him.

Chris leaned down to kiss her, "I'll be there."

"Now that's a man," Trish said, "Christian, get your butt over here and make me feel better because I'm not getting married."

Christian stood up and walked over, "Great, now you're putting ideas into her head. Thanks you guys."

Chris saw Kurt sitting by himself and excused himself to go talk to him. He sat down in a chair next to Kurt and then looked around to make sure none of the other guys were around. He didn't want them to overhear the conversation just yet.

"So how're you feeling?" Chris asked.

"I'm in shock, I never thought I'd live to see the day that you two would actually take the plunge."

"Not about this, about your leg and junk."

"I'll live."

"Ok, well good, that makes this easier to ask then," Chris said, rubbing the nape of his neck, "I want you to be my best man."

Kurt was once again shocked, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't serious."

"What about Christian? I was sure you'd ask him."

"I've been friends with you longer. You were the first one to know about Stephanie and I, and you helped us out. You've been Stephanie's friend since you got in this company practically and you've been my friend almost as long, we were a team way before Christian and I were a team, and it only seems fair that you get to be my best man. You're my best friend Kurt, and please tell me you heard that speech so I don't have to repeat it because I hate this, but Stephanie refused to ask for me."

"Wow, I'm flattered," Kurt said, "I think this is a hug moment."

Chris groaned, "Come on Kurt, I think it's enough that I asked."

Kurt opened his arms, "I think this calls for a hug."

"Aww, damn it," Chris said, reaching over and giving Kurt a kind of half hug/pat on the back, "There, now let us never speak of this again."

"Now I have to write a speech," Kurt said, "Wow, it'll be like fifteen minutes with everything I have to say about you two."

Chris groaned again, "Now I'm starting to rethink this decision."

"Hey Chris, a word," Shane said as he stood over by the door.

"Sure," Chris said, standing up and following Shane who exited the room. Chris followed wordlessly as Stephanie looked up from her conversation to see Chris leave. She looked at the closed door for a moment before going to talk to her mother once again.

"I wanted to say congratulations again," Shane said, "But I also have to give you the speech."

"The speech…" Chris echoed.

"Yeah, don't hurt my baby sister, or you'll have to face me. My family is entrusting you with her, and you better not take that for granted--"

"I've never taken Stephanie for granted," Chris told him.

"I know, but that's not the point, I'm warning you that IF you should ever do this, you will have hell to pay."

"Ok, go on then," Chris said with a hand gesture for him to continue.

"She's my baby sister, and I love her a lot, she's the only sister I have, and I will protect her for the rest of my life, just like my dad will, and we are two men you do not want to cross. We let Hunter slip through our fingers, but there is no way that we are going to let another one slip through the cracks, so don't hurt Stephanie and everything will be fine."

"I never planned on hurting her."

"I just want to make sure we're on the same page," Shane said, clapping his shoulder.

Stephanie got up and went over to the door, leaning against it to try and hear the conversation. She could only hear muffled voice, so she opened the door a little to hear her brother talking about not hurting her. She laughed and slipped through the door to stand close to Chris as Shane looked at her.

"Shane, stop threatening my fiancé," Stephanie told him, "He doesn't deserve this stupid talk."

"I'm just warning him."

"Have you met Chris," Stephanie said, "He wouldn't hurt me."

"I wouldn't," Chris added.

"He loves me too much for that, and whatever Chris loves he protects fiercely, right sweetie, that's why they called you Lionheart."

"Something like that," Chris laughed, kissing Stephanie's head, "Shane was just giving me some friendly advice should I ever hurt you."

"And what advice was that?"

"To never do it or he'd hire a hit-man to kill me."

"Ok, I'm done here," Shane said with a short laugh as he walked back inside. Stephanie went to stand where Shane had been, right in front of Jericho. Except she made sure there was no distance between them as she leaned her head on his chest. He stroked her hair softly.

"So my bride-to-be, having fun?" he asked her in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, I'm glad everyone is happy for us," she told him.

"Me too, I'm happy for us too."

"You are?"

"Of course, there's nothing to be unhappy about."

"No, there isn't," she said with a happy sigh, "Do you think it'll all come crashing down eventually?"

"Nope," he said definitively.

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I'm Chris Jericho, and as Chris Jericho, I know things, and one of the things I know is that come some day in the future, whether it be winter or summer, or spring, or sprummer, which is in between spring and summer, I'm marrying your cute ass, and you are going to be the luckiest girl in the world because you get to be Mrs. Chris Jericho a position that millions of women have been jockeying for, for years."

"Oh, well when you put it that way, I am the luckiest girl in the world," she scoffed.

"Damn straight you are, you get to be with Chris Jericho!"

"You speak of this as if it's a new thing, have I not been the one to be with you for the past two years almost?"

"Oh, was that you? I just thought it was a warm body next to me."

"Hey, you should be thanking your lucky stars that you're with ME," Stephanie said, "It's not every guy that gets Stephanie McMahon, the Billion Dollar Princess."

"Just half the tri-state area right?" he said, grinning to himself.

"You're about two seconds away from a kick to the balls mister," Stephanie told him, pulling away to give him a look of warning, tempered with silliness.

"Well that wouldn't be nice would it? I might have to take away the ring if you did that."

"No! Not my pretty, pretty ring," she said, clutching her hand, "Even if we broke up, I'm keeping the ring."

"Um…but we wouldn't be together."

"I demand that if we don't get married, that I'm keeping the ring."

"Ok Stephanie, you may keep the ring," Jericho said.

She grinned triumphantly as the familiar strains of someone's entrance music floated to their ears. Stephanie groaned as she rolled her eyes at Chris. They walked back into the room and to the balcony overlooking the arena. Stephanie stood in front of Chris as he draped an arm around her from behind. They watched as Hunter came out to address the crowd and laughed heartily as he got booed.

He went to show the video and Chris's laughter faded until he was only wearing a scowl on his face. He hated thinking about that Hell in a Cell, that match had been…he didn't want to think about it just then. Stephanie felt him tense up behind her and she reached up to rub his hand gently.

"You did good," was the only words she said to him.

"I didn't win."

"You didn't need to," she said as she thought back, "You kept your promise."

"Not completely."

It had almost gone unnoticed by them, a fact that had remained forgotten until the moment they showed Hunter kicking Jericho in their Hell in a Cell match all the way back in May 2002 at Judgment Day. When Stephanie had left the building the night she was kicked out of the company, Chris had been apologizing profusely for not winning, for allowing her to get pinned, and she had uttered a few simple words to him, ones that he took to heart.

"_Just get revenge on Hunter for me…that's it."_

That was almost the entire basis for that feud. He hated Hunter, and he hated that he had fought an innocent, ok, not innocent, but defenseless woman in a match for the title. Stephanie turned around to kiss him silently.

"I think you looked sexy putting him on the Walls on top of the cell," she said with a smile, "They only showed his good parts, even though you had tons of good parts too, like holding up the barbed wire 2x4, how sexy was that."

"You two are crazy," Trish said as she walked over, "I'm so jealous."

"Well, maybe you and Christian will be the next two to get married," Stephanie said, "I'd suggest double wedding, but talk about your cheesy affairs, because if we did that, then we'd almost HAVE to get pregnant at the same time and do everything at the same time."

"That would suck," Trish laughed.

A comfortable silence fell over the room as Edge came to join them. Everyone was in their own private conversations and Stephanie and Chris were just content to sit with each other and watch the show. They didn't realize it at the time, but just about everyone else in the room would just glance over at them with a smile on their face. Sometimes, even when things have gone wrong up until that very moment, there were just moments that you cherished and knew that they were simply happy moments to be kept for always. Seeing Chris and Stephanie sitting there, he occasionally whispering something into her ear that caused her to either smile or laugh softly, it gave them that stupid warm, fuzzy feeling.

Chris did a double take however when they started setting up the Highlight Reel, "Hey Vince, didn't you tell the production people that I was off tonight?"

"Of course I did, I know how to run the company," Vince answered.

"Well, they're setting up the Highlight Reel when I'm not there."

"Incompetent employees!" Vince bellowed.

"Dad, chill out," Shane said, "We'll just call down there and tell them to dismantle the set."

"Wait," Trish said, as everyone turned to look at her, "I have an idea."

In a flash, she was out of the room and everyone could only stare at her. Trish ran down to the backstage area, ignoring anyone who recognized her and entered the gorilla area, only after finding Tomko and dragging him out to the ring with her. Before she left however, she told the production guys to cue up a clip for her. She had a plan. She smiled up at the box area and could see Christian watching her, though she couldn't see his face.

She got the microphone and started talking about the people of Quebec, thinly veiling her insults at them. Then she gave a little hello to Christian, knowing he was watching. Christian could only watch and think his girlfriend was crazy. Trish went on to speak about Chris, and she lied her way through the entire speech. She was having so much fun, and so were the people watching her in the private box.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I have to interrupt this," Chris said, pulling away from Stephanie, "This is way too good for me not to interrupt, you wanna come Steph?"

"Yeah, you know what this reminds me of? Remember when Rhyno gored you through the set and then the next week I went and showed it to everyone and then you came out…and you made fun of my breast implants…" She said, finishing off with her voice trailing off as they walked down to the backstage area.

"Oh yeah," he laughed, "Good times…'let the boobies hit the floor.' Man, was I on top of my game that night."

She scowled, "You did promise to take me out to dinner and you never did."

"You wouldn't have wanted to go to Hooter's."

"No, you're right, I wouldn't have."

"Ok, I'm going out there to…kick Tomko's ass I guess so I'll see you soon," Chris said, giving her a slow kiss.

She watched as Chris left and then turned to the monitor. She could feel his breath before she heard his voice speak into her ear.

"Having a party upstairs?"

"Yes."

"Good, we never got a real party for our wedding."

"We barely even had a wedding. I should've gotten in annulled when I had the chance."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was stupid, young, and naïve," she said, still looking forward, "Mostly stupid."

"Well, if that's how you feel, maybe I'll have to make this next wedding of yours just as memorable as the first."

She spun around on her heel and slapped him across the face, "Don't you even dare try to ruin this for me!"

Hunter smiled, "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it."

"Why do you have to ruin everything for me Hunter, just answer me why?" Hunter smirked and then gave her his best grin. He could see Trish leaving the ring over Stephanie's shoulder on the monitor and knew that she and Chris would be back soon, so he made this quick.

"Because it's fun."


	210. SmackDown, June 3, 2004

"January 15th."

"Huh?" Chris asked as he looked up from his magazine.

"I said January 15th," she said again, as she looked down at her day planner, the same one she had received from Edge the Christmas before last.

"Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"Well, you said name a day and you would be there, so I'm naming a day."

"For the wedding?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, "It's June now, so that would give us about seven months to get a wedding together, and I think that's ample time, don't you?"

"If that's what you want."

"It's your wedding too," she huffed.

He put his magazine down and slung his arm around her shoulder. She tried to resist the contact, but he didn't let that happen. She pouted as he pulled her to him and laid his cheek on her hair, feeling how soft it was from the conditioner that she used.

"I just want it to be everything that you've dreamed of."

"It will be, but I want it to be what you want too. I'm not the only one getting married in case you've forgotten. Besides, I have had one or two before and you haven't had any."

"Yeah, but those two were awful for you."

"Well, considering that this won't be in the middle of the ring, I'm not expecting any sudden surprises," she told him, swallowing the uneasy feeling that crept up into her throat when she thought about what Hunter had said. He wouldn't ruin her day, she'd make sure that he didn't find out anything about it if she could help it.

"Yeah," he said, "Fine, I think that January is a great time to get married."

"Good," she smiled, "And I actually had a place in mind, if that's ok with you? I have a picture of it and I think you would approve."

"Let's see it."

She took a picture out from her planner, and she handed it over to Chris to look at. He took it from her and saw that the picture was of a cliff overlooking the ocean. There was a small clearing in front of the cliff and she looked at him expectantly.

"Where is this?"

"Hawaii," she told him, "I do want it to be warm when we get married, and wouldn't it be so romantic if we had it outdoors, at sunset and then we can have a huge party on the beach or something, or you know at a nice hotel."

"I like that idea," he said, giving her a smile, "Where'd you get the picture?"

"When we went to Hawaii, remember, and you went out surfing or something, well, I found that spot and it was so beautiful."

"I like it, I like that idea," he told her, kissing her quickly, "I think it's a great idea, but what about the attire? If we're holding it on an island, what do you want me to wear? I mean, formal outdoors?"

"Actually, I was thinking, maybe you could wear a tux, but instead of wearing the tie, you can just be open collared, do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I got it," he said, handing the picture back to her, "I'm all game for that kind of wedding. And you will be wearing…"

"A dress," Stephanie said, "And that sweetie, is all you need to know about that subject."

"I don't even get a hint?"

"It'll be white," she said, looking up at the monitor again, "What time did you say your parents flight would get in?"

They had been sitting there for at least an hour, waiting for Chris's parent's plane to arrive. They had flown into Winnipeg that morning, knowing that Ted and Loretta were arriving at the same airport that afternoon. They were just waiting in the terminal until their plane came in and they would surprise them.

"It should be in any minute," he said as he looked up at the monitor of arrivals as well, "Not having fun sitting here with me?"

"No, I just don't want to sign another autograph, I like signing them and everything, but I think my hand is sore as hell."

"I told you to put the hat and sunglasses on."

"But it messed up my hair," she whined.

"Oh no! Not your precious hair!"

"Oh give me a break Mr. 'I Have to Use a Special Shampoo.' You're the one who's totally obsessed with their hair. I just didn't feel like hiding, is that such a problem?"

"No, but you're the one with the sore hand," he said with a smile, "Come on, the board just said that the flight got in."

He stood up and took her hand, helping her out of her seat. He went to grab her duffel bag and put it over his shoulder as he shouldered his own bag as well. She hung onto his free arm as they walked to the gate that his parents were arriving at. He could feel her engagement ring pressing into his arm, but that just made him smile all the more.

"Are you going to hide your ring from my parents?" he asked her, leaning his mouth close to her ear.

"Oh, I forgot about it," she told him. "I've gotten so used to it now that I don't even remember it when it's on."

"Good, that means it'll be on your finger for a long, long time."

"Uh huh," she said, then slipped it off, "When your parents find out at least."

"So how many people did you want at the wedding again?"

"I was thinking around forty, so twenty each. I don't know of too many people in the company that would want to come who wouldn't be in the wedding party. There's Chris Benoit…"

"Randy, hopefully by then he'll have made it out of Evolution," Chris added.

"Yeah, um, people I can't think of at the moment," she laughed, "We'll figure it out. But I don't think I have twenty people in my immediate family. There's my dad's brother, and then there's my mom's sisters, but their families aren't that big."

"My dad and mom both have one sibling each, and their families aren't that big either, except for my cousin, she has like six kids, but I'd imagine if she came they wouldn't come."

"Six kids," Stephanie winced, "That does not sound like a fun time at all."

He laughed, "So I guess we won't be having that many kids right?"

"No way," she shook her head vehemently, "I'm thinking three at the most, and that is at the very most, I'd like two."

"Yeah, two's a good number, hopefully a girl and a boy, that way we'd be all even and everything."

"Yeah, but that's still a little ways off right," she said, "I mean, I love the idea of having kids with you sweetie, but you know, once I get my job back, and you with the wrestling, I don't think we'd have times for kids."

"I agree," he told her, kissing her head, "Ok, here we are, now we just wait, and hope they don't see us."

Stephanie and Chris stood off to the side as they watched the people disembark the plane from Las Vegas. They were going to spend a surprise weekend with them, it gave them a chance to get away from the many phone calls they had been getting, especially from Trish and Linda, who wanted to help with all the plans.

"I forgot to ask you, did you ask Kurt about being your best man?" Stephanie said as they kept an eye out for his parents.

"Yeah, I did, and he was really happy."

"Aww, that's great, I'm happy you chose Kurt, he means so much to me."

"I know, he's my best friend too. I have yet to ask Edge, Christian, and Shane to be my groomsmen, but I'll ask them soon."

"That sounds good," she answered, then pointed, "There they are."

Chris started walking quickly, Stephanie following close behind him. He had to weave and dodge around the many people in the terminal, coming and going from various flights. He got right behind his parents and walked behind them for a few paces before going to stand almost directly behind his mother.

"Excuse me ma'am, would you mind taking in two strays for the weekend?" he whispered.

His mother gasped and turned around, her hand poised to hit the person with her purse, but when she saw it was Chris, she grinned and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Stephanie walked up behind them and Ted gave her a warm hug as well. When they were done exchanging pleasantries, Chris wrapped his arm around Stephanie's waist.

"What are you two doing here? In the airport of all places?" his mother asked.

"We came to visit you and since we knew that you were coming home today, we've just been waiting in the airport," Stephanie explained.

"Yeah, we didn't realize it would take you forever to get back home," Chris said, "We've been waiting and waiting and waiting."

"Don't mind him," Stephanie said, "We passed the time well."

"Well it's so good to see the two of you, but why the sudden visit?" Ted asked them.

"We just had the weekend off, and thought it would be nice to see the both of you," Stephanie said sweetly, trying to throw them off the track of why they were really there.

"Well, we're glad you're here, what a perfect way to come home," Loretta said as she stood next to Stephanie, "And where have you been for the past six months almost, you haven't come to visit us."

Stephanie laughed and looked at Chris, "I've been busy Loretta, I'm sorry, my dad and I are actually back on track so I've been hanging around the show, sometimes helping out and stuff."

"That's great!" she said, enthused.

"Yeah, so I've just been doing that for a while," she said. This sounded better than the actual story, which included her and Chris at odds and her pretending to be with Christian to make Chris jealous.

"Well, we're glad to see you, we were beginning to think that Chris had broken up with you and didn't want to tell us," Ted said, winking at her.

Stephanie laughed nervously, "No, he's just been keeping me in hiding for a while. Did you know that everyone knows about us now, and we don't have to hide anymore."

"No, we didn't," Loretta said, then turned to Chris, "You'd think our son would tell us something that big when he called, but apparently someone is too inconsiderate to think of his mother and father and call once in a while."

"Sorry Mom," he mumbled as he grabbed Stephanie's hand. They walked out of the airport and followed Chris's parents to their car in the long-term parking. They hung back a little and kept looking at each other with big grins on their faces. Grins that had yet to fade from their faces. Each day was one day closer to their wedding, though they hadn't really started formally preparing for it yet.

Chris put all the bags in the trunk and then slid into the seat next to Stephanie's. She scooted over to the middle seat, putting her seatbelt on as he did the same. Then she cuddled against him, leaning against his shoulder companionably, her brown hair softly pooling against his neck.

"Hey Mom, we were thinking we could go out to dinner," Chris said, "Your choice, so you can just drive anywhere you want and we'll pay."

His mother turned around to look at him, "What's the occasion?"

"Because we just want to," Chris said, "So go wherever, we don't care."

His mother looked at them with pursed lips before turning back to her seat and telling Chris's father where to go. Stephanie lifted her head and kissed Chris's cheek as he turned to make it a full kiss. She pulled away and smiled at him, silently telling him that she loved him.

He leaned over to whisper in her ear, "So are we going to have the reception at a hotel or the beach?"

She smiled and whispered back, "Wherever you want."

"Hotel," he told her quietly, "What kind of cake?"

"Vanilla," she whispered, "Really tall and pretty, but not too gaudy, with white frosting and maybe strawberries."

"Sounds good," he said, "But none of that gross crap in there like pineapples or junk."

"Ok," she giggled softly, "What should we serve?"

"Fish? I mean, it will be in Hawaii."

"But just fish, we need something else, we should set up with a catering business. And a wedding planner."

"Eww," he said, "Why that?"

"My mom will find a good one," Stephanie reassured him, rubbing his leg, "And if you really don't want to, you don't have to come, I'll just run stuff by you when I get home."

"So are we going to have to move to Connecticut for this, or can your mom come down and visit you?"

"She can come down and visit, I'm sure," she said, "And Trish wants to help too."

"I'm sure she does."

"What are you two whispering about?" Ted asked as he spied them through the rearview mirror.

"Private conversation Dad," Chris said, "And we'll probably tell you later anyways."

"Oh really? About what?"

"About what we were just talking about," Stephanie said, "We were thinking about what to do for our two year anniversary which is coming up next month."

"Two years," Ted said, shaking his head, "Stephanie, is there going to be an awards ceremony for yourself for putting up with our son for so long?"

"No, but I was thinking there should be," Stephanie said as she smiled over at Chris who frowned and turned away, "But then Chris would have to get one for putting up with me."

Ted laughed and went back to driving as Stephanie kissed Chris's cheek softly, and turned his face to face her and look her in the eyes. He smiled despite himself and she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I think that we should use our anniversary as our engagement party, what do you think?"

"I like that, we can celebrate for both," he smiled.

She grinned cutely as they pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant. Chris recognized it as a local barbeque place that his parents liked. He got out of the car and helped Stephanie out of the car and into the restaurant, which was blasting upbeat country music. Stephanie laughed as they were seated. She hadn't even really been to a place like this before.

"What're you laughing at Princess?" Chris asked her.

"Nothing," she told him, "It's just this place is so…fun."

"I used to come here with them when I was a kid. They used to have line dancing every Saturday and my parents actually tried to drag me out there and do it with them, but I would always throw a tantrum and sit at the table. Even when I was younger I knew that metal was my music of choice."

"I can't imagine you in a cowboy hat doing any kind of dancing in a line."

"Me neither," he said as he pulled her chair out of her.

Chris sat down himself and looked at the menu. The waiter would be there soon, he knew, and he pointed out something that Stephanie would like before choosing what he wanted. Sure enough, the waiter came over soon after to get their orders. After ordering a huge steak dinner and a beer, he turned to his parents.

"You know, we could've gone someplace nicer than this," Chris said, "I'm not poor."

"We know, but you know we like this place," Ted said, "Besides, it's close to home."

"Yeah, fine, I'm just saying, you should've taken advantage of me and gone someplace really fancy."

"We just got off a six hour flight, the last thing we want is fancy," his mother said, "We just want something nice and casual."

"Suit yourself…so how was Las Vegas?"

"Fun, didn't win much, but that's what Vegas is all about, losing money, and then gorging on the buffet," Ted replied, "Your mother won though."

"I got a flush on video poker and won 1,500 dollars," she smiled proudly, "So I should be paying for dinner."

"That's great Loretta," Stephanie said, "I'm not much of a gambler, but Chris gambles, one time he lost all the money he had in his wallet, he's lucky he has me around to cover for him, or else he'd have no clothes and he'd have to hitchhike home."

"Yeah, it's true, I'd bet my clothes," Chris said sarcastically.

"I wouldn't put it past you," Stephanie giggled as they were served the drinks. His parents were looking around the restaurant and she looked over at Chris and said quietly, "Should we tell now?"

"Or after dinner?" he said back.

"Whenever, I'm kind of anxious to tell them," she said.

"We're going to go and dance," Ted said, standing up and grabbing his wife's hand, "Do you two want to come?"

Chris and Stephanie looked stricken as they heard the twang of the music. Stephanie opened and closed her mouth and then looked to Chris for an answer. Chris looked over at her and shrugged, not wanting to hurt his parent's feelings and get on their bad side before they told them the news.

"Well it seems Chris has found the perfect girl since he always hated this kind of music," Loretta said, "We'll just be out there, and you can stay here."

"Ok Mom, have fun." Chris turned to Stephanie once they were out of earshot, "Hey you."

"Hey," she giggled, "What're you thinking?"

"That I want to shout from the rooftops that I'm going to marry you in seven months."

"Well crazy man, you can tell them soon and then everyone can just kind of find out by themselves," she said, "People are bound to find out, but we have to keep the plans a complete secret since we're getting married in an open space…we have to hire bodyguards, I'm sure Daddy can take care of that."

"Wow, going all out for this one."

"I don't want Hunter crashing our wedding," she told him seriously, "So we'll have the bodyguards keep him out if he dares show up."

"If he did, there'd be hell to pay, because he is not ruining our day."

She smiled at that, "I love you, you know that."

"I've heard a few things here and there," he smiled as his parents came back to the table.

"You don't know what you were missing," Loretta said.

"Well Steph and I were having a nice conversation," Chris smiled, gazing at Stephanie, "But look, our food is here so let's eat, I'm starving, airplane food is the sucks."

"Christopher, language."

"Mom," he whined, "I'm thirty-three years old, I'm beyond reproach at this age."

"You are never beyond reproach," she said with a sweet smile, "Not ever."

The waiter set their food down and they went to work on their dinners. Stephanie would sneak some of Chris's food off of her plate and she would give Chris some of hers. The food was pretty good and Stephanie really was enjoying herself even as she got barbeque sauce all over her face, causing Chris to laugh hysterically and wondering how in God's name she got barbeque sauce on her forehead. She wiped it away sheepishly, saying she had it on her fingers and scratched an itch on her forehead.

After dinner and the wet washcloths they were given to clean their hands, Chris took Stephanie's hand in his own and gave it a squeeze. Stephanie drank the last of her strawberry margarita and smiled widely.

"Hey, you guys, Stephanie and I were wondering if you were going to be busy on a certain date," Chris said.

"What date?" Ted asked.

"January 15th."

"Of next year?" his mother asked incredulously.

"Yeah, of next year, so you doing anything?" Chris asked again.

"Well, I was planning on going shopping that day, is it important that I don't," she said, half sarcastically.

"Definitely," Chris smiled as Stephanie slipped her hand into her pocket to put her ring on again.

"Why?"

"Well, you see, you need to cancel anything on that day and not schedule anything because there's something that is going to happen."

"What? A party?" Ted asked.

"Of sorts," Stephanie said.

"For who?" Loretta asked.

"Mom, just save the date alright."

"Fine, but I don't even know what it's for, you just say, save this date like we're supposed to know and what if I'm supposed to have some sort of surgery that day, huh? What then?"

"Don't schedule surgery because I doubt you're going to want to miss me and Stephanie getting married," Chris finally said what was going on.

His mother sat back in her seat as she blinked a few times. Stephanie held out her hand for them to see and Ted just smiled and shook his head at the stupidity of himself for not realizing what was going on. His mother sat forward a bit.

"You're serious?" she asked.

"Mom, Stephanie is wearing the ring," Chris laughed.

"But you're serious, you two are getting married…"

"On January 15th," Stephanie said, "We decided earlier. We want it to be in Hawaii too, so you know, outdoors and everything."

"How long have you two been engaged?"

"A little over two weeks, we wanted to let you know in person though," Stephanie explained, "But yeah, Chris proposed and we're getting married."

"You're getting married!"

"Uh huh Mom, I'm finally tying the knot, something you have been wanting me to do since I was like twenty-six. And it only took me nine years," he said, "I just had to wait for the right woman to come along."

"I'm happy for you two," Ted said.

"Thanks Dad."

"Thank you," Stephanie echoed, "We're happy too."

"Oh, I think I'm going to cry," Loretta said, "I'm so overwhelmed with happiness right now, I don't know what to think. I'm so happy for you two. If ever I've seen one woman who was perfect for my son, it's you Stephanie. I was wary of you at first because I thought you were out to hurt him, but you are just an angel. You are everything I've wanted for Chris."

Stephanie started to tear up, "Thank you, that means so much to me."

"Oh geez," Chris said, "Are you going to cry?"

"Shut up, I'm emotional, thank you Loretta, I'm glad that you think I'm perfect for Chris."

"I think you're perfect too," Chris interjected, "So Dad, got any advice for me on married life."

"Just this…"

"Yeah."

"Don't let her get away…ever." Chris looked at Stephanie and smiled in content.

"Wasn't planning on it."


	211. Raw, June 7, 2004

"So now everyone we want to know, knows right?"

"That's right."

"So we can officially start the things to do for the wedding?" Stephanie asked as she pulled out a notepad.

"Oh God, what's this?" Chris groaned as he saw her pull a pen from out of her messy hair.

"A list of things to do of course."

"Ok, give me a list of what I have to do and then I'll do them."

"Well, I'm just jotting down different things, very unofficial."

"Oh, ok."

"You know, I'm starting to think that you asked me to get married because you wanted to give me something to do, and you planted the ring and everything so I would find it."

He laughed, "Not a chance, I wanted it to be perfect, but if it gives you something to keep you mind busy, than I'm all for us getting married…well, more so than I already was."

Stephanie looked down with a smirk on her face as she kept writing furiously on the notepad, her loopy writing marking the paper. She tried to blow a strand of hair out of her face, but it kept blowing back in. Chris reached over and tucked the hair behind her ear, and she sent him a grateful stare.

"Wouldn't want you to loser your train of thought," he told her.

"You have a match early in the show right?"

"That's right, why?"

"I was just wondering," she answered, "I kind of wanted to get out of here early, maybe invite Trish over to our room and you can have Christian over or you can go out and do guy stuff while we discuss the wedding and things. I want to start on my wedding dress as soon as possible."

"Steph?"

"Uh huh?"

"You've been thinking an awful lot about this wedding huh?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug, "I mean, we have to plan it if we want it to be nice don't we?"

"Yeah, but just don't like swamp yourself in stuff, I'm here to help you, you know that."

"I do know that, but you can't help with everything, I wouldn't let you."

"Ok, I'm just saying, if you need help ask me, instead of taking everything on at once, which I know you are prone to do."

"Are you saying I'm a workaholic?" she challenged.

"Yes, you're a workaholic, but don't worry, it just means that you are dedicated to your work. If it weren't an inanimate thing, I might think you were cheating with work behind my back, and then I'd have to dump you."

"Yes, I'd be dumped because of my relationship with work," she deadpanned, "I'm going to go find Trish."

"Hurry back snookums," Chris teased.

"Don't call me that," she called back sweetly.

Trish was being followed by Tyson. Christian was in physical therapy today and wasn't at the show. She missed him, but she was going to be taking an early flight tomorrow back home to be with him. So now she was here alone and as soon as Tyson had seen her, he had been all over her, following her around like a puppy dog. A rabid, ugly puppy dog.

"Tyson, how about you leave me alone," she said impatiently.

"Can't."

"Yes….you can."

"I'm supposed to protect you."

"But you're annoying me!"

"I'm not leaving."

"Are you stupid?" she cried out, "I want you to leave me alone."

"I want a match with Jericho."

She turned around and glared at him, "He's my friend….no."

"Since when?"

"Since always," she spat out, "And you are not getting a match with him! Christian hired you, so what I say goes."

"I want a match with him," Tyson persisted.

"NO!" She could be persistent too if she wanted to.

"I thought you hated him."

"I don't, drop it."

"I want the match, and if you don't help me get it, then I'll make you help me get it," he said in his most intimidating voice. She wasn't scared of him in the slightest. He might be creepy but she wasn't going to let him intimidate her.

"No, you won't," she scoffed, "I'm not going to let you hurt my friend."

"Then I quit," he said.

Christian wouldn't like that and he would probably get mad so she sighed and gave in, "Fine, we'll get the match, but I'm not happy about it."

"Good," he said, no smile on his face whatsoever. He was so emotionless. Maybe that was the reason he sent chills down her spine every time she had to talk to him or look him in the eyes. She wanted to yell at him to show some feelings once in a while, but she honestly couldn't picture this man smiling.

"Trish!"

Trish turned around to see Stephanie jogging down the hall in jogging pants, appropriately enough, and a Jericho t-shirt. She looked very much the part of a Jericho fangirl and a frazzles fiancée. She caught up to Trish and they exchanged pleasantries before they both looked to Tyson, who just stood silently a few feet away.

"Is he going to leave?" Stephanie asked quietly, ducking her head towards Trish so she would be the only one to hear.

"No, he just stands there," Trish said, sending Tyson an annoyed look, "You can move once in a while you know."

"Well, doesn't matter," Stephanie said, "We told Chris's parents and they're happy for us."

"Great, so everyone knows pretty much except for the general population of course."

"Of course…and we set a date."

Trish squealed, "When! When!"

"Well if you could calm down, I'd tell you," Stephanie answered, "January 15th."

"Oh, that's a good date," Trish nodded seriously.

"Trish, you probably don't even know what day it is."

"You're getting married that day, it's a good day! Hopefully by then I'll have a ring on my finger," Trish said slyly.

"If Christian gets his act together," Stephanie said, nudging Trish's shoulder, "But just letting you know that we have an official date, and we're getting married in Hawaii at this cliff at sunset."

"Oh my God, how romantic," Trish gushed, "Oh, are you going to wear a veil?"

"I wasn't sure," Stephanie said, "I was thinking flowers in my hair, what do you think?"

"That would be so pretty, maybe just one over your ear or something, oh man, and I can wear a garland on my head, that would be so gorgeous…what about Chris, tux outdoors?"

"Tux, no tie, open shirt, not all the way, but some."

"Oh, classy, but casual for the outdoors, reception?"

"Hotel, nice one, haven't decided beyond that."

"So far it sounds beautiful, number of people?"

"We're shooting for forty," Stephanie said, "Not too many, but enough so that everyone we want to come can come. We're trying to narrow down the list. By the time it's narrow, it'll be like ten people or something."

"I can't tell you how excited I am, I've never gotten to help on a wedding before."

Tyson cleared his throat causing Stephanie and Trish to look over at him. He stood there and they went back to start talking again when he cleared his throat again. Trish took a deep breath and gave Stephanie a look of disgust before looking back at Tyson, who was now staring at her. She could not stand him and was going to tell Christian about that tomorrow.

"What is it?"

"My match," he said simply.

Trish turned to Stephanie, "I have to go talk to Bischoff about a match that Tyson wants…it's against Chris."

"Oh," Stephanie said, "I'll tell him that."

Trish leaned in, "I didn't want it, but I didn't know what else to do."

"It's cool, I'll just tell Chris."

Stephanie wandered off, still jotting things down on her notepad. Trish turned back to Tyson and walked ahead of him on her way to find Bischoff's office. She kept glancing behind her making sure that Tyson was there, which he always was. Just following wordlessly. He was such a creep.

"Watch where you're going."

Stephanie looked up, "Oh hi Chris."

Benoit smiled, "Wouldn't want you to run into any walls?" He said in such a way that she didn't know if he was actually giving her some advice or joking.

"I just might have if I wasn't careful."

"I heard about you and Chris, congratulations."

"Thanks," she smiled, "How'd you hear about it?"

"I heard about Jericho basically shouting it to people."

"Oh yeah, when he had that rib injury, he's crazy, he just wanted to tell everyone."

"Still, good for the both of you."

"Good luck in your match on Sunday," she said, "I'm sure you'll be Kane."

"No doubt," he said, "Bye Stephanie."

"Bye."

Stephanie noticed as she was walking back to Chris's locker room that people were much more friendly to her now than they had ever been. She liked it, as everyone came up to congratulate her; she liked that she could stop and talk to people without feeling like they only liked her because of who her father was. It was such a refreshing change to be able to talk to people, to be friendly, to have people actually congratulate her on her upcoming marriage rather than spit at her or call her horrible names. Although the one who used to call her all those horrible names was the very man she was marrying.

She thought of something to write down and grabbed her notepad and started writing furiously. She grinned to herself and chewed on the top of her pen before writing down some more. She was actually having fun for the first time in a long time, and these plans actually gave her a sense of purpose, one she hadn't had since she was unceremoniously fired from the company.

"Writing down anything good?"

"Hey Edge," she said without looking up, "Wedding plans."

"So is this what we have to look forward to for the next however long you two are waiting to--"

"January 15th,"she mumbled.

"Wow, you actually set a date. I'm impressed."

"What, you think we were going to hold a surprise wedding?"

"I wouldn't put it past you, and that might actually be a good idea. Just invite everyone over and already be in your dress and have the minister and just yell, 'surprise,' now that would be a cool wedding. Just a surprise party, but better."

"Speaking of parties, Sunday the 18th of July, it's our engagement party, be there or you're out of the wedding."

"Bossy."

She smiled, "Yup, but I have every right to be."

"Why? Explain it to me."

"Cause you love me," she said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, "You do know that we want you to be a groomsmen right? Chris called Christian, but we couldn't get a hold of you and we told him to call you."

"I got the message, I'm honored, and I would love to."

"Great," she said, making note of it on her notepad.

"What's with the meeting of the minds?" said Chris as he walked over to them in his wrestling tights. Stephanie looked worriedly at his mid-section, which was still wrapped in tape. She didn't like the idea of him going out there with those injuries, but he wasn't on Bischoff's good side anymore and that meant being put into matches he didn't want or should be in.

"You're match is already up?"

"Yup, already up," he said, pulling up his pants a little.

"Good luck," Edge told him, "You have A-Train right?"

"Yeah," Chris groaned, "I'll make quick work of him though, cause my fiancée wants to get out of here early and who am I to argue?"

"He wouldn't dare," Stephanie said as she wrapped her arm tentatively around his waist, "How are you feeling tonight?"

"I'm ok, a little worn and torn, but I should make it out in at least two pieces, anymore and then I'll have to go see the doctor."

"How about one piece?"

"Now I don't think I'm going to be able to do that."

"Compromise with me," Stephanie said, "That's what marriage is all about…compromise."

"So what did you and Hunter compromise about?"

"Well, I wanted to be myself, and he wanted me to be his slut, so we settle for me being a bitch all the time. It worked out for a while. And then he completely went back on it and turned into an asshole, and I wouldn't compromise. So then I compromised my way out of that relationship."

"Lucky for Chris," Edge said, "I can just imagine him without you. A pathetic middle-aged man, eating Froot Loops from a pot, milk dripping down his chin, a sad, sad sight."

"Drawing from experience," Chris said back.

"I live a very good life."

"If I didn't have Stephanie, I'd just go out with random girls in whatever city I was in. Go party every night, and wake up with a different girl every morning," Chris said nonchalantly.

Stephanie's jaw dropped, "You'd be doing WHAT!"

"Baby, I wouldn't be with you, so you wouldn't even care," Chris said.

"But I AM with you, and I DO care," she told him indignantly, "Sleeping with random girls, I hope you'd at least find out their names."

"Well yeah, I would want to have something to call out during the sex," Chris said as if it were the most natural thing to say, "You do that right Edge?"

"Yeah," Edge shrugged.

"See."

"You guys are disgusting, I'm glad to know that you would just fuck random girls, is that what you did before me?"

"No," he said, "A few, but not every night, but Stephanie, what I'm saying is that I wouldn't have found someone as perfect as you to spend the rest of my life with. You're the only girl that I want in my bed."

Stephanie giggled, "You're so sweet."

Edge winked, "Smooth Chris, that was really smooth."

"Thanks, I've honed that ability over the years, you will learn too, the ways of the smooth-talker."

"Oh get out there for your match and leave me the hell alone," Stephanie whined.

"Bye lovebirds," Edge teased as they walked to the gorilla.

Stephanie waited while Chris had his match against A-Train. She knew that he was a much better wrestler than A-Train and that Chris would win the match without a shadow of a doubt. Chris knew this too, and despite his sore ribs went out there for his match ready to dominate. A-Train may be bigger than him, uglier than him, and definitely more hairy than him, but he didn't have as much talent as Chris did, and that's where he would fail.

A-Train obviously had a target in Chris's ribs and went for the easy-kill, but Chris was having none of that. He fought back the best he knew how, and A-Train didn't intimidate him. He may be bigger, but Chris had the agility and the experience of beating bigger guys, he had even beat the biggest of them all, Big Show, though that was a while ago. Once Chris locked in the Walls of Jericho it was all over and Albert was forced to tap.

Chris grabbed his ribs as he was walking up the ramp. They were starting to get sore again. He'd have Stephanie give him a massage at the hotel and then let her ramble on and on about wedding plans. He was glad she had that to distract her now, and it almost made her forget her job. Almost. She still wanted that job.

Stephanie looked at him with concern when he walked backstage, "How're the ribs Champ?"

"They're fine, they're all still in there."

"Any of them get dislodged during the match?"

"Nope, as far as I can tell, no punctured lung."

"Well good," she said, "Wouldn't want ribs just falling all over the place. You know, your tights have inspired me for the wedding, maybe they should be our color scheme."

"Ok, too many wedding plans for one day," Chris chuckled as he took her hand, "Let's go back to the hotel."

"Great," she said, "I'm glad you were on early."

"Yeah, give me a massage when we get back?"

"If you give me one," she bargained.

"Fine, fine."

They walked to their locker room, passing Tyson on the way there and Stephanie gave him a short glance before turning her attention back to Chris. Tyson looked back at her and then slipped into a locker room where Hunter was sipping some champagne, a girl on his lap. Hunter looked up with a smirk.

"Hurry this up, I'm due in the ring any moment," Hunter said, "What did you find out?"

"January 15th is the wedding," Tyson told him, "It's going to be in Hawaii, on some cliff. And they're having an engagement party on the 18th of next month."

"Great, that's great information," Hunter said, rubbing the girl's thigh as he smirked, "I can definitely use that information to my advantage. And that slut Trish doesn't suspect a thing right?"

"Nope, she just thinks I'm a creepy bastard who follows her around. She's too much of an idiot to even realize I'm listening."

"Good, wouldn't want little Miss Blondie finding out just what you are to me," Hunter said, "Or anyone else for that matter."

"I gotcha."

"So just keep doing what you've been doing, finding things out for me. I want to know what they're doing before they do, that way, when their day comes, we'll be ready for them."

"Sounds good Boss," Tyson said, "I'll let you know if I find anything out." Tyson slipped back out of the locker room as Hunter smirked.

"Yes, it sounds real good."


	212. Raw, June 14, 2004

Stephanie giggled as Chris relayed what had happened last night at Bad Blood. Not with his match or anything, but more so with what had happened in the Hell in the Cell. They had watched with keen interest the series of events in the match. It had seemingly gone on forever, but Stephanie had delighted in everything that had happened to Hunter, minus his win of course.

"I liked your match better," Stephanie said as Chris came back to sit next to her after imitating Hunter's stupid water spray that he constantly did.

"Why is that?"

"Cause you hit him with the barbed wire 2x4, that will always live in my mind as a beautiful moment," she said with a smile, "I hate that Hunter won though, but you know, I'm not too big a fan of Shawn's either."

"I know," he said, "How did you stand being with him for so long? I mean, man, the water-spraying, the teeny tiny underwear he insisted on wrestling in...the list goes on."

"Yes, but I broke free from him, and now I'm marrying a much, much better man, in every aspect," she said, winking at him for added effect.

Chris looked at her and pursed his lips, "Um, yeah, that gives me images that I don't ever want to think about. There is nothing worse than picturing the two of you together like that, and I refuse to start thinking about that now."

"Well, it's still life, are you ever going to tell me about all the women that you slept with over the years?" she asked.

"I was a monk," he smiled impishly, "You were my first."

She laughed loudly, "Yeah right, and I'm the Virgin Mary"

"Wow, that has to come in handy when I want to get into heaven."

"What's the magic number Jericho? I'm your fiancée, I think that I'm entitled to know just how many women you've been with."

"As far as I'm concerned, you are the only one that mattered," Chris told her seriously.

"Yeah, that's code for, 'I've slept with the tri-state area and I don't want to tell my future wife about it."

"That's not what that is code for."

"Fine, whatever you say Mr. Jericho," she said, then looked towards the television, "Speaking of exes, there's my no-good ex now."

Chris got up from where he was sitting to go over and put his wrestling attire on. Stephanie kept her eyes on the television as she watched Hunter walked to the ring. He was pretty battered and bruised, which made her grin from ear to ear. She had no love lost for the man and if he got roughed up a little, that was better for her in the long run.

"So what do you have on tap tonight?" Stephanie asked.

"I've got a 3 on 3 tag match, elimination actually. I'm teaming up with Edge and Benoit, so you know, at least I get to be with my friends, which is more than I can say when I teamed up with Trips those couple of times, talk about your mismatches."

"Yeah," she said, looking to the screen still, "Who are you going against?"

"Evolution, minus your ex."

"Is that all you're doing tonight?"

"No, I've got the Reel."

"Guest?"

"Eugene."

"Oh, he's a sweet kid." Chris looked at Stephanie as she kept her eyes glued to the screen in which her husband was still on.

"I'm a little upset that you are still watching your ex-husband when your fiancé is changing right next to you."

"I'm just watching the show," Stephanie said, as Chris sat down next to her. He sunk down into the cushions until he was almost lying down. Stephanie put her hand on his leg and massaged it gently as they watched. Chris leaned his head on her upper arm and she smiled. "Looks like he's actually going to have a truce with Shawn."

"Wouldn't count on it," Chris told her as they watched.

"Why not?"

"Have you ever met that ex of yours, no way is he just going to give in like that, he's never been sympathetic to the people he's beat up on."

"True," she told him, "I guess you're right. And look, you are right." They cringed as they saw Hunter walk away from the beat up Shawn. Typical of Hunter to just turn tail and run away.

"Christian! Will you stop acting like a child and come with me!"

"And look who just arrived," Stephanie laughed as they heard Trish and Christian outside the door. "I'm going to go say hello."

"Stay with me," Chris whined. "You can talk about wedding plans, just stay."

"Oh, speaking of wedding plans, I wanted to go to Hawaii and show you the place where I wanted to get married, if that was ok with you."

"I'd love to see the spot where we're going to get married," Chris said, "And see how supportive I was of those wedding plans. Very supportive."

"Yes, you were. Now are you going to be this supportive when I have to pick out flower arrangements and the china for the reception?"

"Um...maybe those are things better suited for asking Trish or your mom," Chris said with a boyish grin, "Maybe you should go say hello to Trish."

"I thought you'd say that."

Stephanie got up and went out into the hallway, looking both ways. She saw Trish and Christian walking from her left, away from her. Trish was practically dragging Christian along, who was looking like the defiant child who didn't want to go to the dentist. Stephanie laughed as Trish turned around hearing her.

"Hey Trish."

"Oh hey Steph," Trish said back.

"Christian, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, but I can't wrestle or anything, I'm stuck here, doing nothing, tagging along," Christian said with a whiny tone to his voice.

"Join the club," Stephanie said.

"He's just mad because the doctor said to take some time off. The crazy idiot would just wrestle hurt if he could, and then he'd end up more hurt and missing more time. But God forbid I convince him of that."

"I feel fine!"

"But you aren't fine! That's the entire point! You aren't fine Christian, you are injured, face it."

"Well, I can see that you two have some things that you need to work out, so I'll let you go on your way," Stephanie said. Trish just shook her head and started pulling Christian away again. Stephanie laughed as she watched the display.

"I don't think we've been formally introduced."

Stephanie looked to her right, "We haven't, nor are we going to."

"That's too bad, what with me being a close friend of your ex-husband's," Dave Batista said.

"Yeah, well, I consider anyone who associates with my ex-husband to become an automatic enemy. So I'm sorry Dave, I don't think that we're going to get along unless you get some new friends," Stephanie said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Oh, are you and Dave making friends Steph?"

"No Hunter, I think you two are close friends enough," she said, implying more than what she had said.

Hunter scowled, "You should date Dave, he'd be good for you."

"In case you have forgotten, I'm engaged now Hunter, that means, I'm getting married, to someone better than you."

"Please Stephanie, we both know that you are trading way down. I mean, after me, there's nowhere to go but down, but Chris Jericho, Stephanie, there's trading down and then there's settling, and you are just settling. I find it so pathetic."

"Well, Chris spent 78,000 dollars on a ring for me. You never spent that much on me ever...what does that say about you?"

"Did little Chrissy have to mortgage his house to pay for that ring?"

"Oh please Hunter, you know he has that kind of cash. He was the champion after all, held the belt, the FIRST Undisputed Champion."

"And who beat it off of him?"

"Only because he was distracted with protecting me."

"Yeah, poor Chris, having you tagging along with him."

Stephanie scowled and went back into her locker room, slamming the door in Hunter's face. She walked over to the couch and saw Chris lying fully on it, sound asleep. She watched him sleep for a second with a smile on her face, before leaning down and kissing his forehead. He stirred for a moment before going silent again. Stephanie decided to leave him alone and walked out into the hallway.

"Stephanie!"

She turned to see Benoit walking over, "Hey Chris, what's up?"

"Is Chris in his locker room?"

"Yeah, but he's asleep right now, so if you want to go wake him up, I'm sure he wouldn't mind talking to you. I know that he wanted to discuss your match."

"Yeah, that's why I was looking for him," Benoit told him.

"Good luck with waking him up though."

"Oh yeah, he's notorious for sleeping like a log. I used to travel with him and he was always falling asleep on the road and then I'd end up being the one to drive everywhere."

"Yeah, that's Chris all right," Stephanie laughed, "But go ahead and talk to him, but can you let him know that I'll meet him at the gorilla before the Highlight Reel."

"Will do," Benoit said.

"Thanks."

Stephanie walked down the hallways, getting some more congratulations from people, which she accepted with grace. She thought about wedding plans as she was walking down, wondering about this and that, so much so that she didn't notice someone walk up to her and clear their throat.

"Oh, hi Stacy, what can I do for you?" Stephanie asked politely.

"I just wanted to apologize," she said.

"Um..for what?"

"Well, I didn't know you and Chris were going out way back when and I kind of threw myself at him."

"Oh yeah," Stephanie said, remembering when she had wanted to tear the blonde's hair out by the roots, "I barely even remember that."

"Well, I was thinking about how you two had just gotten engaged and it had been going around for how long you two had been together and I felt like such an idiot when I realized what I had done and I felt so foolish and I just wanted to apologize for it, I didn't mean it, well, I meant it, but I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she said, "Forgotten."

"Thanks, I just wanted to get that off my chest, and congratulations on your engagement, I think that you two are going to be great together."

"Thanks Stacy," Stephanie said, "I better get to the gorilla though, I'm supposed to meet Chris."

"Oh ok, bye."

Stephanie waved and then turned to walk to the gorilla, giving a weird look to no one in particular. That was strange that Stacy would apologize for something that happened almost two years ago. It was a nice gesture, but still weird. She arrived at the gorilla and saw that Chris was not there yet, but she saw Eugene and Regal waiting.

"William," Stephanie said politely.

"Miss Stephanie," he said back cordially. She hadn't really had any contact with him since she was the owner of ECW and that was a very long time ago.

"You're Stephanie McMahon!" Eugene shouted, "You're a princess!"

"Hi Eugene, it's nice to meet you," Stephanie said kindly.

"Nice to meet you, nice to see you," Eugene said happily, jumping up and down, "I"m going to be on the Highlight Reel!"

"I know, are you excited?"

"Uh huh! Chris Jericho called you a filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, bottom-feeding, trash-bag ho! Then he called you roadkill!"

"Yeah he did, that made me very mad," she laughed.

"I'm sorry!"

"Oh, it's ok Eugene, it doesn't bother me anymore. Now I like Chris Jericho."

"How much?" Chris's voice whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her neck.

"Lots and lots," she replied.

"Hi Chris Jericho!"

"Hey man, are you ready to be on my show!"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm ready! Are you going to call Stephanie a ho?"

Chris laughed, "Nah, I don't call her that anymore, she might hurt me if I did."

"She's pretty," Eugene said as Stephanie blushed slightly.

"Yeah, I think she's pretty too," Chris said with a smile, "You have good taste."

Chris's music was cued up and he gave Stephanie a lingering kiss before he went down to the ring. He did his usual introduction, a smile on his face. That smile seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face since he had proposed to Stephanie. He wondered if the fans could sense his happiness, and as he heard the cheers, he liked to think that they did, on some level at least.

He introduced Eugene, who came to the ring happily, and Chris knew this would be a good interview. Above all else, Eugene was just a nice guy, he might be special, but he was just a good person who didn't have a care in the world. It must be nice to be oblivious to the bad around you. Chris proceeded with the interview and then got into the serious subject matter that he felt he needed to discuss since he had heard Bischoff put Eugene in a match with Hunter.

Hunter may have been Eugene's favorite wrestler, but Chris had years and years of history with Hunter, history that ran deep and long and he knew Hunter better than most of the people on this roster. He warned Eugene that Hunter was not his friend. Hunter was nobody's friend and that was the truth. He didn't know if he was getting through to Eugene, but he didn't have time to find out as Evolution's music hit and the four members strolled down to the ring. Chris caught Randy's eye and knew that Hunter was just out there to talk, not to beat on Eugene, so Chris took a step back.

He stuck his microphone in his pants, the only place he felt it fit, and leaned against the ropes to hear Hunter's pathetic little speech to Eugene. He was bored out of his mind, hearing this crap from Hunter's mouth. The man was so full of bullshit he needed a shovel. But Chris just stood there because being there now, he realized, he had the upper-hand, and as long as he had Stephanie, he would always have the upper-hand, that was a good feeling.

After Eugene and Regal left the ring, Chris took a few steps towards Hunter and Evolution, undaunted by their presence, even if they outnumbered him. This was his first real confrontation with Hunter on-screen in a long time, and certainly the first one since his engagement to Stephanie. Hunter looked at him and asked him what the hell he was looking at. Chris just looked at him and called him out for what he had said. He wasn't kidding anybody. Chris clapped for Hunter, because his performance was just great, the bastard.

Hunter and him were so close now, that they were almost touching noses...ok, so it was kind of far apart judging from the size of Hunter's nose. Their words went beyond Eugene, beyond the match next week, beyond their past feuds. Their words were about Stephanie and they both knew it. They stared into each other's eyes, both of them knowing the true meaning. Hunter held back the rest of Evolution, knowing this was not their battle to be fought. Chris had Stephanie and Hunter could see that glint in his eyes, that triumphant look. He was determined to smack that look out of his eyes.

Hunter went on to talk about how Chris was going to get his tonight, but that's not what Hunter was talking about. Hunter had big plans for the new golden couple of the WWE. He had plans and people that Chris and the precious princess Stephanie didn't know about, and that's why he didn't back down from Chris, because he was going to have the upper-hand. He was going to win the war. When he said he was going to get what was coming to him, he did mean the title, but he also meant he would get everything that Chris had.

Hunter left then, and Chris stood there, watching Hunter with a look of defiance on his face. Not many people would know what that was about, but Chris knew and it pissed him off to no end. He watched Hunter leave, as Hunter glanced back at him the animosity was boiling over. The anger between them was reaching a fever pitch and they would clash...oh yes, they would clash again.

Stephanie had seen the whole thing, had shivered at the looks they gave each other. It was scary to think that these men, that most of their words were wrapped around her. She had been with both men, had caused both pleasure and pain. It wasn't something she was proud of, that pain, but those looks had been cool and calm, and most importantly, cold as ice. They hated each other, and it was plain as day in their eyes.

"Hey Steph," Hunter said, "Watch out for your boy-toy."

He and Evolution made their leave then as Stephanie waited for Chris to come back. He did a few moments later, that same look in his eyes. It was a little softer now that he saw her, but still held that cold, stalwart look it had held in the ring. That look was frightening, not for her, but for the people it was directed at. Hunter underestimated Chris, he had always underestimated Chris.

"You two looked like you were about to fight to death," she commented as they walked back to their locker room.

"I would've if it was legal to do so," Chris said, "We weren't talking about Eugene."

"I think the LAST thing you were talking about was Eugene," she said, no kidding in her voice, "The tones you used, anyone who thought you were talking about Eugene is an idiot."

"All of this is over you."

That made her feel a little guilty. Here she had two men who were hating each other, over a woman. And she was the woman. It was almost surreal. She kind of felt like those damsels-in-distress that you always saw in old westerns, where the men would fight at sun-up with a three-step draw.

"I'm sorry."

Chris looked at her then, "It's not your fault. It's his fucking fault. If he loved you so much, he never should've let you leave!"

"Hunter never loved me."

"Oh Stephanie, let's not be stupid," Chris said, turning to her and causing her to stop in her tracks and face him, "You might not see it because he seems to hate you, but he's still in love with you. All of this is just because he wants you back."

"Sweetie, that's silly. We've almost been divorced as long as we were married, there's no way that he could possibly want me back. He's told me he doesn't want me back."

"Stephy, baby, I can see it in his eyes. He wants you, but he knows that he can't have you and it kills him inside."

"Chris...no," she said softly. It was too out there to contemplate, "If he really did want me, he would've come after me. He's not the type of guy to just sit back and let things pass him by."

"But Stephanie, how could he have when he never saw you?"

"If he wanted me, he could've gotten to me somehow!"

"He was probably too hurt because of what you pulled on him with the fake pregnancy."

"If he wanted to contact me, he had five months where I sat at home and did nothing to do so. But he chose to do nothing."

"He wants you because I have you. As long as he saw you single, there was still that hope, but now it's gone."

"That's bullshit, he still could've found me!"

"You're acting as if you wanted to be found!" Chris shouted.

"No! I love you and only you!"

Chris took a deep breath at her words, "I love you too. But he still wants you."

"Well tough shit," she said, hugging herself to Chris and snuggling into his chest, "He's too late now because I have you, and you're all I want."

"Good, wouldn't want to lose you to Trips of all people."

"Let's go back to the locker room and wait for your match," she suggested.

"Oh my God!" Trish said running up to them, "You will NOT believe what they just showed!"

"Hunter getting run over by a semi?" Stephanie guessed.

"No, although that would be a sight...I've got major gossip!"

"Ooh, I have to know!" Stephanie said excitedly.

Chris rolled his eyes, "What is it with you two? Can't you two keep your noses out of other people's business?"

"No! Now shush, so I can get the dirt," Stephanie said, swatting Chris on the arm, "Spill Trish."

"Lita...as in Matt's Lita...is freaking pregnant!"

"NO!" Stephanie asked incredulously.

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"Ok, I think we get it," Chris said, "She's pregnant...is it Matt's?"

"How dare you suggest something so bold," Trish said in shock, putting her hand over her heart, then she looked at them, "I think it's Kane's!"

"Oh my God, NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"Stop!" Chris yelled, "For the love of God, spare me! What makes you think it's Kane's?"

"Just do," Trish said, "I just do."

"Eww, scary," Stephanie said, "That is so terrible if it is. What a slut."

"Yeah, like she had the choice."

"Oh she did," Stephanie said, "But I would make Kane put the mask back on if I had to sleep with him."

"You're bad!" Trish said, admonishes her, then giggled, "But so would I!"

"Ok, you two either need to be quiet or you need to shut up, either one works for me," Chris said.

"I have to go find Christian and tell him, talk to you guys later," Trish said, breaking out into a light jog to go find her boyfriend.

"Wow, Lita and a baby, who'd a thunk it?" Stephanie said, shaking her head.

"That is...news," Chris said, "Wonder if Matt knows?"

"I don't know, I should hope that she would tell him. I mean, you need to tell the guy who may have impregnated you that you could be having his child. It's the only good way to go about these things."

"Yeah, so you would tell me if you were?"

"Of course, I would tell you if I suspected I was."

"Good, I would want to be there with you every step of the way."

"Cheeseball!" Stephanie yelled as she ran down the hall laughing.

"Hey, I was just being truthful."

She ran back to him and threw herself in his arms, and then kissed him, "I know you would, you're marrying me after all, but nope, no kids, no suspecting of children, this woman is not with child."

"Good, I am so not ready to do the father thing."

"But you're old."

"Ok, that's it, I'm going to my locker room," he said, walking away from her.

"No! Don't be mad," she laughed as she followed him.

They hung out in their locker room until Chris's match and then they went to the gorilla. Stephanie hugged Edge, saying hello since she hadn't seen him all night. Hunter and Evolution were strategizing in the corner. Luckily they went out first and then Chris, Edge, and Benoit, in that order. The match started with Chris staring down Hunter and then fighting Randy. There was a non-verbal understanding that when they were in the ring, Randy and Chris had to just fight like they were enemies, or else it would be too suspicious.

Chris kept his eye on Hunter the entire match, knowing he was the x-factor in all of this. Not to mention he just wanted to keep his eye on him in general, especially now that he knew of his intentions to Stephanie. Chris wasn't blind, he knew the man was in love with his fiancée. That just made him even madder than before and he concentrated that anger at whoever he happened to be fighting.

He managed to eliminate Dave after the triple team on him and he was feeling pretty good with the match. He kept fighting and managed to get Flair into the Walls. Through the hair falling in his face, he kept his eye on Hunter and that was probably his biggest misstep as that gave Randy the opportunity to RKO him and get him eliminated. He walked up the ramp angrily, mad that he had let Hunter distract him for the match. It had happened once now, and he wasn't going to let it happen again.

"Hey sweetie, you were good out there and I'm almost glad you were eliminated, cause now we can go," Stephanie said happily as she took his hand in hers.

"Yeah, what do you want to do?"

"You look tired, we'll just go back to the hotel and we can order up some food and watch a movie or something. Then remind me to put some Icy Hot on your stomach since I can tell you're sore. Oh, and I wanted to go over some wedding stuff with you, mostly technical stuff, but the sooner we get it over with the sooner you don't have to think about it."

Chris just looked at her, feeling this incredible love for her in that moment. It was such a tiny thing, laying out their plans for the evening, but it spoke volumes about their relationship. They were comfortable now, in this relationship, comfortable in its presence. They didn't need that spectacular display of romance, just the simple pleasures of knowing the other was there.

"I like doing wedding stuff with you," he told her seriously.

She was inclined to laugh, thinking it was a joke, but she could tell it wasn't. "Did you get hit in the head?"

"It's our wedding I want it to be just as perfect as you do."

"That's sweet of you," she said, kissing his cheek, "Did you remember to pack your alarm clock. I hate the ones in hotels."

"Yeah, I remembered."

"Good, I need to get up fairly early tomorrow, I'm having breakfast with Trish to talk about things."

"Like Lita."

"No, like the wedding," she said, though it was a lie and they both knew it. "Let's just go back and have a nice evening."

"I'm all for that," Chris said.

He looked at her as they were walking and the same thought ran through his mind every time she smiled at something or looked at him.

He wasn't going to lose her to Hunter. Hunter could bring out the battles, but Chris...

Chris was going to win the war.


	213. Raw, June 21, 2004

A/N: School is almost over, and when it is, I will actually be able to write the chapters to my liking and actually write chapters on Thursdays, what a novel concept. ;)

* * *

"I'm getting married, I'm getting married."

Edge laughed as Stephanie skipped around backstage. He hoped that he never had to see her in a bad mood ever again because this Stephanie was much better than the moping Stephanie that he had seen far too many times. Right now, she was acting as if she had had five coffees and three espressos.

"I know you are," Edge said with a laugh.

"Everyday is one day closer until I become Stephanie Jericho," she said with a grin.

"Are you actually going to change your name to Stephanie Jericho?" he asked.

"Nah, Chris and I talked about it, and I'm going to stay Stephanie McMahon, just to maintain a kind of private air to our marriage, you know, I don't want to flaunt it like I did with Hunter. I think that's one of the problems that led to the end of that marriage," she told him, "I think that Hunter and I, we just put too much out there and when we were home, we didn't know how to be private."

"Well, considering how private your relationship with Chris was, I'm going to say that you two aren't going to have that problem."

"I hope not, but I like being Stephanie McMahon."

"I like you being Stephanie McMahon too," Edge told her as he grabbed her by the neck and ruffled her hair, "Cute, little Stephanie McMahon."

"Hey!" she yelled then tried to squirm from his arms, "You're going to mess up my hair!"

"Like anyone cares how you look," Edge retorted.

"I care," she argued, as she pulled away. She tried to fix her hair, but it was going in so many different ways that she couldn't quite get it the way she wanted. "I'm going to tell my fiancé on you and he's going to be pissed."

"He's my friend."

"He's my fiancé," she countered, "That makes him love me more, and if I say that he'll beat you up, he's going to beat you up."

"You're not even taking his names...what about your kids, are they going to be subject to being called McMahon-Jericho?"

"No," she shook her head, "They'll be Jericho's. But Chris and I aren't planning on having any of those soon."

"Aww, too bad, I'd love to see the little wise-ass, cocky kids that you'd have."

"Very funny."

"Why are you bugging me anyways? Don't you have a fiancé to bug?"

"Well, he's stuck with me forever, so I figured I'd give him a few minutes alone."

"Lucky for me," Edge said playfully.

Stephanie stood in front of him, and pretended to punch her in the stomach. Edge tried to grab at her hands, but she kept eluding him as she giggled. She kept playing around with him when she was grabbed around the waist and picked up from behind. She screamed and looked over her shoulder.

"Christian! Put me down! You're hurt!" Stephanie said as Christian put her down gently.

"I know, but I'm feeling better today," Christian said.

"If Trish sees you doing that, she's going to yell at you, and then she's going to drag you back to your dressing room and then she's going to yell at you some more," Edge told his brother.

"Yeah, I can take it."

"Oh, you know that you'll start crying like a widdle bitty baby," Stephanie said, pinching his cheek.

"Where's Chris? And why aren't you annoying him?"

"Because I want my Chrissy," Stephanie said, giving him a gentle hug, "Let's leave Chris and Trish and run away together and get married."

"Ok, if that's what you want, I'm for it," Christian joked, "When do you want to leave?"

"As soon as possible," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to face Trish and Chris when they found out. I would like to be at least three states away when Chris erupts and goes on his killing spree."

"Yeah, I want to get out of town too," Edge said, "Because I know that knowing this information will earn me a severe beating."

"What's going to earn you a severe beating?" Trish said, walking up to the guys and Stephanie. She saw Stephanie hugging Christian and raised her eyebrow. "Am I walking in on an illicit affair?"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way Trish," Stephanie said, "I'm juggling Christian, Edge, and Chris at the same time. Why do you think I'm here every week, I need to see my other boys."

"Well damn," Trish said, then shrugged, "Well, I guess that we can share him. It'll be nice to have someone else to tell Christian he's an idiot for wanting to wrestle when he's still injured."

Christian scowled. He was feeling so much better, and he didn't think it was fair for him to still have to be kept off the active wrestler's list. He wanted the chance to wrestle again. He hadn't even been gone that long, but he still missed it. When you became so accustomed doing one thing, it was hard to quit. He didn't know what he'd do when he had to retire some day, a long, long time in the future.

"I'm not an idiot," Christian said, defending himself, "Just anxious."

"I was out of the ring for a long time with my ankle," Trish said, "You live."

"I was out forever," Edge said, "You get used to doing nothing, you miss it, but you wake up and keep going."

"I'm not even allowed in the ring or on television," Stephanie said, "You get over it."

"You're not over it," Christian said, nudging her shoulder.

"Ok, I'm really not over it, but at least I have stuff to do to pass the time. I haven't even asked my dad to let me back in recently. I think the wedding is going to take up a lot of my time. I'm actually welcome for the distraction."

"I would be too, you have so much to think about," Trish said, "But all of it is good."

Stephanie giggled uncontrollably, "Definitely."

"Where's Chris?" Trish asked.

"God, all of you keep asking me that, and I don't know. We're not joined at the hip!"

"Oh, I thought you were," Christian said.

Chris was leafing through some of Stephanie's plans for the weddings, trying to coordinate everything together. He wanted to be involved with this as much as possible. He had been thinking about it, and he really did want to have some say in his wedding. Not just because it was his wedding too, but because Stephanie wanted them to have a great wedding, and what she wanted, he wanted to.

Also he had been thinking about his confrontation with Hunter last week. Maybe nobody remembered it, or thought about what it had really meant, but he remembered and he thought about the implications. Hunter wanted Stephanie back, for what reason, he didn't venture a guess, but there was a definite sense of competition between them, and he was good at competitions.

He took out some pictures that Stephanie had given him of flowers arrangements. He wasn't that interested in them, obviously, but he was still looking at them. He spread them out in front of him and passed between them, deciding which one he liked and which ones he didn't.

"Oh, look at the pretty flowers Randy," Dave said as he took a seat unceremoniously across from Chris. Chris ignored him and kept looking at the pictures before him. Dave picked one of them up and looked at it, passing it off to Randy and laughing. "Chris, these for your wedding? Is it gonna be pretty?"

"Whatever," Chris said, snatching the picture away, "Why don't you fuck off?"

"But we have a match later? I thought we could talk, chat, become friends," Dave said, pretending to be nice. Randy just sat there, actually looking at the stuff for the wedding. He was happy for them, they were friends, but he couldn't tell anyone that.

"We're facing each other, that means I have no reason to speak to you at all," Chris said, "And even if I did want to talk to you, I'd probably have to dumb it down too much so you'd understand."

"That the best you could come up with Jericho?" Dave laughed shortly. "You know, Hunter talks about Stephanie all the time."

Chris's head shot up and he glared at Dave, "Don't you even bring her up so help me God, Batista."

"What? She a sensitive subject for ya?"

"You can say what you want about me, I could give a shit, but don't you dare bring up Stephanie if you want to live to see tonight's match," Chris said, a venom in his voice that even he didn't recognize.

"Well, I guess you don't want to hear that Stephanie is really into kinky shit. I couldn't believe some of the things that he said about her. Makes me want to get a taste of the little Princess."

"Shut up," Chris responded, gritting his teeth.

"I bet she's good, I'd love to pound her hard, maybe tie her to the bed, I'm sure she likes that," Dave said with a raised eyebrow and licking his lips, "I bet she'd like it rough."

Chris had had enough; he got up angrily and shoved the table aside, sending all the papers flying and the table as well. He grabbed Batista by the collar, not intimidated by this man's size. He had just said too much for even Chris to handle. He had tried to be level-headed, but it just wasn't going to work this time.

"Don't you ever fucking dare even think about my fiancée ever again if you know what's fucking good for you! I will rip you to shreds, do you hear me, if you think I'm joking, you just try and see how much I'm joking."

Chris reared his hand back before Batista could blink and punched him straight in the jaw, sending him stumbling back a few steps. Batista glared at Chris, ready to charge, when Randy took a step in front of Chris, facing Batista, stopping him with an arm.

"Man, let's just do this in the ring," Randy said, speaking to Batista, "In the ring."

"Your ass is mine tonight," Batista snarled at Chris.

Chris smirked, "No thanks. I don't swing that way, but I'm sure Hunter will take you up on that offer, if he isn't too busy with Flair that is."

Randy led Batista out of the room, sending a glance to Chris before he left. A glance of apology for his friend's behavior. Chris just shook his head and went to pick up the papers he had sent flying everywhere. Everyone else in the room, who had stopped to watch this confrontation, awkwardly went back to what they were doing, sneaking glances at the blonde men, bent over picking up wedding ideas.

"What happened?"

Chris looked up to see Trish bending over to help him pick up the stuff, and he mumbled in response, "Nothing."

"There's an over-turned table, papers everywhere, and everyone in the room is looking at you like you're crazy."

"Ok, so I flew off the handle a little," Chris said unaffectedly.

"On who?"

"Batista," Chris said, "He was saying shit about Stephanie and I had heard enough and I kind of snapped on him. I tried to keep my cool, but he was infuriating."

They stood up as Chris tried to organize the papers in his hand. Trish grabbed the table and set it right side up again before looking at Chris. He seemed to still be angry and she wondered what Batista had said about Stephanie. Whatever it was, it must have really been terrible to send him into such a fit of rage.

"What'd he say?" she asked tentatively.

"Just about wanting to sleep with her, shit like that," Chris said, pretending to be distracted by the papers in front of him.

Trish put her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze, "I saw Stephanie earlier, I think she wanted to know where you were."

"I've been here all night."

"Oh, well, I'm sure she'd like to see you."

"I'll see her in a while," Chris said, still looking over the papers. Trish took them from his hands gently and held them behind her back.

"Whatever Batista said obviously got to you, so go talk to her and she'll make you feel better. Don't worry about the flower arrangements, you'll probably pick something ugly. Leave it to the professionals. You should see Christian pick out flower colors, he's a genius of color."

Chris cracked a smile, "Just nothing too out there."

"Never!"

Chris gave her an impromptu hug and Trish laughed as she hugged him back. He tried to grab at the papers, but she backed away just in time and gave him a little look of warning before pointing out the entryway. He sighed and followed her silent order, going out into the main hallway, back to his dressing room.

"Hey there sailor," a cheery voice said from directly behind him.

He turned to smile, "Hey baby."

"Where have you been?"

"Studying those flower arrangements."

"God, that must've been boring for you."

"A little, but I didn't mind."

Stephanie leaned up a little to kiss the edge of his mouth, "Thank you for doing that, I know you must've hated it."

"Not so much."

"So you ready for your match?"

He looked at her for a moment, thinking back to what Batista had said and his jaw set tightly. How dare he say horrible, disgusting things about the woman he was going to marry. He would take care of him tonight, oh yeah, he would take care of him all right.

"Yeah, I just have to talk it over with Edge, but that can wait."

"No, I just saw him, let's go now," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him off."

Batista picked up the ringing phone, "Evolution."

"Dave, it's Hunter, we're on our way. You have a match with Jericho right?"

"Yeah H, you should've seen me earlier, I was talking about fucking Stephanie, and he got so fucking mad at me. Even punched me."

Hunter chuckled, "Great, I'm stuck with the retard over here, we're coming soon if he can just stop playing with his fucking toys, loser. But tonight, take care of Jericho for me personally. Make sure that you do it in the ring, with Stephanie watching, I want her to be right there when they take him back on a stretcher."

"Will do H...we're up soon anyways."

Chris ran a hand through his hair before his match. Edge and Stephanie were talking about something, joking around and he just had his chin resting on her shoulder. He looked past her and saw Randy and Dave walking up, Dave jumping around a little bit as he warmed up. He glanced at Chris and then at Stephanie as he leered at her and licked his lips.

Stephanie felt someone's eyes on her and turned her head to see Dave staring at her rather lewdly, "What the hell are you looking at?"

"You're really pretty Stephanie, anyone ever told you that."

"Plenty of people, but why don't you find someone who actually wants to be looked at by the likes of you."

"I'd like to look at more of you," Dave said, looking over at Chris, "Lots more."

"Oh go fuck Hunter or something, I'm sure he'd love that," Stephanie said with a sneer. Chris laughed at the look on Dave's face. That was almost what he had said to Stephanie. Great minds really did think alike.

Evolution's music started, ending any further conversation and Batista and Randy left to the ring. Edge scowled at Randy the entire time, while Randy sent a small smile in Stephanie's direction, unbeknownst to Batista or Edge. Stephanie sent one right back to him before they disappeared up the stairs.

"You ready Chris?" Edge asked.

"Hell yeah I am," Chris said, fired up for the chance to get more of Batista for what he had said.

Edge left first, than Chris. He went out to the ring, throwing off his shirt before he got into the ring. He stared down Dave for a few minutes, as Dave looked him over. Chris's anger was at its boiling point, but he would have to wait as Edge started off against Dave. Chris didn't really think about what was happening, but more on what he wanted to do to Batista once he got his hands on him.

Finally his chance came to get at Dave and he went at him full force. He gave him some chops against the chest, but they didn't seem to do much good, given Batista's immense size. He couldn't knock him down at first, but then he was able to knock him down to the canvas. After getting Randy off the mat, he went back to focusing on Batista. He gave him a running bulldog and then went and completed the Lionsault. He was happy that he had taken that idiot down. He went for the pin once, but Randy came in to break it up.

Him and Edge went for a little tag-teaming and knocked Batista down and then Jericho slid Edge out of the ring to hit their opponent. Jericho looked down to them, not noticing that Batista had climbed back into the ring. He turned around and was abruptly met with the muscular arm of Batista. He found himself hitting the mat, and then it all went hazy when his head hit the ground. He closed his eyes, not even being able to keep them over. He could feel people trying to help, or something, it was all too hazy.

Batista smirked as he looked down at the fallen blonde, mission accomplished running through his mind. Edge ran over to his friend, not getting any response and trying to signal for some help. Randy didn't know what to do, he couldn't help Chris, but he was worried about his friend. But if he...he couldn't show anyone anything, couldn't do anything at all.

Stephanie hopped anxiously from foot to foot as she watched the steps to the gorilla. She was short of breath from worry and Trish was trying to calm her down, Tyson standing a few feet behind her. She turned to him.

"Would you just go away!" she yelled, "Leave us alone."

Tyson shrugged and walked away, much to Trish's relief. Stephanie took a deep breath when they brought the unconscious Chris backstage. She ran over to them, grabbing onto his hand, tears already in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall, not here, later, when nobody would see. They were taking him to the trainer's and she followed obediently.

Tyson was waiting outside, knowing that Hunter and Flair would be arriving soon with Eugene in tow. He had called him from the limo, and so now Tyson was waiting to tell him just what had happened to Chris during the match. Hunter was sure to want to know that, but had mentioned something about being there to hear it, as Eugene could possibly pick up on their conversation and blurt it out unknowingly.

Stephanie sat in the chair, wringing her hands as Chris lay there motionless. She had seen that clothesline, it had been given with malicious intent, certainly not as some part of a wrestling match. It was on purpose. Batista had wanted to hurt Chris, and she closed her eyes to keep from shouting out in anger and hitting the wall or something.

The trainer got out some smelling salts and swiped it under Chris's nose. He awoke with a jerk and looked around lazily. His eyes settled on Stephanie and he smiled dazedly at her. She stood up and went to stand next to him, placing a hand on his stomach.

"Hey you," Stephanie said.

"What happened?"

"Batista hit you pretty hard," she explained, "The trainer is going to check you out."

"You're staying here right?" he asked her.

"Of course, I want to be with you."

Tyson caught up with Hunter as they arrived. They had sent Eugene in ahead of them so Hunter could talk to Tyson. Hunter also sent Flair away before coming up to Tyson who was just standing there silently, as if he was waiting for nobody at all. Hunter stepped closer to him.

"So what happened?"

"Your boy Dave gave Chris a pretty devastating clothesline, head bounced off the ground, knocked out, he's with the trainer."

"Excellent," Hunter said, patting Tyson on the shoulder, "I think it's time to pay my ex-wife a little visit."

"Hey, Matt's going to propose to Lita," Chris said as he looked at the television set that was on in the trainer's room in case someone got hurt and he was needed.

Stephanie stood next to him, her hand holding his, "I'm so glad you didn't propose to me in the ring, talk about exploiting your relationship."

"Yeah, I like the way we did ours too."

The trainer concluded that he had a concussion, but it didn't seem to be that serious. The blow had knocked him out yes, but he would've woken up on his own, and Chris wasn't feeling too badly now. He was still a little woozy and the trainer had suggested seeing a doctor, but he wasn't showing any signs of a concussion. He laid back down to rest a little bit as Stephanie talked with the trainer outside.

As he walked away, he gave way to the vision of her ex-husband standing there with an evil smile on his face. Stephanie stood her ground and put her hands on her hips, unintimidated by him. He cracked his neck and took a couple of steps closer.

"Heard about your boyfriend," Hunter said.

"Fiancé," she corrected, "And don't forget that fact again."

"Fine, your fiancé. Too bad, such a shame he had to get hurt. How brutal."

"Why do you have to be this way? Are you not over me Hunter? Or are you so horrible a person, you don't want anyone but you to have any semblance of happiness!"

"Stephy, no need to get angry, it's not like I told Dave to do that to him."

Stephanie punched him in the eye where he already had the black eye. He groaned in pain as his hand immediately grabbed for his eye. As he was bent over in pain, she kicked him right between the legs, sending him to his knees on the ground. Then she took her hand and grabbed him by the hair, tilting his head back to look at her.

"Listen here and listen well you piece of scum," she said, her knee right below his chin, ready to bring it up if he even tried something. She would break his jaw if she had to. "You do not mess with me, and you do not mess with him. You're lucky, LUCKY that you are dealing with me and not Chris, because Chris would not be this merciful to you."

"Stephanie," he grunted. She grabbed him even harder by the hair, and he tried to grab her, but then she retaliated just in time.

She kneed him in the chin, causing him to scream, "Don't talk you sick fuck! You will only talk when I say you can, one more word and I will kick you so hard, what Michaels did to you will look like child's play. You taught me to do this, remember Hunter. You said if some guy, even if he's bigger than you are, tries to hurt you, hit him in the eye and then when he's down, kick him where it hurts and it will keep him down. Then you slam his head against whatever blunt object you can find. Well, that part you're lucky on. But you will not send your little goonies after Chris, you hear me."

"Bitch," he spat out.

She kicked him in the stomach, "Like getting your ass handed to you by a girl Hunter?"

By now, Hunter was on the ground as she had let go of his hair. He looked up at her, and she just smiled evilly down at her. He had taught her how to defend herself against other guys, but now it was coming back to bite him in the ass, so to speak. He tried to grab for her leg, but she wasn't wearing heels and was able to dodge him and just step out of his reach.

"You think you're the only one who can play this fucking game. You think you're the master of the head game. You think you are going to ruin this wedding for me like you did the last one. You do not know who you're dealing with Hunter. Stephanie McMahon may look like the sweet, nice girl with a lot of friends..."

She leaned down near him.

"But just below the surface, that bitch is right there Hunter, and I will not hesitate to let her out. You've been warned, cross us again and you won't be talking for a week."

"Yeah right," Hunter said, still holding his stomach where she had kicked him especially hard.

"Oh, you wait Hunter, you wait and see just what I'll do to you," Stephanie said, walking away and back into the training room where Chris was lying down still, awake though.

"Where'd you go?" Stephanie gave him a smile and walked over to him, leaning down to kiss him. There was a little extra zing to this kiss, Chris noticed and he smiled at her as she pulled away.

"I just had a little business to take care of."


	214. SmackDown, June 24, 2004

"Mom! Dad! I'm so glad you're here!"

"Well, we were invited," Vince said, looking around, "And we've never been here before, and it's nice to see where you actually live."

Stephanie laughed, "I'm sorry you've never been here before, but well, I guess, I actually don't know why you haven't been here before."

"Where's Chris?" Linda asked.

"He's picking up his parents at the airport," she explained as she closed the door behind them, "We thought it would be nice if you guys got to meet each other before the wedding and everything since you are going to be family."

"Oh, that's nice," Linda responded, "I'd like to tell them how they did a wonderful job with Chris."

Stephanie smiled, "His mom likes to hear that. They should be here soon, Chris left a while ago. Did you want to come in? I can get us something to drink."

"Water would be fine," Vince answered.

"Water for me too please," Linda said.

"Ok, two waters," Stephanie answered then gestured towards the living room, "The living room is in there, make yourselves comfortable, Chris and I cleaned up just for you and his parents so you don't have to worry about a mess."

Stephanie bounded into the kitchen as Linda and Vince wandered into the living room. They looked around to where their daughter had been living for the past year and a half or so and took it all in. The room was neat and tidy and furnished well. Linda was drawn towards the mantle and pulled Vince with her. The mantle was strewn about with various pictures. Some were of Chris in his earlier wrestling days, in flashy, fringed tights and a mullet to be proud of.

The other pictures were of more interest to both Vince and Linda. They were pictures of Chris and Stephanie, in various places and always with smiles on their faces. There was one on a beach and Stephanie was piggy-backing on Chris, their hair blowing in a breeze as they made funny faces for the camera.

"It still amazes me that they're together," Vince said as he grabbed a picture of the two of them in some jail with the bars closed pretending they were prisoners.

"That's because you didn't know," Linda said as she smiled at her husband, "I think that one is from Universal Studios, one of those novelty places."

"But I never imagined I would be looking at pictures like these," Vince answered, putting the picture back in its place and staring at another one of Chris pretending to strangle Stephanie as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You just have to get used to it still." Linda patted his arm and he shrugged, not exactly knowing how he should respond to that.

"Here we go," Stephanie said, bringing in two glasses as she saw her parents looking at the photos, "Yeah, Chris and I are really vain so we keep pictures of ourselves all over the place. You should see Chris's office, it's filled with pictures."

"I never realized you two had visited so many places," Vince said as he sat down in an armchair with his water.

"Most of those were places we went to while wrestling," she told him, "We just like to act like tourists every once in a while."

"The one on the beach?"

"Oh, that's when we went to Hawaii for my birthday last year. Chris surprised me with a trip," Stephanie said with a smile, remembering that trip, "That's when I found the place where I want to get married."

"So you two are thinking about all this already?" Vince asked.

"Of course Daddy, we want it to be beautiful."

"We want to help with the expenses," Vince told her.

"Daddy, please, we can take care of it ourselves."

"But it's tradition."

"We know, but we'd rather pay for it ourselves. We know what we're doing Daddy, and while we appreciate the offer, we'd like to do this our own way."

Vince nodded reluctantly, "And what is your own way?"

"We're getting married on a cliff in Hawaii overlooking the ocean at sunset. We want about forty people there."

"Forty people!" Vince exclaimed, "Stephanie, this is your wedding, there are so many people we need to invite, colleagues, family, friends, employees in the company..."

"Daddy, Chris and I want to keep this fairly small. We don't want it to be some extravagant event. We want it to be low-key, I know that sounds weird coming from the two of us since we're probably two of the biggest egos in the world, but that's what we want."

"Vince, it's their wedding, and Stephanie's never have a real wedding, let them do it there way," Linda said gently.

"Fine, will I at least get to walk you down the aisle?" Vince asked. Stephanie actually hadn't even thought about that, every scenario in her head had her walking down the aisle alone, but Vince was her father, and who was she to deny him something that he really wanted to do?

"Of course you can Daddy, I would be honored if you walked me down the aisle," Stephanie told him with a grin, "Now did you guys want a tour of the house?"

"That would be lovely," Linda said, "Did you help decorate?"

"Well, Chris pretty much had everything already, I guess I just helped spruce it up," she said, standing up as her parents stood up as well.

She took them from room to room on the downstairs level. Linda had laughed at the post-it notes covering the fridge reminding either Chris or Stephanie of various things; her favorite was the one that said, "Stephanie, smile today cause we're getting married." Stephanie then took them upstairs and into Chris's office.

"So this is Chris's office, we actually hang out in here more than any place else," Stephanie said as she opened the door.

Linda looked at the wall that contained only pictures of Chris and Stephanie that were from the pictures that Chris had gotten for their anniversary. She stared at them, amazed as Vince stood behind her. In the middle of the wall was a simple silver frame with a key mounted behind the glass.

"Stephanie, what is this?" Linda asked as she pointed to the key.

"Oh," she said, blushing a little, "That's a key I gave Chris for his birthday a couple years ago."

"Key to what?"

"Oh, just um, something," she said, "It's stupid."

"Stephanie! I'm back!" Chris yelled from downstairs, "Where the hell are you!"

Stephanie went to the door, "I'm upstairs you goof! Mom, Daddy, I'll be right back."

Stephanie left the room and headed downstairs as Vince and Linda looked again at the photos adorning the walls. Vince turned to her. "He really does love her, doesn't he?"

"Yes Vince, he does," Linda said, grabbing his hand.

"She deserves it."

Linda sighed, "She does deserve it. Maybe we should've tried harder to get her away from Hunter. I don't know, but...she's happy now."

"She is happy, I've never seen her so happy. I mean, she's really built a life for herself here hasn't she?"

Linda looked at the pictures, "I think she has. He's good for her, he's going to be good to her. We couldn't ask for a better person to be a part of our family. Chris is something special. I've always thought that, even when he was calling our daughter horrible, degrading names."

"I had a good mind to kill him sometimes when he said those things," Vince said, his voice sharp.

"Yes, but it all worked out in the end. I've known them together for longer than you have, trust me, they're perfect for each other."

"I should've stopped her from marrying Hunter," Vince said, chiding himself.

"Oh Vince, there was nothing you could do about that."

"Hey Vince, Linda," Chris said as he walked into the room, Stephanie hanging off his arm, "Liking the office?"

"Nice set-up you got here," Vince said.

"Thanks, my parents are downstairs and they were wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with them. I think they want to gossip about Stephanie and I with you and not make us feel too embarrassed."

"I'd love to meet them," Linda said.

"Great." Chris led Stephanie, Vince, and Linda down the stairs. He whispered something in Stephanie's ear which caused her to smile and look at him before giving him a soft kiss to the cheek. They walked into the living room where Ted and Loretta were sitting on the couch. They stood up when the four people walked into the room.

"Mom, Dad, this is Vince and Linda McMahon," Chris said, gesturing towards Stephanie's parents.

"And Mom, Daddy, this is Ted and Loretta, Chris's parents," Stephanie said, "So there, all the introductions are finished."

The four parents shook hands and pleasantries as Stephanie and Chris hung back a little and watched them talk. Stephanie slipped her hand into Chris's and he brought it up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of her hand. Then they heard the "aww's" from their parents and turned embarrassed eyes to them.

"You two are so adorable," Loretta said, "I can't believe you're getting married!"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, "We're very excited about it."

"Uh huh," Chris nodded, "But if you guys want to go out to dinner and get acquainted, that's cool, we'll be fine here."

"And what are you two lovebirds going to be doing?" Ted said jokingly. Chris winced at the term "lovebirds," finding it incredibly cheesy and ashamed that it had been his father who had uttered those words.

"Actually, we have a bunch of friends coming over for dinner, and they should be coming in about ten minutes, I mean, you're welcome to stay, but you probably don't want to stay and hang around here," Stephanie responded, hoping they would go so that the tension of having their parents there wouldn't be hovering over them.

"I think I get the picture," Vince laughed, "You want us out."

"Pretty much yes," Chris said, "No offense."

"None taken," Linda said, "I would like to get to know your parents better, we are going to be family after all and I want to get along...for any future grandchildren's sake."

"You want grandchildren too?" Loretta asked excitedly.

"Of course, we need an heir to the company," Linda said, "The sooner the better."

"That's what I've been telling Christopher," Loretta answered as she walked over to Linda, "We would be great grandmother's."

Chris groaned, "Ok, enough talk about that."

"Well, you won't be around for dinner, so you won't know what we're talking about," Loretta said with a smug smile, "May we borrow your car to go to dinner?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Vince interjected, "We have a personal limo."

"Well then, let's get going," Ted said, clapping Vince on the back as they all began to leave, talking with each other as Stephanie and Chris looked on. They looked at each other when their parents finally left.

"Well now that, that's over, I can go back to focusing on you," Chris said, wrapping his arms around his fiancée. "How are you beautiful?"

"I'm very well. I think our parents are going to get along well, so that's good," she smiled. He leaned down to kiss her properly and she wrapped her arms around his waist, running her hands up his t-shirt, and over his back muscles, which tensed under the cool touch of her hands. As he ran his hand up her hip, before she pulled away abruptly.

"But how are you? I"m still worried about you after Monday, I know that it's Friday, but still, you had a minor concussion, you should probably be resting and here you are, doing stuff, I'm a bad fiancée, I should have you resting!"

He gave her a look, a simple look that said she was being stupid about all of this, "Stephanie, I'm fine. Look, I can remember your name, I remember where I am, if you were to hold up some fingers right now, I'd be able to accurately tell you how many you were holding up."

"So you're really ok?"

"No, I'm lying, I better get to the doctor's right now," Chris said in a frantic voice, waving his arms around in a crazy manner. Stephanie grabbed his hands to still him and held them while giving him a look of consternation. He shrugged and give her a pouty face before kissing her with a vigor and sweeping her up into his arms. Just as they turned to go upstairs, the doorbell rang.

"Always ruining our fun," Stephanie mused as Chris set her down on her feet. They walked to the door and opened it to see all their friends with various items in their hands.

"Hey you guys," Stephanie said, "I thought that we were going to order here, not you bring food over."

"Yeah, but we didn't want you guys to have to lift a muscle," Trish said, "Because we wanted to have this party for you guys cause you are getting married and we're all so happy for you."

"Well, I'm mildly amused," Edge said, "But I'm just going to ride the wave of happiness with the rest of you if that's ok."

"Aww, thanks for pretending," Stephanie said, "Come in though, you guys are all nuts just standing there in the doorway."

Everyone came in and got themselves settled inside in the living room. Stephanie opened the sliding door to let the cooler dusk air into the house. The day had been scorching so they had kept to staying inside, but it was more bearable now and the light warm breeze was nice. She went over to where they were setting up the food.

"How come you guys got so many different things?" Chris asked as they put the Chinese food, the Japanese food, the Italian food, the pizza, and the ribs down onto the coffee table.

"Well, because we couldn't decide," Shane said, "Everyone wanted something different so we argued about it for hours, and then we just got whatever the hell we wanted."

"I could've gone for a burger," Chris said as he looked at the food.

Christian grabbed an eggroll and tossed it at his head, "Shut up, do you know how long it took us to compromise."

"Well we can't help it if you're all that immature," Stephanie said, grabbing the eggroll that was thrown and taking a bite of it, "Mmm, this is good. Maybe I should dip it in the spaghetti sauce from the Italian food."

"Eggrolls and spaghetti sauce, weird combo, is there something you want to tell us Steph?" Kurt asked.

Stephanie looked down a small blush on her cheeks as she swallowed audibly, "Actually, there's something that I should probably tell you all."

"Steph?" Trish said, looking at her friend, "What?"

"I'm pregnant," Stephanie said, looking up sheepishly, "I wanted to tell Chris first, but well, you're all here and I thought that you should know too. I'm almost two months pregnant and I just didn't know how to say anything."

Everyone just blinked in surprise and shock. Even Chris had backed a few inches from Stephanie, his eye doing a weird twitching thing. Stephanie bit her lip in nervousness as she glanced at all her friends and shrugged, placing a hand on her stomach gently.

"But...but, this wasn't supposed to happen," Chris said, "This wasn't supposed to happen yet!"

"That's why I'm joking!" Stephanie said with a grin. Everyone's jaws dropped to the floor and she just laughed. "God, you guys are so gullible. I'm starving."

"Stephanie Marie McMahon! Don't you ever do that again!" Chris said, putting his hand on his heart, "I think I almost died just now, I really think I died."

Stephanie just laughed as she got her food. "Well, this way I got first dibs on all the food."

Everyone just shook their heads, trying to get over the shock of Stephanie's little joke. They settled into some nice conversation about the shows. Stephanie and Chris were perched in the love-seat, him facing forward while she was leaning against his shoulder stretched out on the rest of the couch. Trish and Christian were sitting on one end of the couch, Trish in Christian's lap as they shared one plate of food. Edge and Shane were on the floor, their plates on the coffee table while Kurt occupied the other end of the couch, his leg propped up.

"This is weird," Edge declared.

"What? The food?" Kurt asked, "Maybe you shouldn't have mixed the barbeque sauce with the pasta."

"No, just this, I mean, remember when we had to hide, remember when everything was so secret and now we're all friends and people know and Chris and Stephanie, who started this whole debacle, you guys are getting married."

"Change was bound to happen," Trish said, "It comes with the territory. I was the last person to know about this little alliance. I'm the newbie."

"Hey Trish, every new person has to go through an initiation, so my place tonight?" Edge said with a wink.

"Touch her and we're back to hating each other," Christian said, wrapping his arm around Trish tighter.

"But don't you find all of this weird?" Edge asked the others.

"I think you're weird, does that count for anything?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, it counts towards having my foot up your ass," Edge shot back.

"Ouch, no thanks."

"We're glad you're all here though," Stephanie said, "I hope our parents are having a good time."

"I'm sure they're thinking up ways for you to get pregnant so they can have some grandchildren already," Chris laughed.

"Oh God, I hope not," Stephanie responded. "The last thing I need is someone breathing down my neck."

"Yeah, not to mention Chris will get performance anxiety," Shane said with a laugh.

"I'll have you know that I never get nervous ever," Chris said haughtily, "I'm the Highlight of the Night!"

"He is the highlight of my night," Stephanie said smugly, kissing his hand. Everyone else cooed and "aww"ed at the display of affection.

"Would you guys shut up?" Chris said.

"No, we're practicing for the wedding," Christian said, "I'm hoping that you two are writing your own vows so that I can pull the dramatic wiping away the tear part."

"Yeah, and I have the handkerchief bit," Kurt said, "You know, blowing my nose."

"I'm having the choked up hand to my mouth," Shane said.

"I'm going to fall asleep," Edge added, "Sorry, but remember, mildly amused."

"Well, I know I'll be bawling," Trish laughed, "I never did have the stomach to take a good wedding."

"You guys, you know our vows aren't going to be mushy," Stephanie said, "At least mine won't."

"I was actually going to do a juggling act during mine," Chris said. They all laughed.

"Don't worry, it'll be great, it is our wedding after all," Stephanie said, looking up at Chris.

"I never thought you two would actually get here," Shane admitted, "I mean, I know we all thought you should, but I never thought you would."

"Are you saying that you thought we would've broken up?" Stephanie asked, glaring at her brother.

"No!" Shane said, recognizing that look from Stephanie. When they were younger it usually meant that she was going to charge at him and hit him in the stomach, but now it meant that she would punch him in the face. "What I meant was...you two were so fiercely private."

"That wasn't by choice Shane," Stephanie told him, "That was by design, it's not like I wanted to hide our relationship."

"Ok, I get it, I'm sorry, I just think it's great that you are getting married, but I never thought I'd see the day when you would."

"You know, I didn't either," Kurt admitted as well.

"Kurt!" Stephanie said, shocked that he would agree with her brother, "You didn't think we would get married?"

"Well, I didn't know, I mean, anything could've happened to you two. You guys lead very volatile lives. We're not any less happy for the two of you, we just had our doubts."

"Did all of you think this?" Chris said. Everyone just kind of shrugged nervously and nodded slowly. "All of you?"

"Chris, Steph, it's not anything personal, I mean, Chrissy and I, we were up in the air for a while, nobody thought we'd be together and happy again."

"Yeah, I mean, you never really know."

"You thought we wouldn't get married, ok, get out of my house!" Stephanie yelled, standing up. "How dare you think that! Out!"

"Stephanie, be reasonable," Shane said.

"I am, out of my house!"

"Steph..." Chris said, trying to calm her down, but there was no use in doing that as she just stood there with a hateful glare on her face. Everyone got up and got there stuff before leaving, knowing that they had hurt Stephanie's feelings, but also knowing how useless it was to try and talk some sense into her while she was mad.

"How dare they!" Stephanie said as she slammed the door shut, "How fucking dare they!"

"Baby, calm down," Chris said gently, rubbing her arm.

"They all thought the same thing, they probably thought we would break up, they probably don't want us to get married," she said, her words rushed and blending together.

"I don't think that's what they meant. Steph, they just didn't know..."

Stephanie didn't give him a chance to finish as she ran upstairs and into their bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Chris sighed and went upstairs after her. He opened the door to their bedroom and saw her sitting on the bed, holding one of their pillows to her chest, and angry frown on her face.

"Maybe I'll just uninvite them all," she said harshly.

"You know you're not going to do that," he said, sitting next to her, "They're our friends."

"Who didn't think we'd get married!" she said incredulously. "They all saw the fucking ring before I did, what did they think you were going to do with it? Swallow it and perform a magic trick?"

Chris laughed at that, "Maybe, they knew that I had had it for a while and that I hadn't asked you yet. I was a chicken, not that you'd say no, but just, I wanted it to be perfect. They did want us to get married Steph, it was just choppy there for a while."

"Well they could've told me, or you, or us about it, instead of saying, 'hey, didn't think you'd get married,' what kind of friends are they?"

"They are friends that kept our secret, that helped us whenever they could, Stephanie, they're good friends."

"What about you? Did YOU ever think that we wouldn't get married?" she asked imploringly, searching his eyes for an answer long before he could respond with words.

"Yes, there was a time when I didn't think we would," he said and she opened her mouth but he put his hand over her mouth, "I thought you were with Christian. I thought I had lost you, I thought I'd never get the chance."

She took his hand off of her mouth, "Oh, but still, they had no right to say that."

"Stephanie, I love you, who cares what they said, it's not like they're Hunter, trying to break us up."

"I have a feeling Hunter won't bother us anymore," Stephanie smirked.

"Steph...what did you do?" Chris asked, looking at her strangely. Stephanie kissed him and held his hand.

"Nothing. Let's go downstairs and wait for our parents."


	215. Raw, June 28, 2004

A/N: Ain't no one gonna break my style, ain't no one gonna hold me down, oh no...well, unless you're H, then you might hold me down. ;)

Yes, I have returned from my week of banishment. I felt like I was in prison or something, rattling my tin cup against the bars begging for me to upload. Ok, so I wasn't actually in prison, but I was banned from posting. It's all so sad and pathetic, but at least I could still write. I didn't suddenly lose the use of my fingers. Whoever had my story deleted didn't think about that one did they? Ha! I have you beat there! Unless you like know me, and know where I live, in that case, I guess you could come and break my fingers, but then I'll just get one of those talking things where I can talk and have it type what I'm saying. Of course, then the chapters will be about 10,000 words each, but hey, nothing wrong with that.

Ok, so now let's be a little serious. Yes, the story is back, yes it never went anywhere. Yes, someone decided that they would report me and have it deleted. Who is this heinous person? Well, I have my suspicions, but I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. I'll be honest with you all, I was really, really upset that my story, my hard work, was deleted in an act of what I can only call...foolishness. I'm not going to presume that it was out of jealousy or malice, but out of simple foolishness. I hope whoever did it does feel foolish for spoiling things for so many when I'm so very easy to reach. But I guess cowards like taking the easy way out, and if that's how someone wants to play, well then let them play, I guess they never got the concept of having one's own opinion.

The only thing I lost in all of this was my reviews. I'm a review whore, I admit it, and losing almost 1500 reviews, well that's a blow. But think of it this way, and I have been thinking this. Yes, it was all deleted, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist, that doesn't erase the words that each and every person who wrote to me said (I actually have about 1100 reviews saved on my computer), and nothing, nobody reporting me and taking my story and reviews away from me will ever steal that away. I know, and you know that this story was well-liked. Why? I have no idea. I guess the power of Jericho and Stephanie is far and reaching to everyone. But just because it is gone, just because someone decided they would take it away, doesn't take away what this story brought to me, and to you, and reviews, reviews can always come again, reviews can always be given again. No, it won't bring back what I lost, but I've learned to say to myself, you know what, this doesn't erase the fact that I worked hard on this story for almost two years, this doesn't erase the fact that I had 1480 reviews for this story, so many reviews that I couldn't possibly thank each individual person who ever reviewed this story. Just because it's gone, doesn't mean it didn't happen. So for all of you who were angry at the deletion, as angry as I am as well, nothing was lost, because it's all still there, it's still remembered.

When I let people know it was deleted, I expected people to notice. What I didn't expect was the flood of e-mails, IM's, and reviews left expressing their disappointment that "Hugs and Kisses" was deleted. It amazed me as much as the amount of reviews I received for the story. To know something that I wrote was so loved, it made accepting it was gone a little easier. So once again, thank you all for your kind words, they were really nice, and to a few people especially who helped make me laugh and helped cheer me up. You know who you are and so thank you for that. :)

So enjoy the chapters, and thanks again. :)

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"I know that Kurt was trying to be a good and fair General Manager, but I mean, what the hell was he thinking?"

Chris laughed, "That the rules should be fair and abided by?"

"But Bradshaw, I mean, or whatever his name is right now, I mean, he's not...you've held that title..."

"I have," Chris agreed.

"Other great men have held that title."

"Yes, they have...though none were as great as me," Chris added that last part with a smirk.

"And so he gives it to someone who probably doesn't deserve that belt at all. Is it too late to be non-friends with Kurt?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, considering that you threw everyone out of our house this weekend, I'm guessing that you already kind of set that into motion."

Stephanie frowned at him, "They said bad things about it. It was a load of crap, the entire thing, saying stuff I didn't even think was true. I mean, it was like they took something from me, they took something from me and it hurt to know that they could say something like that to me. It wasn't fair."

"I know, but life goes on Stephanie, we're engaged now, and we're getting married, and because of that, you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, then get back down on your knees and beg for forgiveness."

"Excuse me...if anyone has anything to apologize for, it's them. They shouldn't have said that in the first place. It was like they were deliberately trying to hurt me."

"You know that's not what happened."

"Well then, I'm petulant, how's that for an explanation," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and sitting down in the leather chair in Chris's locker room.

"Yeah, I think that's a better explanation. How long are you going to hold this grudge for, my love?"

"Forever," she said, sticking her tongue out.

Chris knew that talking some sense into Stephanie was difficult. Hell, Stephanie herself was difficult on occasion, lots of occasions if he was thinking hard. It was still a wonder that he wanted this woman to be his for the rest of his life. Wow, the rest of his life, scary thought. If he didn't love her though, he was sure that they would be trading insults and hating each other like they used to.

"So since you're mad at them, am I mad at them?" he asked, not knowing if she would let him talk to them.

"You should be, but you don't have to be," Stephanie said, looking at him, "I don't control you Chris, you are a free man, at least until January 15th."

He laughed at that, "So until then, I can do whatever I want?"

Stephanie got up from her seat and sauntered over to the couch where Chris was currently perched and planted herself right in his lap. Chris instinctively wrapped his arms around Stephanie and leaned his head against her shoulder, her perfume wafting up and calming him. The scent of her was just such a calming effect, and he could fall asleep just knowing she was around.

"Well, I'm not suggesting you go out and sleep with another woman, or go to a strip club and get a lap dance, but other than the basic 'don't do that' kind of stuff, I think you're in the clear."

"I have a match with Edge tonight, and I kind of have to talk to him."

"That's fine," she said, "I don't want you to hold my grudges. I don't want to control you Chris."

"You don't control me, I control you."

"You what?" she asked, pulling away for a second, "Oh, it must be the concussion talking. Because we both know that you have no control over me."

"I don't have a concussion!"

"Yes, you do,"she said firmly, "Don't act like you don't. I still can't believe you're going out there and fighting tonight. You could've taken the night off, we could've stayed at home and done stuff together. We could've gone on a mini-trip or something, but no, you can't miss a show."

"I haven't missed a show in a really long time," he said, "I'm like Superman."

"I know, but...never mind."

"No, come out and say it if you want to."

"Nothing," she said, kissing him, "Do what you want."

"Well, right now, I want to do something with you, and I don't mean sit here," he said, grinning lecherously.

"We can't," she said simply.

"Oh God, you're not suggesting we do one of those celibacy until marriage type deals are you? I mean, I'm sure the wedding night is going to be great regardless if we wait or not, I mean come on, a man has needs Steph!"

"I wasn't going to suggest that," she giggled, "Although, that's not a bad idea after all..."

"No! Stephanie, come on, those things never accomplish anything other than making you want someone. And what if we did do that and I couldn't take it anymore, and cheated on you."

"You wouldn't do that, because I would make sure that you would never sleep with anyone else after that," she said with an evil smirk, "Besides, I don't want to do that. I mean, what's the point, I'm not going to forget how that goes."

"Good," Chris said, drawing a hand across his forehead in a fake grand gesture.

"I'm just saying we can't do it while we're sitting here in the locker room. I always did feel kind of weird when we had sex in the locker room. I mean, people we know are walking back and forth past our door while we're in here, doing stuff. And sometimes my dad comes around, and that in and of itself is creepy."

"So I guess I can't fulfill my fantasy of doing it with you in the elevator at Titan huh?" Chris said with disappointed smile.

"Eww, no! My parents and brother use that elevator, you're sick!" Stephanie said, playfully shoving him away from her. "Yuck!"

"I was kidding! God, take a joke sometime Steph!"

"Never! Especially not when they come from you," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Stephanie kissed him softly as a quiet knock came to the door. Stephanie looked up and then back at Chris. He very unceremoniously dumped her on the couch, ignoring her look of indignance. Chris stood up and suddenly a wave of dizziness overcame him and his hand went to his temples, rubbing gently. Stephanie saw this from her position on the couch and stood up, putting one hand on Chris's stomach and the other on his shoulder.

"Sweetie, you're not ok," she whispered, fear in her voice. She didn't like seeing Chris so hurt. She would kill Hunter if she could, for doing this to her, to him, to them.

"I'm fine," he replied, looking up at her, and flashing her a million-dollar smile. He was covering up and she knew it too, but that smile was just too difficult for her to resist and she just squeezed his shoulder and let him go. He shook his head off, shaking the dizziness away and went to open the door, finding that Edge was standing there, a tentative look on his face as he glanced from Chris to Stephanie.

"Hey," he said, his words hesitant, "We have a match."

"Yeah, we do," Chris said, glancing at Stephanie, "Baby, you want to walk me to the gorilla?"

"Yeah, I can do that," she said, walking over to him and linking her arm through his, "I am your fiancée after all. I am the woman you're marrying, although God forbid anybody think it's going to happen."

"Stephanie..." Edge started.

"Stuff it Edge," Stephanie snapped, "I don't particularly want to hear anything from you at the moment. I am simply being cordial in an effort not to rip every tooth out of your mouth."

"Well then," Edge said, pursing his lips, "I'll shut up then."

"That's probably in your best interest," Chris mumbled to him, causing Edge to crack a small smile.

They walked down to the gorilla just as Hunter and Flair walked back with Eugene in tow. Stephanie glanced over at Hunter, and he instinctively rubbed at his jaw. Stephanie smirked at that, the bastard deserved to feel some of the pain that he had put her through. Chris looked between the two of them, and wondered if there was something going on. Before he could think properly about it though, his music hit and he gave Stephanie a quick kiss before jogging up the stairs.

Moments later, Stephanie found herself with only Hunter and Flair around her. Eugene had run off somewhere and they were the only ones there. Stephanie was secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't touch her. But they did come over and flank her sides, their arms crossed. Hunter nodded to Flair and he walked away, patting Hunter on the back before disappearing down the hallway.

"You shouldn't have done what you did last week," he said menacingly.

"And why shouldn't I have?" she asked, glancing over at him, her own arms folded nonchalantly.

"Because of the consequences."

"And just what are those Hunter? Should I have a lawyer present, shall we draw up papers?"

"When will you learn Stephanie, I'm the big man around here. I'm the one in charge. It's silly of you to think otherwise. You think you're going to get your little boy-toy to the top of the heap. You think that he stands a chance against me?"

"In case you've forgotten, my name is on this company, and I am in line to run it," she said, turning to him, "Don't forget who you're talking to Hunter. I may be your ex-wife, and I may have been a Helmsley for a while, but I will ALWAYS be a McMahon, and as long as that name stands, this company will never be yours."

"You try and see what I'll do to Jericho if you cross me again."

"No Hunter, your threats are empty, they're hollow. I don't believe one freaking word that your mouth utters. You try and intimidate me, I dare you."

"So finally the little girl wants to come back to being the bitch."

"I was a bitch long before I met you Hunter."

"Could've fooled me with that little girl act."

"I'm sure I did."

"I'll ruin your wedding day," Hunter said calmly.

"I can make sure you're nowhere near where I'm getting married."

Hunter leaned in close to her ear, "Hawaii, on January 15th."

Stephanie turned to him, her hair slapping him in the face, "Where the hell did you get that information!"

"It was easy when you have the right ears," Hunter said with a smirk, "So about me ruining the wedding?"

"You won't," she said, smiling confidently, "You won't even get near me on that day."

"Oh, but Stephanie, I just want to see you happy."

"I know Hunter, but there are some things you just can't do," she said sweetly, playing along with his twisted game.

"I can do this. I have people everywhere. I could find out where you live Stephanie. I can find out so easily."

"On the other hand, I KNOW where you live," Stephanie said, then leaned in, "And I wouldn't hesitate to use that knowledge to my fullest advantage."

"You're in over your head in this one Stephanie. You don't know you're dealing with."

She poked him in the shoulder, "I know exactly who I'm dealing with, and he doesn't scare me in the slightest." She rose up her hand so he could see the diamond on her left hand. "You see this Hunter. This means I will never be yours again. This means that I found someone who I actually love. Who actually took the time to get to know me before marrying me. Unlike you, who couldn't get the woman you wanted any other way except to kidnap and marry her. You are the pathetic one Hunter, because you didn't even have the balls to ask me out."

"And you think Chris is this god among men? You think that he's in it for anything more than what you can give him?"

"You know nothing about him, and nothing about me if you truly believe that. After we got divorced, after everything, I thought we could be cordial to one another. The circumstances surrounding our marriage and divorce, well, they could've been forgotten. But you don't want to forget it do you Hunter? You just want yourself to be the only man who was ever married to me. You are so jealous, and it is so sad to see you go to such great lengths to try and turn me against Chris."

"I don't know where you get this shit," Hunter growled, stepping even closer to her, "You seem to think that all I want is you. But Stephy, you forget that I can have any woman I want."

"Not true Hunter," Stephanie said, with the right side of her mouth slightly upturned into a smile. "You can't have me."

"Chris called you horrible names, and I defended you. And yet, he's the man that you want to marry. A man that will throw a pie in your face. A man that will show the world that you got breast implants."

"At the behest of my scum husband!" Stephanie shouted. "And I was just as bad to him Hunter, or don't you remember. I sent him to the hospital on more than one occasion. I had him gored through an entire set. And yet this man has the capacity to forgive me all of that, and love me like you never could."

"I did love you!"

"Then why didn't you ever show me you loved me! Huh! When you were rehabbing and I was torn away from my parents, you never, not even ONCE called to ask how I was. You forgot my fucking birthday when Chris Jericho of all people didn't! He wished me a happy birthday on my birthday, did you know that!"

"Yeah, that stupid thing about you bringing the balloons," Hunter said, shaking his head.

"No, no that's not it at all...he actually wished me a real one the next day. And then I sat in my hotel room, hoping that my husband would call, but he never did because he was too worried about his quad and rehab, too much so to even call his own wife."

"I was under a lot of stress," he told her, running a hand through his hair in exasperation.

"I had a company to run and I still came to visit you for your birthday. You couldn't extend the same courtesy to me."

"So that is what this is about. I wasn't the perfect husband."

"You weren't even a good husband," Stephanie said, shaking her head, "Chris will make a good husband. Chris cares about me, in ways you couldn't even dream of."

"I loved you, and for you to think I didn't is silly."

"Just go away and leave me alone Hunter. Find someone who you love and leave me to the man I love."

"This isn't over Stephanie."

"It is Hunter. It's been over for a very long time."

"No, it isn't," he said, turning to walk away.

Stephanie watched him go and sighed to herself. How did life get so carried away? How did things change so much in such a short time? She didn't know the answers to these questions any more than she knew who had told Hunter about her wedding to Chris. She turned to the monitor in time to see Chris flying through the air and she shook her head at his need to be the showboat. She was still concerned about his head, and with good reason too, he kept grabbing it, and she imagined with all the physical exertion of the match, he was bound to get tired, which was only aided by the concussion he had received.

She watched as Chris took control of the match, taking on Batista. If Batista wasn't such an asshole, she might actually find him attractive. He had a nice body and a cute face, but he hung out with Hunter, and liked it, so for that he lost a lot of points. She saw Chris grab his head a couple of times more and now she was starting to worry about him even more. Eventually Chris and Edge were able to win and Chris collapsed against the side wall. Edge saw him and went over, helping him up.

"Thanks man," Chris said.

"You probably shouldn't have fought tonight," Edge told him as they walked up the ramp, Chris hanging onto Edge as little as possible, but still accepting the man's help.

"Yeah, but I had to, revenge is sweet," Chris said, his voice lazy.

They walked backstage and Stephanie walked over to them, giving Chris a stern look that he winced at. She took him away from Edge, letting him lean on her. She wiped away his sweaty hair from his face and ran it down his damp cheek. He gave her a weak smile and she kissed the corner of his mouth.

"I knew you shouldn't have gone out there," was all she said.

"Look at this Edge, the woman I love, the woman I'm going to marry doesn't even ask me how I am, but goes straight into the 'I told you so' act. I can never win."

"Good luck with that man," Edge said, patting his back, "Good job out there."

"You know this is going to lead to you and Dave fighting at Vengeance don't you? I mean, you crossed Evolution, they're going to get you for this," Stephanie said as she led him down the hallway.

"I'm well aware of what this means. I just need to lie down for a little while. I'm going to take a quick shower and then can we go back to the hotel?"

"Yeah, we can eat something there, you need to eat, it'll make you feel better."

"How do you know it won't make me throw up all night."

"Ok, scratch that, I'll eat, you'll have some juice."

"Oh, thanks," he said, "I just feel really dizzy right now."

Chris started to wobble a little on his feet and Stephanie held onto him tighter, but he had a good amount of weight on her and he fell to the ground, leaning up against the wall. Stephanie looked around and didn't see anyone that she knew well enough to ask for help. She kneeled in front of Chris, grabbing his hands.

"Chris, I'm going to go get someone to help you to your locker room alright, and then I'll help you take a shower and we can leave."

"You'll help me take a shower?" he asked, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Not like that! I meant, I'll stick around in case you need any help."

"Well, there are parts of my back that I can't reach."

"Well I know that you aren't any more hurt," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"When we're married, I fully expect that you will be at my beckon call when I wanna get some."

"And I fully expect that you will become accustomed to the word 'no,' when we get married."

"I think I can stand up."

"You probably can, but I'm going to go find Edge so that he can help you."

"No, honestly, I think I'm going to be ok," he told her, standing up, still a little wobbly, but of his own volition at least.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said, grabbing her hand, "You just need to stand next to me."

"Aren't I always?"

She led him back to his dressing room and let him go inside ahead of her. He gathered some of his necessities for the shower and then Stephanie followed him into the bathroom. She sat on the sink counter as he started to take his shower. She dangled her legs idly, watching as the mirror fogged up from the steam.

"Chris!"

"What!"

"What do you want to do for our honeymoon?" she asked.

"I thought we couldn't have one," he called back.

"Well, we could have a small one. You know, we get married on the 15th, go to the show on the 16th and then we vacation until the next Monday."

"I guess that could work."

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't care," he said, "Wherever you want to go is fine."

"So if I said that I want to go to Siberia, then you would be ok with it."

"Just make sure I pack some chapstick and I'll be fine."

"I don't know where to go, I mean, we've been everywhere."

"That's true," he mused, "So nowhere?"

"We have to go somewhere, it's our honeymoon."

"Anywhere we go is going to consist of the same thing, sex, sex and more sex, except it'll be more special because we're married."

"Well, we could just honeymoon wherever the show is at the time."

"What if it's in like...Des Moines?"

"Well, I'm sure they have some sort of spa thing there or we could fly somewhere close enough to there for the trip."

"Well, once we find out where it's at, we'll figure all this out, sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," she paused, then spoke again, "I figured out the color of Trish's dress."

"That's cool," he said, "Dare I ask what color or am I going to be rebuffed because it's clearly girl stuff."

"You won't be rebuffed. It'll be a deep blue. I figure the sun set is going to be a red or orange color and blue goes with that, so yeah, that's what it'll be."

"Whatever you want," he told her as he turned off the water.

"I'll let you get dressed," Stephanie said, hopping off the counter, "I'll be waiting in the other room."

"Geez, you act as if you haven't seen me naked and actually want me to have privacy."

"I'll be in the other room."

She opened the door to the bathroom and walked into the other room. Sitting on the coffee table was a single rose and a note, with her name scrawled on the front. She recognized the handwriting as she went closer and rolling her eyes, she picked it up and read it, even against her better judgment.

Look, you were right. I was a bad husband. I didn't do the right thing most of the time, and I know I hurt you, but you hurt me too. When I thought you were having my baby...and then finding out that you weren't, you broke my heart Stephanie. I didn't deserve that. Can we just talk?

Hunter

She didn't know what to make of it and she read it over and over again, trying to make sense of it. Was this real? Or was it just another hoax? Another way to get inside her head? It could...but then she knew how much she HAD hurt him when he had found out her pregnancy wasn't real. She tucked the note into her pocket and then took the rose. She tossed it into the trash and went to the door of the bathroom, opening it and sticking her head in.

"Sweetie, I have to go talk to Randy quickly if he's alone, I'll be back in five minutes tops."

Chris looked up, "Ok baby, but hurry back, I want to lie down."

"I will," she said, blowing him a kiss.

She closed the door behind her and then made a mad dash for Hunter's dressing room. She was surprised to find that he was the one who answered the door. She figured he would make one of his people do that, she knew that he hated doing things for himself. He opened the door to her and he closed it behind him. She looked around to find that she was the only one in the room. It made her slightly nervous, but not enough to want to turn around.

"I got your note," she said, her voice unsure.

"Good, I was hoping you would," Hunter said, crossing his arms.

"So where are your cronies? Are they going to attack Chris while I'm here with you. Or are you going to kidnap me and hold me until I say I won't marry Chris? I don't believe that you meant a word in that note."

Hunter looked down a moment and then up at her, "I did mean it Stephanie. I meant every word. I've tried to bury this hurt that I always felt when I saw you. I wanted you out of this company so I could be rid of you once and for all. Now here you are, and I find out you've been dating a guy I hate practically since the ink on the divorce papers dried. For all I know, you could've been screwing around on me when we were married..."

"I was never unfaithful to you," she said honestly, "Tempted sure, but I never did."

"Ok, fine, but the fact remains, you're getting married, you're leaving me in the dust--"

"Don't for one second try to pin this on me. I'll admit what I did was wrong, but you were the one who alienated me and made me feel inferior to you."

"I never wanted you to feel that way!"

"Hunter, this stuff is over two years old now, why are you bringing it up now?"

"Because I never got to!" he yelled, defeated. "I never even got the chance to really talk things over with you, and now here you are, marrying another guy, a guy who isn't good enough for you!"

"Oh no, if you called me here to tell me that Chris is wrong for me," she said, starting to walk out.

"Stephanie, he's not good enough for you," Hunter pleaded. Stephanie was almost more scared of this behavior than his aggressive behavior. This was a desperate man that stood before her. A desperate, sad man; she couldn't turn her eyes away from him.

"Why?"

"Because he isn't, because he won't treat you right."

Stephanie's eyes welled up with tears and she spoke softly, "My first birthday with him, he surprised me with 26 dozen flowers for my 26th birthday. He told me he wanted to make my birthday special because he had heard my previous birthday had been terrible. He told his mother he would stop speaking to her if she didn't accept me as his girlfriend. He held me when I cried about my father hurting me. He took care of me when I was sick. He jumped to Raw for me when I was trying to take down Bischoff. And most of all...he hid our relationship from the world for over a year because I asked him to. Nothing else, just because I asked. How can you even think that isn't the kind of man who is right for me? When he did and does everything that you didn't. Don't fool yourself into thinking he's bad for me to console your bruised ego."

Hunter didn't have an answer for that and Stephanie shook her head. She sent one last glance to him as she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. She took a deep, calming breath and walked back to where Chris was waiting for her. Chris looked up from where he was sitting hunched over, his head in his hands. He smiled at her.

"You were more than five minutes, what's the penalty since you went over the time limit."

"I think the penalty is me taking care of you for the rest of the night."

"Hmm...I can deal with that reward," he said, getting up and grabbing his stuff. She took his hand in both of hers as they walked out and into the parking lot.

"Chris."

"Yeah baby?"

"I love you...so much."

"What was that for?"

"I can't say I love you anymore?"

"Well yeah, but that was really out of the blue."

"Well, I just want you to know that, and I'm thankful for all you do for me."

"I kind of figured you loved me what with the whole, marrying me thing and everything. That was just a tip-off. Unless the only reason you said yes was because you would get a huge diamond out of it..."

She laughed, "That's exactly the reason."

"Oh well, works for me."

"I do love you, you know."

"I've known for a while."

"I'm just saying."

"And I'm just answering." She kissed him playfully.

"Next time, I'll think twice before I tell you I love you."


	216. Raw, July 5, 2004

A/N: There's a few people I would've paid good money to see in that moon bounce. ;) And for the record, this is chapter 216. :)

* * *

Stephanie watched proudly as Chris received his award on the steps of City Hall in his hometown. Her eyes were shining behind the sunglasses she was wearing. She didn't exactly get what the award was, she knew it involved a buffalo, but that was about it. She wasn't sure that Chris got what it was either, but hell it was an award and she was proud of him.

She clapped excitedly as Chris accepted the award and something with a buffalo on it. She had to giggle a little at that, she wondered where they would put that in their house. Maybe in the office or in the case he kept all his special stuff in. Chris smiled down at her as he accepted it and she could tell that he wanted to laugh a little. He was happy to receive it, but even he had to laugh at the whole buffalo motif.

Stephanie turned to the girl standing next to her who was watching the thing. "That's my fiancé up there."

"Yeah right," the girl said, "You wish."

Stephanie laughed in disbelief, "That's my fiancé." She showed off her ring.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Keep dreaming sweetheart, I heard he's with Stephanie McMahon."

Stephanie lifted her sunglasses, "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Stephanie McMahon."

The girl looked on in shock and then turned to walk away quickly, embarrassed by her faux pas. Stephanie laughed as she walked away. Did she really look so different that people couldn't recognize her? Maybe it was the fact that she was happy now, and when she had last been seen in WWE, she was upset and...well, being choked by her father with a wrench.

"Hello Stephanie," a weird voice said close to her head. Stephanie turned her head and saw the little buffalo statue on her shoulder.

"Hello Buffalo."

"I've named him Bullwinkle," Chris said proudly as Stephanie turned to him. "Where in the house would Bullwinkle look best?"

"With Rocky," Stephanie smiled.

Chris laughed, "You mean with the Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer? But Bullwinkle will freeze."

"We don't like even like Rocky Road."

"Why is that exactly?"

"Because it's gross."

"Works for me," Chris said.

Stephanie giggled and grabbed the collar to his suit. She thought he looked so handsome in his suit and everything. Chris stared at her for a second, wondering what she was doing until she pulled him in for a heated kiss right there in the middle of the sidewalk. Chris pulled away embarrassedly and looked around guiltily.

"Stephanie, my parents are here," Chris said.

"Aww, look at you, embarrassed to kiss me in front of your parents," Stephanie said, making a face at Chris.

"Well, with a kiss like that, yes."

"Oh Christopher, I'm so proud of you!" Loretta gushed as she walked over to Chris and Stephanie. She hugged her son tightly as Stephanie hugged Ted.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me!" Chris said, blushing furiously.

"He's twelve years old again," Ted whispered to Stephanie, causing her to giggle madly. Chris looked over at them and gave them a suspicious look.

"What are you two talking about?" Chris asked.

"Nothing sweetie," Stephanie said, "Did you see the award?"

Loretta took it from him and looked at it proudly, holding it up for Ted to see. Ted smiled proudly and shook Chris's hand in congratulations. Chris wrapped his arm around his mother and kissed her cheek. Stephanie "aww"ed at the display and Chris sent her a dirty look.

"Did you two want to go to lunch, it's so rare that we actually get you around here that we want to savor the moment," Loretta said.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Stephanie said, "And I had to stand here for like an hour."

"But it was for me, so it was worth it right?" Chris said, as the four of them walked down the sidewalk, Chris with his award under his arm.

"You'd think you'd get a banquet or something," Stephanie said, "Or a special luncheon."

"They offered, but I had to turned them down because I didn't know when I had to be at the arena. It would've been nice, but work comes first."

"How's the wedding coming along Stephanie?" Loretta asked.

"Great, we're just starting to really get the ball rolling. I called the hotel the other day and we're booked for the 15th of January. So it's totally legit, Chris and I will be getting married in January."

"Yup, we're definitely getting hitched, and then I never have to hear the lecture about me not being married again," Chris said with a triumphant smile.

"When are you having kids?"

Chris groaned, "Great, now that's all I'm going to be hearing."

"I don't know Loretta, maybe in the near future, we haven't really talked about it. We're both in our prime in our careers and we want to let that ride so we can be ready to devote our lives to a child when we're both ready."

"Stephanie, have I mentioned how much I love you," Chris said, "You can worm your way out of any situation."

"It's a talent I've been honing for years," she told him as they walked into a local restaurant.

After they had eaten and parted ways with Chris's parents, they walked hand in hand back to his car. He loosened his tie as they were walking, feeling a little bit uncomfortable in his suit. He wasn't the suit-wearing type at all. He was more the vinyl-wearing type, not the corporate kind of thing.

"You're going to have to get used to that," Stephanie said, as if she had read his mind.

"Get used to what?" he asked.

"Wearing a suit. When we're running the company, you're going to have to get used to wearing a suit and being business-oriented."

"How did you know what I was thinking?" he asked in awe of her talents.

"I could see your face, you're pretty easy to read when you know how."

Stephanie smirked at him as he scowled at her and thought about his future. There was going to be a lot of changes in his future with Stephanie. It hadn't really hit him yet that he would be running this company sooner or later. Was he even qualified to run a company like WWE? He had a degree in Journalism, not in Business.

Stephanie leaned against him and he wrapped his arm around her. He loved her so much, but was he ready for what came along with her? He hadn't thought too hard about what the name "McMahon" meant, and what it entailed. It had always just been about his love for Stephanie, but there was so much more than accompanied her; so much more than just her.

"Are we going to the arena now?"

"Yeah, why? Did you want to go back to the hotel?"

"Well, I just feel a little overdressed," she said, looking down at her black slacks and light blue halter top.

"I think you look beautiful."

"You always think that. That's not a valid basis for me to measure how good I look. I need someone who thinks I'm a hideous beast to tell me how I look."

"I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks you're a hideous beast."

"Again with the flattery."

"It just comes naturally I suppose."

They drove to the arena and Stephanie got out, smoothing the fabric of her shirt against her stomach self-consciously. The people were always ready to humiliate her and take pictures and post them on the internet saying that she looked like a cow or something. She hated to admit it hurt, but sometimes they were just too brutal for her. Chris wrapped his arm around her waist and rested it against her stomach.

The crowd was deafening as they watched Chris over to the entrance. He walked over to some fans and signed some autographs for them and took some pictures. Stephanie was content to stand back and let Chris sign stuff for the fans, until they started calling for her too. Chris looked back at her with a big grin on his face as she came over to stand next to him. Papers and pens were thrust in her direction and she happily signed as many as you could.

"Are you and Chris Jericho together?" a young girl, seemingly around twelve, asked.

"Yes, we are," Stephanie smiled, "Don't think he's cute?"

"He's the cutest," she smiled widely, "You're so lucky."

"I know," Stephanie leaned in to whisper.

Stephanie signed stuff until her hand started to ache and Chris was finished signing stuff as well. Being the hometown guy was a lot of hard work, but he was so appreciative, he could've stayed out there for hours just being around the fans. He took her hand again and walked inside with her, shouldering his bag. He was still in his suit and a few of the guys made fun of him, but he just flipped them off and was done with it.

"Chris! Steph!"

Stephanie turned around to see Trish running to catch up to them, "Hey Trish, how's the hand?" They had all forgiven each other over the weekend, realizing that they had all been stupid.

"Could be better," she said, "But I'll live, I am the champ after all."

"Yeah, so how's Christian?"

"Whining as usual," she said, "I'm actually glad to be rid of him for a couple of days. I'm horrible aren't I?"

"No, because I know when Chris is whining I want nothing more than to get away from him."

"I heard that!" Chris said from where he was standing a few feet ahead of them, looking at the schedule posted on the wall.

"Aww, I love you," Stephanie said sweetly.

"Love you too."

"Too cute," Trish said, "You two are too cute."

"So are you going to be able to defend your belt?" Stephanie asked, looking at the belt over Trish's shoulder.

"I should be. I'm injured, but I can still wrestle. Just a broken wrist after all."

"That's good, oh, before I forget, your dress for the wedding is going to be a deep blue."

"Oh, so pretty," Trish said excitedly, "What kind of dress."

"I haven't decided yet, but I want you to help decide since you are wearing it and everything."

"Stephanie, I'm going to head to my locker room without you if you aren't going to come right now."

"Can't you see I'm talking."

"No, I went blind."

She sent him a look, "I'll be with you in a little while."

Stephanie linked arms with Trish as they exuberantly talked about the wedding. They saw Lita getting some water and giggled to each other. It was good to actually have female friends, Stephanie thought, she liked hanging around the boys, but this was fun too.

"So whose do you think it is?" Trish whispered after they had walked past Lita.

"I think it would be so creepy if it were Kane's, imagine having him as a father," Stephanie shuddered.

"And get this? Uncle Undertaker and Grandpa Paul Bearer."

Stephanie burst into hysterical laughter as Trish did the same a few moments later. They laughed all the way to catering where they collapsed into a couple of chairs, still on the tail ends of their laughing fits. Stephanie laid her head on her arms and buried her face, trying to stop laughing before she got the hiccups.

"Man, that was a good one."

"It's funny cause it's true," Trish said, "Oh man, what family that would be."

Stephanie looked up and spotted Randy leaving the room and turned to Trish, "Hey Trish, I need to go talk to someone, we'll talk later though. We'll talk at the hotel."

"Ok Steph, see you later."

"Bye," Stephanie said, hugging her before she left.

Stephanie jogged out of the room to catch up with Randy, but Edge caught her arm before she could. She smiled at him, and gave him a friendly hug, even though she wanted to talk to Randy for a second; it was kind of urgent at that. But Edge was also her friend so she could at least hear him out.

"Hey you," Steph said, "Need something?"

"Yeah, I'm calling out your ex-husband, I'm going to bring him down for you Stephanie."

"Edge, you don't have to do that," Stephanie said, "I appreciate it and everything, but you don't have to do that."

"I want to," he said, "You're my friend."

"Well thanks," Stephanie said, hugging him again. She didn't exactly know how to feel about this. She needed to find out what Hunter's intentions really were, and to find that out, she needed to talk to Randy. "Edge, if you'll excuse me, I told Chris I would go back to the room, so I'll talk to you later k?"

"Sure, bye Steph."

"Bye."

Stephanie continued her search for Randy, and turned the corner, only to spot him walking ahead of her. She looked around before jogging up and then past him. She brushed against Randy and whispered to him to follow her. Randy looked around a little before following a few paces behind Stephanie. Enough to know where she was going, but not enough for it to be overly suspicious. She ducked into a broom closet and Randy leaned against the wall for a moment before entering as well.

"What's up Steph?" Randy asked.

"Randy, have you noticed anything with Hunter lately, anything suspicious?"

"Not really, he's been kind of mopey lately, but I figure that's because of his belt. But he does seem upset about something."

"Oh." That was not what Stephanie wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that Hunter was up to something; that he had a plan of some sort that would try to bring her down. She didn't want to hear that he was being upset. Then she might actually start to think things that were crazy.

"Did something happen?"

"You can't tell Chris alright?"

"When am I going to get the chance?"

"I don't know, but just don't tell him."

"I won't, I swear."

"Hunter, I think, I'm pretty sure that he still...well, that he still loves me," Stephanie divulged.

"You're not serious," Randy said, "Is THAT why he's been mad?"

"I don't know, but it might be. I have a strong suspicion that it is."

"Wow...I don't know what to say."

"Say that he has a major plan that includes seducing me."

"I can't, he hasn't mentioned anything to us."

"Damn it, well, thanks anyways Randy. I don't know what to do, but thanks."

"Ok, if you need anything else, you let me know."

"I will," she said, hugging him, "One thing I really want is for you to come to my wedding."

"Steph, I don't know..."

"Randy, think about it. I know that you don't think you can, but a lot can change. And if you can't make it to the wedding, at least make a short appearance at the engagement party."

"When is that?"

"Chris and my two year anniversary, the 18th. It's going to be in Florida, just stop by, you don't have to be seen or anything, I just want you to at least be there. You're a good friend, to me and to Chris, and we both see you as a friend, and want to see you at our wedding and party."

"I'll try my hardest to be there."

"Thanks."

Randy left the closet first, and Stephanie left a few minutes later. She walked back to the locker room and to where Chris was pulling on a t-shirt, having taken off his suit in exchange for a Winnipeg Jets t-shirt and some vinyl pants. He had his back to Stephanie and she went to stand behind him and ran her hands up his thighs, feeling the vinyl beneath her fingers.

"I love when you wear vinyl."

"I know," he said huskily. "Apparently, I have to go out first thing in the show, but I don't know for what exactly, it just had a list of names. It was like, me, Flair, Coach, Stacy, and some other people, I'm not sure what's going on."

"Mmm, whatever it is, you'll be great," she whispered, laying her chin on his shoulder.

"Even if it's a kissing contest with Stacy?"

"Ok, maybe not that, but certainly everything else you'll be great at."

"The show is starting soon."

"Geez, how long was I gone?"

"It was almost time when we got here. Lunch with my parents took forever."

She laughed, "Ok, if you have to go out there, go out there."

They walked to the gorilla and she let him go out and greet his people. The cheers were deafening and he looked so happy that it made her happy. She got her first look into the ring, and she knew what it was as soon as she saw it. It was the set-up for one of her favorite childhood games. She laughed as she tried to picture Chris playing musical chairs; this one she HAD to see. Oh, she hoped she could get a tape of this.

Chris stood in disbelief at hearing that he was going to have to play musical chairs. After the incredible response from the crowd, he thought he'd be getting a little recognition, not have to play a silly, childish game. He sucked it up however when he heard their was a title on the line. He felt so silly walking around these chairs, listening to the dorky music that he wouldn't ever let his children listen to, but on with the game he went.

Eventually, due to his quick thinking, he won the game and found out he would be facing....his friend. Talk about your low-blows. Sure it would be for the title, and he would give it his all, but there was always a certain hesitation that came with fighting someone you were friends with. He knew he was going to go through with it, he just knew it was going to be hard.

He walked triumphantly backstage after his "win," and saw Stephanie waiting diligently for him. Stephanie bit her lip as she looked at him and he shook his head and walked past her. She stood there, holding her smile in. She ran to catch up with him and started humming, "Pop Goes the Weasel."

"Shut up," he said, but he couldn't hold in his own laughter.

"You were so cute out there," she told him, "You playing Musical Chairs. It's just...it's beyond words is what it is. Oh, that is something I need to get on tape to play on every major holiday. Then I'll always say, 'Oh remember when you had to play Musical Chairs in the middle of the ring,' and then I'll play it and we'll all have a good laugh at your expense."

"Bitch."

She gasped, "You were the one playing!"

"Like I wanted to," he said with a scowl.

"Oh, come on Chris, be a kid again," she said, pulling him along. They went back to his locker room where Stephanie continued to tease Chris about his skills at the game. She was going to have a good laugh at his expense. Chris rolled his eyes at her as he changed into his ring gear and then left her on the couch.

"Chris, sweetie, don't be mad," Stephanie laughed as she ran up to him again, "I thought it was a very good chance for you to get a title shot. Easiest way I've ever seen it done. Not that playing Musical Chairs is easy. It's all about timing and speed, and a certain strategy of cautiously going from chair to chair."

"Are you finished?"

"Not with all the material you gave me, I'm not."

"Chris Jericho! You won, you won the game!" Eugene yelled as he ran over to them.

"Yeah, thanks for the opportunity," Chris smiled kindly.

"You have to come celebrate with me! Come celebrate!"

"What do you mean Eugene?" Stephanie asked nicely.

"Come on!" He grabbed Stephanie's hand and she shrugged and followed Eugene. Stephanie guffawed as she saw Eugene's official office. This was even better than the set-ups that Mick Foley had when he was the Commish. "Let's celebrate!"

Stephanie looked at Chris, who had his jaw dropped and was shaking his head so much it was liable to fall off. "What the hell."

Stephanie took off her shoes and climbed into the moon bounce and started jumping around, much to Eugene's delight, now that he had someone to jump around and have fun with. Chris watched from a distance as Stephanie jumped around, her brown hair flying around her face as she laughed, not to mention with her bouncing around like that, it offered him a good view of...things. Luckily Eugene was too naive to stare at those...things.

"Chris, come on, where's my guy that plays air guitar and jumps on beds, and has fun. I want that guy back!" Stephanie pouted at him pathetically. "When did you get all serious on me?"

"We're getting married, that's a sign of responsibility and maturity. Mature adults do not jump in moon bounces."

"This one does, Chris, I don't like this side of you."

"Damn it," Chris muttered as he unlaced his boots hastily. "I'm coming in!"

"Yay!" Eugene yelled, "We're having fun!"

"Yeah, come on Chris, live a little."

Chris felt like a fool climbing in that thing, but once he was up and jumping around, he had to admit it was a teeny, tiny bit fun. Stephanie grabbed his hand as they bounced around happily. Eugene was just happy to have people jumping around with him, and Chris was just enjoying his moment of child-like fun.

They lost track of time until a production person said that Chris's match was coming up next. Chris swore and crawled out of the thing and laced up his boots quickly. He didn't have time to do a good job and just stuffed them in the top of his boots, knowing it would at least hold for the match. He said goodbye to Stephanie, who was still jumping around and raced out for his match.

Stephanie was just content to jump there, and knew that Chris would do well in his match. Chris walked down the ramp, again to thunderous applause and insanely loud cheering. He basked in it before starting to look over at Orton. He could tell Randy wasn't thrilled with this either. The first few minutes wasn't very eventful, but that was just because of their hesitation in fighting each other. He wondered vaguely and briefly if Stephanie was still in the moon bounce.

Hunter needed to talk to Eugene. He wanted the belt and if he had to go through Eugene, then he would go through Eugene. He walked over to the moon bounce, or "Eugene's Office," and heard him yelling happily. Hunter hoped that he wouldn't have to go in there.

"Eugene, we need to talk!" he yelled as he walked up, looking down at the ground.

"You have to come in here to talk!" Eugene shouted, "I'm having fun."

"Eugene, I'm not coming in there!"

"Yes, you have to!"

"No!"

"Uh huh!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

Finally, Hunter gave in and crawled inside the stupid thing. What he didn't expect to see was Stephanie looking down at him derisively. He stood up quickly, Stephanie ceasing her jumping. Hunter stared at her, and Eugene looked between them and stopped, scratching his head in confusion as to why they were looking at each other so intensely.

"You kidnapped Stephanie and made her your wife," Eugene blurted out.

"Yes, he did," Stephanie answered, "Yes he did."

"Eugene, why don't you go play with your action figures for a few minutes so I can talk to Stephanie."

"Are you going to do the McMahon-Helmsley Era again?"

"No," Stephanie said firmly.

"Ok, I'll go play," Eugene said, crawling out of the moon bounce.

"Hi Stephanie."

"Hunter," she said succinctly.

"I've been wanting to talk to you all night."

"What about?" she asked, not wanting to get into another blow-out with him.

"About last week, I never meant to...to ignore you like that. I was a bad husband, and I deserved to have you leave me."

"I believe you left me," she said, "Standing at the altar."

"Yeah...I'm sorry...but I still don't think that Chris is good enough for you."

"No Hunter, I'm not listening to this," she said, shaking her head and trying to walk over to the door of the thing, but finding it hard without jumping.

Hunter jumped in front of her. "Stephanie, just listen to me, he can't give you everything you need. Only I can do that. Do you remember how happy we were? Remember."

"I do remember, and then I remember all the times you hurt me beyond belief."

"Whose to say he won't do the same?"

"Because he's different."

"You may think that, but Stephanie, I think I deserve another chance to show you I can be everything you've ever wanted."

"Why did you choose now? When I'm engaged, why now?"

"Because this was the thing that jump-started me. I know I could lose you forever, and I don't like it. As long as you weren't getting married...I still had a part of you."

"This is b.s. and you know it, you're a liar."

Stephanie tried to hop out of the moon bounce, but found herself falling down. Out of instinct she tried to grab onto something and it ended up being her ex-husband. Since Hunter had not taken his shoes off in the moon bounce, he fell to and landed with a grunt on top of Stephanie.

"Oww," Stephanie said, wincing as she looked up at Hunter, "Would you get the hell off of me please?"

"Stephanie, come on, will you just hear me out?"

"Get off!"

Stephanie could only lay there as Hunter had a lot of his weight on her. She tried to shift, but it was no use. Hunter gazed down at her and brushed her unruly hair back and then down her cheek. She looked at him strangely. He just kept staring into her eyes with his hazel eyes. She tried to look away, but he kept her looking at him with his strong hand.

"Hunter, what do you want?"

He didn't answer her and he looked so calm and peaceful and she looked at him, feeling something shifting inside of her. He wanted to kiss her. She knew this look well, and while he had kissed her after their divorce, those were filled with disgust and hatred. He was looking at her with anything but hatred right now. He wasn't joking; all of this, every plan he set forth...he still wanted her, it was so obvious, and yet, here she lay, not noticing until just this moment.

"Hunter," she whispered, her voice soft and melodic.

"Steph," he whispered back. He was leaning in even closer now, his nose just touching hers.

"Hunter."

"What?"

"Get the hell off of me or I will kick you in the crotch," she said to him, her voice still soft and melodic.

To her surprise, he looked hurt. And then again, to her surprise, he rolled off of her. She sat up and crawled unceremoniously out of the moon bounce, Hunter following her. She felt undescribably sad for him in this moment. She turned to him.

"Hunter, our chance is over. I'm sorry you still have feelings for me, but it's been over between us for a very long time," she said, "Let me go."

"I don't know how," Hunter told her, "I just...you were...you were the first woman I ever loved."

"I know, and you were the first man I ever loved, but I...we can't be together, goodbye."

Stephanie walked away and Hunter turned to punch the moon bounce. He still loved her dammit and he wanted her. He would go to great lengths to have her, even if it meant ruining her happiness. She would see that he was the one for her. He would make her see. He went over to discuss things with Eugene.

Stephanie arrived at the gorilla just in time to see Chris getting the major upper-hand in his match with Randy. She was a little dismayed to see Batista out there, and even more dismayed to see Chris bleeding from the mouth. How did that one happen? She watched as he put on Walls and waited for Randy to tap, but because of Batista it didn't happen.

She was still on edge from the encounter with Hunter and she simply sighed when Chris was screwed out of the title, which was a very unpopular decision with the crowd. Chris was looking pissed, more so at Batista than at Randy. He looked like he was wearing lipstick with the blood on his mouth, but he couldn't taste it past the hatred he was feeling towards Batista at the current moment. He walked angrily backstage where Stephanie was looking distractedly into space. Usually she would be worrying if he was bleeding. He wasn't injured, he just had a cut in his mouth and he took a towel from a production person and walked over to his fiancée.

"Steph?"

"Oh hey," she said, looking at him, "Sorry about your loss."

"I'm ok, aren't you worried that I'm bleeding?"

"Oh, you're bleeding?" She took the towel away from his face to see the gush of red from his mouth, "You're alright though?"

"Yeah, what's up with you?"

"I'm just tired, can we go to your parent's now, I want to go to bed."

"Sure."

They walked to his dressing room and Stephanie caught sight of Hunter watching her. He had so wanted to kiss her earlier; he would've if she hadn't stopped it. She knew she hadn't wanted the kiss, but it was intriguing, this entire thing with Hunter. He wanted her. It felt strange to have a man she had been married to and divorced from want her again...or really, always want her. Why had he been such a coward though? Would she have wanted him back?

These were all such hard questions...questions she didn't have any answer for at all.


	217. SmackDown, July 8, 2004

Chris stared up at the ceiling, his one hand tucked behind his head and his other arm laying carefully on his chest. It was still sore from Monday and his match, and he didn't want to move it in any way that would hurt it any further. He wanted to kick Batista's ass on Sunday, and if extreme rest was the only way he could do it, then that's what he would do.

"I have to go to the office," Stephanie said.

Chris looked up at her as she sat astride him, "You don't even have a job there."

"You know why I have to go," she said.

"Is your father going to offer you a job?" Chris asked.

"No, he just needs someone he trusts to go over the accounting. You know how my father is about the company. He wants to make sure everything is on the up and up," Stephanie said as she picked up Chris's hand and held it both of hers. "I don't think I want a job right now, not with the wedding and everything. I'll be too busy with that."

"You know if your father offers you a job that you are going to take it without a second's thought," he smirked.

She kissed the palm of his hand, "Don't say that."

"Why?"

"Because you know me too well and it bugs me," she said happily. "I would take a job, as long as it wasn't too big."

"You'd take the big ones too...and speaking of big ones."

"Sometimes you just have to take the joke don't you? You can't leave well enough alone can you? I mean, years later and your still making those jokes."

"We can be married for fifty years and I'll still make jokes. You're much too easy to make fun of, and then when you get mad, you get that cute little angry look and your face gets all serious, like you want to beat me up."

"Nah, the beating up thing is an everyday want of mine."

"So when are you going to be leaving me?"

"In about twenty minutes," she told him, "Then you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day without me here to bug you about it."

"I'm going to lie here because what else am I going to do. We're in Connecticut, not Tampa so I can't go out with Edge or Christian, and Shane is working today, so I'm pretty much stuck here."

"I'd invite you to come along, but you would be very bored, and I don't want you distracting me when I have to look at a lot of numbers."

"So I'm nothing more than a mere distraction to you?"

"Well, you're more like my favorite distraction." Stephanie leaned down to kiss him. Chris made no attempt to wrap his sore arm around her and just let the contact be as it was. Stephanie pulled away and nudged her nose with Chris's, leaning in for one more kiss. She looked at him with adoration and smiled against his lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he responded, "Does this mean you're leaving me?"

"Yes, I'm leaving you, but don't be too sad ok?"

"I won't, I'm actually happy to get away from you for the day," he smirked, "I spend way too much time with you as it is. We're going to end up like that couple on the Amazing Race that spends twenty-three hours a day together. I love you Steph, but I'd get so sick of you if I didn't have some alone time."

"Me too, because you are just as much a handful as you always claim me to be," Stephanie told him, "I will see you tonight though."

"Well, unless I suddenly get abducted by aliens, yeah, you'll see me tonight."

"Don't be a smartass."

"But that's what I've based my entire existence on."

"Well then base your entire existence on me, because I've always wanted to be the center of someone's universe."

"How do you know you aren't already?"

"I don't, and let's keep it that way, cause you've got a joke in there somewhere and I don't want to be the butt of another one of your jokes."

"I joke cause I love."

"Uh huh," she nodded, giving him a sarcastic look. She carefully set his arm back on his chest and got up from the bed. She leaned down to give him a small kiss before walking back into her closet to get dressed. She wasn't going to be totally formal since she wasn't actually working there, but she didn't want to look like crap either. She settled on a pair of gray capri pants and a black spaghetti string tank top. She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and put on her black strappy sandals and she was ready to go to work, at least work in the helping out sense. She gave Chris a kiss goodbye before she left.

She was glad to have the opportunity to have something else to think about besides the wedding. It had been one of the only things she thought about lately, not that it was a bad thing or anything, because this was important to her, it was just, she needed other things to occupy her time. Maybe if her dad gave her a temporary job she could have something else to do when she was at Raw.

She arrived at Titan and went straight up to her father's office. She was buzzed in immediately by his secretary and walked into the large office. She greeted her father warmly as she sat down in the comfortable chair across from the large desk.

"You're looking beautiful today Princess."

"Thanks Daddy," she said, blushing at her father's comment. She always lavished in the praise of her father.

"I have the files for you here," he said, patting a stack of folders on top his desk, "You know where your old office is."

"You mean, I still have my old office."

"You know I could never bear to have anyone else have it."

"Daddy, you're just a big softie at heart," Stephanie said kindly.

"Don't let the secret out, and don't work too hard, I don't want your fiancé thinking I'm running you into the ground."

"You're not Daddy, I'm glad for the work, it gives me time away from the wedding and I need that."

"Plans not going well?" Vince asked with a furrowed brow, wondering if there was dissension among the engaged couple.

"Not at all; sometimes you just can't think about it all the time. I need something separate from it, you know, to keep me sane."

"Well, I could use some help around production, so we'll see what we can find for you at the shows. That should help keep you occupied."

"Really Daddy?" Stephanie asked excitedly.

"We could use you on the team."

Stephanie shot out of her seat and around the desk to hug her father tightly. Stephanie thought this situation was much better than when they were fighting. Her father tended to get carried away when there was pretty women involved, or in the last case, Sable. She was glad that he had come to his senses for the most part.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Daddy."

"Now that I have you on a temporary basis, get to work!" he barked, but in a joking manner.

Stephanie grabbed the files off the desk and took off with a smile on her face. Wait until Chris heard this; he was going to be so happy for her. One thing she loved about him was the fact that he got excited about things happening in her life. Hunter was never like that. If it didn't affect him directly then he had no use for it. Chris always relished in her accomplishments as well, and never minded that she had a higher position in the company than he did.

She walked to the elevators and took them down a few floors to where her office was located. It was a little bit dusty, but for the most part everything was the same. Her pictures were still on the desk and her books still strewn about on the shelves. She cleared a space on the desk and put the files down. First things first, she wanted to call Chris. She went to pick up the receiver when she thought twice about it, maybe this was a thing that she could tell him in person. That might be more fun. She smiled at that thought better and decided she would just go to work.

She picked up the files and started going over them. Her glasses slipped down to the end of her nose as she sorted through paperwork after paperwork. She wasn't doubting the ability of her dad's accountants, but their work was sloppy and unorganized. No wonder her father had called her in on such short notice; these were in desperate need of organization. Stephanie pushed the glasses up onto her nose as she continued her work.

After a couple of hours, the numbers started to swim together on the page and her stomach was growling loudly. She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and put her hand on her stomach. She was going to have to go get lunch. She thought about heading down to the cafeteria in the building, but one thing she hadn't forgotten was the food, and she was not in the mood for that today. The last thing she needed was a gas problem that Chris would no doubt comment about it.

"You sound hungry."

She opened her eyes, and sighed, "What are you doing here?"

"I had a meeting here today with some of the bookers about the tour coming up, and I happened to be walking past your office..."

She went back to her paperwork and started working furiously, punching in numbers on her calculator at high speed, "You were probably spying on me."

Hunter frowned, "I haven't resorted to that yet Stephanie."

"And how long before you do?" she asked without looking up.

"Honest to God, I was here for a meeting."

"Is the meeting over?"

"Yes."

"Then that really should mean that you should leave and go down to the lobby, out to your car, and back to your house."

"It's too lonely."

"You have Lucy," Stephanie said with a stifled laugh, "She'll keep you company."

"I still don't think it's funny that Jericho got her run over," Hunter said, a snarl in his voice.

"He didn't run over your dog alright, it wasn't his fault."

"Might as well have been."

"That was a long time ago, forget it," Stephanie said, emphasizing that this meant more than just about what had happened to his dog. Hunter didn't give in as he went and sat at the chair in front of her desk. For her part, Stephanie ignored what Hunter had done and focused more so on her work than she had before, ignoring the ever increasing sound of her stomach.

"Will you just give me a chance?"

Stephanie held up her left hand, the diamond sending shining light bouncing off of every surface it touched. "Look at the hand, and you tell me what chance you have?"

"So he bought you a big ring, so what?"

"If you cannot see that this is more than a ring, than you are even dumber than I ever gave you credit for."

"Go out to lunch with me."

Stephanie guffawed; was this man out of his mind. "Hunter, get a life, stop trying to worm your way back into mine."

"I'm not, I want to talk to you. Help me understand why you're with Chris."

"You have no idea at all do you? What is with the sudden 180? You go from being a complete asshole to me and then you're suddenly madly in love with me and won't let me go? I don't get the transformation at all!"

"You say that you have no idea about what's going on with you; you have no idea what's going on with me."

Stephanie bit her lip, "I'm going to regret this for all of eternity, but I don't see what other choice I have. Fine, you can take me to lunch, we'll talk, you'll help me understand and then finally we can move on and forget the abomination that was our marriage."

She got up and he did as well. She gestured for him to go out first, which he did and she reluctantly followed. They walked together down to the lobby, and Stephanie hoped nobody saw them and started talking. He led her out to his vehicle and she climbed in, remembering many times she had had to climb into this behemoth he called a car. She hated it.

"Thank you for coming."

"Don't thank me right now alright, just let's get this over with so I never have to look in your direction again."

She didn't say another word the entire trip to whatever restaurant he was taking her to. Not for his lack of trying though, because he kept trying to start conversation after conversation, most of which had to do with his match against Chris Benoit at Vengeance. She was suddenly years back, having to listen to Hunter go on an don about whatever opponent he was facing next; whoever dared to enter the game with him. How had she not seen early on in their marriage that this would be the only thing he would ever be about. Chris, on the other hand, had mentioned his match against Dave maybe three times, and at least one was just to say he didn't want to jostle his arm for his match, and that was it, the next sentence out of his mouth was if she wanted to go out to dinner that night or stay in. No more discussion, no talk of strategy; Chris actually had a life outside of the endless title hunt.

She wasn't even aware they had reached a restaurant until Hunter was opening the door for her. She didn't take his hand that he offered, instead hopping out carefully, not wanting to twist her ankle with the sandals she was wearing. She walked in step with him into a restaurant and as she walked inside, she realized right where they were. Right after Armageddon 1999, they had gone back to his home, now their home, and they hadn't had anything to eat, and he had taken them to a place where they had gotten to know each other, and she had fallen for him right then and there. This was the same place.

"Nice," Stephanie muttered as Hunter pointed out the table that she and Hunter had sat at. Well, at least he was trying.

"Obviously you remember the place," Hunter said as he sat down.

"How could I forget?" she asked with sarcasm, "It's here that my life went down the shitter."

"So you would've rather married Test?"

"No," she shuddered, "That's probably worse than being married to you."

"Well at least I know I got the one-up on Test."

"Why'd you bring me here?" she asked, looking around.

"Nostalgia."

She rolled her eyes, "Hunter, why are you bothering me? You cannot possibly still be in love with me, it's too crazy to be true."

"Why? The circumstances under which we got divorced...everything was so up in the air. One minute, I'm going to be a father, the next minute, you're aligning yourself with Jericho."

"There were a lot of minutes between that."

"You didn't...we never got to really talk."

"When were we supposed to talk Hunter, right after you knocked me down at our renewal ceremony? Or maybe right after you Pedigree'd me at WrestleMania? Or how about when you pinned me to send me out of the company? Those seemed like three definite 'I hate Stephanie' moments," she told him.

"I was hurt! You told me you were having my baby and you lied to me about it! I wanted that baby so much it hurt, and then to find out you were just playing me the entire time."

"Oh, don't even show me emotion now," Stephanie warned, "Where were you the previous weeks when I was being called a slut by everyone. Where were you the night my father rejected me on Christmas Eve? Chris had more compassion on that night than you did."

"Why does everything always go back to Chris?" Hunter asked angrily, "It's always, 'Chris did something you didn't do,' or 'Chris showed me more of this than you did,' have you forgotten that it was Chris who used to call you horrible names!"

"No, I haven't forgotten, but I've forgiven, and I love him Hunter. I love him so much that I would gladly walk away from WWE if it meant I could have Chris with me everyday."

Hunter was a little shaken by this comment. Stephanie had never said anything of that nature about him. And he knew how much she loved the business and to say that she would give it up for anyone was...crazy. But he was a determined bastard and he would keep on keeping on.

"I can make you just as happy."

"You had your chance, and you blew it. I stayed with you for two years...two years too many in my opinion."

"I tried so hard to get over you, but you were always there. It was like you were mocking me, every single day, mocking me and mocking what had gone on between us. I hated you for ruining me."

"Don't blame me for your problems, and you didn't seem to have any problem when you were hitting on multiple women and sleeping with them."

"To get my mind off of you."

Stephanie was about to answer when the waiter came over to take their orders. She ordered a simple salad, something light and easy to eat so this torture would not continue any longer than it had to. When the waiter had left, Hunter went back to looking at her, and just took her in. She looked good; she always had.

"Did he want you to change your hair?"

"Nope, I wanted to. Chris told me he would take me any way I wanted to be."

"Oh," he said.

"Hunter, I'm going to be honest here, I don't like you, I don't love you anymore. I did once, a lot, so much that it hurt to be away from you, but that...it faded, and that's why we aren't meant to be. You have done far too many things to me, and SO many things to Chris that it would be highly unlikely for me to ever want you in any capacity ever again, and that's the truth."

"Fine, if you want to think that, fine. I put my ass out there, and you just don't get it do you. Chris will never make you happy Stephanie! Take a good, long look at it, a good, long look at Chris and see him for what he is."

"What are you trying to say Hunter?"

"The man does not want you, I want you," he hissed, both his palms on the table in anger.

"Hunter, I think you should leave," Stephanie said calmly, staring him right in the eye.

"I drove you here."

"Yes, I'm well aware of what you have done. Of course, Chris is at home, and if I call him, he will come pick me up."

"Fine, do it, I don't care."

Hunter stormed out of the restaurant and Stephanie threw her eyes heavenward. Well at least that disaster encounter was done with. She flagged the waiter down and told him that her companion had to leave and not to bring his food, but she would be having someone else come in and to hold her salad. She took out her cell phone and called her house.

"Stephanie's house."

"I know it's my house, which is why I called it."

"Hey baby, what's up?"

"I'm eating lunch right now and I was wondering if you would come join me, I would love you forever and ever if you would."

"I would never turn down lunch with a beautiful woman who I adore," Chris said, "Where you at babe?"

She told him her location and the directions from her house and he said he'd be there soon. She sat there, sipping her iced tea as she waited for Chris to show up. She wished she had brought a book or something; she felt a little foolish sitting there with nothing to do. Before she could wallow anymore, she felt two hands cover her eyes.

"Chris, stop," she laughed, "You're going to smudge my glasses and then you're going to hurt your arm from all the unnecessary bending."

He kissed her cheek and then sat across from her where Hunter had been sitting not half an hour before. The waiter came back over to take their orders and Stephanie added a chicken finger plate to her salad, smiling at Chris when the waiter left.

"So you ordered, then ordered again?" Chris asked.

"Well, I didn't want to get a lot of food if I was eating alone, but then you came and I feel comfortable eating around you."

"That was weird," he laughed, "So how's work?"

"Work is good, and you want to know the best news of all."

"No, not really," he deadpanned.

"Funny, but not funny enough to make me laugh. My dad has given me a temporary position on the staff, and I will be working backstage on Sunday!" she said giddily.

Chris's jaw dropped, "See, now why couldn't your dad do this before you found the ring?"

She grinned, "Because it would've been no fun that way."

He grabbed her hands across the table and squeezed them, "Do you have any idea how happy I am for you right now?"

"As happy as I am. Finally, something to do!"

"Now I can say, hey, my fiancée runs the show around here, and mean it."

"Well, I'm not running the show, but I'm helping."

"Same thing," he said, "Before you know it, you are going to be running that place, and Bischoff will be bowing down before you."

"Oh, if only," she said, "Now that would definitely make my day."

"I really am happy for you baby. Really, really happy."

She leaned across the table to kiss him. As she pulled away, she brushed the hair away from his face and against his back. Here again was why Chris was better for her than Hunter. If this had been Hunter, he would've been asking how he could get more minutes on the show, but Chris had only been happy for her. Chris returned the favor as he brushed her hair out of her face.

"So about our engagement party," Stephanie said, "I rented out a hotel ballroom here. It's expensive, but my parents want to help with it, as you know. So I was thinking we have a sit-down dinner and then dancing and stuff like that, or should we just do hors d'oeuvres?"

"Wow, could I be any more out of my element?" Chris asked, "Formal or informal?"

"Semi-formal."

"Let's go with a buffet, that way, people can eat and stuff when they want and we don't have to go through the trouble of finding seating charts for everyone."

"Good idea!" she pointed out, "See, you are helpful."

"I have to prove my worth somehow."

"So we'll set that up," Stephanie said, making a mental note, "I'll have to go see my mom tomorrow."

Their food came then and they concentrated on eating, sharing their food with each other, which they had become accustomed to. Chris never ordered anything that Stephanie didn't like, simply because he knew she always wanted to eat off his plate. But he did the same thing so it evened itself out. After he had paid the bill, balking her attempt to pay, they went outside and walked down the sidewalk to where Chris had said he had to park, complaining that he couldn't find a closer parking spot. Stephanie turned and kissed his cheek to calm him down, when the familiar flash of blonde caught the corner of her eye. No, he didn't...

"What the hell?" Chris muttered, then glared at Hunter, "Are you following us?"

Hunter ignored him mostly, except the dirty look that he sent in his direction, "How was your salad Stephanie?"

Hunter couldn't have chosen more deadly words than those. Chris backed away from her and stared at her intently, wondering how Hunter could've known that she had ordered a salad. And it just occurred to him that Stephanie was without a car, and yet, she had never mentioned how she had gotten to the restaurant in the first place.

"Go away Hunter," Stephanie said, trying to blow him off.

"That was the restaurant Stephanie and I fell in love at," Hunter said smugly to Chris.

Chris stood there, staring at Stephanie, who turned to him before looking back at Hunter, "Would you just leave us alone!"

"Stephanie, did you and Hunter come to lunch together?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Hunter said, "She wanted to talk, I guess you just weren't interesting enough to keep her attention."

"That's a lie!" Stephanie screeched and stamped her sandaled foot. "You know it is!"

"You did agree to go to lunch with me though, right?"

"Chris, he coerced me."

"Well, after what happened in the moon bounce on Monday, I don't blame you for wanting to come to lunch with me."

"What? What happened on Monday?" Chris asked, confused he looked to Stephanie.

"I thought couples weren't supposed to have secrets from each other, and you kept a secret from him...about me. Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie...Chris, Stephanie and I were in the moon bounce together, and she grabbed me and pulled me on top of her."

"No, it did not happen like that, Chris, I swear, it didn't happen like that!" Stephanie said, pleading with Chris to the point that she was tugging on the bottom of his shirt.

"But something did happen?" Chris asked, staring down at the ring on Stephanie's left hand. "Something happened and you didn't tell me?"

"There was NOTHING to tell," Stephanie said, "I swear to God, I was jumping around, he came in and I went to leave, I tripped and fell and grabbed onto the nearest thing I could, and that happened to be Hunter and he fell on me, he wouldn't let me out from under him and so I told him I would kick him if he didn't and then I left, that's it."

"Yeah right Stephanie," Hunter said, "We both know that's not what happened in there, they don't call it a bounce for nothing."

Chris cocked his head to the side and took a step away from Stephanie. Stephanie tried to reach out for him, but he wouldn't let her touch him, instead putting his arms in front of him, telling her to not get too close. Stephanie looked at him, stricken, her eyes wet and her lip quivering. She finally put her arms to her sides and looked down.

Chris nodded slowly, "So let me get this straight. You and Stephanie went into the moon bounce, while I wasn't around, and you had sex, is that what you are telling me Trips?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, and it's true."

"Stephanie, how could you?" Chris said, turning to her. Stephanie opened her mouth to deny any such claim but Chris stopped her with her hand. "I love you and this is how you treat me."

"She's no-good. I knew she would do the same exact thing to you that she did to me," Hunter said, "I mean, she's the one who provoked it all."

"Man, I should've seen this coming," Chris said, shaking his head, then turning to take a few steps to Hunter, "You know, I see where you're coming from."

"I thought you would, once you finally saw the tramp in action."

"I do see, I see it so clearly."

Chris reared his good arm back and hit Hunter square in the jaw, sending him staggering back and hitting the pole of a "No Parking" sign. Chris shook off his hand a little and cracked his neck. He walked back over to Stephanie and wrapped his arm around her waist as they kept on walking.

Chris leaned in to Hunter as he passed, "Next time you want to try and lie, make sure that she didn't tell me exactly what happened before. I know what happened in the moon bounce, next time, try to figure that out before you make an ass out of yourself. And don't ever call the woman I love a tramp again."

Stephanie giggled and waved goodbye to Hunter over her shoulder as she and Chris walked to the car. He opened the door for her before he went and got in to drive them back to Titan. Stephanie laughed as she looked out the window and then turned to Chris, who started laughing as well.

"I thought you would tell him that you already knew and not act like you didn't, but I thought that way was funnier."

"Me too, but really, why were you out to lunch with him?" Chris asked.

"He wouldn't leave me alone in my office and he wanted to talk about how he's soooo in love with me, so I agreed, we fought, he left, you came, then he came, and that's where we are now."

"My poor baby," Chris said with a mock pout, "And this is why I said I should come with you today."

"Shut up."

"Can I be your bodyguard? I can follow you around and protect you."

"You do that already."

"Oh yeah, that's right. With one exception though."

"What's that?"

"I'd get paid."

"Then Chris, yes, you may be my bodyguard."

"I hope the wages are good." She leaned over and started kissing up his neck to his mouth.

"Oh, they're the best."


	218. Vengeance, July 11, 2004

"A restraining order, you've got to be kidding me!"

"I'm not Stephanie, I think it would do at least a little bit of good," Kurt told her over the phone.

"You're crazy, do you think that would even stop him?"

"It wouldn't, but at least you could get him sent to jail if he came near you again," Kurt tried to reason with her. They had been talking for the past two hours about what she could possibly do about this Hunter problem that had seemed to pop up recently. She wanted to do something about it, but she didn't exactly know what she was going to do. She thought that Kurt would have some insight on the subject, but so far, he was suggesting stupid and implausible things.

"Yeah, because that would bowl over well with everyone. What if he wins tonight and then what? I send the champion to jail."

"I'd pay good money to see that," Kurt said with a chuckle.

Stephanie looked thoughtful for a moment, "Ok, yeah, that would be a pretty good sight, watching him get carted off in a police cruiser, but we have to be serious here."

"What does Chris have to say about all this?"

"He just thinks Hunter is pathetic and harmless. I think he is harmless, to ME though, he'll beat Chris into the ground if he got the chance. But I don't think he would do anything to me, not if he claims to love me so much."

"So in essence, he's jealous of Chris."

"Yeah, but he has been for years," Stephanie giggled, "You should've seen him when we were together and he would feud with Chris. It was always about Chris and bringing down Chris."

"Maybe Hunter is really trying to get through you to get to him," Kurt joked.

"Ok, and eww, that's disgusting, and I don't ever want to think about that again," Stephanie said with a shudder.

"Speaking of significant others, where's yours?"

"He's around, I don't keep tabs on him or anything. Besides, tonight I have my own office," Stephanie said, putting her high-heeled feet on top of the large oak desk sitting to one side of the spacious room.

"Why do you have your own room?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you Kurt," Stephanie teased, "My dad is letting me run the show tonight!"

Kurt gasped, "No!"

"Uh huh, it's all me baby! Well, not ALL me, but definitely the running the show part. I've got the office, and then I'm going to be at the gorilla directing traffic, making sure that everything goes alright. I'm in charge tonight."

"Congratulations! Is this a permanent thing?"

"Unfortunately no, it's just a temporary position, but I can maybe persuade my father to let me work full-time. I don't even care that I'm not on-screen, I'm just glad to be here and doing work. I finally feel like I'm not just hanging onto Chris's shirt and following him around."

"I don't think that's how he saw you," Kurt told her.

"I know that's not how HE sees me, it was how I saw me," she answered, "I mean, you have to admit, I was a little pathetic, just coming to the show because of my fiancé, I don't see any of the other wrestler's girlfriends coming around at every show."

"Probably cause they have jobs and stuff."

"And I don't, so I was pretty much useless."

"Not to mention the little fact that your parents own the company and you are inevitably going to own the company as well, so therefore you have even more of a right to be there," Kurt said.

"You're not helping."

"I'm trying to make you see that you should be there, and Chris wants you there and you know it."

"I know! Kurt, I'm not depressed, I'm happy!"

"Well good then."

"Although I better go because I want to do some prelim checks of everything to make sure that everything runs smoothly tonight. I actually have work to do, I can't be sitting around here talking to you."

"Well, gee, I feel special," Kurt scoffed.

"Bye Kurt."

"Bye, good luck with the show tonight, I hope that everything runs smoothly."

"I'm in charge, everything is going to be great. It'll be the best Pay-Per-View of the year."

"I'm sure it'll be better than the last one."

"Kurt, that was partly your fault, so bye," Stephanie teased, hanging up the phone.

Stephanie put her cell phone down on the desk and got up, grabbing her trusty clipboard that she had had for years. It was covered in wrestling stickers and she wouldn't trade it in for anything in the world. She clasped her checklist on the top of it and walked out of her office and into the empty arena. Empty of fans that is, but filled with crew people.

She went around checking on everything. She noticed that the ropes weren't as tight as they should be and ordered someone to fix this. The last thing she needed was for someone to get injured because of faulty ropes, especially if that person was Chris. She leaned against the ropes once they had been tightened and had the sound crew play the themes for entrances to make sure that they could be heard on all the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, people of all ages, hot sexy beasts, of which only one exists, please welcome your show coordinator for the evening. The lovely, the beautiful, the rich, the sexy, the woman who is going to marry a sexy beast, Stephanie McMahon!" a voice boomed on the loudspeaker, causing the crew to look up at Stephanie, who was turning into a nice shade of red.

"Don't mind that, just get to work, someone is obviously making sure the speakers work," she said as she glared at the ramp.

Chris's music was being blasted on the loudspeaker and he came out with a microphone in hand. Stephanie looked up at him as he did his little pose and stood on top of the ramp. She laughed and rolled her eyes as he glared down at her. She checked over her clipboard, letting Chris have his fun.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, nice to see you've made your way back onto the crew. Did you have to go begging to Daddy for your job back?"

Stephanie ignored him and continued on with her work.

"I'm sure everyone is glad to see you back on the show, at least behind the scenes. You've been here for what, a few hours, surely enough to get around to at least a quarter of the locker room. Lucky you're in the ring right now where it's appropriate for you to be on your back."

Stephanie lifted her head, her mouth slacked a little as she stared up at Chris who had a smirk of self-satisfaction on his face. Stephanie went to the edge of the ring where some of the other microphones were being kept, not having been set up for commentary yet. She grabbed one and flipped the switch.

"I don't know what your problem is JERICHO, but I suggest that you shut your mouth and let me work."

"Well, I can shut my mouth, but you can't shut yours or you'll be out of work." Chris laughed at his own joke as he slowly walked down the ramp to the ring.

"Is that so Jericho?"

"It is so, I've seen you around, flirting with everything that breathes. The long absence must have made your heart grow fonder of every single guy working backstage or wrestling."

"It sure made me grow more hateful of you," she shot back, "And if there was a line to get with me, you can be sure that you would be in the very back."

"Speaking of back," Chris said as he was not on the mat surrounding the ring, "I notice that your dress accentuates the fact that you have back."

"Well, it wasn't my choice of attire, but my fiancé thought I looked good in it, I don't know what he was thinking."

"Don't lie Stephy, we both know you don't have a fiancé, just a pimp, but I'm sure he treats you well nonetheless."

"Oh yeah, he has to be a pimp, considering the kind of outfits he wears."

Chris grabbed his heart, "Ooh, that one stung Stephy-baby."

"Not any more sting than what you got after you slept with that whore the other night."

Now Chris was almost into full-blown hysterics as he slid into the ring. Stephanie took a few steps back as he stepped inside, acting like she was intimidated by him. He sized her up and licked his lips a little and she gave him a small glare.

"Scared of me sweetheart?"

"Never," she said, "There's no reason for me to be afraid of the likes of you."

"Well, you should be."

"I don't think so."

Chris took a few steps towards her and she took a few steps back, keeping the distance even between them. Chris smirked his famous smirk and she gave him her best distrustful look. He walked towards her a little bit more and she did the same, backing up straight into the turnbuckle and it was then that she knew she was caught. Chris licked his lips again and stalked towards her.

"Seems you're stuck Stephy," Chris smiled, his grin wide and sparkling.

He stood right in front of her and she pretended to look frightened of what he was about to do. He put both his hands on the ropes next to her and leaned in a little, bending his arms to close the distance. He was going to kiss her and he leaned in to touch his lips to her. He closed his eyes to kiss her and was met with....air.

Stephanie roared in laughter as she ducked down and then under his arms as Chris was met with nothing. She stood in the middle of the ring defiantly and batted her eyelashes. Chris turned around and gave her a mean look. She put her hands on her hip and stuck her tongue out.

"Has it occured to you yet that I have WORK to do, and I can't do that if you're around trying to bug me."

Chris pouted, "I just wanted to make your first night back memorable."

She looked around and sighed, opening her arms to him. He came over to her and swept her up in her arms and hugged her. She let him swing her around, despite the fact she was wearing a dress. He held her to him as she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. He pulled away, but kept his arms around her and leaned against her.

"I love you," he said to her quietly. Everyone that was around let a loud "aww" out and Chris pulled away and stared at them. Then he realize the microphones in both their hands that obviously had picked up what they had said. Chris looked down. "Yes, I LOVE HER!"

Stephanie laughed and took the microphone from him and turned them off, "I have to get back to work."

"I'm bored though, Trish and Christian aren't coming, and Edge is boring."

"Why is he boring?"

"Because all he wants to think about it destroying Evolution. I can't stand it. I mean, there is life outside of the ring," then he looked around, "Except when the life outside my ring is in the ring, then everything seems to come together a little too perfectly."

"So you're planning on following me around while I do everything before the show."

"Take pity on a poor boy from Winnipeg."

She showed off her ring, "I think I've taken enough pity on you."

"I'm a pity engagement!"

Stephanie put the microphones down with the rest and went to get out of the ring. Chris jogged over and held the ropes for her. She gave him a grateful smile and let herself out of the ring as Chris got out as well. They walked up the ramp hand in hand, Stephanie periodically stopping to make sure that something was in order. Chris just stood there with a proud smile on his face as she went about her work.

That was the woman he was going to marry, he kept thinking, as she walked around, testing things and writing things down. She was wearing a simple red dress, nothing too fancy, but very business-like and chic. He was so proud that he could call her his own, especially when she was such a kick-ass boss around here. He tried not to disturb her as the set construction guy went over the schematics of the set and she inspected where it was held together and made sure that it would hold.

Some crew guy walked by and was setting something up and Chris leaned towards them, "That's my fiancée, she's the boss around here."

"Yeah Mr. Jericho, I know."

"Yeah, but she's in charge tonight, she's doing a great job, keep that in mind if anyone asks you if she should be in charge."

"Yes sir."

Stephanie walked over, "I'm done out here, I'm going to go set up the production table, make sure the headsets work and the monitors and everything."

"I'll come."

"It'll be boring."

"You really don't want me around do you?"

"Not that I don't want you to, I just have things to do. People are going to start coming soon, so why don't you go put your wrestling tights on, and then your boots and stuff, that way, you'll be done and ready and I'll let you sit with me at the table during the show."

"Really?"

"Sure, I could use the company. I'm the only one sitting there tonight, the sound and video guys are going to be closer to the ramp."

"I'd love to keep you company," he said with a short kiss.

"Then go get ready."

Chris left then and she went about checking on things. She found pretty much everything running smoothly and took her spot at the production table, writing down some notes. It felt so good to be working again that she could hardly hide her elation.

"That spot looks good on you."

"Thanks Edge," she said, looking up, "How are you doing on your preparation for your match?"

"I'm going to kick his ass and steal his title."

"Good luck with that," Stephanie said, sounding enthusiastic, but really not wanting either one to win. She couldn't decide who to root for; she had ties with both of them. Although Edge was getting a little bit on the annoying side with all this intense talk. She appreciated a person who liked to wrestle, hell, her whole life had been revolving around wrestling, but she hated when people got too intense. It reminded her too much of Hunter.

"I'll let you get back to work," Edge said, "I want you to make a good impression on your father so this can be a permanent thing. I'd love to see you running the show around here."

"I'd love to be running the show around here," she admitted.

"You'll be great, and the show will run so smoothly that you're dad will be begging you to come back full-time."

She patted his hand, "Thanks Edge."

"Ok, now I'm letting you go back to work," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek, "Good luck."

"You too," she said, kissing his cheek back. Edge walked away, whistling, and she went back to her paperwork, calculating how long things should be running for, and the times allotted for each of the matches. It wasn't fun work, but it was good enough for her.

"So you'll kiss Edge, but you won't kiss me."

"I only kiss those who I like," Stephanie said smartly as Hunter sat on top of the table she was currently working on. "Haven't you had enough of me and Chris to last you a lifetime."

"So I slipped up. The old Stephanie wouldn't have told."

"The old Stephanie would've found you attractive."

Hunter smiled, "So I hear you're in charge tonight. Lucky us."

"Try to sabotage anything and I will have you fired."

Hunter chuckled, "I wouldn't dream of it. I do still love you babe, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize your career." He leaned in so that he was resting his forearms on the table. Stephanie, trying to create some space, leaned back in her folding chair and rested her hands on her knees.

"Don't call me babe."

"You never minded before."

"Yeah, and I was also in love with you before, things change, I wouldn't expect you to understand the concept, considering you still seem to think its 2001 and I'm still your wife."

"I want you to be my wife."

"Keep dreaming," Stephanie said with a happy smile.

"It wouldn't be so hard," Hunter told her, "You just have to take off that ring, and put mine back on."

"I never got an engagement ring from you, so that would defeat the point. As I recall, you drugged me and married me in a cheap ass ceremony in Vegas."

"You never seemed to mind."

"I think I was blinded, or brainwashed, you pick."

"Chris is weak, he could barely take me on last week."

"Well I sure found it funny when you back into the sign, and I think I was the only one he actually wanted a reaction out of, so I think it was a job well done. But otherwise, you shouldn't have hung around there trying to appear all pathetic and the like. It just makes you sad."

"I am sad without you Stephy."

"Well, I'm not. Why don't you go sleep with three or four women who look like me and I'm sure that'll make you feel better."

"I haven't been with anyone in a long time, not since I saw you again when you came to Raw with Christian," Hunter said softly, reaching out to run his finger over her shoulder. She swatted his hand away angrily and bit her lip.

"Well that's your problem, but if you're having trouble, I'm sure your doctor can prescribe some Viagra or something."

"I never needed that stuff, remember?"

Stephanie shuddered visibly, "Yuck, don't remind me of that. That's a part of my life that I've buried into the deep, dark crevice of my mind, never to be spoken of again. It's bad enough that I was considered your wife, but to think that I did...THAT...with you, just too hard to remember. Post-trauma syndrome and all that."

"Have you shared OUR bed with Chris, at OUR house."

Stephanie guffawed, "OUR house, oh, my poor little ex-husband, it was never YOUR house to begin with, we just stayed there because I couldn't stand that museum you called a home. When I want everything to be in monochrome, maybe I'll come back and live at your house, but until then, I'll stick where I am. And as for my bed, no, it's gone, I burned it in my backyard."

"You can't get rid of memories."

"Actually, I heard there's this way you can. It's called, 'hit me over the head with a frying pan,' would you like me to try it on you?"

"Stephanie, when are we going to end this silly game, and when are you going to come to your " Stephanie tapped her chin thoughtfully, "January 15th I should be fully recovered."

Hunter scowled as he remembered the date that was. But that wouldn't deter him. He was about to open his mouth again when someone slid in behind Stephanie and then plunked down in the seat next to her. Chris leaned his chin on Stephanie's shoulder and gave Hunter a smile that grated on Hunter's nerves.

"Hunter, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Chris asked.

"Jericho," Hunter said, his voice deadly.

"Stephanie wanted me to sit with her while she ran the show. I love to just watch her work because she's so good at what she does. I don't think you ever got to appreciate that about her." Stephanie smiled inwardly. Even when he was arguing with Hunter, Chris still managed to compliment her and focus on her strengths rather than his strength that came from dating her.

"I understand fine."

"Well NOW, I'm sure, because she's awesome. She had the ropes tightened when they were too loose, wouldn't want you falling on your head now or something if they broke while you were running the ropes."

"No, not at all," Stephanie laughed. "You know Hunter, I was just thinking, as I was sitting here with you two, that I seem to recall a conversation with Chris about something you said to him a long time ago. You said that Chris was jealous that you had me and he didn't. I just think that is the best case of irony I've ever heard. Don't you agree?"

Hunter stood up and walked away, the faint sounds of Chris and Stephanie laughing fading as he walked further away. His history with Jericho was storied and detailed. Hunter had hated him from the moment that he had walked into the company. And not a single day had passed since that he hadn't felt hatred for Jericho.

"Dave!" Hunter yelled as he walked into the locker room. Dave walked out of the bathroom his hair slicked back and looking superb in his dark gray dress pants and his tight red dress shirt that accentuated every one of his muscles to perfection.

"What is it man? Flair's been looking for you, he's tired of watching that stupid goof Eugene."

"That's not what this is about, I want you to take out Jericho tonight, and I mean take him out," Hunter said sinisterly.

"I was already planning to."

"Yeah, but I want you to make this one hurt, none of this wrestling shit, you go out and take him down by any means necessary. If you don't get the win, you are going to get shit from me."

"Fine man, calm the hell down," Dave said, "What's your problem?"

"I'm not letting Jericho get the upper hand," Hunter said, slapping Dave's shoulder, "He thinks he can just have Stephanie, he's got another thing coming to him."

"Ok, I can take him out, no problem."

"Good," Hunter said darkly, "I'll see you guys later."

Stephanie laughed, "So then he was all leaning on the table and I swear it was like he wanted to pose for GQ or something. I was just waiting for him to roll off the table. I would've loved that."

Chris laughed as Stephanie talked while she was working. The show had started moments ago and people were bustling around, but here she was, completely in charge of everything and showing that she was the boss. It made him really excited to see her in her element, finally, and also a little turned on by her power. He kissed her cheek, but she shooed him away as she discussed the video package with one of the technicians.

"And we want a full shot of the arena, with a sweep down to floor seats," Stephanie said into her headset, the one that went to the truck. She had another one to speak to the technicians taking care of the pyros, and then one to the announcers. "Then get a shot of the ring, and tell lighting I want a kind of backlit effect with that. Not too much. Great, thanks."

"You're so freaking awesome," Chris said in awe as she took off one set of headsets and then put on another.

"Ok, JR, King, you're on, quick intro to the arena and to the audience at home, and then we go straight into our first match," Stephanie said into another headset. She was so coordinated it almost scared Chris. It was funny though really, because she wasn't as organized at home or anything, but put her in charge of some function and the girl was like a machine. A well-oiled, fine-tuned machine. She had another headset on now as she was speaking, "Make sure when we get a winner, that we immediately get a close-in shot of them and the losers, make it camera seven on the floor, ready for position."

Stephanie took off her headset and set it down as the match was going on. During the actual wrestling, she didn't have to do quite as much as the camera crew behind the scenes knew which shots looked best and she didn't really have that luxury. She smiled over at Chris silently.

"You are so sexy," Chris whispered into her ear.

"Shut up," she said, ducking her head a little, "I'm just working."

"Yeah, working sexily."

"Stop! Or I'll cut your match and you won't win."

"Nah, don't do that."

She got back on her headset and started talking as the match ended. "And cut to camera twelve in Evolution's dressing room so we can see what the assholes are up to."

The camera cut to them and Stephanie watched disinterestedly. Hunter was talking about Eugene and he looked pissed, maybe it was because of them. That would make it a little sweeter. Just knowing they had a way to get under his skin was fantastic.

"Ok, camera five, get ready for entrance shots for the Jericho and Batista match. Production, we've got Jericho/Batista next, prompt Jericho's music first, Batista following since he's not here yet, that's it for now." Chris got up from his position at the table and kissed Stephanie really quickly as she mouthed "good luck" and put another headset on. "Ok, pyro man, we got Jericho coming up and have pyros ready."

Chris went out for his match and everything went off as planned; he smiled a little, that was all the doing of his fiancée. If he looked smug it was because he was. He went into the ring to wait for Batista's entrance, also manufactured by Stephanie. Was it possible to actually burst from pride? Because he really felt like he was going to do that. No matter, it was time to go to work.

Dave got in the early blows, but Chris was quick to get the offense on his side as he sent Dave off the top and onto the floor. He tried for some more moves, but unfortunately Dave managed to get the upper-hand. Dave was like a monster, having only tunnel vision that Hunter had told him to destroy Chris. Chris tried to target his leg, but Dave wasn't even hurt by it and went to punch Chris, putting some sting on it so it would hurt.

But it wasn't to last as Chris got the advantage back. He was the veteran in the ring and it showed when he got some good moves onto Batista, attempting the pin a couple times, though they came up fruitless, he was in firm control of the match...at least for the moment. The next moment Dave was choking him by the throat, and then trying to choke him out in various ways, but Chris managed to power his way out of the moves, though his back was aching a little from being stretched across Dave's knee.

Nonetheless, Chris was a trooper and continued with the match, ignoring the pain as he went after Dave again. He was almost through after a huge spinebuster from Dave, but he just barely kicked out of that. He got up groggily to continue with the match.

"Looks like he's having trouble."

"Will you EVER leave me alone?"

"I figured since your fiancé is out there wrestling, we could have a moment together." Hunter actually just wanted to see her face when Chris lost and it didn't look to be that far off.

Dave went for a sit-down powerbomb and Chris's back landed hard on the mat, but he managed to have a foot on the rope. So it was to his consternation that he heard the bell signaling the match was over. He sat up half-way and looked to where Dave was gloating. He was pissed off at what just happened and wanted to tell off the referee for not seeing that.

"That's bullshit!" Stephanie yelled, throwing down her headset as she saw the ending, "Bullshit!"

She saw as Dave walked backstage and gave a little nod in her direction. She scowled at him intensely and he blew a kiss in her direction. She wanted to go over and kick him or something, but she had a show to run and she sat down angrily, grabbing the first headset she saw.

"Fine, get the camera on Evolution again, I want the world to see how big a group of assholes these guys are."

Chris walked backstage and over to the table where Stephanie was stationed. Seeing her made him feel a little better and he crouched down in front of the table, resting his arms on top of the tabletop and then his chin on his arms. She gave him a sad smile and he gave her one in return. She reached out to tuck some of his matted hair behind his back.

"Ok, we have the tag match next, make sure we're on cue," Stephanie said shortly as she took her headset off and matched Chris's position with her chin on her arms. "You lost."

"I know," he said, "I have a feeling it was an order from the boss."

"Me too. You'll get him next time...if there is a next time."

"Maybe I'll challenge him to a rematch at SummerSlam," Chris smiled, "It's not the end of the world because I lost."

"No, it's not, but it would've been nice to see you win."

"Yeah, it's always nice to win, but when you lose something and then you win in the big match, the one everyone will remember, it makes it that much sweeter. Like when I won the WCW title the first time, against Rocky, people are more prone to forget that and remember when I beat Rocky and Austin at Vengeance in 2001."

"That's true, although I kind of prefer the No Mercy match with Rock better."

"Well, I got a little inadvertent help with that win from a striking brunette."

"At least I can say that I helped you win your first world title," Stephanie said, "I also helped you lose your second world title."

He winked at her, "Really, I'd forgotten."

"I love you, and I was proud of you out there, considering Dave had it out for you and because he's so much bigger than you."

"Well thanks, but I couldn't have done anything without your skills to lead. Without you, the lights were liable to just go out in the middle of my match, and I would've blamed the shoddy production team, but nope, my baby has everything under control."

Stephanie smiled as Chris left to go get changed back into his street clothes. She continued to work the show, taking in every aspect of it, and relishing it like it would be the last time. She hoped it wouldn't be, but it might, and she wanted to savor it for as long as she could. Hunter losing later that night topped the cake for her, even if the ending was messy in some ways. The fact was he lost, and in a way, she had won, coming back and proving her worth. She just hoped her father felt the same way. She was starting to get restless again. Maybe it was time to start asking for her job back more often.

Time to talk to Vince again.

"Chrissy, sweetie, I noticed something on the show, that I think you failed to tell me," Stephanie said as they lay in bed later that evening.

"I forgot to tell you something?"

"Well, during the show they had that diva thing, which I don't even want to get into because my father is an idiot."

"Says the woman who just got a part-time job from him," Chris joked.

"Oh come on, you know that stuff is just crap."

"Yeah, it's crap, for me at least, it's not like I'm going to want to talk to the winner or anything. Or check them out ever, considering I'm very much taken."

"And that's good, because you are taken."

"Yeah, so I'm agreeing with you on it, your father is an idiot. Though not a total idiot because he did have a part in making you, and he did have a part in letting you be in the company...so those things I have to say he was a genius about."

"Fair enough," she said, "But this is crap, but during the show, I guess JR and King got information I didn't, information on the fact that you are a judge for said Diva Search."

"I'm a WHAT for WHAT!" Chris said, lifting his head to look down at Stephanie.

"That's what I heard."

"Um, who decided that?"

"I don't know! Bischoff?"

"Well this is the first thing I'm hearing about it, great, just great, so I can't go home for another weekend!"

"It's in what? New York? Los Angeles?"

"I don't know, one or the other," Chris groaned, "God, why do I have to do crap like this? You know, it was probably Vince. He probably put it on to test my fidelity or something."

"What! Daddy wouldn't--ok, Daddy would do that, I hate to say...that's it, I'm coming with you."

"I never not invited you," he said, "You should come. I want you to come. Cause Lord knows I'm going to be bored out of my freaking mind at this thing."

"And you'll have girls throwing themselves at you just because you're a judge!"

Chris cleared his throat, "And I'm a sexy beast."

"Oh that too," she said, then looked at him, "Chris, I know you're sexy, but I've been with you for two years now, the novelty has worn off."

"The novelty?"

"Yes, the novelty of me being with the sexiest guy in the world. I love you and everything and not cause of just your looks...you know, I bet Daddy wants you there because you'll be the most objective one, considering the other three judges are Randy, Edge, and my ex-scum. He needs someone who'll try to pick someone good for the company, and since you'll be running the company someday, that man is you."

"I liked the fidelity test better," Chris said, "And Hunter's going to be there, just great. He's going to want you to be one of the girls in the thing, just so he can ogle you."

"Shall I wear my parka and snowpants then? That'll make me unattractive."

"Of course, you'll also die of heat stroke since it's July, but yeah, it would make you unattractive."

"You're saying that you think I can be unattractive! You're going to fail this test and sleep with one of these girls and then I'll cry and cry all night and then I'll throw my ring at your head and it'll leave a dent."

"Where the hell would I find time to sleep with a chick that's not you? I barely have time for you, let alone some other girl. Except I make time for you. But really, I'm not staying at a hotel if its in New York, so no hanky-panky there, and you'll be with me. I'd let you just sit on my lap the entire time, but I don't think that's what they're going for. Especially when I'd say, 'my Raw diva choice is Stephanie McMahon,' because that would defeat the whole purpose of the contest and then Hunter would do something childish like push me off my chair."

"Even though I'd find that funny..."

"But you see, remember you'd be on my lap and then you'd fall, or better yet, Hunter would catch you, claim to have saved your life and then you'd be indebted to him and you can kiss our wedding goodbye."

"Ugh, I'm going to have to talk to Daddy."

"Yeah, like that'll get me out of it," Chris said dully.

"Well, I can try can't I?"

"Good luck, I think you should just stick to getting the job back."

"Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

"When are you ever happy when I'm seen with another girl."

"Shut up Jericho, and stop getting in the good points."

"Ok."

"And you don't get the last word this time."

"Yes, I do."

"Go to sleep."

"I am."

"I hate you."

"I love you too."


	219. Raw, July 12, 2004

A/N: I don't really like the chapter, so I hope that it doesn't suck too much or anything, and if it does, sorry.

Best line of the night: "I think I should get him first. I mean, I had to take the guy to Chuck E. Cheese," -Dave Batista. That? Was Classic. Man, I love me some Dave.

And I'm kind of ashamed to share my name with one of those Diva hopefuls, talk about your yuck! Bleh.

* * *

"Daddy, I just don't understand why you chose Chris."

"Princess, I need someone who knows what they're doing in this thing. I don't want to get stuck with a dud."

"But Daddy, he's my fiancé," Stephanie said petulantly.

"Really Princess? I didn't know that."

Stephanie scowled, "Fine Daddy, do what you have to."

"Stephanie, I'm well aware that you and Chris are getting married, and I'm very much aware that he loves you, and that makes him the perfect judge. He will be objective with this, and not choose because of some girl throwing herself at him."

"They're going to you know."

"And I know that Chris loves you very much and would never do anything to hurt you."

She rolled her eyes, "Ok Daddy, go ahead with it, but I'm not happy."

"What will make you happy?"

"If you made sure he didn't have to do it."

"How about I foot the bill of your wedding dress?"

"Daddy," she whined, then changed her tune, "You know what would make me very, very happy Daddy?"

"What?"

"If you let me have a full-time job."

"Maybe," Vince said, "I saw the show last night, and I was very impressed by how smoothly it ran."

"All me," Stephanie said happily.

"We'll see how you do over the next few weeks and maybe it'll become a permanent thing. At least it will after the wedding."

"I can do it before the wedding too."

"I don't want you to be under too much stress Princess. You have so much to think about, I don't want you having to worry about the show in addition to your wedding."

"I have to go Daddy, Chris is giving me the evil eye and he wants to leave for the show."

"Ok, have fun tonight."

"Bye Daddy."

Stephanie hung up the phone and stood up, stretching her arms. She knew it would be futile to try and get her father to change the fact that Chris was going to be a judge for this thing, but it was worth the try. She even tried to put on her most pathetic voice to try and convince him to make Chris not be a judge, but nothing.

"So I'm still a judge I presume."

"Yeah, no changing his mind. You'll be objective."

"I will be," he said. "Now can we PLEASE leave for the show?"

"Yeah, but aren't we giving Trish a ride to the show?"

"Damn it," Chris muttered, "What are we, the bus?"

"Why are you so impatient tonight?"

"I'm not in a good mood after my loss."

"You were fine with it last night."

"Yeah, until I had to run into the beast this morning during my jog. Stupid ass thinks he's better than me, does he not realize who I am! I was the first Undisputed Champion, I've won every title there is to win--"

"You're the master of Musical Chairs," Stephanie interrupted.

Chris's face fell, "If I didn't love you, I swear..."

"You'd fall in love with me over that comment?" she finished.

"No, I'd put you in the Walls and make you tap like a little bitch," he told her with a smile.

"Well then I'm very lucky that you love me, aren't I?"

"You guys left your door open and all I hear is arguing," Trish said as she walked into the hotel room.

"Like we do much else," Stephanie said, "How's the wrist?"

"Could be better obviously, but I'll live. Tyson called me wanting me to accompany him to his match, and since I am the Women's Champion, I figure that I should at least be there in case something happens."

"Good idea."

"Hey, Kurt called us last night and said you were running the show, is that true?" Trish asked.

"It is, my dad is giving me a trial run. If I do well enough with it, he'll make it a permanent thing."

"That's great, finally Chris and my endless work pays off in some form," Trish laughed, "Finally all that crap we went through was for something."

"Barely," Chris said, "Can we please go now? Because I want to get to the show."

"He's in a bad mood," Stephanie whispered to Trish as Chris walked ahead of them out of the room.

"Why?"

"Ran into Batista this morning and he really doesn't like him, so yada yada yada, he's in a bad mood."

Chris turned to flip them off as he walked ahead of them. Stephanie threw her hands up in frustration as she and Trish walked behind him. Chris was so rarely in a real bad mood so this was a new one for them. Chris angrily pushed the buttons to the elevator and Stephanie sighed at his behavior.

Stephanie ended up being the one to drive to the arena because Chris was too angry to drive and got mad while trying to release the trunk to put his stuff in it. Stephanie had to forcibly take the keys from him and shove him into the passenger seat before he actually relented to her. They got to the arena and Trish made herself scarce as she wanted to go see Edge and talk about some family thing that was going on tomorrow in Canada.

Stephanie went to her office to get her things together and Chris went to his locker room to get his things together and to dress up for the Highlight Reel later, of which he found out that Kane and Lita would be his guests. The last thing he wanted was to get in their business; he had his own shit to take care of. At least his problem wasn't as screwed up as Lita's was, not knowing who the father of her kid was, and then looking at the options, well, those weren't too favorable either.

"How does it feel to have your ass handed to you?"

"I'm sick and tired of you following Stephanie and me around," Chris said as he looked up at Hunter who was leaning in the doorway. "I don't know what perverse pleasure you get out of trying to destroy us, but our two year anniversary is coming up, and you know, Stephanie and I have almost been together as long as you two were, so if you think that you've got some sort of one up on me, you really don't."

"She was mine first."

"That may be, and I'm not denying that at one time she loved you, but she doesn't anymore."

"She just doesn't realize it."

"Look," Chris said seriously, "Be jealous of me all you want--"

"The LAST thing I am is jealous."

"Dude, get over her. I know it's hard to get over Stephanie. She's an incredible person, and incredible woman and she's so smart and so beautiful that you automatically just want to be around her all the time because you fear that if she's not around, you'll realize she's got to be some sort of dream, but you can't go around acting like she's yours. If anything, she's not anybody's."

Hunter kept his mouth shut for a second and then frowned, "I love her more than you do. I don't think you get that. I married her without her permission because I loved her so much and I didn't see any other way."

"I'm not going to argue that you loved her. I think you did love her, and when you did love her, I hated her, so it doesn't matter, because I had no feelings other than disgust back then anyways. But to say you love her more, I don't think that's fair because you know nothing about me, or Stephanie, or what we've been through."

"I may not, but I know what I know."

"Yeah, and I know what I know, and this could keep going around in circles. I don't want to deal with you Hunter, and I'm trying to be as nice as possible now. If you love Stephanie, let her be happy, even if it's not with you."

"I just can't do that," Hunter said, shaking his head, "I just can't."

"Then don't, but if you want to fight for her, you'll get my best game."

"Good, I wouldn't expect any less."

Hunter left then and Chris sat himself down on the couch to rub his temples. Hunter had the uncanny knack of giving him headaches. With Hunter everything he wanted was just a prize, and he probably liked the fight more than what he actually got. As if he weren't in a bad mood already, now he had Hunter to contend with. He was almost starting to regret telling everyone about his relationship with Stephanie. He knew it would rile up Hunter, but he had no idea it would rile him up in this way.

He got off the couch and went into his bag, grabbing a bottle of Advil and walking into the bathroom he drank some water as he took two of the tablets. He didn't want to have to go in front of the crowd with a raging headache. The screams alone would make him wince in pain. When he was through with that, he thought of only one person who would make him feel better enough to maybe make this headache disappear.

She was sitting at her table, writing things down, her hair pinned up in a bun and her glasses sliding down her nose. She looked like a school marm or something of that nature. She kind of looked a little dowdy tonight, but he still thought her beautiful. He grabbed a folding chair and opened it next to her, sitting down silently. Stephanie looked up from her work to see who had sat behind her and she smiled, getting up and throwing one of her legs over Chris's legs and straddling his lap as she wrapped his arms around her waist and put both her hands on his bare chest.

"Where have you been?"

"Nowhere," he said shortly.

She smiled at him, "Don't be in a bad mood, it makes me get in a bad mood, and nobody tonight needs to feel the wrath of Stephanie McMahon."

"I don't know how to get out of this bad mood, any suggestions."

She pursed her lips in thought and looked off into the distance before a smile came on her face and she looked back at him. "Remember when you threw a pie in my face and you gave me those flowers with the apes?"

Chris smiled a little, "Yeah."

"That was really funny huh?"

"It was a little," he admitted.

"Hmm...remember the time when you did that whole rhyme with pictures of Chris Benoit?"

Chris gave a bigger smile, "That was fun."

"I liked him as a blushing bride," she said, "I might have to find out where you got that dress."

"I don't remember now."

"Or how about...when you cost Hunter that match against the Brooklyn Brawler of all people," she said as she leaned her forehead against his.

That caused Chris to laugh, "That was great. I remember how mad you were about that. As if Hunter's anger wasn't enough, I also had to have you all angry at me."

"When wasn't I angry with you back then?"

"When I kissed you that first time," Chris said as he raised an eyebrow, "I remember someone kissing me back very briefly."

"Nah, I was just trying to hold onto you so you couldn't drop me."

"Which I did anyways, cause I had to kiss the nasty roadkill."

"And now you're engaged to the nasty roadkill."

"I got used to the flavor," Chris said with a smile, "Why do you have to make my bad moods disappear?"

"Like I told you, I'm only doing it for the good of the employees. If they want a happy show, they need a happy boss. And to have a happy boss, they need a happy boss's fiancé."

"So I'm the top dog around here."

"No, you may be the cutest dog around here, but not the top."

"Shouldn't you be working."

Stephanie looked at her watch, "Break time."

She leaned in to kiss him as they sat there at the production table. People who walked by either rolled their eyes or made a face of disgust at the public displays of affection. Though over the past few months they had readily accepted that Chris and Stephanie were prone to just make out wherever it was convenient.

"Steph?"

"Hmm?" she asked as she kissed his cheek.

"Don't ever slip away from me?"

"Slip away from you?" she asked as she pulled her face back to look at him.

"Well, I mean, the longest relationship you ever had before me was with Hunter right?"

"Yeah, we lasted a little over two years," she nodded.

"Well, I mean, just...don't ever leave me like you did him. I don't want to end up all pathetic and pining away from you and harassing you even after you've moved on. The last thing I need is to end up like Hunter, or have to become a member of the 'Stephanie McMahon Dumped Me' Club."

"I see you more than I saw Hunter in the time that we were together. When we first got married, we lived separately, then we would switch off where we lived, and then we just went our separate ways when he got injured. I see you every single day, there's a huge difference."

"I just DO NOT want to end up like Trips."

She scoffed, "Fat chance of that ever happening."

"If I do, you have permission to slap me with one of your patented slaps."

"Ooh, always fun."

"If you two are done, there's a show to be run around here."

Stephanie turned her head and then smiled widely, "Why Eric Bischoff, my old nemesis, how the hell are ya?"

"Yes Stephanie, your old nemesis, and which one of us still has their job as General Manager?"

"You know Eric," Stephanie said as she stood up and put her hands on the table, leaning in closer to him, "I wouldn't want any unexpected snafus to happen during the show. That might make my dad mad."

"And wouldn't that put you out of a job?"

"As I see it Eric, I have a much better chance of getting my job back than you do. Considering it's my name that's on the company. But don't worry, I'm sure I can find something for you in the janitorial department."

Eric laughed, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen Stephanie. Not even allowed on television."

"But I'm running the show around here, whether or not I'm on television is inconsequential. One call to Daddy and I'm sure he'll clear up for you who YOU have to answer to."

Eric scowled and looked at Chris, "And I thought you were on my side at one time."

Chris shook his head, "Nope, not one single second was I on your side, compared to Steph, you just...well you look like shit, plain and simple."

"It's sad to see that she has the power in this relationship, you let her talk like that to people above her, with disrespect."

"I didn't find it disrespectful at all. In fact, I kinda like it," Chris said, smiling at Stephanie.

"Eric, go get to work, I have a job to do," Stephanie said, sitting down and putting a headset on, "I suggest you work actually, wouldn't want my father getting wind of how you treated me. I just love it when I can be Daddy's Little Girl. It comes in handy when you have to deal with...idiots."

Eric walked off, fuming, his face in what seemed to be a permanent case of bitch-face. Chris laughed and put his feet on top of the table as he leaned far back in his chair, so far back that the two front legs were off the ground. Stephanie went back to her work, as the show was indeed starting. Chris was content to watch her work, since he had nothing better to do anyways. He could go hang out with some of the guys, but he'd much rather watch Stephanie at work. There was just something so entrancing about seeing her in charge. It was like she was made to lead or something.

She laughed at something and saw that she was laughing at Batista losing to Edge, who though cheating, he had won. If Edge hadn't cheated, there was NO WAY that he could've beaten Dave. Dave was a monster, a good-looking monster however, and he would've taken Edge to school if it hadn't been for the likes of Edge holding onto the ropes when he did. Dave had a lot of potential.

"Congrats man," Chris said, giving Edge a high-five as he came backstage.

Edge also grabbed a chair and sat down next to Chris, "So how's the show looking from back here?"

"I don't know, it looks fine to me, but I'm not the one in charge."

"She does her job well doesn't she?" Edge said rhetorically as he and Chris both cocked their heads to the sides and watched Stephanie direct the cameras and stuff during the commercial break of the show.

"That she does. She's amazing..."

"Yeah." They both knew they couldn't do what Stephanie did. It really was a lot of hard work, even if Stephanie herself didn't realize it. They were used to coming in, fighting with someone and leaving, not actually thinking about who needed to be where during what.

"Edge, you stink, go take a shower," Stephanie said briefly as she took off one of her headsets.

"AND...there's the Stephanie I've become accustomed to," Edge said, getting up off of his seat. "Fine Stephanie, I'll go take a shower, just for you."

"Well, it would be for my benefit too, since I had to smell you too. I'm just not as uncouth as my girlfriend over here."

"Fiancée," Stephanie corrected as the cameras came back to life after the commercial.

"Oops, sometimes I forget," Chris said.

"Don't forget again man, or she might kill you."

"I know."

Watching Stephanie actually took up all his time until Stephanie practically shoved him out of his chair as his music started up. She informed him it was still commercial but that he had to be out there for the Reel right now. He gave her a wave and then walked down the ramp. It was crazy how his mood had changed to rapidly from when he had been speaking to Hunter and when he had seen Stephanie.

Unfortunately, since he had been watching Stephanie all this time he had nothing to speak about tonight. He was completely drawing a blank as his music stopped and he had nothing to speak about. He thought quickly and remembered his earlier conversation with Stephanie about everything he had done in his career and when Stephanie brought up his Musical Chairs win. Lacking the preparation, he went with it, and surprisingly, the fans ate it up. Stephanie was going to have a field day with this.

He then brought up his guests for the evening, and the very astute observation that in WWE, problems were often solved in the ring. It was true after all, at least in other people's sense. He had never done anything relationship related with Stephanie in the ring. Kissed her? Sure. Put her in the Walls? Sure. Discussed their relationship now? Not a chance.

Kane came out and went down to the ring. Stephanie watched his back as he went out there. He was giving Chris the evil eye already, like it was Chris's fault he was out there. He had a microphone and was starting to walk towards Chris. Stephanie looked around covertly and the two guys who helped her at the table weren't around and she eyed the soundboard. Reaching over she quickly turned down the sound to Kane's microphone and giggled to herself a she went to watching the show innocently.

She giggled as Chris just stared at Kane, and she wondered if he knew that the microphone was "malfunctioning." She knew it wasn't a nice thing to do to Kane, but the way he was looking at Chris bugged her. And besides, she was in charge, why shouldn't she give Chris a few perks for being with her. Now that she could of course.

"Oh shit," one of the production guys said as he rushed over to the table, "I didn't know I hadn't turned his microphone on, I'm sorry Ms. McMahon."

"It's ok," she said, shaking her head, "No biggie."

"It won't happen again."

Chris stood back as Lita came out to talk to Kane. Like he actually cared what happened between the two of them. It was about as compelling to him as the color of his shoes. He leaned back against the ropes and wondered what Stephanie was doing and hoping that she didn't have the camera trained on him because he was about to yawn. He kind of felt sorry for Lita though, not because she was knocked up, that was her own damn fault, but Kane? Kane was so scary and crazy, and wow, could anyone be less of a father figure? Unless this kid turned out to be Fester Addams or something...which didn't seem too far-fetched. A mixture of Paul Bearer and Kane, and there you had it.

He finally noticed that Lita had left in a huff and now Kane was destroying his set. He wasn't going to get into it until Kane went after the Jeritron 5000. Didn't that bastard know that was worth more than his life! Chris rushed over to grab at Kane and get his stinking paws off of his Tron but Kane was stronger than him and threw him out as his knee hit. It was still sore every now and then and he clutched at it as Kane left.

Not one to have his own show be torn to shreds, Chris grabbed his microphone and called out Kane. He was not going to stand for someone trying to make him look like a fool on his own show. He brought out some great insults and Kane stopped as he saw on the screen. He came back out and Chris got ready for the fight.

They locked up and Chris got the early upper-hand, but it was soon Kane's turn to take the lead and he put Chris into a rear chinlock. Chris powered out of it and the match continued. He tried his best against Kane, but the man had both size and power on him. Although Chris was more adept at doing aerial moves, which managed to bring down Kane from time to time. At one point, he got the Walls on him, but unfortunately he had done it too close to the ropes and Kane easily got the referee to make him break the hold.

Chris put up his fight and wasn't about to go down in a blaze of glory. After last night's loss, he wasn't going to lose the next night. He was a former champion after all and he was a better champion than Kane had been, considering Kane had barely held the World title at all. Chris got the enziguiri on him, but that only got him the two count. He was going to go for another move when Kane gave him a low-blow and he fell to the ground in pain.

Then moments later he was choke-slammed, so the win he had gotten from the DQ wasn't feeling too good right about now. Kane skulked back up the ramp and into the backstage area. He saw Stephanie give him a dirty look and he walked over to the table, smiling evilly at her.

"Did you like what I did to your boyfriend."

"You're so damn lucky that I don't have your ass kicked right now," Stephanie shot back.

"Remember Stephanie, like I told Lita, I have the power to end life as well as create it."

"Remember Kane, I have the power to send your ass packing."

"Just tell that pretty boy of yours, if he wants to try and come after me again, the same thing will happen."

"Yeah, you'll have to resort to pettiness in order to win," Stephanie called after him, "That's exactly what happened, and if that's how you plan to operate, I'm sure it'll get you far."

Chris came back moments later, rubbing his neck. Stephanie walked over to him, and helped his sit down. He winced a little bit as he sat and she stood behind him, massaging his shoulders. He moaned quietly at how good it felt, even as Stephanie was ordering the guys working for her around.

"You ok...um...everywhere?" Stephanie asked delicately, not sure how to put it exactly.

"Yeah," Chris groaned, "Nothing got injured."

"Good, good, wouldn't want....anything injured," she nodded.

Chris laughed, "You were a little lazy on the job, Kane's microphone wasn't working."

Stephanie leaned down to his ear, "I did that on purpose."

Chris turned quickly to her and then cursed at himself as the pain in his neck flared up. "You did!"

"Hey, I'm in charge, I can do whatever the hell I want."

"Yeah, and if I had my way, someone would block the entrance to Hunter's locker room and may him get stuck in there all night, but unfortunately, my reach can only go so far."

"Yeah, but it would be nice to see."

"Yeah, you know what else would be nice."

"What?"

"Go take a shower, you smell."

"That's my Stephy."

"Have you seen some of the girls they're trotting out there for this Diva crap?" Stephanie asked as she took a break from the table and left the guys in charge. It wasn't so much a break as it was she wanted to be with Chris. She was already linking arms with him as they walked to his dressing room. She didn't really care that he smelled and was sweaty.

"No."

"Oh, I forgot, I have to go tell Trish when we're leaving," Stephanie said, "Go ahead to your locker room without me, I'll be quick."

"Fine!"

Chris watched her leave and then walked to his locker room. He didn't quite make it there as the words Stephanie had said earlier caught up to him and he saw what could only be one of the "hopefuls" for the Diva search. The girl saw him and her eyes lit up. He groaned inwardly and damned Vince for making him a judge.

"You're Chris Jericho, one of the judges," the girl said as she walked up to him. She was wearing a black dress that pretty much showed off everything that got her through to this round.

"Correct, you must watch the show," Chris said sarcastically.

"Of course, I saw what that bitch Trish did to you. I would never give you up for anything."

"That's nice, but I was about to go take a shower."

"Oh, well, I just wanted to discuss the possibility of me getting your vote this Thursday. I'm Candice by the way"

"I don't know Candice, I guess I'll have to see you for myself," Chris told her.

"Yeah, but if there's anything you want...or need, you know, I wouldn't hesitate to do it if it meant that you might want to vote for me or you know, wanted anything from me."

"I'm there to be as objective as possible," Chris responded with no emotion, "Nothing more, nothing less."

She put her hand on his arm, "Well, if you want more, just let me know, I can give you my number."

"No thanks."

"Are you sure? Because I've got talents that I couldn't possibly show you on the stage."

"I'm sure you do, but I'm not really the one who wants to see them."

"Oh, don't be so uptight."

"I think he has every right to be uptight," Stephanie said as she walked up beside Candice.

"Oh, you're Stephanie McMahon, didn't your dad fire you or something?" the girl asked coyly.

"He did, but you know he's a sucker for a pretty face, sometimes I don't know why he wastes his time with untalented, semi-pretty girls."

Chris bit his tongue and just let the woman go to work. She was so damn talented sometimes he just wanted to stare at her and watch her kick butt in every area she attempted. She could go from professional, to friendly, to loving, to a bitch with such little effort that even he, who was talented in so many ways and a sexy beast in his own right, thought she was a league above him.

"Jealous?"

"Sweetheart, I suggest you get your skanky ass away from my fiancé before I go tell my father that something happened to one of his contestants and she needs to forfeit the competition. I doubt they'd pick a girl with a black eye."

"Excuse me," Chris said, brushing past the girl as he pulled Stephanie away. "Ok, that's it, I want to leave now, go back to our hotel room and just do it all night long."

"God, you were turned on by that!"

"No, not that, just the fact that you are so kick-ass!"

Stephanie blushed, "Well thanks, but that girl had it coming. I KNEW this would happen."

"Just remember Steph."

"What?"

"I'm only there to be objective."

"Yeah, you better be or I'll object to your ass at our wedding." Chris laughed and headed into the shower.

"Ouch. That one hurt."


	220. SmackDown, July 15, 2004

"So this is the place where you get to look at pretty girls?" Stephanie said as she and Chris got out of their limo in front of the Beacon Theatre in New York.

"Yeah," Chris said, shouldering his suit carrier on his shoulder, "But I get to look at you in lots of other places too."

She laughed, "That one was pretty good, very smooth transition."

"Thank you," he said as he kissed her lightly.

"I still don't like this one bit," she frowned, "I mean, what if one of those girls tries to kiss you or something, or what if they hit on you, or worse yet, what if you see one you think is gorgeous and realize that you're stuck with me and you don't really want me?"

Chris took her hand and stopped her just inside the entrance, "Where is this coming from?"

"What?"

"This self-doubt, where is it coming from?"

"I don't know, I'm just nervous...or something."

"Why?" he asked seriously, "I want to know the reason for why you think that I would even care what happens tonight beyond the fact that your father thinks I should be here for some reason."

She shrugged and nothing else.

"That's all you've got," he said, "You shrug at me as if that's supposed to explain the answer."

"I guess, I don't know alright, I don't know!"

"Stephanie Marie McMahon, get over this thing about not thinking you're pretty. Or at the very least prettier than any of these girls who'll be here tonight. I don't give a shit what happens tonight with these girls, for all I care, they can all go take a flying leap and stay the hell off Raw if it gives you a chance to get back on Raw. If you don't think you're pretty, just think about this rivalry between Trips and I over you."

She guffawed, "Don't remind me of that."

"Well it's true, you've got two, count 'em, TWO men vying for your attention."

"I suppose."

He kissed her again, this time deeper and with more feeling, "I think you are the prettiest girl I've ever met, inside and out. You may be a bitch sometimes, but I think you're the best bitch ever. And these girls want to parade around in skimpy clothes so they'll get attention, but you, you command attention."

She smiled, "I do command attention don't I?"

"Very much so," he told her, "Like I do. It's such a tug of war with the two of us."

She held his hand, "Yeah, now where is that locker room of yours?"

They wandered around backstage, getting lost no less than three times. They laughed at each other's ineptitude at not being able to navigate their way around. They had always fancied themselves as being intelligent people, but man did they have a bad sense of direction. Or at least it seemed that way. They finally found it and saw it was right across from Hunter and Randy's rooms. Stephanie groaned as she saw Hunter's name on the door.

"Why couldn't I have a hot guy wanting me? Why did I get stuck with Hunter again?"

"The Lord works in mysterious ways," Chris said mysteriously, "Besides, I'm sure there are thousands of guys out there who are in love with you, you can have your choice of them."

"Oh, great, I think I'll go find one right now." Stephanie turned to the door and reached for the knob. Chris wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.

"Um, Ms. McMahon, I think you're really pretty and stuff and I'm like, in love with you, so will you please choose me?" he said in his best innocent tone.

"Oh, I'm flattered, but I'm sorry, I don't think you're cute enough for me."

"Well if that wasn't a slap to the face, I don't know what is."

"An actual slap to the face?" she joked.

"And this is why I love you."

"Because I'll slap you in the face?"

"Exactly," he said, "Or slap me in other places of your choice."

"Maybe later darling." She went to the couch and sat herself down. She didn't exactly know what she was doing here, well, she knew what she was doing here in the basic sense, but she didn't know why she was getting down on herself. She knew Chris loved her and only her and that he would never do anything to hurt her.

"So are we set for Sunday?"

"I think we are," she said, as she kneeled on the couch and leaned her arms against the back so she could face Chris as he started to undress. "Can you believe it'll be our two-year anniversary!"

"It is pretty crazy huh?"

"Yes, it is," she said, "Who knew we could put up with each other for so long?"

"God ...maybe, it was pretty rocky there for a while."

"Two whole years..."

"Are you going to get this way on every single one of our anniversary, do I have this to look forward to on our forty-third anniversary?"

"Forty-three years, I'd kill you before then for something totally stupid like putting the forks in the wrong place," Stephanie laughed.

Chris pulled on his dress pants, "That's good to know, I'll make sure I put the forks in the right drawer from now on."

"Why do you have to wear a suit?" she asked, sounding like a little kid.

"Because that's what your dad said to wear in his briefing of this thing. Where I had to have Hunter glare at me for fifteen minutes straight, like he could kill me just by looking at me the wrong way."

"Don't die or I might have to get with him."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Good, I wouldn't want that to happen," she said, "What else did Daddy say?"

"That if I so much as look at a girl the wrong way, he'll fire me," Chris said as he buttoned up his dress shirt.

"He did not!"

"Yes he did."

"No! He wouldn't do that in front of the other guys," Stephanie said, leaning her chin down onto her arms. "You're just lying now."

"What if I said he pulled me aside to say that to me."

"I could believe that a little more, but I still don't think he said that."

"Ok, he didn't, but I'm sure he was thinking it. It doesn't matter with the other guys since none of them are married. I half expect Edge and Randy to come out of this with a date on each arm."

"And Hunter?"

"I half expect him to try and kidnap you so you'll be on his arm."

"Well, I'll be sure to chain myself to something so he couldn't possibly kidnap me," she answered, gesturing over to him so that he would walk over. She took the tie from him and he stood in front of her as she tied it for him. He smiled thankfully at her before grabbing his suit jacket.

"Do you want to come and check out the theater stage with me?" he asked.

"Sure," she responded, letting him grab her hand as she stood up on the couch and jumped off the edge onto the floor. "Aren't you going to put your jacket on?"

"Not until I have to, I'm already uncomfortable as it is, I'll wait until the transformation has to be completed," he answered, pulling her against him. She leaned her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist as they walked into the hallway. They caught Edge just going into his dressing room and he waved.

"I didn't know you guys were already here," Edge said as he walked over.

"Because we were very quiet," Stephanie giggled.

"Quiet doing what?" Edge asked, then paused, "Ok, I don't want to know."

"We weren't having sex if that's what you think we were doing," Chris said, "So get that thought out of your brain, we weren't doing anything at all."

"Hey, I'm not going to judge, you two are allowed I guess, you are getting married and it's almost your anniversary."

"And you are coming to the party right?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Bringing a date?" Stephanie asked, "I just want a rough number of how many people are going to be there."

"I might, I'm not sure yet."

"Just call the house and let us know, we're staying in Greenwich this weekend, so call there and not in Florida because no one's there."

"Well, I kind of figured nobody would be there since you guys are here."

"Go get dressed," Stephanie said, "Hope your tie doesn't strangle you."

"I have a feeling you'd be the one strangling me if you could."

"I'm too happy right now to strangle you, contact me after I watch this thing, maybe then I'll be more compliant."

"I will, don't worry."

"We'll see you in a while," Chris called over his shoulder as he and Stephanie continued through the corridor.

"I hope we don't get lost again," Stephanie laughed, "That's just what we need...to look like even bigger fools."

"Hey, nobody knows we got lost, and since nobody saw it, we can just say it never happened."

"I like the way your mind works Jericho."

They eventually did find their way out into the main theatre without too much fanfare and Chris hopped off the stage onto the floor in front of the stage. He turned back to give Stephanie his hand and he carried her off the stage and onto the floor, sharing a kiss before he set her down. They found the seats where the judges sat and there was a name placard where he was supposed to sit. He sat down and let Stephanie sit in his lap.

"Maybe you should go up there and show me your stuff?" Chris suggested as a joke.

"Not gonna happen."

"Why not? I'd love to see you shake your stuff for me."

She hid her face in his neck and kissed him softly against the taut muscles of his neck. "I'm not 'shaking my stuff' for you. Not when anyone can walk by."

"So that implies that you would shake your stuff for me in private?"

"You've seen me 'shake my stuff' before, it's nothing special."

"So you say," Chris said, "But I enjoy it a lot."

She blushed and laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. He was wearing the cologne she liked and it smelled so good. His hair was brushing against her forehead a little, tickling her. She snuggled into his arms a little bit more as she felt his arms hold her tighter.

"Tired?" he whispered.

"Uh huh," she yawned, "All this work, I've gotten used to doing nothing, and now I have responsibilities."

"I told you to go to bed last night."

"I know, but I was trying to figure something out."

"You can't stay up all night and expect to be alright the next day."

"I was fine, I'm just a little bit tired now."

He sighed and she felt herself move as he took a deep breath. He started running his fingers through her hair, which took on a certain rhythm. She was about to fall asleep in his lap, she could feel herself drifting off. She felt his cheek press against her head and the distinctive sound of him yawning.

"You're tired too," she mumbled sleepily.

"The typing you're constantly doing keeps me up," he told her.

"Well that's not very nice to say, you're supposed to be happy for me."

"I am happy for you," he said, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "You just keep me up is all."

"I'll try not to do that anymore."

She was about to fall asleep this time, seriously, until she heard the unmistakable giggling of women. She opened her eyes to see someone from the crew bringing out all the girls from tonight's challenge. He started to run through what they had to do later that evening.

"So those are the girls?" Stephanie said, her mouth close to Chris's ear.

"No, I think they're just random girls off the street."

Stephanie kissed his cheek as they watched each girl walk to the star on the floor, "She's prettier than me."

"She's uglier than you," Chris said immediately after Stephanie had spoken.

"Prettier, prettier, prettier," Stephanie said going down the line that was waiting to walk.

"Uglier, Uglier, definitely uglier," Chris said to her.

"Definitely prettier."

"Belongs in a dog show, not at all prettier than you."

"You're not making my self-evaluation any easier."

"I only tell the truth as I know it," Chris said, "If you think any one of these girls are prettier than you, than you are a sad specimen my love."

"You have to say that, you're marrying me."

"Mr. Jericho, the show is starting in twenty minutes and we have the script for you," one of the production people said as they handed him some loose-leaf papers.

"Thanks," Chris said as he took the paper and started rifling through it. "Whoa, I thought this would only have the girl's names and stats on here, but it has everything they want me to say."

"So basically you're not choosing?" Stephanie asked as she snatched the script from him.

"Yes Stephanie, you may look at it."

"Oh, thanks," she said, throwing him the words.

"Little rude," Chris muttered.

"I wonder who chose."

"Ten bucks says it was your father who ultimately did the choosing for this."

"I don't want to be out ten bucks," she answered, "Well at least this way you don't really have to judge these girls on the way they look. So you can look none of them directly in the eye."

"That'll be kind of hard to do."

"I'm going to go back into your dressing room and take a nap, I'll talk to you after the show is over, I love you."

"I love you too." She kissed him passionately as she held both her hands against the back of his neck. He kissed her briefly before letting her get off of his lap and she blew him a kiss before walking backstage. She encountered Hunter and Randy as they walked to where they had to wait for their entrances. She smiled briefly at Randy.

"Hi Stephanie," Hunter said.

"Stephanie," Randy said.

"Hello," Stephanie said, semi-coldly.

"You look really pretty tonight," Hunter said seriously.

"Thanks," she said, too tired to fight anything he said to her tonight, "I just threw this on."

Randy was a little amazed to see her and Hunter having what appeared to be a civil conversation. "Stephanie, did you come with Chris?"

Hunter must've thought that he was just trying to get information for the benefit of Hunter's cause of trying to win Stephanie over. "Yeah, I did, he should be waiting at the entrance where you guys will be."

"Oh," Hunter said, "I'm glad I got to see you tonight."

"Why?"

"Just so I could, it's nice to get a little surprise when you think you're just here to do something else."

"Oh, whatever," she said, yawning, "I have to go plan my engagement party a little bit more, if you'll excuse me, have fun tonight."

"I won't if you're not there," Hunter said, gritting his teeth at the mention of her and Chris's engagement party.

"Too bad for you."

She brushed by him and walked down the hallway. Hunter scowled and stood there. Randy didn't exactly know what he could say to that. He was kind of proud for Stephanie standing up to him, but also a bit surprised as well. Looks like Hunter wasn't as hot as he thought he was.

"Burn," Randy said.

Hunter glared at him, "Shut up. I can't help it if she thinks she'd rather be with Jericho."

"Ok man, I'm going to say something and don't take this the wrong way, but I gotta ask. What if Stephanie really does love Chris? I mean, she gives a pretty good impression of being in love with him, why don't you leave her alone if she does?"

Hunter thought for a moment, "There are reasons, but I ain't telling you."

"I thought we were friends," Randy said, extending his arms like Hunter was crazy or something.

"Fine, she made me happy ok, she's the only girl that ever did, and there, now you know. Tonight, I'm going to get laid, if it isn't by Stephanie, it'll be by one of those chicks out there, but I am not going to think about what I just said."

"Fine," Randy said, "Whatever you say."

Stephanie got back to Chris's room and went to lie down. She found that she was too worked up to sleep and just had to watch the show tonight. She turned on the closed circuit television they were using in the room and put the show on. She was curious as to what this was all about, and how the show was going to be.

She couldn't help but smile when Chris was introduced. He looked so cute in his suit and he was trying to play up to the camera, she could tell. Leave it to him to try and steal the show away from the girls. She was fine with that though, she would much rather watch Chris than any of those bimbos in their bathing suits.

The show went by quickly, mainly because she didn't pay attention during any parts that Chris wasn't on. Granted the other three "judges" were either her friends, or a man in love with her whom she hate, she just had no interest in watching them drool and fawn over these girls. She knew there was a script they were following, but you couldn't fake the looks in their eyes as they looked at these half-naked women. Only Chris seemed to really try to be more funny than anything else.

She did crack up when Mae Young and Moolah came out and went straight for Chris. At least they seemed to have taste, even in their old age. She giggled at Chris's facial expressions, catching him wince. Well, better them kissing her fiancé than one of those girls kissing her fiancé. Then she might have to go bitch on them and punch them in the face or something. She scowled when she saw the girl who had hit on Chris on Monday and was glad that she had been eliminated. Seems that her father had taken her phone call on Tuesday to heart.

The show ended, mercifully as the four "judges" went up with the "chosen ones." She noticed Hunter, Edge, and Randy very into the girls that were moving on. Chris, her totally cute and loving fiancé, was on the very end, looking like he just wanted to leave. It was such a contrast from Hunter, who was practically fondling the girls where they stood, and the girls were letting him. Chris was already letting go of the girl's hand that was standing next to him. Oh, and there was Hunter, with a girl in his freaking arms, looking like he was having the time of his life.

She stood up and walked out to the side of the stage where she could see some of the girls hugging Chris. He was absolutely pretending to be interested as they announced the cameras were off. She walked out onstage and Chris spotted her over the shoulder of some blonde girl. He practically shoved the girl away and walked over to her.

"I'd like you to move onto the next round," Chris said to her.

"I'm going to have to decline the invitation."

"Ok, how about just sleeping with me?"

"That I'll do."

"Chris," one of the girls said as she came over, "We're all having a party right now, going to a club that Hunter is renting out or something, and you should come, we'd love to be able to thank you for putting us through."

Stephanie stared at Chris for his answer. Chris laughed, "I'm going to have to decline, sorry about that. My fiancé and I are really tired, and we have an engagement party on Sunday, and we need our beauty sleep."

"Oh, you're engaged," she said, "I had no idea, congratulations."

"Thanks, this is her right here, Stephanie McMahon."

"Oh...wow, cool, sorry I didn't figure you would be..."

"Whatever," Stephanie said, "Not only do we have that party sweetie, I have to get all the things ready for the show on Monday, it's so hard running the show."

"You run the...show?" the girl asked hesitantly, realizing she might be in deep shit.

"That's right, the whole show."

"Oh, um, bye."

The girl turned on her heel and headed straight for Hunter, who was inviting every girl to come with them and who had his arms around two of the girl's waists. Stephanie just stared at Chris who shrugged and snaked his arm around her waist. They started to leave the group on the stage and went backstage.

"I want to go to bed," she whined, "I don't want to have to drive all the way back to Greenwich."

"It's like thirty minutes Stephanie and I'm the one driving."

"Oh, if that's the case, then let's go," she said bubbly.

Sunday morning dawned cloudy and rainy, but that didn't spoil Stephanie or Chris's mood. She spent most of the day making phone calls to various people about the party, and to the hotel confirming everything would be set up for later. The party itself was starting at 6:00. Chris just sat on the couch all day, watching television and watching Stephanie making her phone calls.

Around 5:00, they both started to get ready for later. Chris brought out his suit from last night, but this time he wore a different shirt and tie. He was ready long before Stephanie was, and just lay on the bed, waiting for her to be ready. She came out a short time later, flossing her teeth.

"Are you almost ready?" Chris asked as she looked over at her.

"Uh huh," she mumbled, the floss still her mouth, "Gimme a sec."

Chris laid back against the bed once again as she went back into the bathroom. She came out again, this time looking immaculate and beautiful. She was wearing a pink dress, not too pink, just pink enough to be pretty and feminine. She was wearing stiletto heels as well, so she was the same height as Chris was. He stood up and went over to kiss her.

"Beautiful, and to think you were saying that any of those girls were prettier than you."

"Oh shut up, let's go so we're not late for our own party," Stephanie said, pulling on his arm.

Chris stopped her and pulled her back to face him. She looked at him questioningly, nodding her head towards the door so they could go. Chris pulled her in for another kiss, this one soft and sweet. She pulled away and smiled, going to walk away again but he pulled her back again.

"Chris, we're going to be late if we don't go now," she told him.

"I know, but I haven't gotten to tell you something."

"What?"

"Happy anniversary," he told her.

She giggled, "You're such a dork."

"Oh, now I'm a dork, years of abuse Chris, you have years of abuse coming to you."

"Aww, but yeah, it's true."

"I guess you don't want your gift then," he said, pulling a small wrapped box out of his pocket and dangling it enticingly

"Oooh, gimme," she said, reaching for it excitedly.

"Uh uh, you were mean to me."

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, "Now can I please have it?"

"Ok, I guess," he said, handing it to her.

She took it and gave him a big smile before ripping the paper off of the box. She smiled up at Chris as she gazed at the familiar Tiffany blue of the box. She was excited now; what girl didn't want some expensive jewelry? She opened it and saw two rings sitting side by side. The one on the left a decidedly more masculine ring, platinum, with one diamond embedded into the platinum. The other ring was a women's ring, and it was also in platinum with seven diamonds set in the band.

"Oh Chris," she breathed.

"I know that I'm supposed to ask you about these things, because it's OUR wedding, not just one of the others, but I couldn't help it, I wanted to put something of my very own in the wedding, and so I bought these."

"Chris, you..." she looked up at him and smiled through her happy tears. She hugged him tightly. She knew that this wedding was going to be mostly about what she wanted; she was controlling and wanted everything to be perfect, and she knew that she would probably have her way with a lot of things, just because Chris wanted her to be happy. But this was something so special, something showing her that Chris wanted this just as much as she did, wanted it to be perfect like she did.

"So do you like them?"

"I love them."

"There's also a little something on the inside."

She looked on the inside and laughed. He had had, "More than Friends" etched on the band. The same question she had asked more than two years ago. He shrugged and looked a her as she laughed at it.

"Yeah, I'd say we became more than friends."

"Ok, so now that you have my gift, I will put them in the nightstand where they can stay until we actually get married."

"Sounds like a plan," she said, handing them over, "How much did those set us back by the way?"

"It's my money, I can spend it."

"But still, it's our wedding, I should know how much the rings were."

"Geez, you're impossible," he said as they walked downstairs and grabbed their coats and an umbrella, "Together they were about 5,000 dollars, nothing too big or anything. I spent all my cash on your engagement ring, I was too poor to buy nice wedding rings."

"Oh very funny wise guy," she said when they walked out into the rainy evening. "I didn't ASK for an expensive ring."

"I know, but you deserved one."

They drove to the hotel they were having the party at and into the ballroom where pretty much everyone was already gathered. Everyone clapped when they saw them and Chris gave a little bow as if he had done something more monumental than just walk in through the door. Stephanie smiled as she gazed around the room. Seems that almost everyone in the company was there.

"It's about time the two of you got here," Kurt said as he came over to them, "Everyone was starting to think you two were too wrapped up in each other to come down to your own party."

"We weren't, Chris was just giving me his gift," Stephanie said as she laced her arm through his, "Is everyone here?"

"Yeah, everyone's here, and I've heard that everyone is having fun, so mission accomplished."

A man carrying a tray of champagne, walked by and they all grabbed a glass. Stephanie left Chris to talk with Kurt as she walked around the ballroom, receiving many congratulations from people. She smiled and thanked them politely before going over to where Trish, Christian, and Edge were talking amongst themselves.

"Hey you guys, thanks for coming," she said as she walked up to the group.

"Of course we'd be here, we're your very best friends," Trish said as she hugged Stephanie, "How's you day been?"

"Couldn't be better, you should see the wedding bands Chris gave me for our anniversary," Stephanie told her, "They're gorgeous."

"Oh, how sweet and thoughtful of him. Did you meet Edge's date?"

"No, not yet," Stephanie said, glancing over at Edge, "Where is she Edge? I want to meet her."

"She's in the bathroom," Edge said, then spotted her walking over, "Ok, no she's not, she's right there."

Stephanie looked over and saw it was one of the girls from the Diva Search, "Edge! You actually brought one of those girls!"

"Would you be quiet," Edge hissed, "She's nice."

"Yeah, nice to look at is all," Trish said with a snicker, "I bet you barely know anything about her."

"Yes I do, I know her name," Edge said, making a face.

"Well, that's a start I guess," Christian said, then rolled his eyes to Trish, who appreciated the gesture as a sign that he would never do anything like that.

"I have to go find my parents, but you guys have fun, eat, and drink, it's all on us, open bar."

"Shit, I didn't know that," Edge said, grabbing his date's hand as she walked over and dragging her over to the bar.

"Where there are free things, there's Edge," Christian said, "Are you guys going to give a speech or something."

"Yeah, but when the party is more in full swing." Stephanie's cell phone rang in her purse and she excused herself from the conversation, leaving Christian and Trish alone. "Stephanie McMahon."

"Steph, it's Randy."

"Oh hey," she said, putting some distance between her and the party so she could talk to him. "Where are you?"

"I'm actually in the lobby of the hotel. I managed to sneak away from Hunter for a few minutes, and I know that you really wanted me here, and I can't come in, but if you can come downstairs and see me, I have a gift for you and Chris."

"Oh, you shouldn't have!"

"I know, but I wanted to."

"We'll be down in a second."

"Ok, I'll be waiting."

Stephanie rushed over to where Chris was talking with Chris Benoit. She said her hellos and then whispered in Chris's ear that Randy was downstairs and wanted to say hi. He excused himself from Benoit and he and Stephanie slipped out of the party and went into the lobby. Randy was sitting tentatively on one of the couches and they walked over to him furtively, making sure nobody was around.

"Randy," Stephanie said quietly, "Thank you SO much for coming."

"Thanks for inviting me, I'm only sorry that I couldn't really stay, but given the circumstances...."

"We understand," Chris said, "We're just glad you managed to get away from Big Nose."

"He's still partying with those chicks from the show, I think that he's just trying to forget about you Stephanie."

"Well good, let him sleep with those women then."

"I better just give you your gift and go before we get caught."

"It sucks that we have to hide our friendship," Stephanie said as she took a rather large box from Randy. "Thank you for the gift though."

"You can open it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go ahead, I want to see the looks on your faces when you see it."

Stephanie laughed and looked at Chris, asking him silently if he wanted to be the one who opened it. He let her open it and she tore at the silver paper is was wrapped in. She laughed as she saw it and held it up to Chris. It was set of walkie-talkies, nice ones, not the cheap ones that you bought kids.

"Since you two are always sneaking around and shit, I thought you could use these," Randy said with a smirk.

"You know us too well," Stephanie said as she hugged Randy. "Thank you."

"Thanks," Chris told him.

"No problem, I wanted to give you something you could use and not like a blender or something. Maybe I'll get you that for your wedding."

"What would we do with a blender?" Chris laughed.

"I have no clue, but I'm sure you'd find some use," he said, standing up, "I'll see you guys later, and congratulations, on the anniversary and the engagement."

"Bye Randy," Stephanie waved, then turned to Chris once he was gone. "How does such a nice guy get mixed up with such bad people."

"The world works in mysterious ways."

"You two, where the hell have you been?" Trish said as she jogged up to the couple, "Everyone is looking for you two so they can see you two and so you can make a speech and your dad wants to make a speech too Stephanie, and I think yours does too Chris."

"Oh, we're sorry, we just had to come out here for a second."

"And open a gift?" Trish asked as she looked to Stephanie's lap where the present was sitting.

"Oh, well, we couldn't resist opening just one."

"Who's it from?"

"I don't know," Chris shrugged, "Didn't look."

"What's going on you two? There's something up, I can feel it."

"Nope, nothing," they said in unison, a very suspicious act indeed. They both got up and started walking to the party, but Trish stopped them.

"What is going on, seriously?"

"Nothing!" Stephanie insisted, "You're making things up."

"Who was here? Did Hunter crash the party!"

"No," Chris said, "It was just an old friend who came to see us, but couldn't stay."

"Why didn't they come into the ballroom?" Trish asked.

"Because they couldn't, drop it," Chris told her.

"It was someone you don't want me to know about isn't it?" Trish said, putting the pieces together, "Me or anyone else for that matter."

"It's something you don't need to worry about," Stephanie told her.

"I thought we were best friends," Trish said, "What do you have to keep from your best friend?"

"We're going inside Trish, leave it alone."

Stephanie and Chris walked back inside, Trish trailing behind, still suspicious over what had happened. Stephanie set their gift on the table with the others and walked over to the small stage where the band was playing. Everyone clapped as they saw them and Chris took the microphone.

"We wanted to thank all of you for coming. It means a lot to us that you could share this day with us. Not many of you may know this, but it's Stephanie and my two year anniversary. We realize that most of you have only known we were together for the past few months or so, but we had our reasons. In case nobody knows how we got together, it was the night that Stephanie came back to be GM of SmackDown. I went to see her, and she refused to hug me, and I confronted her and we got together." The crowd gave them an "aww." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all sweet and nice, but I just want to say that I love this woman right next to me, and I'm happy to be marrying her, and all that, and so yeah, that's it for me."

Stephanie kissed him and went up to the microphone, "Again, thanks for coming, it's great of you all to come, even if it was for the free food and drink. I just echo what Chris said and we're happy, and we're thankful that you guys haven't made us feel really stupid for being together, given the fact we KNOW we hated each other, and yes, that hate was real, and no, we haven't been having an affair for years."

Vince came up next and started to speak, "As Stephanie's father, and Chris's soon-to-be father-in-law."

"I'm scared about that one," Chris yelled to everyone, who laughed in return.

"He should be," Vince joked, "But I'm just glad that you two have found someone that makes you feel happy. Which I do still think is odd because you hated each other with a passion, but I guess that enemies didn't suit you that well. So congratulations, and let's raise our glasses to Chris and Stephanie."

Everyone raised their glasses and toasted to the couple, sipping from their glasses. Except for Trish, who was slowly making her way to the gift table. She saw the opened present looming near and she picked it up as she saw Chris and Stephanie watching as Chris's father made a toast to them. She picked up the card that was shove in the box of the present and opened it up.

Chris and Steph,

Good luck to you guys, hope the party was great, sorry I couldn't be there, maybe the wedding I can be. Enjoy the gift, you can use it to spy on Hunter.

Randy

Trish was stunned and confused.


	221. Raw, July 19, 2004

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"I'm telling you Stephanie, that I'm here, at the arena, I'm looking at the schedule and Chris is having all of the diva chicks on the show."

"Even what's her name that you probably slept with last night?" Stephanie asked of Edge.

"I didn't sleep with her."

"Yet, right?"

Edge laughed cockily, "You know me too well Steph."

"I know, but I cannot believe this, it's like my father is trying to torture me. He keeps putting Chris with these girls," she paused and bit her lip, "Edge, you don't think that my father is trying to break Chris and I up do you? I mean, maybe he's trying to test Chris's faithfulness because he doesn't think that Chris would be faithful to me. I mean, he IS faithful to me, maybe I should tell my father that."

"Stephanie, I don't think that's it, he seemed pretty happy at your engagement party."

"But I mean, my dad is good at acting like he is happy for someone and then turning right around and hating them. What if he is!"

"Steph, I think you're overreacting right now. You need to calm down. Look, Chris is here doing the run-through with them right now, and he is so bored out of his mind."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh," Edge said, then looked up to the ring, "Yo Jericho, it's your woman!"

Chris turned his eyes towards Edge, who had been watching Chris practice his spiel about the divas from the seats outside of the ring. Edge held up the phone and mouthed that it was Stephanie to him. Chris smiled gratefully for the distraction.

"Hey Steph!" he yelled out.

"He said hey," Edge said as he brought the phone back to his ear.

"I heard him. Are the girls looking at him like they want to sleep with him, or you know, drop on their knees and pleasure him?"

"A few," he said, "But I am sitting right here."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, though Edge couldn't see that, so she spoke sarcastically, "Cocky much?"

"I have a right to be, don't I?"

"Sure, whatever," Stephanie said, "Just tell Chris I'll be there later since I'm hitching a ride with Trish and Christian."

"Ok, bye Steph."

"Bye."

Stephanie hung up the phone and as soon as she had pushed the button down, a knocking came to the door. She got up, setting her phone down on the table and going over to the door. Trish barged in as soon as Stephanie had swung the door open. Stephanie pressed herself against the wall as her friend breezed by her.

"What the hell is going on?" Trish said irately, waving her hands in the air signaling the confusion she was feeling.

"Um, with what?" Stephanie asked confused.

"With you and Randy!" Trish yelled, turning to face Stephanie. Stephanie's eyes widened as she heard what Trish said, and she blinked the surprise back in order to focus on appearing confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about Trish," Stephanie said, acting like she was confused as well.

"No Stephanie, don't try to play that angle up again, tell me the truth, I saw the gift from Randy, and the note wishing you guys luck, obviously there are things going down that I'm not in on, and I don't think any of our friends are in on as well."

"Trish, calm down."

"I am not going to calm down when you are off cavorting with my ex-boyfriend!"

Stephanie gazed at Trish, concentrating on her face, "Trish, you're not like, jealous or something on you."

Trish shook her head vehemently, "No! I just want to know what's going on with you guys and Randy of all people, he's friends with Hunter for God's sakes!"

"No, he's not! The both of us know he's not!"

Trish looked a little bit shocked by Stephanie's outburst in defense of Randy. She had no idea what this was about, though she had been trying to conjecture all night long. There were so many possibilities, she couldn't decide which were better and which were worse.

"Ok, I know he's not a bad guy, but that doesn't explain anything as to why he's giving you gifts for your engagement and inviting him to your party and to your wedding apparently."

"Did you tell Christian about this?" Stephanie asked honestly.

"No, because I love Christian, but he's a blabbermouth," Trish said, "I swear I didn't tell him."

"Ok, fine, that's all well and good, but everything we say here, stays here, and we cannot speak about it ever again, at least not unless it's only us or us and Chris."

"I cross my heart," she answered, repeating the gesture physically.

"Randy is our friend. After you broke up with him, we just sort of clicked. He missed you, and we had problems with Hunter, and there he was. We've just gotten to be good friends is all, and that's all there is to know. We didn't tell anyone because he's supposed to be friends with Hunter, and because. . .well, you guys were together and you're not anymore, and I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Trish sat down on the couch, her legs feeling heavy, "I had no idea. You kept it for me."

"Trish, we love you with Christian, we do, not that we really had any problem with Randy and you, but we didn't want you to have to, I don't know, feel like you had to choose or whatever."

"I won't tell," she said, "I just couldn't believe that Randy would. . .oh, I have no idea what I'm saying."

"Trish, you in there?" Christian said as he knocked on the door. "I thought you wanted to get going."

Trish popped up from the couch and looked scared for a moment, "Yes Christian, I'm ready. You Stephanie?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," she said, picking up her bag. "Hey Trish, I've been meaning to ask, what's with the mean streak lately?"

Trish gave a short laugh, "If I have to be miserable with this injury it's only fair that everyone I don't like has to be miserable as well."

"Well, that's a great philosophy to have," Stephanie said as they walked out to where Christian was. The three of them walked down to the car, and Stephanie was content to watch the two of them bicker over directions. Washington could be totally confusing if you didn't know where you were going. They finally found where they needed to be and parked the car.

"I'll see you guys later," Stephanie said, bolting out of the car and into the arena.

Christian looked at Trish strangely, "What's with her?"

"I think that she wants to go find Chris, word has it he's doing a diva search thing tonight, and I'm sure Stephanie wants to make sure none of those girls get too grabby with Chris."

"Oh, well just sic Edge on them and I think Chris should be fine. Edge needs to get himself a woman or something, hell, let him have all those women, maybe it'll keep him from bugging us all the time," Christian said, leaning over to kiss her.

She moaned softly and said against his lips, "It's not like I don't see you enough."

"I know," he said, "But still, there's something annoying when--"

Someone knocked on the window of the car and Christian and Trish turned to see that it was the person they had just been conversing about. Edge was giving them a wave and one of his smiles. He made the gesture for them to roll down the window and Christian groaned before complying.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing, just wanted to see what you two were doing. Chris and Stephanie are off making out somewhere and I thought I'd come see what you guys were doing."

"We're making out too, go find someone to make out with and leave us alone," Christian answered.

"Go find one of those diva whores and make out with them, I'm sure they'll be ready and willing if it'll make them think they'll get far in this competition."

"Like I have any say," Edge said.

"I think that contest is r-i-g-g-e-d," Trish said, spelling out the last word, "I think it's rigged by Vince, I don't know why, but I do, it has to be, I mean, who cares? I hate it personally."

"Stephanie does too," Edge said, "With a passion."

"Well she should, those girls have tried to be all over Chris, and here she is in the background. I mean, sure some of them are pretty and they're flaunting it, and then there's Stephanie sitting backstage with her headset on and she must feel terrible about it."

"How did this turn into a discussion about Stephanie and not about you and me making out?" Christian asked Trish.

Trish ignored him and looked at Edge, "I just think she's totally on edge about this whole thing and she's worried."

"She is worried, I talked to her earlier. I think she knows that Chris wouldn't do that to her, but there's still that lingering thought of 'what if he would,' and that's what worries her the most," Edge said.

"Chris would NEVER do that to her. If there's anything I know about Chris it's that he adores Stephanie. I mean, that man would do anything for her if it made her happy, and he would never hurt her in any way whatsoever if he couldn't. When we had that plan going, every single day, he'd worry about Stephanie and what Stephanie was doing, that man loves her and only wants what's best for her," Christian finally injected his thoughts into the conversation, "I don't think he's even capable of thinking about any other woman romantically."

"You're right," Trish said, "And on that note, Edge, leave us the hell alone."

"Geez, I need to find me some new friends," Edge muttered as he walked away from the car. Trish went back to kissing Christian, who had no complaints about that. They made out for a few moments before getting out of the car, finally, and walking into the arena.

"Christian, I think I have to go to ringside with Tyson tonight, can you go check the schedule on that one?"

"Of course, and then I can see how I'm doing nothing because I'm injured!" Christian said with high sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes, "Christian, what have I told you about the complaining...it annoys me."

He stuck his tongue out on her and she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to kiss him. He pulled her by her waist and she fell into his arms. She brought her arms around his waist and clung to him tightly as they stood there in the hallway. She pulled away and smiled against his lips and looked into his eyes happily.

"Love you," she said.

"Love you too, I'll meet you somewhere."

Trish watched him walk away, her eyes riveted to something she never got enough of. His ass always looked so good in those jeans, she couldn't help but admire him. But as soon as he was out of sight, she whipped out her cell phone and knew a number that was still implanted in her brain.

"Hello?"

"Randy," Trish said lowly as she stood near a deserted area.

"Who is this? If this is the girl from the other night, I'm not calling you, so give up."

"I didn't really need to know about that, it's Trish, as in your ex."

"Oh," Randy said, cringing, "Sorry, um, what are you doing calling me?"

"Look, are you alone?"

Randy looked to Dave and Flair who were sitting across from him, "No, I'm not."

"Is there any way you could be, say in the next minute or so?"

"I don't know, sure," Randy said vaguely, eyeing the other men.

"Meet me in the women's restroom near the entrance to the employee parking lot, nobody goes in there anyways because they have bathrooms nearer to the dressing rooms, so just meet me there."

"Ok, bye."

Randy got up and made an excuse about water and walked out of the room. Truth be told, he still had a few lingering feelings for Trish. He had seen her and Christian around and while he accepted they were together and happy, it was hard to accept the fact that he barely got a chance with her. He walked to where he knew the parking lot was and embarrassedly slipped into the bathroom where Trish was standing.

He hoped that everything was alright with her and something hadn't happened with Christian. Or maybe he did hope that something happened with Christian, if only because then, maybe he would have a chance with her. She was by far the prettiest diva around, and she could wrestle to boot. And she was smart, not someone like Stacy who didn't seem to have anything going for her except her legs.

"Trish," he breathed out softly, her name trickling off his tongue like water from a fountain.

"Hi Randy," she said, smiling warmly, "How are you?"

"I'm ok, are you ok?" he asked, the latter part of his question definitely one of concern.

"I'm fine, I just heard that we're on the same side of the fence," she told him, almost wanting to be cryptic.

"What?"

"I found your present to Stephanie and Chris, and she confessed what was going on."

"Oh," he said, at a loss for words. He didn't really want his nice side exposed, but since Trish already knew it, it wasn't so bad.

"I think it's incredibly sweet of you to do," she told him, giving him another smile, this one full of thanks and genuine kindness. "I know that we ended on really bad terms, but for you to help my friends--"

"They're my friends too."

"Sorry, it's still just a trifle weird thinking about it in that way, but you're right, they're both of our friends, but I just didn't want to make this awkward for you. Randy, you're a special guy, not in the Eugene kind of way or anything, but you're just. . .not what I ever expected."

"Thanks," Randy said, "Chris and Stephanie are really good people though."

"I know, I just wanted to tell you I knew, and I'm glad to have you on the side of good."

"Like there's some kind of war or something," he laughed.

"Well, I guess you could say that."

Trish went to Randy and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek as she pulled away. Randy couldn't help but forget to breathe for a moment. Trish still had a piece of his heart, and she was being nice to him again. As long as Chris and Stephanie never told anybody, he had that separation from Trish, but now, now they knew and it was almost like they had their own little secret.

"I have to go Trish," Randy said, "I have a match later on, and I need to prepare."

"Against?"

"Edge."

"Oh," she said, feeling in a bit of a quandry, and settling on, "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Stephanie sat down in her usual spot. Chris was still working with some of the girls who couldn't get the concept that they were only there to say their names and ages. Not only that, but he said that some of them kept tripping as they climbed in the ring. She had watched him for a while, but then had things to do so she came backstage to check on the equipment for the evening.

"Make sure we don't have microphones that don't work this week Stephanie, I wouldn't want to have to call Daddy and tell him his little Princess can't run the show correctly."

"Bischoff, you know I do my job well and there is nothing you can do to dispute that."

"But I do run this show Stephanie, don't forget that I am the General Manager and I outrank you, if I wanted, I could fire you on the spot, if I so desired."

"I wasn't hired by you Bischoff, I was hired by my father, and he's above you."

"Even so, I'm sure if the show continues to have glitches every now and then, your father wouldn't take to kindly to it, now would he?"

"You don't frighten me."

"You're pathetic Stephanie. If you weren't Vince McMahon's daughter, you would probably be on a street corner somewhere trying to sell yourself to some fat slob who would want nothing to do you except pay you five dollars to pleasure him, because that's about all your worth."

"Shut. Up," Stephanie said pointedly, standing up to stare him in the eye, "I did not come here to hear this shit from you. Everything you say is bullshit. You even hurt your own family for heaven's sake!"

"I do what I have to do to get the job done. Maybe if you worked the same way, you would still be on SmackDown, and not riding the coattail's of your father and your boyfriend."

"I'm not riding anyone's coattails, I do just as much work around here as anyone else, and you can't say otherwise."

"And where would you be exactly if Chris didn't take pity on you and ask you out."

"I don't exactly take pity on her," Chris said from behind Bischoff, "I do however take pity on you for being so stupid and naïve as to think that Stephanie couldn't make it this far on her own."

"Oh look, its your little lapdog himself, hello Jericho, how are you this evening?"

"I was doing fine, but now I'm in a little bit of a bad mood."

"Don't mind Stephanie and I, we were just talking to each other civilly," Bischoff said, giving that stupid, smarmy smile of his to Chris.

"I can see that, though I doubt it had much civility in it."

"Well think what you want, but the Princess and I go way back, I did kiss her once."

Chris steeled his jaw and spoke, "You now, I seem to remember a long, long time ago, I walked in on a little scene in the parking lot that had you grabbing Stephanie by the arm and threatening her, do you remember that?"

"Oh yeah," Bischoff laughed, guffawed really, "Good times, good times."

"What you may not know Eric, is that Stephanie was my girlfriend at the time, and she didn't want this to be brought to anyone's attention, but you know what I just realized, Stephanie and I are engaged and everyone knows, so Eric, I have something for you."

Chris punched Eric right in the face with a nice right hook, hitting his cheek squarely. Chris felt good doing it, knowing it was a long, LONG time coming for that one. Stephanie stood there, her jaw dropping slightly as she saw Eric stagger back and fall onto a crate sitting there before turning shocked eyes to Chris as he shook out his fist.

"Damn that felt good," Chris muttered, much to Stephanie's amusement.

"You just made a HUGE mistake Jericho," Eric spat, "HUGE!" Eric walked away, wanting to find the makeup lady quickly so she could cover up the bruise that was sure to show up on his face. He couldn't go out there looking beaten up.

"Why must you always get yourself into trouble?" Chris said, shaking his head as he laughed and walked over to her.

"I guess it's my big mouth."

"That might be one thing, yeah," he nodded.

"You probably shouldn't have punched him, he is still your boss."

"Well you know what," Chris said definitively.

"What?"

"I'm going to be part of the McMahon family, and I'm not going to ask for a lot of perks, but if the 'never ever getting fired' thing is one of the perks, I'm going to take it and run with it. I should at least get something good career-wise out of this marriage because I'm going to be a horrible businessman."

"Then just leave that up to Shane and me, and you can be a General Manager or something," Stephanie said, "And where a suit every week."

"I think I'll be the first vinyl pants, t-shirt wearing GM around here."

"Or you can do that too. Bischoff makes me so mad sometimes, coming around here and acting all pompous like he runs the whole damn company."

"Well he doesn't, so let's not worry about it."

"Ok, I guess," she said, thinking intently about what Chris was doing tonight. An idea popped into her brain and she smirked, "Sweetie, have you ever seen Survivor?"

"No, I've heard about it though," he said, "That was really random."

"Actually, it wasn't, it was perfectly on-topic."

"Shed. Light. Me. Please."

"You know about that whole immunity challenge thing they do on that show right, to save a person from getting voted off?"

"Yeah, I. . .oh man, please tell me you're now thinking what I'm thinking."

"I don't know, what are YOU thinking?"

"I'm thinking that we lead some of the divas on and make them think there's immunity when there isn't," Chris said.

"I had the same idea," she said, "But where does your immunity fake-out take place."

"You first."

"No, you."

"Uh uh, you."

"Fine, we'll go at the same time," she said, "Ready, one, two, three!"

"Bischoff's office," the said at the same time, then laughed.

"Ok, I definitely think that we were meant to be," Stephanie giggled, "So will you do it?"

"Will I do it? Hello, am I not the guy who came up with an hilarious poem about Benoit? Am I not the guy who went wacko on Chyna? Am I not the guy who kissed a married woman on a whim? Of course I'll do it."

Stephanie grinned, "That bastard deserves it, thinking he's better than me."

"Yeah, what the hell was he thinking with that one."

"He'll get what's coming to him, thankfully.

The show started a couple of hours later and nothing much happened except for Stephanie being thoroughly disgusted by Hunter and his speech out in the ring. Leave it to him to be somewhat nice one moment and making fart jokes the next. Thank God she had gotten away from him. He had come backstage and smiled at her softly. She almost puked at the display. She had learned to just ignore him or go along with whatever he was doing. She didn't want any more fights or anything with him.

Chris's Highlight Reel was rather early in the show, and lucky her was forced to watch the segment because she was the one behind the scenes. She could've taken a break, but call it morbid curiosity. She saw all the girls primping before their entrances, some in obscenely short skirts, and others painted up to look like whores. And if so much as one of them tried to touch her fiancé, well, she would need a LOT of makeup to cover up what Stephanie would do to her.

The girls finally left and she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, because on the one hand, they were annoying her, but on the other hand, they were going out there with Chris. She decided that Chris could handle them, and just let herself watch the segment and try not to let her temper rise.

Chris sat on the rope and held up the upper rope so the girls could get in the ring. Thankfully none of them tripped this time. Though there had been much tripping earlier. He looked rather disinterestedly at the girls, putting his best face forward though. This was one of those times where he didn't really like having his own show. He felt like he had had every girl in the world on this show except for the one that really mattered.

He went through his little speech and talked about how he wasn't going to complicate these girl's lives with complicated questions like, "What's your favorite food?" or "Do you like music?" but to ask their names and where they were from, if they could handle that. The girls seemed excited to see him all bare-chested and what not and while he knew he was a sexy beast, he didn't particularly like the carnivorous looks he was receiving.

He went down the line, letting each girl have their moment. Chris had to smile when every girl, except for maybe one, got booed. It was nice to know the fans were as interested in this as he was. Funnier that just random girls were getting the shit booed out of them. If it wasn't for him, who knows what kind of riot could've been started.

When they were done with the ever so arduous task of introducing themselves, he started in the little joke. The girls looked positively excited. He found it funny how he could not name one of these girls if his life depended on it. Maybe he could make a general guess like Heather or Valerie and come up big, but maybe Candy or something equally slutty would suffice.

He got the girls to follow him, and tried to make some small talk as he went, just so that he wouldn't actually have to narrate exactly what he was doing. He was fairly sure there was a girl or two who were trying to come walk next to him to try and crowd him. He walked a little bit faster to avoid getting pummeled. What did these girls think, that he was going to turn around and just randomly start making out with them?

They reached backstage and back to where Bischoff's office was. He peeked inside to see if Bischoff was there and since he wasn't, he opened the door. He really should've gotten out of the way as the crush of women against him was scary. He felt one girl's breasts push up against him, and he tried to back away and was only met with a back full of doorway. The same girl who had crushed him with her assets also ran her hand the length of his waist, making him feel very awkward and he grimaced until they were all inside.

He egged them on as best he could, and it at least provided him a laugh. Some of them were really crazy and started yelling and stuff, causing Chris to physically back away. Once he saw the job was done, he high-tailed it out of there and ran back to where Stephanie was jumping up and down in happiness, clapping her hands. She ran to him and jumped his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as she kissed him.

"That was so funny, and stupid, and scary at the same time," she told him.

"It was, especially since I had to be around all of them, gross."

"I saw one of those girls trying to touch you," Stephanie said angrily.

"I love when you're jealous."

"Me? Jealous! No!"

He poked her in the nose a little, "You are so cute when you're jealous."

"Oh shut up." Edge ran by and Stephanie called out, "Edge, where are you going!"

"Did you not see that segment, one of the girl's skirts was falling off, I can sew, so she might need help!" he yelled as he ran by.

"He's pathetic," Stephanie said Chris put her down, "He needs to get out more."

"Obviously," Chris said, wrapping his arm around her waist, "Still cute when you're jealous you know."

"I wasn't jealous, I was just mad."

"I tried to go away, but man, when there's something like immunity on the line, damn they go apeshit."

"I guess they wanted it badly enough to act stupid."

"Or maybe it was normal behavior," he shrugged.

"Chris Jericho! Get your ass over here NOW!"

"Great, I've been caught."

"You two think that was funny, huh! Did you think that was funny, well it wasn't, everything I had in my office is ruined, RUINED!"

"Them's the breaks," Chris laughed.

"This is your fault, and you are going to pay, you and Kane tonight!"

"Fine, whatever," Chris said, yawning.

"He hates you," Stephanie laughed.

"Like I don't hate him, but I guess I'll go get ready," he said, kissing her softly before going to his locker room. Stephanie watched him go and then turned around smacking right into a chest. A large chest.

She looked up, "So did Hunter send you with a love note for me?"

Dave didn't smile, but that was typical, "No, I just got a match coming up and you were in my way."

"Oh, well then," she said, stepping out his way.

"You could do a lot worse than Hunter."

"I could do a lot better too, and I have."

"That pretty boy, you want that pretty boy over Hunter?"

"Well, you seem to be really wanting him, do you have a crush on your fearless leader."

Dave grunted and puffed his chest out, looking strong. Stephanie, though impressed by his physique and recognizing that the man was very good-looking, was not impressed by his friendship and loyalty to her ex-husband. She side-stepped him and went back to work.

Chris's match came later on that evening and Stephanie watched it, happy when he won, even if it was by count-out. The fact remained that he won, and he was the one to take out Kane on the outside, so much so that he couldn't even climb in the ring. So intent on the match was she, that she took no notice that Eric had walked past her, and out into the arena, to change the match to a falls count anywhere match.

She scowled at him as he came back, sending a smirk of satisfaction and victory over to her. She knew Chris had been royally screwed and punished for his earlier behavior. She turned her eyes back to the television and winced as Chris was thrown into the hockey boards in the arena. He thankfully got the upper-hand and actually used one of the cameras to hit Kane with. He was so clever like that.

Then out of nowhere, there was Dave and he was heading for Chris. Chris was trying to pin Kane and didn't even see Dave until he was grabbed by the hair. Chris was too tired to fight back and was thrown into the boards for his trouble. He crawled a little ways and tried to get up, not seeing as Dave waited for him. Chris was clotheslined down and crumpled up on the floor. Chris felt like he couldn't move, the cold floor the only thing that he could feel right now.

Chris opened his eyes a little bit to see Dave standing over him. Chris coughed and felt his back. He couldn't move, but he was trying. He was content to lay down on the ground, and Dave looked down at him, laughing and living it up. Chris sputtered out some spit and just laid there.

Dave leaned down to where Chris was, and whispered harshly, "I don't like that bitch of yours, and I don't want her infiltrating her way into Hunter's heart, because we don't need a damn woman with Evolution, so you better keep her where the hell she is, or you'll be seeing more of me."

Chris could do nothing until the trainers helped him to the back where a worried Stephanie was waiting. She went with Chris to the trainer's and was starting to feel like this was a normal occurrence. Chris grimaced as he lay on the table to get examined and she kissed his forehead.

"You'll be ok, I promise."

There was a knock on the door and Trish and Christian walked in, "Hey, we wanted to see how he was."

"I think he'll be alright, but can you stay with him, I'm technically not allowed to just leave the show."

"Oh of course Steph, go ahead."

"Thanks." Stephanie left and made a short detour to Hunter's dressing room before going back to the production table. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Stephanie, what are you doing here?" Hunter asked.

"How could you have Dave do that to him!"

"Stephanie, I swear, I didn't have him hurt Chris," Hunter said, and for once, it was the truth.

"I don't believe you! How can I trust you, you want Chris out of the picture, and this is how you're trying to do it!"

"Stephanie I had nothing to do with it!"

"Just leave me alone!" she screeched and walked away. Hunter didn't follow her; he didn't want to discuss Chris with her and just left well enough alone.

Stephanie stomped over to where she was running the show, only to find Dave sitting there. Her anger flared and she stalked over to him. "Get the hell out of my chair!"

"No, not until we talk."

"Look, I don't know what Hunter is having you do--"

"This isn't about Hunter sweetheart," Dave said, standing up and creating an intimidating picture. "I don't want you around Hunter, he goes soft whenever you're around, and I don't want my leader to fall apart over a woman. We were fine without you."

"I'm fine without him."

"Good, just make sure you stay away from Hunter."

"I don't WANT Hunter!"

"Well he wants you, though I don't know why, just stay the hell away so he can get over you, bitch."

"Oh shove it up your ass Dave."

"Watch it Stephanie, or Chris is going to have it a lot worse than he does now."


	222. Raw, July 26, 2004

"Did you expect my father to just sit back and let you fire people?" Stephanie asked.

"No," Kurt said sheepishly.

"Welcome to the world of the fired ex-General Managers," she said with a bitter laugh, "We're a sorry bunch. But you get over it. At least you still have a job on the roster."

"Yeah, but with everyone out to kill me I'm sure."

"Yeah, I'm sure there are some people who want to get their hands around your Olympic neck."

"It's times like these I wish that I could switch rosters," he told her, "Not only would I avoid all the people wanting to gun me down, I'd actually have people to hang out with."

"Well, I can come visit you once in a while, maybe ask my dad to extend my workload to include SmackDown as well."

"That'd be awesome, but what would Chris think?"

"He probably wouldn't like it, but that's not his decision to make. I'll be working SummerSlam, so you'll see us there," she said, though he probably knew that already, "So you won't be completely alone that night."

"I think your father hates me though, so he probably won't want me hanging around with you anymore," Kurt said, with his lip jutting out a little in a pathetic pout.

"At some point or another, I think my father has hated every single person on the face of this earth. He's hated me, he's hated my brother, my mother, everyone in this company. Eventually you were going to make your way onto that list. I'm surprised you weren't on it sooner, but we both know that my dad adored you. He probably still adores you and is so upset that you turned out to be the way you were. Which ironically, is just like my dad. Actually Kurt, you should've put more bass into your 'You're fired,' and then maybe my dad would have loved it."

Kurt laughed, "Thanks for cheering me up."

"Well, it so happened that we were in Pittsburgh, and since you live in the state, I had to make an appearance. And you are coming to the show tonight, so you get to watch me work. And on the very plus side, you know nobody is going to hate you for being a bad GM over there."

"That's true, maybe I can help you with your work."

"Going to try to usurp me?"

"Nah, I know how much hard work you do as it is. I figure wrestling has got to be easier than running the entire show."

Stephanie drank the last of her soda and signaled for the check from the waiter. She had to get to the arena soon and do her preliminary checks on the stage and everything, but she wanted to find time to see Kurt. He was coming to the show later, but she knew that she would be very busy and might not have enough time to properly check up with him and how he was doing.

Kurt thought that she would be mad just like her dad was because he had been a bad GM, and she would not want to be his friend any longer. He had been pretty dastardly if he thought about it, but he didn't know how else to be really. Stephanie and him parted ways as Stephanie went to the limo that was waiting for her to go to the arena.

"Hi Daddy," Stephanie said, greeting her father who was already in the limo, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

"Not that long, where were you? Off with Chris?"

"No, actually, I haven't seen Chris all day. I woke up this morning and he was gone. I figured he was off with the boys or something so I didn't worry about it."

"Maybe you should give him a call or something."

"I'm sure I'll see him at the arena, I'll talk to him then. If he wanted to talk to me, he'd call."

"You don't seem too concerned."

"Why should I be concerned Daddy? You didn't send him off with all the divas again did you?" Stephanie joked, with a hint of actual bitterness in her voice. Just enough to get it across to her father that she didn't appreciate her fiancé gallivanting around with those tramps.

"Well, I guess I'm just surprised in your trust of him."

"Daddy, he's not going to go off and do anything if I'm not watching him every second of the day."

"Well that's good then."

"Yes, it is good," Stephanie laughed, "He knew I had to be at the arena early and so he probably didn't want to come in so early, and that's all."

She didn't like her father thinking that something could be up with Chris. She didn't like thinking that there could be something up with Chris. Every once in a while, little doubts would pop up into her mind. They worked in a very volatile business, where it was easy to get caught up in different things, and sex was so easily accessible with the ring rats who would hang around the arena, hoping to get a piece of a superstar.

When she was younger, she had seen the business. She had observed things from a distance, nobody thinking that a young girl would even care about wrestling, but she had. When she was thirteen, she had vowed to never date a wrestler because she only saw them as weird, sweaty men who seemed far too old for her. Of course, she was thirteen and didn't know anything about the world. Especially the world that was already for her when she had graduated college.

Stephanie and Vince arrived at the arena, which was already abuzz with activity for the Iron Man match this evening. That was, obviously, going to fill most of the show. But that almost meant they had to keep interest in the match throughout an entire hour. She hoped that Hunter and Benoit brought the goods tonight.

"Daddy, we don't have a set-up for the first hour besides that diva search," Stephanie said as she flipped through the schedule.

"That's where I come in," Bischoff said as he walked over to her, "We're going to have a Battle Royal for someone to be the number one contender to the title. I think that should be a good enough event to fill in the first hour."

Stephanie smirked at Bischoff, "Thank you Eric, I'm sure that'll work out just fine."

Bischoff gave her a smile and walked off. She found it funny that when her dad was around, he was on his best behavior. He knew better than to mouth off at her when her father was around because she would win any fight that was about. She sat down at her station as her father went around to survey everything for her.

"How are you?"

Stephanie looked up, "Hi Hunter, I'm fine, and you?"

"Good."

"That's nice," she said in monotone, "I'm actually really busy right now, so if you had something about the show to say to me, then say it before I get really bored of you and walk away."

"I just wanted to check when the match was, first hour or second hour."

"Second hour."

"Thanks. How've you been?"

"I've been great, couldn't be better...does this conversation have somewhere to go?"

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Yes, I got that much, but you are actually really bothering me right now. Do you see anyone else bothering me? No, because they know that I'm working."

"I'm glad to see you working again."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you would much rather see me be unemployed and broke right now Hunter."

"That's not true at all Stephanie."

"That's why you got me kicked out in the first place!"

"That was a long time ago, you lied to me!"

"But you were the one being," she paused and took a deep breath, "I don't care anymore Hunter. What happened is in the past, and that's all there is to it. Now if you don't have anything to say to me that pertains to the show, then I suggest you go prepare for your match, I'm sure it'll be grueling."

"Stephanie, I just want to talk to you, it's not a crime. So I can't compliment you anymore."

"Compliment me all you want, it makes no difference to me either way, just please don't do it while I'm trying to work."

"You always did want to work all the time," Hunter mused. "I remember the nights I'd wake up alone in bed and then I'd hear you typing away on your computer in the other room. I swear, I thought that you would fall asleep at that keyboard more often."

Stephanie cracked a small smile at that. Not because he was hitting a nerve with her or anything, but rather, she hadn't changed at all. She was still a workaholic, even years later. Chris had just told her a couple weeks ago that she kept him up with her typing.

"I caught you smiling," Hunter said, pointing at her mouth.

"You saw nothing," she told him, "Don't be so presumptuous as to think that I was actually reminiscing with fondness at our life together."

"Then why were you smiling?"

"Because Chris told me the other week that I keep him up typing, and I think that it's funny that you said the same thing."

Hunter paused before speaking, "So you live with Chris right?"

"Yes, I do, and I have for a while, what does that have to do with anything."

"I was just wondering."

"Well now you know, though I'm sure you got your little spies to figure that one out. I'd venture to guess that you have Chris and my address in your little black-book so that you could come and stake out the joint."

Hunter laughed, "You caught me Stephanie."

"I thought so," she answered, "So now that I've answered all your questions, how about you leave me alone?"

"If you really want me to."

"You mean I haven't been implying that for the last fifteen minutes," Stephanie told him sarcastically, "I've got to brush up on my language skills, I didn't realize there was a language barrier between the two of us."

"I'll see you around Stephanie," Hunter said as he saw Evolution walking down the hallway towards him. Stephanie couldn't see the angle that he was looking at, and she just stared at him.

"Since you weren't a complete jerk to me today," Stephanie started, "Don't read into this alright, I'm saying it beforehand so you don't get the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea about what?"

She looked down, wondering if she was going to regret this, but well, he wasn't being a complete toad, so it was the very least that she could do, the VERY least. "Happy Birthday tomorrow. I hope you have a good day."

To say that she sufficiently surprised Hunter would be an understatement. He had expected something along the lines of her telling him he wouldn't get a kick to the balls today, but nothing along the lines of wishing him a happy birthday. He was slightly surprised that she even remembered that his birthday was tomorrow. But it was a nice surprise.

Dave, Randy, and Flair were right behind Hunter as he smiled in thanks at Stephanie. Stephanie threw her hair back in defiance as she caught the look that Dave was sending her way. Randy looked at his friend, noticing that his expression had changed as soon as they had seen Stephanie.

"Thanks Stephanie, I appreciate that," Hunter said genuinely.

"Don't expect it often."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Hunter walked over to his buddies and they wandered off, with Dave lingering behind a little bit. Stephanie leaned her elbows on the table and leaned her chin on her fists as Dave came to stand in front of her. She didn't want to show that she was intimidated by him, but she was. She usually wasn't afraid of everybody, but someone who could snap her like a twig, and who would probably snap her like a twig, that was something to worry about.

"What did I tell you Stephanie?" Dave asked.

"Oh, did you say something to me?" she asked redundantly, "I must not remember."

"Stay away from him, he doesn't need a broad like you screwing up his life and his pursuit for the title."

"I was being generous with my comments to him."

Dave scoffed, "I can see right through you."

"Oh yeah, then I must be dead and a ghost right?"

"You think you're so smart because your father runs the company, and you think that you have everything. Watch the Battle Royal tonight Stephanie, because one I step into that ring with Jericho, there's nothing you can do to stop me from pummeling him to my heart's content."

Edge jogged over to the table, "Hey, what's this I hear about a Battle Royal, what's it for?"

"I don't think I'm at liberty to say," Stephanie answered, "I think Bischoff is going to announce it later."

"Cool, where's..." It was only then that Edge noticed the bigger man standing next to him, since he was so wrapped up in finding out what was happening that evening. Or maybe Edge couldn't see through that long, greasy hair of his, but that was a toss-up really. "Hey there loser."

"You fucking cheated," Dave growled as he stalked away.

"What's his problem?"

"I don't know, nor do I care," Stephanie said, now feeling very testy.

"Oh, so where's Chris?" Edge asked, finishing the question he had started a few minutes earlier.

"Around, were you with him earlier?"

"I saw him around, but I didn't stop to chat or anything."

"I haven't seen him all day, I'm starting to wonder about that one," Stephanie laughed, "He just better be here by the time the show starts or he's going to get screwed out of the Battle Royal."

"He'll be here," another voice said. Chris walked over to them, "I heard my name and through my psychic powers, I knew exactly where it was emanating from."

"Hey sweetie," Stephanie said, standing up to kiss him, "Where have you been? I was starting to get worried."

"No you weren't, I'd venture to guess that you didn't even care as to what I was doing."

"Ok, yeah, I didn't really care at all, but let me know where you were anyways so I don't start to go crazy with worry thinking that you were off with a woman that I know nothing about, and then I'll cry and cry and cry, and the show will go to hell, and then I'll tell my Dad on you, and he'll fire you."

"Holy shit man, just tell her where you were," Edge laughed.

"I was doing the job that was appointed to me, hello," Chris said mockingly, "I thought you told me what I had to do today and then you go and forget completely."

"Oh yeah," Stephanie said, hitting her forehead to remind her of her own stupidity. She realized that it hurt and rubbed her forehead as Chris and Edge laughed at her. She sent them a look of derision and then crossed her arms across her chest. "I forgot, sue me, I have things to worry about like the show and I can't be thinking about everything ALL the time."

"Which is probably why you asked me to take care of what you wanted me to take care of right?"

"Yes, so you did get it taken care of?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I'm feeling like a stranger in a foreign land who can't understand the language," Edge said, "Please, tell me what he was supposed to do!"

"Stephanie sent me on a scavenger hunt around the city, and I had lots of fun, if you come back to my car, I have all the items from the list," Chris said in mock enthusiasm. He clapped his hands and jumped up and down happily a few times to prove his point. Edge shoved him a little and Chris shoved him back and then got him in a headlock playfully.

"Chris was getting measured for his tuxedo, and picking out the style for it. We're going to hopefully pick it up tomorrow, but if it's not ready, we're having it sent to us," Stephanie answered.

"Stephanie," Chris whined, "Why'd you have to tell, I was having fun with him."

"Because I don't want you two killing each other before your match later."

"Hey, did you see Kurt like crying on Thursday at SmackDown?" Edge said, fixing his hair, though it was pretty much futile with Edge's hair, all it did was fall down around his face most of the time in the most unflattering way.

"Well I cried after I got fired," Stephanie said.

"Well, I called Kurt and ragged on him for it," Edge said, "He's going to kill me when he gets here, speaking of which, I better hide before that happens. Although we are going to a club later together, so I can't hide from him forever."

"You're going to a club?"

"Well, we're both unattached, we just want to have some fun, unlike Jericho here who has to give up all his fun for the rest of his life."

"Hey! He has fun with me!" Stephanie cried indignantly.

"Yeah, but it's different when you're single. I am SO not ready to get married," Edge said, "I don't know how you are going to do that man, with the same woman, day in and day out, talk about tiresome."

"Um, excuse me, the woman who he's spending day in and day out with is sitting right here!" Stephanie said, "And she's not really liking the fact you're trying to discourage Chris from marrying me."

"I'm not discouraging him," Edge said, patting Chris on the shoulder while Chris shoved his arm away, slapping Edge in the face with his own hand, "All I'm saying is that its not for everyone."

"Well yeah, that's a positive reason."

"I want to spend everyday with Stephanie," Chris interjected, sending Stephanie a sweet smile. It was smiles like those that made her melt.

"Then good for you, but me, I don't want to get married any time soon. Maybe if I find someone like Stephanie I would, but nah, not going to happen."

"Well, to each their own I guess."

"Hey Chris, do you want to work together in the Battle Royal tonight, I thought that we could eliminate everyone and then we can fight each other, best man wins."

"Which would be me," Chris said.

"Yeah right," Edge scoffed, as if that was the most absurd idea Chris had ever had. "I will win."

"Fine, we'll work together, whatever."

"Great, see you then."

Chris turned to Stephanie once Edge had left, "So what's this Battle Royal thing for?"

"Number one contender," she said, "I think you'll take it."

"You always think I'm going to win."

"I believe in you, that's why," she said, kissing him.

The show started and the Battle Royal was to be the first match of the night, not that there was going to be any more since there was the Iron Man match and all that. Once all of the participants had entered the ring, Bischoff came off and announced the big surprise. Since Chris already knew about it, he got the jump on everyone and went after Albert even before Bischoff stopped speaking.

A Battle Royal in the beginning can only be described as a clusterfuck. There are bodies everywhere and you don't know who to attack or what to do so you just kind of float from one person to the other, hoping to thin out the herd in the process. Edge and him teamed up like they said they would and eliminated Tomko from the match. That would probably please Trish who was watching at home.

The match went on and Chris found himself the target of Evolution time after time. He understood that Randy had to go after him, it was a match after all and it was every man for himself, even if once and a while teaming up was allowed. What he didn't understand was the sincere hatred that Dave Batista seemed to have for him. Chris collapsed into the corner of the ring and Dave targeted him and went after him like a bullet to a target. And Chris was the target. He tried to dodge Dave, but it wasn't happening and Chris was now on his back on the mat, Dave's knee digging into his throat. He tried to get out from beneath Dave's massive form, but when someone is that big, it's pretty hard to just roll them over and make them go away. Dave tried to choke him out as well, but that wasn't happening either.

He thought he had gotten rid of Dave, but he seemed to keep coming back to get him and it was getting frustrating. After surviving elimination a few times, something rather odd happened as the crowd dwindled down. He found himself working together with Dave, and Randy and Edge for that matter in eliminating Kane. The image struck him as odd, but it had worked in the end, and that was it for that alliance of a few seconds as the match continued. He felt the fatigue starting to set in, they had been fighting for a while and as he thought that, he was elbowed in the face by Dave and fell into the corner.

He was content to say there for a few moments as he watched Randy eliminate Maven. He kind of cheered silently for his friend and then got up when he saw Edge trying to get Dave over the ropes. Seeing the opportunity to get back at Dave for trying to literally hurt him earlier in the match, he pushed Dave off the ropes and onto the floor below. That left him with Edge and Randy to contend with, both of whom he considered friends. But in a match of this caliber, with so much at stake, friends didn't much matter. Hell, if Stephanie were in this match, and it came down to her and him, he would throw her over the top as well. Or maybe not throw her, set her down gently was more like it. Ok, who was he kidding, if he was in a Battle Royal and it came down to him and Stephanie, he would eliminate himself. Ok, that wasn't true either, he'd eliminate her.

He looked back to see Edge hanging on precariously to the ropes, standing on the outside. Friends didn't matter, he repeated in his mind, and he did what he had to do, giving Edge a forearm and eliminating him. Chris looked down, trying to tell him that business was business, but he wasn't sure that Edge got that much. It didn't matter though, because it was every man for himself. Chris looked back to Randy and smiled. They were talking with their eyes, knowing that it was no holds barred with this one.

Randy looked a little nervous, and he was. Chris had a lot more experience than he did, and he was a former world champion, so he knew the taste of championships and gold, and once you got that first taste, it was hard to give it up. He wondered momentarily if it was harder to be that outsider looking in to the status of being a champion or being a former champion and wanting that gold again. He saw in Chris's eyes that desire for the win, and it had to be the latter, the knowing the feeling of holding that big, gold belt up in the air, or in Chris's case, both belts at the same time.

The time for smiling was over as they locked up and went at each other. Like they knew was going to happen, they fought, and they fought hard, all friendships summarily forgotten for the match at hand. It was survival now, and that's all they thought as they hit and tried to eliminate each other. Chris was thrown over the rope twice, but he managed to skin the cat once, and he would not figure out where he got the strength to do that after fighting for almost half an hour.

The moment he got in the ring, he was thrown out again, but Chris resisted and tried to get Randy out of the ring. They were both on the outside now, and it was dangerous. They fought, holding onto the ropes for dear life, knowing that was their only lifeline to the unforgiving floor below. Chris was hanging on by a thread when the kick came to his face and he was forced to let go, the exhaustion too much for him to handle.

Randy felt terrible for having to eliminate Chris, but it was tempered by the shock of him getting a title shot. This was a big break, this could BE his big break and he celebrated up the ring. He didn't even give thought to what Hunter might think, especially if Hunter won the championship tonight. But that didn't matter, Randy had won and he was going to get a title shot.

Chris drug himself up the ramp and backstage. He was upset about losing, but was too tired to actually sulk about it. Stephanie was there, like she always was, and she had her proud face on, like she always did. He thought curiously about whether or not she would ever not be proud of him. He surmised that he could come in last place, could be the worst of the worst, and she would still have that proud smile and bright eyes whenever she regarded him.

"You almost won!"

"Almost, didn't."

"You eliminated Dave, Dave freaking Batista, do you know how big he is, and YOU eliminated him!"

"Edge would've--"

"Oh please, that string-bean, he didn't have a chance by himself, it was all you."

"String-bean?"

"Hey, when it's every man for himself, I have to root for MY man, if that means I can call all of them names, then I will. Randy's a pansy-ass, he'll lose at SummerSlam."

"Any other nicknames?"

"Oh plenty, and I'll regale you with them all when we go back to the hotel right now."

"You have a show to run," Chris said, looking around.

"Daddy wanted to do it tonight, says he misses it, so I'm letting him, besides, you must be exhausted, and I don't want to stick around to watch Hunter be an ass and try to win the title when someone else should have a chance at it."

"Fair enough."

"Chris! I thought we were working together!" Edge said, storming over.

"It's every man for himself, I did what I had to do," Chris said.

"I thought we were going to be final two."

"You were final three, no big deal."

"It is a big deal, we had an agreement."

"Edge, it was a match, we had to go in to win, and I'm sorry that you didn't win, but neither did I."

"I would've won if I had let you be eliminated instead of saving your ass."

"Oh like you saved my ass. Edge, forget about it, neither one of us is getting a title shot."

"But you took that away from me!"

"It's a match Edge," Stephanie said, "You can't just expect someone to not give it their all and let someone else win just because their friends."

"That was such a jerky move of you Chris, man, I'm leaving!"

Edge stormed off and Chris stood there in shock at the encounter. He figured that Edge would be mad, but THAT mad; he wasn't expecting that at all. Stephanie was in a similar state of shock, but she didn't even want to delve into why.

"Well someone turned into a two-year old," Stephanie said, "Let's go."

"Should I apologize? Is this a situation where I should apologize?"

"No," Stephanie said.

"No?"

"If Edge wants to act like a child, let him. It's not our problem."


	223. Raw, August 2, 2004

"He's still mad."

"I know," Stephanie said, "I've known every second since it happened because you won't let me forget it."

"I'm sorry, I just can't believe that he hasn't forgiven me for it, or whatever, I'm so confused over the entire thing," Chris said.

"Sweetie, I know, but if he wants to be an idiot and think that you are somehow spiting him, then let him think that."

"He's our friend."

"In this world, you sometimes have to go without friends."

Chris looked at her. He could tell that she was dead serious in her words, but he didn't quite understand them. She had been insistent that they were not in the wrong about the whole elimination thing with Edge, but it still stuck in his craw. He didn't like fighting with his friends, especially when he didn't even know why they were fighting in the first place.

"What?"

"You have to look out for yourselves in this world and that's all there is to it."

"But we have to look out for each other right?"

"Well, yeah," Stephanie said, kissing him, "But that's the exception of course. We'll see what happens tonight, and if it doesn't go well, then we can't force him to realize that he's being a jerk."

"What if I'm the one who's being a jerk?"

Stephanie guffawed and stared at him, "You are not at fault here Chris, if anyone is at fault, it's him for being so narrow-minded as to think this is a perfect world in which everyone is just supposed to get along and lay down for their friends. It's not a perfect world at all, and he had to realize that sometime."

"Baby, is something the matter with you?" Chris asked seriously, watching Stephanie get so worked up over this.

"No, I just..."

Her voice trailed off and she stared out the window of the limo they were taking to the arena. Her father insisted that she travel in style now that she was back in the company, even if it was on kind of a temporary basis. Her father spoiled her, wanted everyone to be reminded that they knew she was a McMahon and should be treated as such. Even Bischoff had eased up on her, once he found that she was completely backed by her father.

"Is it the wedding?" Chris asked. "If it's the wedding, all you have to do is say so and we can take a step back for a while. I know that it's been hectic for you, with both your job and the wedding, so if at anytime you want to either take a break from planning or even if you want to postpone--"

"Postpone our wedding?" she asked incredulously.

"Only if things get too hard for you. We can take as long as we need with the wedding. We don't need to rush into it or anything."

"You want to postpone it!"

Chris shook his head, "You're not getting me here baby, I said if you need to. Whatever you want, I want too, so you just say the word and we'll have that wedding changed. We haven't even sent out invitations yet."

"That's the last thing that I want to do, I would rather quit my job then postpone our wedding. Face it Chris Jericho, come January fifteenth, you are going to be married to me whether you like it or not."

He laughed, "Why wouldn't I like it?"

"I don't know, but that reminds me, I have my first dress fitting on Friday. Well, not so much a fitting as deciding what I want my dress to look like and getting my measurements," she said, speaking out her plans even though Chris could probably care less.

"So I still don't get any hint as to what it's going to look like?" he pouted.

"Nope, it'll be a surprise."

"Well damn," Chris said, "Is there anything I can help with that will help ease all the stress that you're under?"

"Not at the moment, no, but soon we'll have to get those invitations out if we want to give people ample time to respond on whether or not they're coming. Which first means that we need to get set on a guest list."

Chris leaned his head back on the chair, "I had to say she could have a perfect wedding."

"Oh grow up. Your family is going to want you to have a beautiful wedding as well. Besides, it'll be your only one."

"Yeah, I don't get three like some people I know," he answered slyly, peeking a glance over at Stephanie who decided that giving him a glare was her best option at the moment.

"Whatever."

"So it'll be my only one huh?"

"It better be. I'm not having another marriage fall down the shitter," she giggled, "You and me are for keeps. I plan on being Mrs. Jericho for a long, long time."

"Even if you aren't changing your name."

"Even after that. I can still say I'm Mrs. Jericho. That's weird," she said, scrunching up her nose, "Mrs. Stephanie Jericho. Hi, my name is Stephanie Jericho. Stephanie Jericho here. Yes, this is Stephanie Jericho, what can I do for you. Yup, it sounds weird any way you slice it."

"Why the hell does it sound weird," he said, turning his head to face her.

"Because, everyone, including me at one point, and when I'm especially mad at you, we all call you Jericho, so when you say something like, Stephanie Jericho, it sounds like I'm talking about the both of us."

"Well what do you want then, to become Stephanie McMarico or Stephanie Jerihon or something?"

"Stephanie McMarico, it has a nice ring to it," she answered, rubbing her chin as if she was seriously considering naming herself Stephanie McMarico.

"No Stephanie, you're not changing your name to that, uh uh, no way."

"What about if you changed your name to McMahon?" Stephanie asked, obviously joking as Chris looked at her as if she had grown a second head that was now singing opera.

"Chris McMahon, you've got to be kidding me, then it'll sound like we were cousins and decided that we lived in some hick state and decided to get married. No freaking way am I going to change MY name."

"Well fine Mr. Jericho, Mrs. and Mr. Jericho. I guess I can live with it if I absolutely HAVE to," she told him, dragging out her words as if to signal that this was for an eternity.

"Good, because we're here at the arena, and I'd hate for you to be drug away from this conversation."

"You're weird."

"You're marrying me, so that makes you weirder."

He hopped out of the limo and then ran to the other side to help Stephanie get out of the limo as well. She grabbed her bag and he grabbed his as they went inside the arena. After checking the schedule and finding out that Edge had requested a Highlight Reel with him, and that he was going to be in a tag match, he and Stephanie parted with a kiss; she to go work and he to go get ready for the show.

Stephanie went over to her usual area and picked up her clipboard of things to do before the show. She groaned at the part where she had to make sure the set for the diva search thing was set up correctly for filming. She thought it was a horrible idea perpetrated by her father, and she always felt like she should just go in there and kick all their asses and then declare herself the winner. Now THAT would probably entertain the fans.

"Hey Stephanie?"

Stephanie looked up and saw Lita fidgeting in front of her, playing with the bottom of her shirt. Stephanie set her clipboard down on the table and looked at the woman. She was looking a bit frazzled nowadays, but she expected that given her situation. Kane as the baby's father, she almost wanted to snicker at it, but refrained. Then she thought of Uncle Undertaker and she broke a smile on her face and turned into a smile of greeting rather than mocking.

"What can I do for you Lita?"

"Um, I was wondering, if...well, since I'm pregnant and everything, is your dad going to fire me or whatever?"

Stephanie looked confused, "Why would my father fire you?"

"Because I can't really work right now."

"My father can't fire you for getting pregnant, I'm pretty sure there are laws against that," Stephanie said, "Not to mention it wasn't intentional so he would basically have no grounds for a termination of your contract."

"Oh, well, thanks."

"Glad to be a help," Stephanie said.

"You know, I always liked when you got all business-like."

"Hello Hunter, come calling so soon? I thought I could count on you around," she looked at her watch, "10:20."

"I thought I'd come in early today."

Stephanie thought back to Dave and all his warnings of hurting Chris. And now it looked like he was going to get his hands on Chris again at SummerSlam, and that could spell trouble for her fiancé. She didn't want that trouble, but she also didn't know how exactly to get Hunter off her back, it wasn't like he wasn't a persistent bastard.

"Lucky me," she said in a droll voice, "So what do you want now?"

"I just wanted to come by and see you."

"Hunter, I know you're probably thinking that this is wearing me down or something, but it's not. It only makes you look more pathetic, like you're following me around or something."

"I just wanted to see you, that's not anything bad. You're here and you're working, it's not like I went to your house."

"You continually bother me and that's not cool. If you claim to love me and you do claim to, then you would leave me alone when I'm trying to work."

Hunter studied her for a second, "I was angry today and I thought that seeing you might lift my spirits. That was the entire intent of me coming to see you."

Stephanie hated when he did this. He would come here and he would be annoying and she'd be bitchy and get him to leave, and then he would spring this. He would tell her some incredibly sweet, or sad, or whatever reason to try and get her to feel guilty. And it was working right now.

"You had it coming," she said simply, going over her checklist.

"Had what coming?"

"Eugene interfering in your match."

As much as Hunter wanted to get angry with her, it was almost like he couldn't. "He had no right to do that."

"Oh please," Stephanie said, looking up at him, "He had every right to. You lulled him into thinking that you were his friend and then you turn on him, when he doesn't even fully understand why. You took advantage of him. Hunter, he has the mental capacity of a child and you used that to your advantage to try and screw Benoit over or screw Eugene over, or whoever you were out to get, but the fact remains that what you did was horrible."

"And you lying and getting people beat up wasn't?"

"Everyone I ever hurt knew they were going to get it. Eugene thought you were his friend, he trusted you."

"I don't want to discuss this anymore."

"You come over here saying you're in a bad mood and you expected me to what? Cheer you up. Hunter, since we've broken up, I've grown a conscience. I can't say the same for you. Now, I have business to do."

She stomped off, leaving Hunter in her dust. She was getting tired of him trying to "woo" her, or bother her, as she saw it. He would just talk and she would have to endure for as long as she felt comfortable. He wasn't really doing anything, not making advances or anything, but it was still bothersome.

She saw Chris walking down the hallway talking to Benoit, him laughing over something as Benoit smirked. She didn't want to interrupt their conversation so she just smiled at Chris and walked past him. She was a few steps farther then they were when his hand reached back to grab your hand.

"You actually thought I was going to let you walk by me and not talk to you?" Chris asked.

"I talk to you everyday," she answered, then said, "Hi Chris, what's up?"

"Tagging with your man tonight."

"So what did you want?" Stephanie asked, turning back to her Chris.

"Nothing, I just didn't want you to walk past me before I got a chance to enjoy how beautiful you are."

Benoit gave him a weird look, "You're so whipped man."

Chris flipped him off and kissed Stephanie sweetly. Stephanie let her hand rest softly on his cheek, the cold touch of her ring could be felt by him, but he just leaned in to kiss her a little deeper. Trish walked up and saw Benoit trying to look away and she walked up to him and stood there.

"They just never quit do they?"

"I don't think they do," Benoit said, "At least, I hope they stop and breathe once in a while, or else they're both going to die from lack of oxygen."

"Yeah, I can only imagine that it'll get worse," Trish answered, "Hey you two! Can you cut it out for a while!"

"No," Stephanie mumbled against Chris's lips.

"Stephanie, don't you have work to do?" Trish asked, "Like on the show that's about to start in like ten minutes."

"Shit, did you say ten minutes?" Stephanie said, her eyes wide, "Are you sure?"

"I think so."

"I have to get to work," Stephanie said to Chris, "I didn't realize that it was so late. I guess I just lost track of the time!"

"Hey, stay for a second, you know you have a competent staff and they know what they're doing. Please just stay with me," Chris said, giving her a sad face.

"Chris, I have work," she whined.

"Oh, Steph, I remembered something, did you want me to go with you to look for dresses on Friday?"

"Yeah, if you can."

"Yeah, just wanted to let you know that I could. How about your mom, I remember her saying that she wanted to come with you."

"Yeah, she's flying down on Thursday and staying with Chris and I. That'll be something, having her stay with us. She gets to experience the craziness first hand."

"That's got to be something," piped in Benoit.

"Miss McMahon! Miss McMahon!" a production assistant yelled as they came running down the hallway, barreling towards her.

"What's wrong!" Stephanie asked alarmed.

"It's Triple H, he's taken over the table and is insisting that he go on right now and is trying to interrupt the show!"

"Shit, shit, shit," Stephanie yelled, running in the direction of the table, leaving the other three without a word.

"That's the woman I'm marrying," Chris shrugged, turning to Trish and Benoit.

Stephanie managed to get things under control for the most part and her job was made easier after Hunter decided to stop being a jerk. She was bored, except when she saw Matt kind of propose to Lita. That was one weird proposal, although, once again the circumstances were odd. But she guessed she shouldn't judge since Chris's proposal hadn't been a romantic adventure. It was the thought that counted really.

"I'm up next right?"

"Uh huh," she said, not looking up.

"He was wrong Stephanie."

"Edge, save it for someone who cares."

"Fine, I'm just saying."

"I don't want to get into it. I don't think anyone does."

"Well, he should've remembered who was his friend."

Stephanie wanted to say that Randy was his friend as well, but she held her tongue. That would only make Edge angrier than he was, even if his anger was borne out of irrationality. He would think that Chris considered Randy a better friend than him, and God, she didn't need anything else stressing her out right now.

"Just go out there and discuss it with him, I'm not going to walk into this fight."

Edge left after that and Stephanie pinched the bridge of her nose. As if she didn't have enough to worry about, now Edge was mad at them over something that was so insignificant and stupid. She smiled weakly to Chris as he left for the Highlight Reel and only hoped that everything would turn out all right.

Chris had every intention of being nice and trying to make up with Edge. He didn't like fighting with his friends, but he also wasn't going to apologize for what he had done. Stephanie had been right when she had said that it wasn't his fault and that when it's every man for himself, you have to stick to that rule or else your niceness is going to bite you in the ass.

When Edge came out, Chris could feel a kind of anger building up inside of him. He was mad at Edge, just like Edge was at him, but Chris was mad because Edge couldn't see the truth. Edge came walking down the ramp, his hair dripping wet, making Chris wonder if he had taken a shower before he came out here, but why would he take a shower before his match, instead of after. Chris just figured Edge's hair was greasy and ran a hand through his luscious locks, thinking about how much more of a sexy beast he was than Edge. Edge would of course say otherwise, talking about how he banged a new chick every other day, like Chris was supposed to be jealous of that when he was in a committed relationship.

Even though Chris was mad at Edge, and vice versa, Chris stuck his hand out there and tried to make peace with Edge. Edge took a moment before he shook his hand, but the tension was still there and they could both feel it. Chris let Edge know that he was going to be in a Triple Threat Match with him and Dave Batista. Edge did not look thrilled. Chris, on the other hand, thought it was quite funny. Sure, he could've asked Vince to insert him in the title match, but Edge and Dave were the thorns in his side at the moment, not Benoit and Randy, so Chris had had Stephanie call up Vince and ask him to try and book a match for them at SummerSlam. Chris realized he was using his position as the man marrying Stephanie to get his way in something, but it wasn't that big anyways. If he had just dropped his ass in the title match, then maybe that would be cause for alarm, but he wasn't Hunter or anything, he knew where the boundaries were and when not to cross them.

Chris couldn't help but notice that his name got the loudest cheer when announcing the Triple Threat Match. Obviously he would, since he was the Highlight of the Night, the Sexy Beast himself. Edge, still, did not look thrilled. In fact, he looked downright pissed. Chris was cracking up a bit at it, and knew that his friendship with Edge was really hanging in the balance.

Chris was the one to bring up the Battle Royal, showing that he could be the bigger man. He let Edge know, for the five hundredth time that it was not his fault for eliminating him. It was an elimination match, and in that case, you cannot have a partnership beyond working together in a transitory manner. Edge used his old line about how they were together, and Chris wanted to just scream at him that it was NOT his fault.

When Edge mentioned him having a big ego, Chris had to smirk. This guy had been his friend and yet he was so incredibly stupid, and like Edge himself said, naïve. If Chris had an ego (which he knew he did, he wasn't stupid) than so did Edge. Any guy that vowed to be the superhero and single-handedly take down the villain in Evolution had to have an ego the same size as he did.

Chris told him how it was, and how it had to be. If Edge wanted to insult him with that ego comment (it was an insult, despite him knowing that he had an ego), than he would just have to talk to Edge the way that Edge was talking to him. It actually felt good to be mad at him. He remembered back when Edge was trying to get with Stephanie and that fueled his words even more.

Edge considered Chris his friend and didn't want to rag on him, but he really was angry. He was so blinded by that anger that he spouted off the first thing that came to his head, his getting dumped by Trish Stratus. Chris gave him a look, wondering of all things why he decided to bring that up. If Edge really wanted, he could've said something about Stephanie, but he guessed that Edge actually wanted to live and so brought up something he didn't even care about.

Chris didn't even care about what happened with Trish and Christian; he even kind of thanked them a little because if they hadn't gotten back together, Stephanie never would've blurted out that she loved him, and he might still be hiding their relationship. Edge wasn't hitting on anything that Chris even cared about.

"They're going to fight in a second, I can tell," Trish said as she sat next to Stephanie in the back. "Christian always gets this look on his face when he's about to hit someone and Edge has it right now."

"You think they're going to fight?"

"Yeah, I think they're going to fight. Christian doesn't want to get involved since he's Edge's brother, but I have to say that Edge is wrong in this one. It was a Battle Royal, not the Let's Be Friends Royal, and Edge has to accept that there aren't friends in those matches."

"That's exactly what I thought!" Stephanie exclaimed then gasped when all hell seemed to break loose as Edge punched Chris. Trish gasped as well as they both leaned forward to watch the monitor, like this was something that couldn't be missed.

Chris wasn't expecting the blow and fell backwards, barely managing to keep his balance. He gained his bearings quickly and punched back at Edge. He shoved Edge into the corner and turned for a brief second, putting some distance between them. He turned and Edge speared him to the ground. Chris winced as he laid there, seeing Edge disappear from his line of vision. He managed to make his way over to the corner and saw Edge with a chair. He looked up at him, almost daring him to do it.

Edge couldn't. Chris was his friend, and doing this would almost make any semblance of that friendship disappear. Chris had been the one to help him reunite with Christian. Chris had been his friend through his injury, and they had been great friends for so long. Edge went over and offered his hand to him, intending to just walk away.

Chris had other plans. How dare that blonde bitch come in here and try to make him look like a chump. He wasn't going to take that from that greasy-haired, horse-toothed, bug-eyed freak who always had to freaking hump the damn ring when he entered and wear that stupid ass jacket and smile that stupid big smile and do the spear, which was the lamest spear to ever be introduced into the wrestling world. Put that spear up against something like the gore and it was nothing. Chris had been gored through an entire set, Edge's spear probably couldn't get him through a cardboard box.

And so Chris did what he had to do. If Edge wanted to fight, he would fight. If Edge wanted to opt for the cheap shot, then Chris would have to as well. So he punched him, and he didn't regret it one bit. He didn't regret it when he walked out of the ring, or walked up the ramp. He didn't regret it when he went backstage and saw Trish and Stephanie staring at him like he was crazy.

And he didn't regret it later during their match either. He was forced to work with Edge, but he didn't have to like it one bit. And he didn't like it. Edge shot him looks every now and then and Chris ignored him. He didn't NEED Edge as a friend. He had other friends to be sure, and he didn't need Edge as a friend. When Edge was in the ring, Chris made sure to look the other way. He had no obligation to help Edge, except if he was really needed. He fought with Randy and didn't like it, but fighting with Edge, he didn't mind, so maybe it was good to be giving up on Edge.

Was it wrong for him to think it a little bit funny to see Dave knock Edge right off the apron? If it was, he didn't want to be right. If Dave could be the inadvertent advocate for him, then so be it; he'd take it. He accidentally hit Edge when he was trying to give a flying forearm to Dave, but again, no regrets for that. What he DID regret was for not ducking that clothesline that Dave gave him, and as once again, his head bounced off the mat, he rolled out of the ring in pain.

Later, Stephanie was admonishing him while the trainer was looking him over. "Chris, you need to watch out."

"I was watching out."

"Dude, what the fuck was that!" Edge said, storming into the room.

"What the hell was what?" Chris said, standing up to face Edge.

"You were my goddamn partner out there and you hit me!"

"It was an accident you assclown," Chris snapped, "I didn't mean to, so get the hell over it...oh wait, you can't get over it because you can't get over ANYTHING!"

"Oh fuck you!" Edge yelled, "You're just so fucking jealous Jericho, because I have a title and you have jack shit and you're stuck at home with your little fiancée while I'm out with any girl I want."

Stephanie was taken by surprise by the venom in his voice and her inclusion as some sort of problem to Chris. She was upset that someone she had considered a friend was so willing to sling her name into a negative comment. Chris looked upset as well as he regarded Edge for a moment, his head nodding slightly.

"I think you owe Stephanie and apology."

"What for? For telling the truth. You know, you used to be real cool Jericho, back before you got soft on everybody."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chris said.

"You can't even win the big ones anymore, face it, you're washed up, and if you think you're getting your hands on my title, think again because I will beat you senseless, but don't worry, Stephanie will be right there to make it all better."

"So you're saying Stephanie is the root of all my problems?"

"Seems so. Before you got with her, you were at least decent. Back before your little partnership, but what happened to you two. Huh Chris, what happened to calling her a skank and a ho. What happened to saying that she had customers every night or that a SummerSlam was her body hitting the floor naked with a paying customer what of that?"

Stephanie felt a few tears brimming in her eyes at Edge's mean words. She didn't know what else to do at that moment, except let his words sink in. Was this how he had always felt? Or was this just his anger speaking? She hated to think it was the former.

"Apologize to her, NOW!" Chris said, getting in Edge's face.

"No, I'm not apologizing, because I think I see YOU clearly now. Stephanie just screwed you over man, she just screwed you up."

"I wasn't asking you to apologize, I was telling you," Chris said, his voice a deadly calm.

"And I said no."

"Then get out of my face and don't you dare ever say those things again if you want to live to see tomorrow."

"Fine, I'll be glad to get out of your faces."

Edge left then, and with him, he took any hope of ever reconciling with Chris.


	224. Raw, August 9, 2004

"Stupid son of a bitch."

Chris was muttering to himself as he threw his wrestling clothes into his bag. He wasn't even making the clothes into the bag half the time, the clothes just kind of hanging near the bag. Stephanie watched him from the sofa, her legs tucked under her and her arms crossed. Her face was fixed into a frowning stare as she gazed at him.

He had been this way since last week, and it didn't look like his mood was going to change any time soon. Ever since Edge had said those unkind words about her, Chris had been on a rampage, always muttering under his breath that he was going to get Edge if it was the last thing that he did. She hated to think that it had come to this; Edge and them not being friends anymore, but she didn't see any other choice. The words he had said about her had been terrible and uncalled for, and they had really hurt her in the process, which made Chris most upset.

"Chris, sweetie, you're not getting any of your clothes in your bag," Stephanie said softly.

Chris looked up at her, his hard, angry eyes turning soft, "I didn't even realize."

"I didn't think you had considering you made no attempt to fix it," Stephanie said with a small smile. "I wouldn't want you to go tonight with no pants or anything."

"Are you ok?" That was the five hundredth time he had asked her that over the course of the week. He couldn't help it though, the words that Edge had flung at her, he didn't think that he could ever erase those words from his mind, but he was trying, if only for his own sanity.

"You can stop asking me that now," she answered. "I'm fine."

"I swear to God Stephanie, I'm going to get Edge back for what he said about you."

"Chris, I've been called worse, I've been called worse by you, I'll certainly live through this."

"But he was our friend, and then all of a sudden he's calling you names and saying that you somehow ruined me," Chris said, finding the notion preposterous. If anything, Stephanie made his life better.

"Yeah, and you called me slut and ho, and all those names, and now I'm marrying you. I guess opinions just change."

"I still don't like it, stupid asshole, thinks he can call you names," he muttered.

Stephanie walked up to where Chris was collecting all the clothes that had been strewn about and started to fold them and set them nicely in his bag. Chris watched her for a moment and then sighed, sitting heavily on the bed. She put the last of his things into his bag and then went to stand in front of him. He looked up at her, wondering if she was just going to stand there or if she was going to say something to him.

"Maybe I have ruined you," she said, and that was the last thing he had expected to hear out of her mouth. "I mean, admit it, you're not as brash as you used to be, way back when...maybe I had something to do with that."

"Yeah, and I also used to be younger," he scoffed. "The world was my oyster, and I was content to just run around and act like a jerk to every single person I met, to make up names that I thought were funny and to sleep around or whatever, but things change when you get older. Sue me for wanting an actual life outside of the wrestling world."

"And you go to the daughter of the owner to find that separation that you so desired?" she asked with a sarcastic chuckle.

"Bottom line is that I grew up, plain and simple. Edge may think that I started calming down after I started dating you, and maybe that part is true. But I just grew up, and that's what happened, not you ruining me."

"I was just thinking about it, and it's true, you were much more...I don't know, outgoing, or something like that. I don't want people to think that I turned you soft."

"Well then forget them, I love you, and I'm marrying you and if that makes me just a big teddy bear then I guess that's what I'll be."

She smirked, "It wouldn't hurt you to be that cocky asshole every once in a while."

"Aren't I when we're around your ex-husband?"

She laughed and leaned down to kiss his forehead. He wrapped his arm around her waist, resting his arms just about her ass and pulled her closer, resting his head on her lower abdomen and sighing in happiness. She ran her fingers through his soft, blonde hair, reveling in the silence. The calm before the storm of Raw perhaps.

"I'm glad I'm that person you want to settle down with," she whispered.

"Edge doesn't know what he's talking about. He's bitter is what he is, and we don't need any negativity around us. Besides, we can just replace him with Randy when the time is right."

Stephanie laughed and responded, "Yeah, Edge just lifts out and we just add Randy to the mix. I'm sure Trish will love that."

"What about Christian? He's the one that had to watch Trish go out with Randy."

"True, true," she nodded, "Now if you're ready to go, I have work that needs to be done. I can't be your lackey anymore."

"But you're such a pretty lackey, I was hoping you could be my lackey forever, or at least until I promote you to my right-hand woman."

"Yeah right, you forget that I'm going to be running the company, and I will be your boss forever and ever."

"Unless I quit the company and then open my own wrestling business and then I'll compete with you over it and win."

"Like you would dare," she said as she pulled away and went to go grab her files. "If you're not ready in two minutes, I'm going to leave without you."

"Actually, why don't you go ahead, and I'll just catch a ride with Trish to the show," Chris told her as he laid back on the bed. "I don't think that I want to go this early. I'll have nothing to do but watch you work, and no offense baby, but I can find better things to do with my time."

"Fine, if that's what you want, are you sure that Trish is even here though?"

"Yeah, she called while you were in the shower, didn't I tell you?"

"No! Chris," she whined, "This is something you need to tell me. Did she want to talk to me?"

"Yeah, but I figured that she could find you at the show tonight and you could just talk there."

She gave him a disapproving look, "What did she want to talk about?"

"Um..." He tried to think of what it was. He racked his brain for a moment before the light-bulb lit up over his head so to speak. "About your hair at the wedding."

"Oh yeah, I have to pre-order the flower arrangements and hair things and boutonnieres for everyone."

Chris groaned, "This is why I chose to get selective amnesia!"

"Oh shove it," she answered, "I'll talk to her tonight, tell her that when you see her."

"I will, I will, you just love to order me around don't you."

"Well, I do it for a living, I'm just warming up," she added with a raised eyebrow as she walked towards him to give him a goodbye kiss. He barely lifted his head to kiss her, her brown hair falling around his face as she bent down to kiss him. He smiled into her kiss before letting her pull away and leave.

Chris picked up his phone lying on the nightstand and dialed Trish's cell phone number, waiting for her to answer her phone. She hoped that she hadn't left for the arena left, but that was unlikely. And in the event that she had, he could just hitch a ride with the numerous people that he was friends with, of which there were plenty.

Minus Edge of course. Edge could just go crawl in a ditch and die for all he cared. His thoughts were venomous as he thought of that over-oiled freak. He realized his thoughts were harsh, but Edge had crossed over that line and left Chris with no choice but to retaliate with every curse word in the book, and a few that weren't.

"Hello?"

"Trish, it's Chris."

"Hey what's up?"

"I was wondering if I could get a ride to the arena?"

"Don't you usually go with that girl that lives with you, what's her name again, oh...um, you're fiancée."

"Yes, but said fiancée is working and I didn't want to hang around the arena, so can you help a brother out?"

"Yeah, I'll come up and we can hang out, I have news."

"Of?"

"Of someone telling a little birdie named Christian something about someone, namely you, who Christian in turn told his girlfriend, who in turn will tell you."

"Oh, well get your ass up here then."

"On my way chief."

Trish hung up the call and then grabbed her stuff so she wouldn't have to come back down and get it before the show. She went to the elevators to go up the seven floors to Chris and Stephanie's room. They always insisted on getting the big rooms. She didn't need one tonight since Christian was at home again. She missed him being on the road with her, but she understood that he needed to get better.

"Of all the places I get to see you, I never figured the elevator would be it."

Trish stepped onto the elevator and waited until it was moving to turn to the man, "Hi Randy, how are you?"

"Well, I get a title shot, so all is well with me," he said, smiling that grin of his and giving her a wink. It still made her a little bit weak in the knees.

"Good, and good luck with that," she said genuinely.

"I saw Edge and Chris fighting last week, what's up with them?"

Trish shook her head, "Edge is being an asshole, and Chris wasn't going to take it and now they're mad at each other. But only Chris has a good reason."

"Is Edge still mad over that elimination thing?"

"Yeah. He doesn't seem to get that it was every man for himself. I guess at that grease from his hair is seeping into his brain."

Randy stared at her for a moment before busting up in laughter, putting his hand on his stomach, trying not to start snorting in laughter. Trish allowed herself a little giggle, even if it was on her boyfriend's brother's behalf. She thought that Edge was being silly about all this, and she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until Chris and Stephanie had told her what Edge had said to her. Stephanie was Trish's best friend, and what Edge had said to her...well she would've slugged him a good one if she had been there.

"I thought you were friends with Edge too," Randy said, once he had calmed down, and noticed they only had a few floors left of this friendly solitude.

"I was, but you didn't hear the whole of it. Not only did Edge get mad at Chris, he insulted Stephanie."

Now it was time for Randy to display his overwhelming shock. He knew Stephanie, and she was such a good person. She'd have to be to have put up with Hunter for two years. Lord knows that must have been a difficult job. But in their time of friendship, she had always been there if he needed her; she had been a great friend when he needed a break from the otherwise childish antics of Evolution.

"What did he say?" Randy asked, pressing the "door close" button so that Trish could finish her story. They would just have to ride to the top level and back down again is all.

"He said that she was the reason that Chris wasn't like he used to be. He said that she ruined him."

"He what!" Randy said, his eyes squinting as he tried to make sense of that. "How could she have ruined him?"

"I don't know, Edge is off the deep-end right now. Even Christian is wondering what the hell is up. Not that Christian will say it to him since they're brothers, but he told me."

Randy still felt that pang of jealousy when she brought up Christian. Old wounds took time to heal, and this one was still healing. He smiled at her though, realizing that he probably wasn't the one to make her so happy. Maybe he'd have to find a woman of his own to get over Trish. He shook his head as he stopped thinking about her when the conversation was about Stephanie and not Trish. Trish just took his head shaking as a sign of his disapproval of Edge's behavior.

"You know, it kind of makes me wish that I was in that IC title match so I could get my hands around Edge's scrawny neck."

Trish laughed, "If only...well this is my stop. I guess I'll see you around."

"Bye Trish, nice talking to you again."

"You too Randy."

Trish got off the elevator and went down to Chris and Stephanie's suite. It seemed that Edge really didn't have anyone on his side right now, but she thought that was rightfully so. In the past few weeks, he had been nothing but horrible to everyone around him. Maybe he had some sort of problem, but if he didn't tell anyone anything, how was someone supposed to tell?

"Trish!" Chris said, opening the door before she could even knock.

"What the hell! Were you standing there waiting for me?"

"With my eye to the keyhole," he said, grinning charmingly.

"And why were you waiting for me so anxiously."

"You have dirt."

"Wow, Stephanie is rubbing off on you," Trish laughed, walking inside and sitting down on the couch. "Well, it's this. Edge is trying to make it sound like you provoked him into saying that Stephanie was ruining you."

"Oh for fuck's sake," Chris said, muttering again. "What a bunch of bullshit. I told him he couldn't get over what happened and he says that I provoked him into insulting Stephanie. Now he's putting lies out there."

"Christian didn't believe him and neither did I. I mean, you told us what happened, and you have no reason to lie about it. I just couldn't believe he would try to pin this all on you."

"Of course he would. He thinks that I somehow cheated by eliminating him."

"Try not to think about it and let's just go to the arena. You'll feel better."

"Yeah right, when I run into Edge or Hunter or Dave, I'll feel so much better!"

"Oh get off the bitter wagon," she joked as she picked up her stuff.

They drove to the arena and as they were walking down the hallways, all the diva search girls were hanging around and giggling madly at everything. Trish didn't want to believe that she would have to work with any one of those bimbos, but apparently she was going to have to, if Vince had anything to say about it. Trish turned to Chris and made a face, giggling like a little girl and flipping her hair over her shoulder in the most annoying manner possible.

"So now you're on the 'We Hate the Diva Search' bandwagon?"

"And you're not?"

"I could care less, as long as they stay far, far, far, far away from me. Those two extra 'fars' were in accordance to what Stephanie said she'd do to me if she even so much as caught me looking at those girls in anything other than disgust."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty."

"And if I didn't have my prettiness, what would I have?" Chris said in a dramatic voice.

"Oh Chris, you'd still have...well...your teeth."

"That's the best you could come up with! My TEETH!"

"They're nice teeth."

"Oh get out of here!" Chris said, pushing her towards her locker room. Trish laughed as she pushed the door open to her room. Chris went to look up the schedule and smirked to himself as he saw that he had a match against Edge tonight. Finally, a little luck his way, since he was going to pulverize Edge tonight.

He walked down to his dressing room, having to search every name. Sometimes it got so damn confusing having to constantly look for where he had to go. It was a little easier now since he just used Stephanie's office, but he still had to find that. He found the room that was marked, "McMahon/Jericho" on it and opened the door.

"Surprise!" Stephanie's elated voice said as he walked in. He stood there a moment, looking at a gift and a small cake on her desk, with her standing there, a huge smile on her face. "Happy anniversary!"

Chris gave her a look that could be described the world over as, "oh shit." He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Had he forgotten an anniversary of there's. It couldn't be there regular anniversary, that was July eighteenth. It couldn't be his proposal anniversary, since it wasn't even a year yet. Their first kiss was in June. Their partnership was in February. What the hell was in August?

"Stephanie, did I forget one of our anniversaries!" Chris asked, alarmed at Stephanie's reaction.

She gave him a bit of an incredulous look and then laughed, "Chris, sweetie, don't you know what today is!"

"No," he said, dragging the word out, "What's today?"

"It's been 5 years since you joined the company!" she said, giving him a smile like he should remember.

"Wait, it's the 9th?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh man, I didn't even realize, well, go me!" he said, giving up a little cheer. Stephanie hugged him and led him over to the table with the cake and gift.

"You didn't have to do anything for me, this isn't a big thing."

"Yes it is, if you hadn't joined then--"

"I probably would've still been around WCW and then I never would've known you, and I would've come over in the Invasion, and I would've been on your side and we probably would've ended up together around the same time that we did."

"BUT...we wouldn't have had the history and would've had no reason to join up therefore I'm going to have to refute your statement that we would be together."

"God, have I really been around this joint for five years?" Chris asked, almost disbelieving it, even though it was his real life.

"Yeah, God, you know, I actually do remember when I first met you."

"Are you serious? I don't remember that at all. I remember going out there to interrupt Rocky, but I don't really remember the backstage stuff."

"I do, because I remember trying to wrack my brain figuring out how I could have done something so bad to you that you felt the need to call me such names."

"Did you do something to me?"

"No, not at all..."

"_We're glad that you made the decision to come over Chris, and I'm sure you'll find this a better atmosphere than WCW was."_

"_I don't think that'll be hard," Chris said, shaking Vince's hand, "So I just find a dressing room, and use it."_

"_That's right, and tonight's your big debut, I'm sure you'll find the right place to jump in."_

"_I'm good at just jumping in places," Chris said with a polite smile, "Thank you for the opportunity."_

"_You're marketable Chris, you'll go far."_

"_That's all I've wanted all along."_

_Chris shook Vince's hand again and walked out of his office. It felt so different here, in this new environment of WWF. He only knew a few guys from way back, or if they had been in WCW. He didn't really have any friends at all, but he was sure that would change. He was very personable, at least when people didn't get on his nerves, which they tended to do a lot. No problem though, he could take care of himself._

_He thought about doing something where he made fun of The Rock. Everyone knew that The Rock was one of the big names in the company, and he wanted to make an impact. Not to mention he had watched Rock on occasion and found him to be a self-absorbed bastard, and he didn't like those kind of guys; save himself of course. He smirked at that. After the show he should go on a self-congratulatory tour of all the hot clubs and see how many phone numbers he could get, and just which lucky lady would be getting a small piece of the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah._

"_Watch where you're going, you're going to run into that trunk," a female voice interrupted his thoughts of how many women he wanted to sleep with this week._

_He looked in front of him, "Hey thanks."_

"_I wouldn't want the newest WWF superstar to get injured before he even made it on television."_

_Chris looked her over and recognized her as Stephanie McMahon, the boss's daughter. She looked exactly like she did on television, completely wholesome and with a slight innocence about her. She also looked tired, but not the kind of tired that came from lack of sleep. She looked like she had a lot on her mind._

"_Chris Jericho," he said, sticking his hand out. She shook it and he was surprised by how strong her grip was._

"_I know," she smirked, "I'm wise on the goings-on around here. Stephanie McMahon if you didn't figure that out already."_

"_I had, I think it's you being on television that tipped me off."_

"_Oh, so you've seen me around huh?"_

"_I think it's hard not to, what with...the stuff."_

"_Oh...the stuff," she laughed, "Yes...the stuff is a little bit...yeah."_

"_I'm here talking to you for five minutes and I've already got you tongue-tied, damn, that's gotta be a new record for me," Chris said, smirking at her._

"_Congratulations. I'm glad I could help you with that. I don't think I'm allowed to be speechless, what with having a boyfriend and everything."_

"_Test right?"_

"_Andrew."_

"_Oh. That's cool though. I don't know him, but he's Canadian and that's good enough for me."_

"_I have your permission? A man I met all of ten minutes ago. Well now I feel totally in the clear, who cares what my brother thinks! Chris Jericho has given me his blessing! Hurray!"_

_Chris liked her. She was sassy and snarky, and she had a wit to match his own. That was rare in any of the girls that he brought home. But he figured Stephanie was bound to be different, growing up in the environment that she had. But that sharp tongue totally did not fit the sweater set image she was giving herself._

"_Well, I'm glad you hold me in such high regard, good luck with all the...stuff."_

"_Thanks, hopefully things will work out between me and Andrew, I want them to."_

"Yuck! I told you to go with Test! I TOLD you that! I need to wash my mouth out with soap!"

Stephanie giggled, "Don't be silly, it's not like you told me to go with Hunter."

"Don't even joke about that," Chris said, semi-seriously. Then he stopped, "Wait a second. Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I told Daddy it was a special occasion and that I had to take the night off. My dearest father left it in the hands of his minions. So I'm free and I want cake!" She made a grab for a knife and cut herself a thin sliver of cake, not bothering with a plate or a fork, but just eating it with her hands. She cut off another piece and fed it to Chris. "Don't fill up though, you don't want to throw up during your match with Edge."

"Yeah, how did that happen?" he asked suspiciously.

She shrugged, but her look was anything but innocent. "No clue."

"You are a sneaky one Ms. McMahon."

"It's all part of your gift," she said, scrunching up her nose cutely, prompting Chris to kiss her on the tip of her nose.

"And the other part," he said, eyeing the wrapped present on the desk.

"Go for it, but I'm telling you now, it's not anything special or anything. It's just a little keepsake."

"Yeah, but it's a present, so gimme," he said excitedly making a dash for the gift and tearing off the wrapper anxiously. "Aww, Stephy, thanks."

"It's just a picture from your first night with you out on the ramp. It's no biggie, I just thought it was a nice shot."

"I love it," he grinned, "I got presents!"

She laughed, it was cute when he acted like a little boy, endearing even. "I remember how big the pop was for you that night. My God, I think I heard it all the way from Test's locker room."

"Eww, again with the Test, can we forget that!"

"Oh, look at my man, all jealous!" Stephanie cooed sweetly. "You're jealous of a relationship that started and ended five years ago. That's so cute."

Chris frowned, "Shut up. I'm not jealous!"

"Uh huh," she said, "Jealous, jealous, jealous."

Chris retaliated by just grabbing a chunk of cake and smashing it against her face. Stephanie gasped in surprise as the vanilla cake fell off her face in chunks, the icing staying her cheek. Her mouth dropped open and she openly glared at Chris. She grabbed some cake and flung it at him. He ducked it just in time and she angrily wiped the cake off her face.

"That was so RUDE!"

"You said I was jealous."

"Cause you were," she told him.

"I have a match to get ready for," he said petulantly as he snatched up his bag.

"You don't love me anymore huh?" Stephanie said with a pout that threatened to become a smile at any moment.

"Nope, gone." He walked past her and licked a little of the icing that was still on her cheek. He gave her a look, and said simply, "Yum."

He got ready for his match and Stephanie walked with him down the gorilla. They hung out there for a while since he had time before his match. Despite it being Stephanie's night off, she was tempted into just making sure things were running smoothly, despite not actually have to do any work at all.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Stephanie and her little bitch, Chris Jericho," Edge said, making his grand arrival.

"And my mood is suddenly dampened," Chris said cheerily, a false smile on his face.

Stephanie looked down and Chris sat on the table she was at and took her hand in his. Edge rolled his eyes at the display, which didn't go unnoticed by Chris, who sent him a dirty look back. One could feel the tension mounting between the two of them. And it was just going to get worse when they went out and had their match.

Stephanie tapped one of her buttons, "Excuse me maintenance, we're going to need somebody to come to the gorilla position. There's an oil slick on the ground and I don't want any of my wrestlers slipping on it. Thanks."

Chris snickered at Stephanie's request, knowing exactly who she was referring to. It didn't help that he was actually dripping on the ground and looking like he was coated in a sleek, oily residue. Stephanie just laughed and buried her face into Chris's leg as she started to crack up.

"Oh, very funny you two," Edge said, "Leave it to you to, to come up with something so grade-school."

"Edge, are we still on for tonight?" one of the diva search girls asked as she walked up to Edge. She was the one that got eliminated tonight, but for the life of them, neither Chris nor Stephanie could think of her name.

"Of course baby, I'll help you cope with that loss. I don't know what those people were thinking when they eliminated you."

"Oh, you're so sweet," she answered, canoodling with Edge.

"Don't worry about it, you're worth it beautiful."

"Gag me with a spoon," Chris whispered to Stephanie. "I think you're worth it you beautiful person you."

"Oh Chris, why that's so sweet," Stephanie said, putting her hand over her heart, "I do think I am all a-flutter with happiness."

"Don't mind them," Edge deadpanned. "They're just a bunch of losers."

"No! Not that word, we're not losers are we Steph!"

"God forbid! I might just kill myself for being that dreaded word."

Edge did not find this funny at all. Stephanie gave Chris and Edge their cues and they went down to the ring, separately of course. Stephanie watched on the monitor as they made their entrances, wondering what kind of chaos was going to erupt from the ring tonight. She only hoped Chris came out of it in one piece.

"You stupid fuck, I'm going to take your ass out for what you said about Stephanie," Chris said through gritted teeth as he was forehead-to-forehead with Edge.

"I'd like to see you try asshole," Edge snotted back.

They locked up and went to battle. It was hard-fought, as neither man was willing to give an inch to the other. They were genuinely upset with one another and it showed in their match. Edge went to work on Jericho's elbow, once he saw that it was injured or sore. Chris knew it was an easy target and he tried to protect as much as he could, but it was so difficult that he often found himself on the defense rather than the offense.

He ended up on the outside more than once, one time falling into the crowd. He tried to regain his composure and get back into the match, which he was able to do. But that only led to Edge putting him in a rear chinlock. He powered his way out of that one, somehow, and once again tried to gain some sort of advantage. If he hadn't hurt his elbow, he would be dominating this match and they both knew it, which was why Edge was going after him with such vigor.

But this was for Stephanie and Chris knew that he would have to win at all costs. He was going to win this match, not only for Stephanie, but to prove to Edge, once and for all, that he was better than him. Edge was practically calling him a liar and nobody called Chris Jericho a liar. It was with that renewed strength that Chris started to come back in the match. Chris hit a hurricanrana on him, but failed to get the count. He even tried for the spear, but missed, and then Edge tried to go for HIS move, but it was unsuccessful, of course, he was the master of the Walls.

Backstage, Randy was watching the match in the Evolution locker room. Hunter was nowhere to be found, saying he had business and Flair was off "whooing" or something. So it was just him and Dave, and he could see Dave watching the match with interest as well, but for entirely different reasons. Seeing Edge made his blood boil and he turned to his teammate.

"You know Dave, I heard Edge talking shit about you."

"What?" Dave said, turning his head to Randy.

"Yeah, saying that you weren't even good enough for an IC title shot. That you were just like every other big guy in the company, dumb as an ox and the only thing going for you was that you could lift things over your head."

"Bastard," Dave said, his breathing becoming erratic as he became angered. Incidentally, his angry face didn't look too different from his normal face. Although both were handsome of course, Dave knew he was handsome, and had style. Unlike that stupid Edge who had been spouting off crap about him.

"I think you should go out and beat on Edge."

"What about Jericho?"

"He hasn't said anything about you that I know of...just Edge."

"Well it's time to show him who's going to win that belt!"

Dave got up and stormed out of the room. Randy gave a satisfied smirk and looked to the monitor to see Chris waiting to set up the spear. "That's for Stephanie, Edge."

The match went back and forth for a little while longer, Chris managing to kick out of any pin attempts and just when Edge thought he was going to spear Chris, Chris leapfrogged over him and foiled his stupid spear. What a lame move. Chris saw the opportunity arise and went for the roll-up, putting his feet on the ropes. He knew it was illegal, but a win is a win, and he had won. He got out of the ring and celebrated a bit when he saw Dave storming down the ramp and into the ring.

He gave Edge a mean-looking spinebuster and Chris just stood there, walking around the ring a little bit, trying not to be noticed. But it didn't seem that Dave even cared that he was there, instead all of his focus going to Edge. That was weird, since he was in the match too, but he wasn't about to argue. He thought about helping Edge, he knew the crowd was probably expecting him to be the good guy in this, but he wasn't satisfied with what he had done to Edge, so he might as well let Dave finish the job. And it looked like he was doing a fine job of it.

"My honey won, my honey won!" Stephanie sang as she danced around Chris when he walked backstage.

"Yeah, I did, a little illegally, but I won nonetheless."

"You are awesome, you were awesome and you're gonna win," she said, breaking into song again.

"How much of that cake have you eaten?"

"I love you."

"And now you're trying to butter me up," Chris said as he saw Dave walk backstage, "Yo Batista, thanks for taking care of Edge back there."

"Don't expect me to be on your side Jericho," Dave bellowed.

"Wouldn't expect you to, but if you get a few shots in on Edge, it doesn't bother me."

"I only did it cause he's been talking shit about me."

"You too?" Stephanie said.

"I guess he's getting on everyone's nerves," Dave said shortly before leaving abruptly.

"I haven't heard Edge say anything about him," Stephanie said, "But who knows, maybe he said it while he was off with one of his whores."

"Catty."

"And you love it, cause you love me."

"It would seem I do."

Stephanie leaned up to hug him and caught the monitor over his shoulder, "Oh look, there's Hunter."

"Where?" Chris said, looking around, expecting him to be right there or something.

"Acting like a dork on-screen somewhere," she said, turning Chris to face the monitor.

They watched with disinterest as Hunter spoke until they both gasped at the bloody pulp that Hunter had left William Regal in. Stephanie, especially, was horrified at what he had done. She knew what Hunter was capable of, but she had never seen anything like that, with Hunter beating Regal's head against the air conditioner in the hotel room. He had plotted someone getting run over, but he hadn't actually done the dirty work. This was just maniacal.

"I'm...going to stay here and work," Stephanie said, "I'll let you shower before we go."

"Yeah," Chris said, his mind going back to when he had met a bloody fate in the hands of Hunter. Stephanie's slap that night had just been the icing on the cake. He walked away slowly, hoping that Regal got medical attention and soon.

"Let me know when Hunter arrives please," Stephanie said, talking to one of the security guards in the booth that was at the entrance to the arena.

"Yes ma'am."

Stephanie went out her business until five minutes later she was signaled that Hunter had arrived. She stood up and smoothed out her red skirt before walking determinedly down the hallway. She didn't know what she was going to say to Hunter, but it would be a reality check for him. She spotted him walking alone into the arena, the blood still caked onto his hands. He spotted her and it was as if they were gravitated towards each other. Stephanie walked straight up to him and he looked at her. She stared a moment longer.

Then she slapped the hell out of him.

"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed.

If Hunter was expecting something, it wasn't that, "What the hell is your problem!"

"What the hell is MY problem! MY PROBLEM! Well, let me say it's two-fold really. First of all, I run this show. Bischoff may be the GM, but I run this damn show and you put one of my wrestlers out of commission."

"Nobody wants to see--"

"That doesn't matter! You shouldn't have done that! Second of all, who the hell are you? Who the hell do you think you are to do that to someone!"

"Who are you to tell me what to do!"

"I have sat back and watched you decimate people before and I never stood up to you, well I'm standing up now!"

"You have no right!"

"Like hell I do! You no-good son of a bitch, how dare you do that to someone, how dare you treat someone so cruelly. He's like a child Hunter! Don't you get that!"

"Get out of my face before I do something I can't take back Stephanie," Hunter said, his voice eerily calm.

"What are you doing to do to me huh Hunter? Are you going to bash my head in on that concrete wall or something? Is that what you're planning on doing? Is that thought dancing through your head right now?"

"Stephanie, I had to do it."

"No, you didn't, God, you say that you love me. You say you want me back, and if this is you, then God, I wouldn't even consider it if I was unattached."

"This is not about you."

"Oh for God's sakes Hunter, everything you do. It makes me look bad because I was married to such a monster, I hate you!" Stephanie said, glaring at him.

"And it's time for us to go," Chris said, rushing up to Stephanie, grabbing her from around the waist as she flailed around trying to get free.

"I wanna kick your ass Hunter! You hear me, kick your sorry ass!"

Chris carried her to her office and sat down, pulling her into his lap. "Ok, what the hell was that about?"

"I'm so tired of him getting his way, I hate him."

"Shh, shh," Chris said, running his hands through her hair, "Forget about him. I heard what you said and it's not true. What he does, does not reflect on you. You broke away from him, and people know that. Therefore nothing he does reflects on what you do and who you are."

"Did I ruin him?" she asked.

"No, he ruined you for a while. But you did not ruin him."

"I'm sorry, I just saw him, with blood on his hands, and it was like...I don't know...I'm sorry."

"Hey, if anyone should be sorry, it's Hunter. That man needs some help."

"Or maybe just a good ass-whooping."

"I think that'd work too."


	225. SummerSlam, August 15, 2004

A/N: Thanks for being patient everyone. Here's the SummerSlam chapter, expect the Raw chapter later today. I just wanted to give some separation between the two so people had time to enjoy the chapters. Thanks for any and all reviews. :)

I know that the Dodgeball thing was filmed beforehand, but for the purposes of the story, it was done in the arena.

And finally, a little pimping...I opened a Jericho/Stephanie fanlisting, where you can all sign up if you're a fan of Jericho and Stephanie (which I'm going to figure most of you are). So if you go to , I would love it if you guys all signed up and showed your Jericho/Stephanie fanship. :D

Enjoy. :)

* * *

"SummerSlam is the second biggest show of the year."

"Yes, I know this Daddy, I'm taking every precaution in making sure that show runs smoothly," Stephanie said as she sat across from her father's desk, taking notes.

"I know you will, but you have both sides to worry about."

"Yes, I realize that this is a big responsibility, but it's not my first time doing this kind of thing Dad and you know it, so you don't need to worry about it."

"But with you dealing with SmackDown superstars after what..."

Stephanie sighed, "Daddy, I'm over it, you had me fired, it's ok."

"And I rectified the situation, didn't I Princess?"

Vince looked at her, trying to garner her admiration again. She had heard through the grapevine of the company that Vince had had Sable fired. Or as everyone was putting it, "they parted ways." But the way that Vince had said it and brought it up, she knew that he had done it for her. Not that it did any good now, but it was very thoughtful of him to fire her nonetheless.

"Yes, you did, and I'm grateful that I don't have to stare at her ugly face any longer," Stephanie said with a slight giggle. "But we are all set for the show tonight Dad, if you want to help, that's fine, but don't get in my way." The last part was said with a playful smirk.

"I wouldn't dream of it, so in other news, how are the wedding plans going?"

"They're fine, I have a wedding dress, well, the beginnings of one, so everything is moving along, even though I didn't know it would be so much work."

"I remember when your mother and I got married..."

Stephanie groaned, "Daddy, no, just...no."

"Ok, I won't go into it, but it was a lot of work."

"Well, yes, this is a lot of work, and it's not even going to be that big, but I guess since it's me, it'll be a little bit opulent."

"And you're sure that you don't want your mother and I to help with the expenses?"

"Daddy, maybe if I was twenty or something, sure I'd probably like your help, but I'm twenty-seven now, almost twenty-eight, and Chris is going to be thirty-four, and we're perfectly capable of paying for our own wedding."

"Well don't say I didn't offer."

Stephanie got up from her seat and crossed the side of the desk to kiss her father on the cheek, "I know Daddy, and thank you for the offer, but we want to do this ourselves. All we need for you to do is to show up and walk me down the aisle."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world and that's the truth."

"Good," Stephanie said, "Now I have to get to work for this show or its all going to hell and we can't have that."

"I might have to fire you over it," Vince teased.

Stephanie waved to her father and took herself and her trusty clipboard out into the hallway. It was still fairly early and not everyone had arrived yet, but she was here early on business and a meeting with her father. He was going to be there all night, but she was still in charge of the show, he was just going to manage everything for the evening. He trusted her to do the rest. She walked away from his door when she heard someone clearing their throat and looked up in annoyance.

"What is it Bischoff, I've got work to do?"

"Well Stephanie, my office is looking a little bit dull this evening, and I was wondering if you could go to the florist or something and pick up some fresh flowers and maybe a nice fruit basket that I could enjoy."

Stephanie scowled, "What the hell?"

"Well, that is your job right?"

"I run this show Bischoff, I'm not your personal slave."

"Oh, that's not your position, beneath me?"

"The only thing beneath you Bischoff is that two-dollar whore you paid for the other night."

"You weren't complaining."

"Oh," Stephanie gave a fake laugh, "Was that your attempt at insulting me? I've heard a lot worse than that, so you're going to have to try and do better the next time."

"You mean you've heard worse from that man that you're marrying? Am I right Stephanie? Because correct me if I'm wrong, which I hardly ever am, but didn't Chris Jericho compare kissing you to poking at roadkill?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact he did. He also accused me of taking it in every position and being a ho, and having back, and all those other things, do you have a point with what you were saying?"

"Not at all, except it does kind of make you wonder why he said those things and then did a complete 180 into loving you. I'd say kudos for him to sleeping his way into the McMahon family."

"Well, I guess you're just jealous because you were trying to get with me and my mom. Luckily us McMahon women have taste and don't succumb to...trash," Stephanie said haughtily. "And as for those flowers and fruit Eric, you can see to getting those yourself, I'm sure one of the diva whore-fuls will be more than willing to do your every bidding."

Stephanie turned and walked away in the direction that she was going in before Bischoff had interrupted her. She went over to where they were putting up all the equipment and then went out to the actual arena to supervise the set-up. She sat down in the seats that J.R. and the King would be occupying later that evening.

"Hey Steph," someone said as they sat next to her.

She looked up and smiled at Kurt, "How're you doing Kurt?"

"I'm ok, you?"

"Fine, are you ready for your first big match back?"

"I think so," he laughed, "I should win though, even though Eddy is a really great competitor, and you didn't hear that from me."

"Of course not, wouldn't want anyone to know that you were actually praising the enemy."

"True...so about Edge...how's that going?"

"It's going. I don't miss him at all," Stephanie said. She wished that she was lying, but she really wasn't. The words that Edge had said to her had really cut deep and she wasn't willing to forgive him any time soon.

"Are you sure about that?"

"You didn't hear the way he said the thing he said. If he had said them and you know, look like he was just angry and spouting off shit, maybe I could've forgiven it, but he looked dead serious Kurt, and that's not cool at all."

Kurt nodded, "I understand. You do know I'm on your side with this one right?"

She leaned over to give him a quick hug, "Why are you always on my side Kurt?"

"Because I'm your best friend," he answered, patting her back carefully. "I love you and you know it."

"I love you too."

"So you'll love Kurt before you love me!"

"Go shove it somewhere Hunter," Stephanie said, pulling away from her friend. "I'm trying to have a nice conversation with Kurt."

"You know, I'm starting to think that you were screwing around on me when we were married."

"Hunter, if I was screwing around on you, I would've made it way more obvious. Because at that point, what would I care if I were getting it somewhere else? But unfortunately, I took our wedding vows seriously and didn't cheat on you."

"Fine, if you say so."

"Now go away."

"I just wanted you to wish me good luck in my match later on."

"You know what I think of that Hunter, and you're very lucky that I've calmed down from last week."

"What happened last week?" Kurt asked.

"I went ballistic on Hunter," Stephanie shrugged, "After what he did to Regal to try to get to Eugene. I did not find it funny nor did I find it effective, and I simply told that to Hunter until Chris dragged me away before I got really angry."

"Oh," Kurt said, bitting his lip as he tried to picture Stephanie getting mad. He had seen Stephanie getting mad and...well he didn't want to see Stephanie getting mad ever again.

"We'll see how effective it is when I kick Eugene's ass tonight."

"Hunter, go away," Stephanie said calmly, then turned to Kurt, "I just think Edge blew everything out of proportion, but then he had to cross that line."

Hunter realized that Stephanie was just going to annoy him and he walked off in a little bit of a huff. Stephanie looked over her shoulder briefly and giggled in triumph. Kurt just watched her as he leaned back into his chair. Seeing Stephanie one-up Hunter was always a treat to see.

"So does this happen every show?" Kurt asked, referring to Hunter.

"Pretty much. He bugs me, I rebuff him, he bugs me some more, I rebuff him some more, he gets angry, I get angry, he walks away, I sigh in relief that he's finally out of my hair."

"Sounds like you've got everything covered."

"I've learned to just tune him out. He doesn't love me like he thinks he does, he's just jealous that Chris has me and he doesn't. He still believes that I'm his property and that I've somehow slighted him because I'm with someone else."

"You seem to have him figured out."

"What's there to figure out with Hunter, it's always pretty cut and dry. And after what he pulled last week, he doesn't deserve even the slightest bit of my sympathy, and so he's not going to get an inch from me."

"That was a pretty rotten thing to do."

"Like you've never done anything bad, right Kurt?" Stephanie said, sending him a side-long glance that said all it needed to say.

"You're one to talk."

Stephanie stood up, "Well, I'm done here, and people are going to start arriving soon and I don't think that I should be seen so shall we go to the back."

"You're amazing Stephanie," Kurt blurted out of nowhere, causing Stephanie to pause and look over at him.

"That was pretty random," Stephanie laughed, "Not that I don't appreciate the compliment, it just seemed to come from nowhere."

"Just watching you work I guess. I think you are the best we've ever had when it comes to running the show. Who else could do it so well?"

"Kurt, I'm kind of taken so you might not want to hit on me," Stephanie said kiddingly.

"Whatever you say."

Stephanie and Kurt walked backstage and then parted ways with each other. Stephanie went to work at her table, papers strewn about on top of it. She had one of her assistants sitting next to her taking care of directing everyone's place as she went over some of the paperwork that her father had given her earlier. It was a lot of numbers and figures and things, but she loved to be kept busy.

"She works hard for her money, so hard for it honey," Chris sang as he walked up to Stephanie desk and sat lightly on the one corner that wasn't being occupied by work-related papers or equipment.

Stephanie glanced up at him, "Yes, I have to pay for this wedding somehow don't I?"

"Wow, that made you actually sound like I don't contribute anything by way of money to this wedding when it seems that I had to write a check to a hotel in order to make a deposit for the place that my fiancée wants to get married at. I must've been dreaming that."

"You probably were, I don't recall anything like that happening ever."

"Oh well, can I get some sugar," Chris winked playfully, tapping his lips with his index finger.

"I think I saw some packets in catering, I'm sure you could find some there. There might even be some sugar donuts, and if there are, can you bring me back one, I could really go for it."

Trish snuck up behind him and kissed his cheek, "How's that for some sugar baby?"

Chris turned to her, "Hey, I'll take what I can get."

"Trish, do I have to bring out back and fight to the death with you?" Stephanie asked as she signed off on one of the papers she had been looking over.

"If you wanna go, we'll go," Trish said, pretending to put up her arms in a fighting stance.

"So where's the boy toy?" Chris asked, "You usually keep him on such a short leash."

"Oh, this coming from you of all people," Trish scoffed, "Anyways, he's off with a certain person that I think we can all agree that we wouldn't want to see right now...if I was with Christian right now, I'd be liable to take a dodgeball out and knock some of Edge's badger teeth right out of his mouth."

"I'd find that amusing," Stephanie laughed, "Though I'm sure teeth would grow back immediately, either that or the other hundred or so teeth he has push forward to compensate for the loss."

"Wow, you two are catty."

"Yeah, and you just want to get violent on his ass in your match later," Stephanie reminded him.

Chris's expression turned dark for a moment. Yes, he had been visualizing how he was going to beat on Edge for the last week. This match, it was more personal that it had to be, but he saw no other choice than to go in this full throttle. Chris felt like he had been betrayed by Edge, more so than Edge could ever feel betrayed by Chris for throwing him out of a match.

"Yeah, I don't' even care about winning the belt, I just want a few good shots at Edge, that's it," Chris said, a dangerous quality to his voice that anyone within a three-mile radius could pick up on.

"Don't get worked up," Stephanie said, patting his hand. "Then you'll go out there and be sloppy, and I don't want to have to do fancy camera work to make it look like you aren't being a screw-up."

"But isn't that the entire point of your job Steph, to make Chris look good at all times?" Trish joked.

"Sometimes it's hard, I don't know how I manage to make him look so hot on-screen, when he's clearly not hot at all."

"Oh, so now everyone on Earth has decided to gang up on me, maybe I should just go out there and issue an open challenge to anyone on Earth who wants to fight me."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of takers," Trish laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. "I better go though, the girls are probably going crazy trying to think up a strategy for tonight's dodgeball game."

Chris snickered, "That's going to be hilarious."

"Shut the hell up Jericho or I'll knock your teeth out."

"And damage me forever, no way!"

"Trish, just wait until after the wedding photos are taken, then you can knock those teeth out."

"And you're advocating this heinous plot on my handsome face!" Chris gasped, pretending to be aghast as he put his hand over his heart like it would break at the mere thought of one of his beautiful teeth falling out.

"As long as the pictures come out all right sweetie," Stephanie said sweetly.

Trish laughed as she walked away and down the hallway. She had a dressing room with Christian, but she had more pressing issues to worry about, namely the way her team tonight was well on its way to destruction. Nobody was getting along at all, not that she should've expected them too, they all hated each other. Thank God Lita wasn't there, or she might have to laugh her head off at her situation. It had been revealed that Matt wasn't the father, which left the Big Red Machine to be the father. The mere thought of that sent simultaneous shivers and peals of laughter through Trish. One thing she was not, was sympathetic. Lita didn't have to sleep with two guys, so this was on her shoulders. She wasn't about to feel sorry for someone who made such poor decisions. Speaking of Lita, she was walking up right now.

"Lita, the blushing bride-to-be. You have two guys fighting over you, wow," Trish said, acting like she was excited. "I bet that must be something. They both want to marry you, go Lita!"

"Shut up Trish," Lita said, her face not moving, not even a twitch or anything. Scary face, Trish thought, in more ways than just the non-moving aspect.

"Oh now Lita, don't go being little Miss Frowny Face. Have Kane and Matt fought yet, are you going to be Mrs. Hardy or Mrs...um...well let me see, since Paul Bearer was Kane's father...would that make you Mrs. Bearer. Hmm...Lita Bearer, hey, isn't that so funny, Lita, bearer of children to Kane."

"Get out of my face you bitch," Lita spat.

"Ok, bye Mrs. Bearer," Trish said with a little wave as she watched Lita's back. She giggled to herself at the visual of Kane and Lita in a domestic home situation. Lita trying to start up the barbeque, Kane shooting fire bolts out of his hands into the grill to light the fire. Taking picnics to the cemetery while watching Uncle Undertaker dig up graves and worship urns. What a wonderful life indeed.

Trish walked into the diva's locker room and was met with the stony silence of bitter hatred. All the "good" girls as deemed by the fans were on one side, and all the "bad" girls were on the other. But they were all joining in on the glaring going on. Trish stood somewhat in the middle, looking between both sides like it was a junior high dance and the girls wouldn't dance with the boys and vice-versa.

"Oh come on, it's one night that you guys have to get along, it's not going to kill you," Trish said exasperated.

"Well maybe if Molly and Gail kept their own damn business," Victoria said angrily.

"Everything is our business around here," Molly said snottily.

"Yeah, I guess you can feel that way when you looked like Stone Cold Steve Austin when we know the J.R. practically wants to marry him," Stacy said with a giggle, like what she said was actually coherent or funny, of which, it was neither.

"You guys, we have a common enemy here," Trish said, still standing between the two, like she was Switzerland (because of the whole neutrality thing) and they were the warring factions. "We're out to get those snotty, little Diva hopefuls that come onto our show and act like they run the joint, and they don't, because they're all a bunch of whores with no talent whatsoever."

"Like Trish," Nidia whispered to Victoria.

"Very funny Nidia, but this is serious, you want to think I'm a whore fine, but as long as we're all here, let me get one thing straight to you, especially to those of you who believed what you saw on television. Chris Jericho and I were never involved ever. I never betrayed him for Christian, I never humiliated him. He's been with Stephanie since July 2002--"

"Except when he dated me," Molly said, giving a superior look to Trish.

"Please Molly, Lord knows you were nothing but a rebound for him. Hate to break it to you sweetie, he loved Stephanie the entire time."

That pretty much effectively shut Molly up as she sat sulking in her chair. Trish let out a little smirk of satisfaction at Molly's reaction. Nobody else had anything to say as they sat there silently. She sighed and looked at them again.

"Ok, so we just go out there and kick their asses, sound good to everyone." Everyone mumbled in response as the door opened to reveal Christian. He looked around at the silent room for an awkward moment before fixing his gaze on Trish.

"Trish, Chris and Edge's match is starting, I'm going to watch it with Stephanie, if you want to come."

"I want to come," Trish said quickly, hightailing it out of that room of bitter hatred. She linked arms with Christian quickly and kissed his cheek as she closed the door.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Getting me the hell out of that room," Trish said as she shuddered thinking about the iciness of everyone in there.

Christian laughed, "So Kane won in that match."

Trish laughed heartily, "Oh man, priceless, why did she ever put herself in a situation like that, she's so stupid."

"You used to be friends with her."

"Well thank God I never sucked up any of her stupidity."

"Who's stupidity?" Stephanie asked as her friends walked up to her.

"Just Lita's," Trish said, "No worries, so how's our boy doing...well, our boy as in you and me, Christian has to be impartial."

"He's my brother," Christian said simply.

"I understand," Stephanie said, smiling at him, "I just wish that he hadn't...whatever, I just want Chris to win, but I have a feeling he's way too unfocused out there."

Chris could be seemingly unfocused in his match, but he knew the task at hand was to try and win the Intercontinental Championship. Sure, it took a back-seat to what he was wanting to do with Edge, but he still would like the title. The Intercontinental title was nothing to balk at, greats like Ricky Steamboat, one of his idols had fought long and hard for this belt and he wanted to be among them.

So he was down for a second after trying to fight Dave. He picked himself up again and grabbed Dave's leg as Edge knocked him out of the ring. Now it was just down to him and Edge. This was how he wanted it. Sure, Dave was an asshole and everything, and he had called Stephanie things in the past that had made Chris's blood boil, but Edge was a friend who not only betrayed him, but Stephanie as well. And for that, he would pay. They went at it for a while, and Chris managed to get the Walls on him. He noted briefly that the crowd was definitely cheering for him over Edge, and that made him feel more energized.

"Are they yelling, 'We Want Christian' out there?" Trish asked, looking over at her boyfriend for the answer.

"I think they are," Christian said, shrugging smugly. He couldn't help but feel a little better that the crowd hadn't forgotten him and wanted him out there rather than Edge. That really did say a lot about those fans.

Chris pulled Edge to the middle of the ring and was sure he was going to win, if he had only remembered there was a third person in this match. Dave hit him from behind and he went flying forward from the force of the blow. Dave was a big guy, he could tap you and you'd fall over. The three men brawled with each other and Chris managed to get Dave out of the match for the time being with a springboard dropkick. He turned around and was promptly speared and pinned.

Chris swore as Edge celebrated his victory. Now he was pissed beyond belief. He knew that greaseball would have a stupid victory smile on his face and he wanted to wipe it off. Chris got up and walked to the back, seeing Edge talking excitedly to Christian, pointing at his belt while Trish and Stephanie glared off to the side.

"Hey Jericho, guess what I still have and you don't?" Edge said smugly, turning to his former friend.

"It's amazing how fast a person can transform from nice guy to asshole," Chris said.

"Well, you should know something about transformation, you're with a girl who went from good girl to slutty whore in no time at all."

Chris had had enough and charged at Edge, hitting him around the mid-section. Trish and Stephanie gasped as Christian tried vainly to get Chris off of Edge. They were wrestling on the ground by now, getting in some punches here and there. Christian finally hauled Chris off of Edge, holding him with one arm around his waist and the other trying to hold back Chris's still swinging arm.

"Chris, calm down!" Christian said loudly as Edge wiped off his bloody lip.

"NO!" Chris screamed, breaking free of Christian's grasp and charging at Edge again.

Stephanie raced over to her headphones, "We need security to the gorilla now to break up a fight."

Christian tried once again to break them up, but they were fighting too much for him to get a bit of space to intervene. Trish and Stephanie watched as security finally came to break up the two fighting men. Chris had three of the security guys to hold him back while Edge had two holding him back.

"Miss McMahon, what do you want us to do with them?" one of the security guards asked.

"Have them escorted back to their dressing rooms and make sure they stay apart," Stephanie said, "Christopher Jericho, when you're done, come back here all right?"

"Fine," he agreed.

Edge muttered, "Whipped."

"Shut the hell up you dick!" Chris shouted, trying to break free again, but being held back firmly.

Stephanie watched as they went away and she rubbed at her temples. This wasn't what she needed right now. Trish and Christian looked at her sympathetically before sneaking away quietly, leaving Stephanie to herself. She slowly walked back to her desk and went back to work, though instead of doing her paperwork, she set her mind on working on running the show itself.

"Stephanie?" someone asked a short time later.

Stephanie looked up, "Hi Daddy."

"I was informed there was a fight that broke out between Edge and Chris."

"Yeah, I had it taken care of Dad, they didn't make a scene as much as you think."

"I thought they were friends," Vince said, confused.

"It's complicated Daddy, Edge isn't our friend anymore."

"Oh, and you're ok?"

"Yeah, but I'm kind of trying to run the show here."

"I'm sorry," Vince laughed, "Go back to work."

"Hey Vince."

"Oh hello Chris," Vince said, turning to his future son-in-law, "Good job out there, it's always nice to know that we can count on you to deliver an enjoyable match."

"Thanks Vinnie," Chris answered, plopping himself down next to Stephanie.

"Have a nice evening you two, I'll see you at Raw tomorrow."

"Bye Daddy."

"Bye Vince."

Stephanie turned to Chris, "What were you thinking!"

"Huh?"

"Don't fight Edge Chris, it's stupid and just don't do it alright."

"But--"

"Just promise me you won't."

"I can't promise that."

"Fine, just try...for me."

He looked at her. He hated giving in to her, but he just couldn't help it when he looked at her. There was something so charming about Stephanie. It wasn't even because he loved her. She had this charm that it was hard to say no to her whims. It was that charm that made him basically her whipping boy during their business partnership.

"For you...and only for you."

She kissed him, "Thank you."

"I better get more than that tonight."

"You will, now back to work."

They watched the show, Chris watching, while Stephanie worked as the show wore on. They were both delighted to see Randy win. They were friends with Benoit, so seeing him lose was a little disappointing, but Randy being the champion wasn't too shabby either. He was a talented kid and they knew it. Randy walked backstage where Dave was the first to greet him, Hunter and Flair hanging back a little. Dave hugged Randy and Randy hugged him back, the scene actually being really cute rather than kind of weird. Over Dave's massive shoulder, Randy sent Stephanie and Chris a smile and a thumbs up behind Dave's back, unseen to the rest of Evolution. What Randy couldn't see though was Hunter talking to Flair in hushed tones.

Stephanie leaned over to Chris, "Did you see that?"

"Hmm?"

"Hunter, look at his face." Chris looked and saw that he was less than pleased, though he was trying to cover it up. Chris knew his enemy too well and knew that look of Hunter's.

"He's mad."

"Yeah, but what about? Randy's his friend."

"You forget Stephanie, Hunter has no friends, he only wants that belt."


	226. Raw, August 16, 2004

A/N: Big Fan, sorry that you think Trish is really mean to Lita, but I'm basically just following the storyline that has Trish teasing Lita all the time.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews everyone, and I hope you enjoy the chapter, I kind of focused it more on Randy, for obvious reasons, so it's kind of different from the usual. Let me know what you think about the whole other perspective thing. :)

Randy stared at the belt a little longer. He had to admit it was a gorgeous belt. He had gazed at it from afar on Hunter's shoulder, had seen it on many shoulders and around many waists, but now here it was, in HIS possession. He could see that little plaque on th bottom that had his name etched into it. It was his, he was the champion, the world champion. Did he think he would reach this pinnacle? Sure he did. Did he think that it would be this soon? Not at all.

But he wasn't going to start complaining now. He was like the figurehead of the company. He faced the facts, the SmackDown champ, not so good, but him, he was on the top of his game. He already loved this belt and wanted to hang onto it for as long as possible. He now knew why all the winners before him had defended this with their souls.

He had slept with the belt last night, and he had to admit it was sweeter than any woman he had had in his bed ever. Yeah, maybe he was being too emotional and too excited about it, but he was the freaking World Champion, and he had earned it and he was going to keep this in his possession for as long as humanly possible.

"Hey there champ."

Randy looked up at saw Dave entering Randy's part of the huge penthouse that Evolution usually got when they were on the road. Randy nodded to him slightly in greetings. Out of all the guys in Evolution, he felt like Dave was the only one he could truly call a friend. He wasn't stupid, he knew that Hunter was just out to use him and that Flair was pretty much off his rocker, but Dave he could actually identify with.

"What's up big man?"

"You gonna stop staring at that thing any time soon?"

"Wasn't planning on it."

"We've got the show to get to, or have you forgotten that in the glow of the gold," Dave joked.

"I haven't forgotten," Randy said, getting up and slinging the belt over his shoulder, like so many champions had before.

"You know how H gets if we're late," Dave said.

"He is the leader."

"You sure you shouldn't be the leader now that you have that thing?"

"I'm not looking for the leadership role of Evolution. I know where my place is in the group, and I'm fine with that."

Dave and Randy walked down to the front of the hotel where the limo to the show was waiting. Dave let Randy get in first and he saw Hunter and Flair already sitting on the other end discussing something. They stopped talking once Randy got into the limo, and Randy, though briefly suspicious was quickly engaged into conversation with Dave about the show tonight.

"I think I'm gonna get my hands on Edge tonight," Dave said, smirking to his teammates.

"Yeah, try getting that past Stephanie," Flair said, "That broad is crazy, whoo!"

"I'll just go to Bischoff," Dave said, shaking off Flair's words, "He'll give me the match."

"Stephanie's the one in charge," Randy said, "It may say that Bischoff is in charge, but you know that it's Stephanie that's really running the show."

"Yeah, but still, Hunter, sweet talk her for me then," Dave said with a smarmy laugh, "If anyone here can do that, it's you."

Randy wasn't so sure about that, but far be it for him to say anything. Stephanie was his friend, as much as these guys were his friends. He always got the urge to speak up for her, but he knew Stephanie could very well stick up for herself. But Hunter trying to sweet talk her? Ha, he wanted to be there and try to see that one.

"Actually, you know what Dave," Hunter said, narrowing his eyes in thought for a moment. "I've got a better idea."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I mean, in your match last night, wasn't it Chris Jericho who was the one to knock you out of the match, you know at the end?"

"He was."

"Well, don't you want to get back at him for taking your chances at the Intercontinental Championship away. If anything, he was the one who screwed your chances, and if anything, I think he's the one that you should be targeting all your hatred at."

"You're right, he was the one to kick me out with that dropkick. You know, if that pansy-ass hadn't kicked me out of the match, I would've kicked Edge's ass and taken that title."

"That's why you should go after Chris," Hunter told him.

"Or is it because he's got your girl?" Randy snarked on him.

Hunter turned stony eyes to him and scowled. Randy knew that he had hit a nerve with that one. He found it unbearably funny that Hunter could still love Stephanie. He was felled by a woman, all it took was one woman to do the trick. Hunter claimed to be this macho, chauvinist, but he was just another guy completely whipped for a chick.

"Shut up," Hunter said, closing his eyes, "In the end, he's going to lose her, if it's not to me, it'll just be to another guy."

"How do you figure that?" Dave asked.

"Stephanie doesn't care about anyone but Stephanie, and she's been like that forever. She's only in things for herself, and that's all she'll ever be."

Stephanie herself was standing around, not doing anything at the very moment. She wasn't in the mood to work at the moment so she had abandoned her post and was now standing around doing nothing at all. She was about to walk to catering when she was tapped on the shoulder. She turned around to see Lita, looking haggard and tired.

"What can I do for you Lita?"

"I was told I should come see you or something..."

"You were?" Stephanie thought for a moment before the proverbial light went off over her head, "Oh yeah, sorry, um...I'm really, really sorry, but the stipulation in your match..."

"Oh God, did Kane do something?"

"Your wedding is scheduled for next week. We've allotted time on it for the show and Kane has already been around telling us what's up, and so I felt the need to tell you before you found out from someone else."

Lita sighed and pushed some hair out of her face, "Thanks for letting me know. I can't believe I agreed to such a stupid thing."

Stephanie didn't know how to be sympathetic in a situation like this. She had never liked Lita. She always found her on the weird side, and there was tons of bad blood between them. But she couldn't help but feel sorry for the pregnant woman, even if it was her own fault for getting herself into these messes. Stephanie put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright you know," Stephanie started, "I was married against my will too, and I eventually got out of that situation. And Matt will probably think of something to get you out of the mess you're in, if he really loves you."

Lita smiled a tiny bit, "Thanks Stephanie, and thanks again for telling me."

"Bye."

"Stephanie, I need to talk to you!"

Stephanie turned around once again and saw Rhyno walking quickly over to her with Tajiri tagging along behind. "What can I do for you Rhyno?"

"I want a shot at La Resistance."

"Rhyno, you should go to Bischoff with this, he has official clearance on the match."

"But he won't sign off on it."

"It's not really my place to change anything," Stephanie answered, "I'm sorry."

"Ok, thanks anyways."

Rhyno walked off with Tajiri, talking animatedly about how he was going to find Bischoff and get that match. Stephanie finally started making her way to catering, in search of what she didn't know. It seemed everyone had a complaint or a suggestion tonight. Maybe it was all the SummerSlam aftermath or something. Since there was a big show last night, they wanted to be on the show tonight. Ok, so she wasn't going to figure out the logic in that one.

"Your ass is looking fine tonight."

She turned around abruptly and stared in disgust at whoever had said that. She laughed when she saw it was only Christian, but with no Trish anywhere in sight. She punched Christian in the stomach playfully and leaned against the wall. Christian emulated her pose as they stood there.

"Where's Trish?"

"She had to go buy something or whatever, I'm not sure actually, but whatever floats her boat."

"So when are you coming back to the show?"

"Soon I hope," Christian said, "Do you miss me that much?"

"I see you entirely too much to miss you."

"Yeah, I guess you do. Should be an interesting show tonight, powers are shifting back to Evolution."

"Oh yeah, but at least its in the least offensive of all those hands."

"True, can you just imagine Hunter with that belt again?"

"I worry about it."

Hunter paced back and forth in Evolution's locker room. Flair was the only other person in the room. Dave and Randy were off checking what they were going to be doing tonight, not to mention go show off the fact that Randy was the new champion. This gave Hunter ample time to think and Flair watched him pace, knowing that he would come up with a plan for what he wanted to do.

"That little shit has MY belt," Hunter growled.

"I know H, I know, and you are the champ, you should be the only champ."

"If he knew better he wouldn't have let himself win like that. He KNEW that I wanted to get at Benoit after I took care of the retard, and he just went with it anyways, he had to win."

"Yeah, the nerve of him!"

"Bastard, that belt is mine Ric, you hear me, MINE!"

"I know it's yours H, it only belongs around your waist," Flair said, verbally fellating Hunter to the point where he should've just bent over and gotten it over with.

"Something had to be done before he thinks he has the power around here Ric, we can't have that little bastard thinking that he's the top dog in this company. I've worked too long and too hard to get the position that I'm in today."

"I know, and he won't get away with this."

"We need to get Dave in on this though. That'll be tough because he's such good friends with Randy, but we'll get him."

"Yeah, we'll get him. But how do we get Randy out of here to talk to Dave."

"Let me handle that," Hunter said sadistically, "You just follow my lead."

Randy and Dave laughed hysterically as they walked down one of the halls. They had just gloated to Benoit himself about Randy winning the belt. Benoit, of course, had looked less than pleased. Then he had scurried his ass out of there and left a laughing Randy and Dave in its wake. Dave had already gone to Bischoff and appealed for a match with Chris, which had been approved and now they were going to the Evolution locker room.

When they walked in, everything seemed normal to the two of them. There was no cause for suspicion whatsoever. But there was an air. Randy couldn't explain it, but he felt something in the air. It wasn't so much a good or a bad feeling, just a "something's up" feeling. Figuring that the guys were going to take him out later for a celebratory night on the town, he shrugged the feeling off.

"So Dave got the match with Jericho later," Randy told Hunter and Flair.

"Great, great," Hunter smiled, "But let's not worry about that right now, the shows about to start, so Randy, what the hell are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're the new champion, you can't expect to just sit around here. You have to go out and meet the people, show them the new champ and assert yourself as the top of the company," Hunter answered.

"You think I should just go out there first thing?"

"Hell yeah I do. It's what I would do, and you know, I have been a multiple time champion. You're the youngest ever, you should go out there."

"You're right," Randy said, sticking his chest out in pride. "I SHOULD go out there. I'm the World Champion and I'm the best there is right now and I'm going to call out every other guy who's not me."

"That's the spirit."

"I'll see you guys later," Randy said, smirking proudly as he walked out of the room. Hunter waited a few moments to make sure that he wouldn't come back in before turning to Dave who was getting his gear out of his bag.

"Hey Dave, a word."

"What is it H?"

"Did you get a load of Randy just a second ago?" Hunter said, jerking his thumb towards the door Randy had just left from.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"A little too cocky don't you think?"

"He won the championship, doesn't that entitle him?"

"Yeah, but the way he was going about it. Saying that he was going to call out every guy, that includes you doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but we're friends, Randy's my friend."

"Really? Or has he been playing us all along. You know, Randy thinks he's God's gift to Earth right now, and his ego is just going to get bigger and bigger, and you know who he's going to forget Dave?"

"Who?"

"Us. He's going to forget Evolution and how Evolution gave him his start. He'll forget that we got him where he is now, and we can't have that can we?"

Dave took a moment to think about what Hunter was saying. Would Randy really just leave them in the dust because he was the champion? Dave considered Randy his best friend, but now that Randy was the champion would that friendship end because his friend's ego got to be too big for his own group? Dave didn't like that idea.

"No, I don't think that would be very good," Dave said, feeling confused by Hunter's words. "But he's our friend."

"Is he Dave? Is he? I say we cut him loose before he turns on US."

"But what do you want to do?"

"Tonight..." Hunter stopped as he turned on to the screen that had turned on previously. He unmuted the television in time to see Benoit challenging Randy for later that evening. He turned to Dave and Flair and said, "I think we have an in."

Trish giggled as she got all the stuff together for the little party she was throwing for Lita. She knew it was cruel, but damn, it was going to be funny. And sometimes you need some light-hearted humor and poking fun at others always afforded her that. She thought back to when Lita had been her friend, but that friendship had dissolved after she had gotten back with Christian. Lita was always trying to control her and tell her what was right in her life, and she was so damn sick of it that she had to stop being friends with her. Besides, she was such an easy target nowadays.

"Trish, what are you doing?" Stephanie said as she saw Trish with a handful of gifts in her arms.

Trish looked over the gifts, "Oh hey Stephanie, not doing much, just going to put these gifts in the locker room."

"What're the presents for? It's not your birthday, it's not Christian's birthday, it's not mine, or Chris's, so who are they for?"

"Lita," Trish said, "It's a kind of...bridal shower thing."

"Oh, you're so cruel," Stephanie laughed, "Because I can only imagine what those gifts are."

"Like you wouldn't laugh your ass off at them."

"I probably would, but I'm already on the train to hell. I guess I can get you a ticket too."

"Good, I'll need it. Don't worry, your bridal shower will be much better," Trish said, "But I have to set these up and go find the bride and take her to her party. Wanna come?"

"I would LOVE to see this train-wreck as it happened, but I know what this would entail and I couldn't bear to watch it. Besides, I haven't seen Chris since this morning and I should probably talk to him."

"You haven't seen him ALL DAY! That's got to be a new record or something," Trish said, acting like she was surprised.

"Yeah, I know, it's crazy right. Well, he went out with Benoit this morning when I went with my dad. I think he was trying to cheer Benoit up after his loss. How Chris could even tell that Chris was upset over it, I'll never know."

Trish laughed, "Yeah, Benoit is a tough one to figure out."

"Ok, well I'll let you get back to your little party and I'll go find my fiancé, wherever he may be."

Before Stephanie left, she held the door open for Trish so she could get all the presents in without dropping them. She saw Randy walking back from his promo and she sent him a small smile in passing. He sent one right back before moving on to his locker room. Stephanie glanced back at him and then walked forward, bumping into a body.

"Watch where you're going," she snapped at whoever it was.

"Nah, I kind of like having you bump into me."

She looked up and smirked, "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

"Why? Have you been looking at ugly people all day?"

"Nope, I haven't seen Edge once tonight."

Chris laughed and wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him so her chest was pressed against his. He leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips, which soon escalated into an almost over-bearing public display of affection. She pulled away finally and looked him in the crystal blue of his eyes.

"Wherever you been?" she asked.

"Wherever YOU been?" he countered.

"Around."

"So have I...now why haven't I been around with you?"

"Cause you're so stupid you couldn't find me."

"Yeah, I must be stupid," he answered, shaking his head. "It sucks to be caught in the middle."

"The middle of what?"

"Well, Benoit is my friend, and Randy is my friend, and they're fighting, and it's kind of weird."

"Oh, I know. They're going to fight tonight too. And I heard you were going to fight Dave later on."

"Man, not him again! What did I do to deserve that?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that Hunter is behind it. Doesn't matter, if you're sore, I'll give you a special massage back at the hotel."

"Mmm, maybe I should just get hurt for the hell of it then," he murmured, kissing her again.

"I'm kind of worried about Randy though," Stephanie whispered.

"Stephanie, when I'm kissing you, can we ixnay on the whole talking about other guys thing, because it really does kill the mood."

"I'm sorry, I just...I have this feeling," Stephanie said, her eyes worried, the blue pools stormy. Chris recognized this and massaged the spot beneath her hairline and right above her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against his.

"Don't worry ok, Randy's a big boy and he can handle whatever is thrown at him. He's the champion now, he has to get used to it," he said, his mouth just grazing against her ear. "It's scary at first, holding that belt and that power, but you realize what you have to do and who you have to represent and so you go out there every night and you defend that belt through the good, and the bad...and through any women who want to steal the title from right out under your nose."

Stephanie smiled, "I love you...I'm still worried though."

Edge had a match with Kane later, but he was currently sitting his locker room...alone. He didn't actually have anyone that he could talk to, and it was kind of depressing. Sure, he could go see Christian, who seemed to be the only one talking to him at the moment, but if he was with Trish, then that plan would fall through. He was actually feeling really lonely at the moment, and he was lonely. A few ill-advised words and he was being condemned. But really, didn't he deserve it?

He resolved himself to go and talk to Chris, maybe try to sort this out. He got up from his place on the couch and walked out into the hallway. He hoped that they would accept his apology, and let him back in the group. He knew the things he had said to Stephanie had been very harsh and probably uncalled for, but...no, he didn't know what he was doing.

"Edge, how are you?"

Edge saw Hunter approaching and frowned, "What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing, just congratulating you on beating Jericho. I've been where you have been, and I just wanted to say thanks for kicking his ass."

"Why do you care?"

"Well, Jericho has always been a thorn in my side and you took care of him for me, so thanks," Hunter told him, patting him on the shoulder before walking past. Edge gave up his search for Chris and Stephanie and simply went to prepare for his match.

Later that evening, Chris was fighting Dave, with Flair there as well. He had fought against Dave enough times to know the guy could kick his ass pretty easily. Chris was good against big men, but Dave was a lot more agile than your typical big man and before he knew it, he had won by disqualification. He didn't consider it a victory though, and it certainly wasn't sweet as he got beat on by Dave and Flair.

Edge went out there, and he really was going to help Chris, but the look that Chris sent him. It was almost imperceptible, but it was there. Chris didn't want his help, Chris didn't want to forgive him. He communicated that through his eyes. Chris would rather get his ass handed to him than forgive him. Edge had no choice but to walk away.

Chris told the exact same thing to Stephanie when she came over to see how he was as she took a break from the show. Stephanie understood that he didn't want Edge's help. Chris was a loner. Sure, he had been tag partners with people over the years, ranging from Chyna to Benoit, to Christian, and so forth, but for the most part, Chris liked to work alone, and Edge was the last person he would've wanted help from, and that was all right too.

Meanwhile, Randy was listening to Hunter wax philosophical. Randy listened attentively as Hunter told him what being a champion was about. If anyone knew the way things worked, it was Hunter. Randy was just glad that Hunter accepted that he was the champ and backed him up on it. Even if Hunter could be an asshole about 85 percent of the time, he still had his good moments. He said Evolution would be behind him, and he was glad and with that glad attitude he went out for his match.

Evolution did come to his aid in his match. They were right there and when he won his match, there they were again. He had never felt happier than celebrating with his best friends. He sought out Dave and hugged him tightly, trying to look more manly than the hug appeared. He even dropped an impetuous kiss to Dave's cheek, who just laughed it off. He stood there, the champ and then laughed as Dave put him on his shoulders. This was the life...this was how it should always be.

Then he saw the thumbs down and knew he was screwed. The drop on his back hurt, but not as much as he knew that he was being ousted from Evolution. The part that hurt the most was when Dave powerbombed him. He had considered Dave his best friend, and this was how he was being treated. He could hear Dave's screams of him being nothing without Evolution, but it was starting to sound distant as he felt the warm trickle of blood dripping down his face, and then suddenly, it went dark.

Stephanie sat massaging Chris's sore back, but they both had their minds elsewhere. They both had to sit back and watch as their friend was pulverized by men he considered his friends. Yet they couldn't do anything because nobody knew they were friends, and they feared that it would only cause more problems for their fallen friend.

"Where do you think he is?" Stephanie asked quietly.

"Stephanie, I called, they took him to the hospital for stitches and then he was released."

"But where do you think he is NOW?"

"Stephy, baby, I don't know," Chris answered, sitting up and hugging his fiancée. "Maybe he's just drinking his sorrows away."

"I'm worried, maybe we should go out and look for him."

"We wouldn't even know the first place to look. Steph, maybe he's in his hotel room and he's just sulking or sleeping or something."

She sighed heavily, "Maybe. I talked to Trish and had to promise that I would call her when I heard from Randy."

"Does she still..."

"No, she's just worried is all," Stephanie answered, "I feel her--"

They were interrupted by a knocking on the door. Stephanie looked at Chris for a long moment and then hopped up off the bed and raced through the suite to the door. Chris followed her, though not as quickly due to his aching limbs. She flung the door open and saw a destitute, broken young man standing before him. Randy was looking pale and he had stitches on his face and a suitcase and duffel bag.

"Randy!"

"Hey Steph," Randy said to her, but his voice was definitively sad, he turned to the man who came to stand behind Stephanie, "Hey Chris."

"Hey man, you ok?" Chris asked, concerned.

"I got kicked out of the penthouse. I didn't really have any other friends."

"Come in," Stephanie said, moving out of the way, "You're always welcome here."

"Yeah, the couch pulls out, I hope it's good enough for the World Champ."

Randy laughed hollowly, "It's fine. Thanks."

Stephanie hugged Randy tightly.

"Welcome to the group."


	227. Raw, August 23, 2004

Stephanie put the last of the tape over Randy's stitches. She had volunteered to put new bandages on his forehead for him since he seemed to be having trouble getting it straight. She pulled back to look at her handiwork and deemed it perfect. She patted his shoulders with her hand as he looked up to her.

"So it looks ok?" he asked.

"It looks just fine," she told him, "I think I did a great job if I don't say so myself."

"When did you become such an expert at fixing wounds and stuff like that?"

"When you've dated wrestlers, and been married to them and been in this business as long as I have, you pick up a few first-aid tips."

At the mention of her marriage, Randy frowned for a second. The hurt was still running deep after his encounter last week with his former friends. How could he not hurt after what they had pulled? It wasn't so much a physical hurt, there was that too of course, evidenced by the stitches that Stephanie had just cleaned up, but it was more emotional than anything else. Yeah, he had been teetering on the sides of both fences, risking a lot by being friends with Chris and Stephanie AND Evolution, but never once had he figured that Evolution would unceremoniously dump him.

But Stephanie and Chris, they were unbelievable really. She understood now how they had so many friends, and why Hunter was so jealous of Chris. Yes, Hunter was jealous, he wasn't afraid to think that anymore, because Hunter wasn't his friend anymore. Not that he had been much of a friend before, but now any semblance of friendship was dissolved in the face of a harsh beating he had received. But Hunter was jealous simply because of the fact that Stephanie was completely in love with Chris Jericho. And Hunter truly had nobody.

"Thanks for helping me out," Randy said, and it transcended her helping him with his face.

Stephanie understood that as she gave him a nonchalant shrug, "Don't mention it, you're a friend."

"But how many people are you willing to tell that to?" Randy asked. "I'm not exactly the most popular guy around here and you and Chris are like the golden couple."

Stephanie laughed, "Since when have Chris and I been regarded as the golden couple?"

"I've heard people talking," he said to her. "Because you and Chris seem so right for each other and you're the boss's daughter and he's a popular wrestler. You have everything going for you. Then there's me who got dumped by his friends."

"They weren't your friends Randy," Stephanie said, sitting on the coffee table in front of where he was sitting and put her hands on his knees. "Your friends don't do that to you. They don't lead you on like a lamb to a slaughter and they don't treat you like you did something wrong by winning a belt."

"I guess that's not exactly what friends should do, but Stephanie they...they took me in and made me what I am and to be dumped, like garbage..."

Stephanie put her hand on Randy's cheek in compassion, "You're better than they are. You helped me, and you helped Trish too. You're a good man Randy and I don't believe for a second that you could be like those guys."

"I thought that Dave was my best friend," Randy said, "I thought he would choose me over Hunter any day of the week."

"I'm sorry," Stephanie said, not knowing any other words that could comfort him at the moment. "If it's any consolation, Hunter is a very persuasive man. He can make anybody sound like they are the enemy. He manipulated me into thinking turning on my family wold be the best thing for me to do."

"We've both had our share of problems with him haven't we?"

She nodded, "We have. But I like to think that I came out of it wiser. Besides, how else would I have found Chris? At least Hunter wanted me to be a slut or else Chris never would've given me the time of day."

Randy laughed, "Well I'm not sure I'm going to garner any love prospects from this."

"Oh come on, with that face, you'll have girls dropping down to their knees and who knows what they'll do when they're down there," she winked.

"I never knew you to be so blunt."

"You have time to get to know me now," she told him, "We take care of our friends Randy, and you are one of our friends."

"Speaking of, where is the other part of your 'our?'"

"I think he's reminiscing about old times with your belt."

"I don't even want to know what it'll feel like to lose that thing."

"I wouldn't know, I've only had one World title match under my belt and most of that match I spent either being on top of, or underneath Chris."

"So like most nights," Chris said, walking in with the belt.

Stephanie glared at him, "I'll have you know Jericho that we were trying to have a nice conversation out here and you talking about me like that is not the way this should be going."

"Oh I'm sorry, the big, gold belt and I were talking. We were just remembering when I first became friends with him," Chris held his ear up to his ear, "What's that big, gold belt? Yeah, she did help me win you that first time. Huh? No, I didn't WANT her help, she just felt the need to come out and help me. Yeah, I did try to hit her with a chair, no, I don't want to do that anymore. No, I'm sure Randy will take good care of you...wait, what, Hunter did WHAT with you! Oh, I'll report him to the authorities if he does that again."

Stephanie looked at her fiancé, "You're a nutcase."

"Oh only about you my love," he said, still staring at the belt, "Oh Stephanie did you say something?"

"Maybe I should take the belt back before he tries something funny," Randy said.

"I would never violate this belt," Chris said defensively as there came a knock on the door. Randy looked to the two of them and they looked at him.

"Should I go hide or something?" Randy asked.

"I'll see who it is first."

Chris walked to the door and then remembered he was holding the belt and went back into the main room of the hotel suite and threw the belt to Randy who caught it and put it in his lap. Stephanie watched as Chris went back to the door and looked out of the peephole. She saw Trish and Christian standing outside looking like they were having a heated discussion. Trish was flailing her arms everywhere while Christian was giving her a look and shaking his head profusely. She scowled at him and pushed him on the chest. He stumbled backwards a little before falling on his ass.

"Chris, who is it?" Stephanie called out.

"It's Trish and Christian and I think they're having a fight. She just pushed him and he fell on his ass, this is better than watching the show," Chris laughed.

"Open the door you dork," Stephanie said.

"But this is fun to watch," Chris whined, training his eye back on the peephole where Trish was bent over laughing as Christian got up as gracefully as he could given that his girlfriend had just pushed him down rather ungracefully.

"Chris, don't make me come over there," Stephanie said, and her voice meant business.

Chris yelped, "Oh no, Miss Stephanie, don't punish me!"

"Oh give me a break," Stephanie said, getting up and shoving herself past Chris.

"You saw that Randy, you saw that. When I call the cops for domestic abuse, you are my witness, you saw her just push me."

Randy shook his head as he watched the two of them. They knew how to have fun, unlike Evolution. Evolution's idea of fun was getting some Cristal and trying to bed every girl they saw. And while that was fun in its own way, Chris and Stephanie had fun in a silly kind of way that he hadn't experienced for a long time. It was different, but not so different that he didn't think he would fit in.

Stephanie opened the door to see Christian pretending to strangle Trish while she just kept laughing. Chris wrapped his arm around Stephanie's waist as they stood there watching. Stephanie leaned against her fiancé and watched as well, since neither Trish nor Christian had realized they were standing there watching. Finally Trish looked over and gasped a little as she saw Chris and Stephanie staring at them. Chris raised a curious eyebrow.

"Did we interrupt an attempted murder?" Chris asked.

Trish took both of Christian's hands off her neck and held them in hers, "Nope, just my dumb boyfriend."

"I'm not being dumb Patricia!"

Chris and Stephanie's mouths both dropped open and Chris whistled, as they both knew that nobody was allowed to call Trish by her God-given name. Trish's nostrils flared as she slapped Christian's shoulder. He backed away from her assault as she turned to Chris and Stephanie, with a calm smile on her face.

"He is being stupid, he seems to think that I am not allowed to do certain things."

"If you knew what she wanted to do, then you would think she was crazy too," Christian said.

"Can we come in?" Trish asked.

"Well, I don't know if that's the best idea."

"If you guys tell me you were just having sex in the living room and you have underwear and stuff in there, I'm going to throw up," Christian said.

"If I were with Stephanie, like hell I would've come out here to participate in whatever little spat you two have decided to engage in," Chris answered.

"Well, I'm not the one who wants to fight, it's Christian that has a big problem."

"Yeah, I do have a big problem."

"Oh forget it," Trish said, pushing past Chris and Stephanie into the room, "Maybe you can talk some sense into him."

"But we don't know what we have to make sense of," Chris said helplessly.

Trish walked into the main room and saw Randy sitting there, starting at his belt. Her eyes widened as she looked upon him. Randy looked up and gave her a sad smile and a little wave. Trish stood rooted in her spot, unable to form a coherent sentence. She knew that Randy had a good reason to be here, especially after what he had been through, but it was still a shock.

"Randy," she whispered.

Randy scrambled to his feet, "Hey Trish, I'm sorry that you had to find me here."

"No, I'm just shocked," she said, then saw his forehead, "Oh you poor thing. Stephanie called to tell me what happened after you got taken away on Raw. I was worried."

Randy was a little shocked, in a good way, that she would care what happened to him. Not that they had ever been serious or anything, but to know that she at least cared a tiny bit eased the other hurt he was feeling. Trish took a step closer and wrapped him up in a hug, though it was quite tentative.

"I'm glad you're ok."

"Thanks," Randy said, returning the hug.

"Oh my God, Trish are you freaking nuts!" Chris said as he and Stephanie walked into the room only to see Trish and Randy hugging. "Oops, did we interrupt?"

"No, not at all," Trish said, "Where's Christian? Sulking?"

"He has every right to as far as I'm concerned," Chris said back, "Because if it were Stephanie, like hell would I want her to do that."

"I wouldn't want to," she shuddered, "You know me and showing skin, we don't do that too often."

"I love you," Chris said, totally gratuitously. Stephanie laughed and kissed him, after breaking apart, she laid her head on his shoulder. "And for the record, Christian is sulking in only the way Christian can."

"I heard that!" Christian said, "I have a right mind to go hang out with Edge."

"Go right ahead!" Trish yelled, "I'll just get a ride with Stephanie and Chris."

"I'm not going to let you do this!" Christian said as he started to walk into the room, oblivious to the fact that Randy was in there. "Trish Stratus, you are out of your--"

Christian stopped short when he saw Randy standing next to Trish. He looked into the guilty faces of Chris and Stephanie, so obviously this was something they had been hiding. He furrowed his brow, trying to think of some logical reason as to why Randy Orton of all people would be standing there, but he couldn't wrap his fingers around any.

"What are you doing here?" Christian asked, his voice sharp.

"Christian, we need to explain," Stephanie said.

Christian looked to her, "Explain what?"

"Randy is our friend, he's been our friend for a while now, and he's with us because of what Evolution did to him last week. We don't let our friends get hurt and alone, you know that."

"So what? He's going to replace Edge?"

"Nobody is replacing anybody," Chris said, "Randy has helped Stephanie and I out, and I for one don't care about whether he's replacing someone or not, what matters is that he's my friend and he's Stephanie's friend and he's going to be hanging out with us from now on."

"Trish, did you know about this?"

Trish looked down and that was all the answer that Christian needed. He couldn't believe there had been a secret that he hadn't been in on. He was one of the first people to know about Chris and Stephanie and stuck by them through everything and they didn't have the courtesy to tell them that his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend was suddenly going to be around all the time.

"If you guys want me to leave," Randy said, looking to the door.

"No, don't leave, Christian, I found out by snooping and I confronted Stephanie about it. This was only last month. I didn't tell you because you are a notorious blabbermouth. And if you told say, Edge, then he would obviously have told Kurt and it would've gotten out and Randy was part of Evoltuion and we couldn't have him get hurt."

"Well...when you put it like that," Christian said slowly.

Trish went over and kissed Christian lightly, "You understand Chrissy, you know you do."

Christian smiled despite himself, "Welcome to this little group Randy."

Randy stuck out his hand and Christian shook it. "Thanks for not beating me up or anything, I'm a little on the beat-up side as it is."

"Thank you," Trish said, kissing him lightly. "Does this mean I can go ahead with the plan?"

Christian's face turned dour at her words, "No!"

"Oh Chrissy, you're no fun!"

"Out of the question Trish," Christian said, walking out of the room, "Out of the question!"

"I'm going to do it anyways," Trish said, following him, "Bye guys, see you at the show! And Christian, yes I am!"

Randy look ed at the door, "Do they always act like that?"

"You get used to them," Stephanie said, "But I have to get to the show, I've got work to do. Oh God, Chris I have to call the damn florist about the wedding tonight. Damn it, I have to plan another wedding. And this one the bride doesn't even want, and I have to make sure the minister gets here on time, we have to go!"

"Ok, shh, calm down," Chris said, kissing her forehead, "I'll help you with the work alright?"

"You will?" she asked gratefully.

"Of course, I'll be like your assistant."

"God I love you," Stephanie told him, kissing him deeply then pulling away with a blush as she realized that Randy was still in the room. "Sorry Randy, did you want a ride to the arena?"

"Nah, I think I'll take my own car, but I'll see you guys later," Randy said, "And thanks again."

"Don't thank us," Stephanie said, "We're friends, you need to remember that."

"I'll try."

Randy left their room to go back down to his own. As he was walking he encountered Dave who had just gotten a soda at the machine down the hall. Randy walked a little slower, hoping to avoid a confrontation. Dave looked up and saw him.

"Hi," Randy said dully.

"Hi," Dave said back, and it was almost like they had suffered a break-up from each other and this was the first time they had seen each other since.

"You got a haircut," Randy said, "Looks good."

"Look, about last week. I did what I had to do."

"Whatever Dave," Randy said, walking away, "Whatever."

Stephanie and Chris had to run around all afternoon and early evening to make sure that this show went off without any horrible mistakes. Stephanie had only taken care of one on-air wedding before and that had been Dawn Marie's and Al Wilson's and that had been, well to put it nicely, hideously scary. Hopefully this one went better. She had had to talk to Bischoff about it, which wasn't exactly a picnic, especially because he seemed gung-ho about the whole idea. Leave it to him to find some sort of twisted pleasure out of seeing a woman forced into holy matrimony. If he had been watching, he probably laughed it up really good when Hunter had married her without her knowledge or consent.

They finally had a moment to sit down about ten minutes before the show started. It seemed everything would go off well. Chris also found out that he was going to be facing Edge, which he had no problem with whatsoever. Any chance to whip that stick's ass would be a welcome opportunity. There was so much bad blood just brewing between them, and it was almost sad since not a month before they were great friends.

Stephanie sat with her chin in her palms, thinking. She turned to Chris, a thoughtful look on her face. "Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"What if we had a baby?"

"What? Like right now?"

"Not right now, but like...soon?" she asked curiously.

"You don't want kids now."

"Well, I was just thinking about it, Lita's pregnant."

"By a man who likes to set things on fire and possibly screw dead people."

Stephanie laughed, "I'm thinking too far ahead aren't I?"

Chris leaned over to kiss her and ran a finger down the bridge of her nose, "Just a little bit. Do not succumb to my mother's constant heckling of us to have kids."

She laughed spiritedly and gave him a sparkling grin, "You're right. It's just she's having a baby, and I was a tiny bit jealous I guess."

"Don't be. Eventually we'll have those kids."

"Where the hell is Orton!" someone yelled and Stephanie and Chris looked down the hallway to the side to see Hunter pacing back and forth, obviously irate, while Flair tried to calm him down. Stephanie and Chris looked at each other, wondering why Hunter was the angry one when he was the one who had beat on Orton.

"What's his problem?" Chris asked.

"Who knows with him? He has a problem about 99 of the time."

Randy entered the arena, and went to go find his locker room. It was going to be weird to have his own private locker room that he didn't share with anybody else. He was so used to hanging out with Evolution that this was going to be so different. All he had done was win a belt and he had been ostracized by the people he considered his closest friends.

"Orton, you're finally here."

Randy felt a tinge of nervousness run through him as he saw the remaining members of Evolution standing before him. They were almost in formation. Hunter, the leader in front, and Flair and Dave, his lackeys off to both sides of him. He was a tad nervous though because he was by himself and they could easily start beating on him, but he refused to give in to them.

"What do you want?" Randy said, his voice taut.

"We're here to make you a proposition."

"What kind of proposition?"

"You'll see later, and Randy, I really think you should consider taking it, we wouldn't want anything to happen to you if you didn't," Hunter snapped, then turned on his heel, walking away as Dave and Flair obediently followed. Randy stood there for a moment, thinking about what the proposition might be, before he decided to forget about it for the moment and go find his dressing room.

Later that evening, Stephanie was standing by the monitors watching Chris's match against Edge. There had been no words exchanged by the two beforehand, no barbs or insults. The hatred had just risen beyond that and they weren't even speaking now except for the general dislike. She crossed her arms and stood there, secure in the knowledge that the show was running smoothly.

"No Christian, you have NO say in what I do!"

"Trish! You cannot go out there, I'll carry you and lock you up before I let you do this!"

Stephanie laughed as she heard the two of them still fighting. What Trish wanted to do was bold, but hey, if that's what she wanted to do, more power to her. She looked to the monitor and saw the Edge had won and scowled, until the referee reversed the decision. She smiled at that as she felt a presence come to stand next to her. She turned to the person and smiled.

"Hey, how're you holding up?"

Randy sighed, "Apparently Hunter has decided to give me an ultimatum or something. I don't exactly know what as of yet."

"He probably wants you to give your belt," Stephanie said.

"Yeah," Randy said, "I don't know what to do though."

Stephanie turned to him, "You're a smart kid Randy. You'll figure out what you have to do. I sound so much like those mothers on the television sitcoms, espousing the wonders of life and making your own decisions. Do you want my opinion?"

"I'd like it yeah."

"I think you should go out there, and whatever he wants you to do, I say you spit in his face over it. The man doesn't deserve you as a friend and you shouldn't stoop yourself to his level anyways. And that's what I have to say about that."

Randy laughed, "You think I should spit in his face."

"Anything where he gets any kind of comeuppance, I will be perfectly fine with."

"I bet you wish it was Chris doing the spitting though huh?"

"Well, that would be the best possible scenario, but you are a runner-up. Seeing Hunter get a little bit of what's been coming to him all these years will be worth it. Somebody has to take him down another few notches. Chris and I have done it simply by being together and getting married, but you Randy, you are in possession of Hunter's true love, and as long as you have this," she said, patting the belt on his shoulder, "You are going to be able to do to him whatever you want."

"I wish I could make him pay for what he did to you," Randy said.

"Chris will eventually pay him back for that," she winked, "Speaking of, seems my honey got the dq win, and is being helped by the referees. When will that man learn?"

"Well, he's defending you, I think that he's allowed to go a little bit overboard."

"Randy Orton, you are a charmer, and quite the sweet-talker, but I'm taken," Stephanie said, flipping her hair back so the light shone off the diamond on her hand.

"Man, and I was hoping to give Chris a run for his money."

"Oww, I'm an injured man," Chris sais, walking over very, very slowly to Stephanie. Stephanie gave him the once over and shook her head at his appearance.

"What hurts?"

"I got an owwie boo-boo," Chris said rather pathetically as he pouted, his bottom lip jutting out to mega proportions.

"Aww, can I kiss it and make it better?" Stephanie said, giving him a little peck on the lips.

"I'd hate it if you didn't," Chris said.

"Ok, you can come with me then."

"I'll see you guys later."

"Come out to dinner with us later," Chris said, "We're just going to go grab some Japanese or something."

"Cool, I'll meet you after the show."

"You should come with us to Disneyland tomorrow too," Chris said, his voice delighted, "It's gonna be so much fun."

"Christian, shut up! I'm doing it!"

"Over my dead, decaying body!"

"I'll do that!"

"Would you two shut the hell up!" Chris yelled as he started to limp after the still arguing couple, "I'm going to have to play marriage counselor for you two!"

"Tell him to shut up Chris!"

Stephanie shrugged and followed Chris, who was following Trish and Christian. Randy still didn't know what Christian and Trish were arguing about, but he had bigger things to worry about. He saw the spot where Stephanie usually sat was empty and he went to sit in it and contemplate what he had to do. He knew what he should do...he should do exactly what Stephanie told him to do. But did he have the strength to break out on his own?

The moment of truth came later when Hunter stalked down to the ring and offered up the ultimatum. He tried to make himself sound like he was an enforcer or something, like he was God. It was a matter of life and death? Over a BELT, Hunter saw it as a matter of life and death! Did Hunter even regard his family in this manner? It really was always about the belt and that was sad. Hunter then called out Randy, and he was prepared to go out there, and do what he knew to be right.

He entered to Evolution's music, possibly the last time he ever entered with this music and slowly stalked down to the ring. He was indecisive about getting in the ring, especially when he saw Dave and Flair protecting it like it was sacred. He stood before Hunter, and Hunter thought he was going to actually just lay down and give him the title. Well, let that bastard think that, and Randy did let him think it as he put the belt out there. Hunter thought he had won and gave Randy a victory smirk. It was then Randy refused to give up the belt. Hunter's face turned angry and Randy still refused to give it up. And then he took Stephanie's advice and spit right in Hunter's face. Yeah, he was probably going to be maimed.

He didn't give a shit anymore.

He hightailed it out of that ring and up the stairs in the crowd. He taunted the insane-looking Hunter, and then ran backstage, avoiding anybody who tried to stop him. He probably had to get the hell out of here. He went to his locker room and saw it empty, his stuff was gone.

"I brought it to Trish and my dressing room, we thought that you would need a place to hide out for a while. Hunter and them probably thought you were going to make a run for it."

"You didn't have to do that," Randy said.

Christian shrugged, "You're friends with Trish and Stephanie and Chris, that makes you a good guy in my book. They're all really good judges of character. So come on before you get caught."

Randy smiled gratefully to Christian as they walked quickly to Trish and Christian's room. They walked inside and didn't see Trish anywhere. Christian scowled. "What are you so upset with Trish about?"

Christian shook his head, "You know how Trish is, she's stubborn."

Randy laughed, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, considering she's not in here, and she's probably hiding from me, and will go ahead and do what she wants to do, you'll probably see sometime during Lita's wedding."

"Yeah, Trish has been harsh towards Lita as of late, what's with that?"

"Well, Trish went out with Jeff remember?" Randy nodded in understanding, so Christian continued, "So she actually became friends with Matt for a while, and always thought he was a nice guy, and I think she's just really upset that Lita betrayed Matt like she did."

"Oh, makes sense, so she's going to interrupt the wedding and that bugs you."

"No, just what she's wearing that bothers me. I'd rather not my girlfriend go out in lingerie."

"She's going to go out in lingerie?" Randy asked in horror.

"Uh huh," Christian nodded, "And I've seen this lingerie and, yeah, I'm against it, but knowing her, she's in the outfit and hiding from me so she can go out and make fun of Lita."

"But why lingerie?"

"I think to show off her non-pregnant body."

Randy laughed, "Only Trish."

"Yeah, only Trish," Christian said, "Look, I know that you dated her, and I can feel it as the thing we can't speak about."

"Yeah, I felt that too," Randy said, "I'm over Trish if it's any consolation. We didn't even go out that long or that much, so you know, you don't have to look at me as someone who stole her, or you know, did stuff with her."

"I get you," Christian said, "I just want us to be friends if you're going to be hanging out with us. I don't want to feel awkward."

"Me neither."

Christian took the remote off the table and turned on the television to see the wedding already in progress. The two men watched silently as Trish eventually came out. Randy caught Christian wincing when he saw her outfit, but it was overridden by the look he gave when she and Lita were fighting. He actually stood up and started to pace.

"Jesus Christ Trish," Christian muttered. He grabbed her coat and waited for her to walk into the dressing room, which she did a little while later. "Get your ass in this coat and let's go Trish."

"Oh don't be mad at me Chrissy, I'm fine," she said, trying to fix her messy hair.

"I'm not mad, I'm disappointed," he said, putting the long coat on her. "Come on, let's go, because I'm hungry, and if I don't get any food in me, I might go crazy and then yell at you all night."

Trish rolled her eyes at Randy, who laughed, "You're coming with, right Randy?"

"Yeah, I'm coming with. I think I need to learn more about all you guys and this whole group dynamic you have."

"Wait until you get Kurt and Shane with us, then we're crazy," Trish laughed, "You'll survive though, we'll make sure of it."

"I hope so, I don't think I'd want to be the odd man out."

Randy grabbed his stuff and Christian grabbed Trish's stuff as they left the locker room and went to go find Stephanie and Chris so they could all leave together and find a place to eat. It was a pretty popular city so there was bound to be some cool places open. They saw Chris and Stephanie waiting outside of Stephanie's office and waved them over.

"Hey, ready guys?"

"Yeah," Christian said, "Where do you want to go?"

"What the hell is this!"

Five heads turned to see Hunter standing there, his hands on his hips like he was an angry mother or something. He was staring bullet holes into Randy's head and then glared at the rest of the group. Chris took some initiative and took a step forward.

"We're just going to get dinner, we'd invite you, but we don't like you," he said.

"Oh, so you take in the pathetic Legend Killer," Hunter said, "How charitable of you to take pity on the poor, dumped little boy."

"Actually Hunter," Stephanie said, "He's been our friends for months."

Hunter's look turned to shock and the group turned to walk away. Before they turned the corner, Randy turned around once last time. Hunter was still standing there, staring after the group. He stood there staring at his former life for a moment. Then he said, in the nicest possible voice.

"I guess you didn't guess this one, did you H?"


	228. Raw, August 30, 2004

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, first and foremost, over a hundred for the new story, yay!

And I was at Raw tonight and it was so much fun. If you watched the show, or have it on tape, you could totally see my signs, the one that got the most screen time was my, "I Heart Batista" sign. If you saw that one, it was during the beginning and any other time Dave was on the show. I also had an "Edge, take a shower" sign, which you could see when Edge is making his way up to the ring. And then there was my, "Steph, come back with Y2J" sign which you could see a couple of times, which I'm pretty sure that Jericho saw a couple of times, oh, and I'm pretty sure that H saw it because he sent a dirty look in my direction, but that could've just been his perpetual dirty look. If you saw the signs, let me know so I can see how many people saw me being a mark of epic proportions.

The show was pretty cool, we had good seats, and when H ran out into the crowd, he passed right behind me, but I didn't even know it until he was like 3 feet away from me. I'd like to say I came up with something funny, hateful, or witty to yell at him when he was in such short distance from me, but alas, I had been talking to my brother at the moment and by the time I thought of something awesome to yell at him, he was gone.

Jericho has a match on Heat apparently, so everyone should watch that, it was against Stevie Richards. I was aghast that he was on Heat, and got laughed at for being indignant. I think that was when he saw my Steph/Y2J sign, hopefully. I was happy he had a Highlight Reel, cause damn was he looking good. Him in vinyl pants is always a treat.

And now for the best, best, BEST part of the evening. At the beginning of the show when Evolution came out, I was marking out like crazy, holding up my "I Heart Batista" sign, and screaming, because I'm such a girl, and nobody in front of me in the first four rows had a sign (they got taken away) and so there was no obstruction to my sign and Dave saw it and he was looking straight at me, and then he winked at me! Yes, DAVE BATISTA WINKED AT ME!

Ok, I'm still in freak-out mode over this. Even my brother, who saw it too, was pretty shocked over it. It was by far, the best moment of the night for me. Why nobody else was giving any Dave loving is beyond me, cause the man is gorgeous, but hey, if the people in front of me didn't want to get up and cheer or anything and that gave Dave a clear view to me, all the better. So yay for Dave, I love that man even more now, if that was possible. :D

And so I hope you enjoy the chapter, I was kind of tired towards the end of it because of the show tonight, so hopefully it doesn't suck too much. Enjoy. :)

* * *

"Hey there little sis."

Stephanie looked up from the board she was looking at making sure that every match had time, and that the people who had requested microphone time received what they wanted. She had to time everything down to the second to make sure she only ran the show as long as the time slot allowed. She knew that the Spike network usually allowed them as much overrun as they needed, but she wanted to make sure that they didn't go over too much.

She was surprised to see Shane there since he hadn't been to a show in a while. Despite his crazy nature in the ring, he actually preferred to be behind the scenes. She had to respect that, she guessed, she hadn't been the one who always wanted a day job, but she guessed that Shane liked the stability of working behind a desk. She wanted to be out in front of the crowd, being the bitch she knew she could be, but she was at least content being able to work at the show again.

"Shane, what are you doing here?" she asked happily.

"That's it? All I get is a 'Shane, what are you doing here?' I don't even get a hug or anything?" Shane said, shaking his head, feigning disappointment.

"Well, what did you want me to do, run into your arms and hug the life out of you?" Stephanie asked, giving him a look.

"That would've been nice, we're family."

"You still haven't answered my question of why you are here?" Stephanie told him.

"Well, Dad and I were talking and the conversation came around to you, and we were just talking about how you have your wedding to plan and not only that, but you have to run the show, and Dad was worried that it was going to overburden you, and he didn't want that, and so I volunteered to help with the show in any way that I could so that you aren't feeling overwhelmed with everything."

"I appreciate the sentiment and all, but did either of you ask me if I was feeling overwhelmed?"

"No...but we had the best of intentions," Shane pointed out.

"I believe that, but I swear that I'm not working myself into the ground. I think I learned that from Chris. At least learning not to over work all the time."

"Well, that's probably the best habit that you could pick up from him," Shane laughed, "Because all of us McMahons are workaholics, and that can be our downfall sometimes."

"Speaking of which, where was Mom in this little conversation that you had with Dad."

"She's at the convention," he answered. "So little sister, what do you need help with because tonight I am your employee."

Stephanie gave an evil cackle, "Is that so?"

"Great, I fear this is going to be payback for all those times I tormented you when you were little."

"No, nothing like that, how about you help with this board. I have to schedule some more things in here and there. I'm sure most of it will figure itself out, but you never know, I've got to be on my toes at all times."

"Cool, I'll help," Shane said, sitting in the folding chair next to her and looking over some of the papers. After working for a few minutes, Shane pursed his lips. "So Chris wanted a Highlight Reel with Edge huh?"

"Uh huh," Stephanie nodded, "I scheduled it already though, so it's a go." She pointed to the part of the board that had how long they were going to give the Highlight Reel. It should be more than enough for a sufficient interview.

"Edge got injured didn't he?"

"Yeah, did you hear that from the weekend reports?"

"Uh huh. So you guys are still all mad at each other."

"Shane, you should've heard the things that he said about me, about Chris and me. It really hurt, and I don't think that I could forgive him for that. Chris can't either...even though I know that he was concerned for him. But I think that's more on a professional level. He doesn't want to see anyone get hurt you know."

"Yeah."

"That reminds me...um, I guess you can consider this Edge being replaced," she said, not knowing how else she could possibly phrase that sentence.

"What do you mean? How do you replace a person?"

"There's something that Chris, Trish, and I have been keeping from everyone."

"Um...that doesn't sound right somehow," Shane laughed.

"Eww, get your mind out of the gutter. Randy is our friend. He's been our friend for months, but because he was in Evolution we couldn't exactly say that he was our friend, but he is, and he's going to be hanging out with us more."

"You were friends with Randy Orton!"

"Yeah, he's a great guy Shane--"

"He was friends with Hunter for crying out loud. And we both know how much of a thorn in the side Hunter has been for you recently."

"I realize that, and Randy is nothing like them, and he's actually my friend Shaners, so unless you want me to demote you to bathroom duty for the evening, you will shut your mouth about it."

"Well, who am I to argue with you Stephanie."

"Good, now you've got the hierarchy around here."

They went back to working on the board, and were discussing quietly how much time they wanted to give to the diva search when two fists slammed down onto the table, startling the both of them. Stephanie looked up and into the furious eyes of Hunter. Dave and Flair were behind him, both their arms crossed. She sighed and glance to her side to look at Shane, who was looking none too pleased that the three of them were here.

"What the hell is with you and Orton?"

"I don't know, what is with Randy and I?" Stephanie asked him, tilting her head in innocence.

"So he's been your little mole huh? You've been trying to play me haven't you Stephanie?" Hunter said. "You didn't think my intentions toward you were honest, did you?"

"Hunter, none of that shit matters to me. Trish went out with Randy, we got to know him, and we considered him a friend, if you want to think that he was a mole or something, than go right on thinking that, I don't really care."

"You can have better friends Stephanie, you can have Evolution."

"I think her friends are perfectly fine," Shane spoke up, his eyes burning a hole into Hunter.

"I didn't ask you pretty boy," Hunter snapped, "I'm talking to Stephanie."

"Well in case you've forgotten, Stephanie is my little sister, and I love her, so if you're going to stand there and call her names, than I'm going to have to do something about it." Shane rose out of his seat to stare down Hunter. Hunter took a step to the side to stare at Shane, both men glowering at each other.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and let out a slow breath before standing up. She put a hand between the two men and then put it on Shane's chest. "Ok you two, heel before you start a rumble right here in the arena. I don't need to be breaking up any fights between the two of you."

"Oh, I'm not looking to start a fight," Hunter said, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile. "I just wanted to talk to Stephanie, I think that it was Shane that had to go and start shit around here."

"Bastard," Shane muttered.

"I'll see you later Stephanie," Hunter said, raising an eyebrow suggestively at her.

As soon as Hunter turned around and walked away with Dave and Flair in tow, Stephanie turned to Shane, her hands on her hips in a classic pose. Shane turned to her, then saw her face and cringed a little. He knew what was coming next and threw his hands up in defense as she went to hit him in the arm. He gave her a pained look and grabbed his arm.

"What the hell was that for!" Shane said, rubbing his arm.

"Shane, I am almost twenty-eight years old, I do NOT need you to fight my battles for me. I've been taking care of myself for a long time now, and I'm not that seven year old getting picked on who needs her big brother."

"But I'll always be protective of you..." he said, his voice trailing off a little as he pouted a little bit.

"Oh don't give me that, and let's get back to work slave."

Chris laughed as Randy talked again about how good it felt to spit Hunter in the face. He had heard the story about a hundred times since last Monday, but he didn't get tired of hearing it...ever. He could probably hear it for a long time to come. Just remembering the face on Hunter after getting spit on was a great feeling, if only he had been the one to do it. But he had hit him in the quad with a sledgehammer so that was almost just as good.

"I will never forget that moment," Randy said, "I even had them take a picture of it, but that's for something else tonight."

"What's it for?" Trish asked.

"Well Steph informed me that Hunter wants the top of the show spot probably to spout off once again how the belt is his and not mine and how I should've given it back, so I had some of the backstage guys run out to a Kinko's and make some nice pictures for me. It's nice to be the champ and have everyone do your bidding."

"I bet," Trish laughed, "Although I am the women's champ, I should get something too."

"Hey, you can try," Christian said, "Ask for something outrageous though, like a bowl full of only red M&M's, now that would be funny as hell."

"Or silly," Trish said, leaning her head against Christian's shoulder.

"Hey Christian, how's Edge?" Chris asked.

"He's ok, torn groin," Christian answered, "I wanted to laugh at him when I heard, but since he's my brother, I think that wouldn't be the best thing in the world, considering he's still pissed I'm friends with you guys."

"Tell him to get the hell over it," Trish said, shaking her head slightly in disgust. "If anything, we all have reason to dislike him at the moment."

"Ok, guy of neutrality over here, do not try to influence my decision on this."

"Oh Chrissy, you need to learn that I can influence every single one of your decisions," Trish said.

Randy and Chris looked at each other with looks of...well just weird looks, and said in unison, "Eww."

"Oh, like I can't be romantic every now and then," Trish said, "You and Stephanie are all the time."

"Not like you," Chris said, "Besides, I'm marrying Stephanie, we're in a lovey-dovey phase by default. And also, do you see Stephanie around me right now, no, because we are capable of having separate lives."

"Or she's working and she doesn't want you to bother her," Randy pointed out.

Chris gave him a stern look before hissing, "Shut up Randy!"

"Oh, and the truth comes out," Christian said, "I'm going to go grab a soda from a machine or something. Catering only has water and coffee. Hey, is that something I should bring up with Stephanie?"

"Stephanie doesn't cater," Chris told him.

"But she's in charge, can't she have soda people come in instead of me having to pay upwards of a dollar for a soda."

"It's just a dollar," Chris said.

"A dollar is a dollar is a dollar, and I want free soda!" Christian said petulantly. Trish took out a dollar from her pocket and stuck it into the waistband of his jeans. He turned to her, "Do I look like a stripper to you?"

"No, but you can take your pants off and then you will be."

"NO!" Randy and Chris yelled. Then Chris said, "You better leave those pants on if you know what's good for you."

"I wasn't planning on taking them off," Christian said sarcastically, "But now that I know it will bug you, I just might do that."

"Go get your soda," Trish told him, giving him a pat on his butt.

"I have to find a machine by myself," Christian whined.

"Hey, I'll come with, I could go for a Twix right now," Randy said, "I don't have a match tonight, so I guess I can splurge on some candy."

"That's quite the explanation Randy," Chris said, "You know you just want the damn candy bar."

Randy laughed. He was getting used to being in the group full-time, and he had enjoyed every minute of it. They all went out of their way to be super nice to him and make him feel as welcome as possible. It was way more than just being friendly, he felt like he had walked into a group of genuine friendship and comradery and even with Christian, things were totally cool.

"Ok, I want my Twix damn it, it's the cookie crunch!"

"Come on man, there's bound to be a vending machine next to a soda machine here. We'll just have to go on a trek to find it."

Christian and Randy left with each other, leaving Chris and Trish lounging on the couches in Stephanie's office. Trish watched as the two left, still a little in awe that the two of them were getting along. She had been expecting to feel a little bit of tension between them, but she had yet to feel any.

"Christian told me that he talked with Randy," Chris said as he looked over at Trish.

She whipped her head around to look at him, "Talked to him?"

"Oh shit, you didn't know?" Chris asked.

"No! What about?"

"Um, well, you," he said.

"Ok Jericho, you better explain...now."

Christian and Randy had found a vending machine and a soda machine and were reaping the benefits of their treasure-finding when Christian saw Edge up ahead. He had to do a double take as he saw who Edge was talking with...Evolution. He was talking with freaking Evolution! Christian grabbed Randy's arm just as they reached where Edge was standing and pulled him into a side hallway. Randy yelped as he was yanked and glared at Christian.

"What the hell was that about!" Randy said irritated, "You almost made me drop my Twix!"

"Shhh," Christian said, peeking his head around the corner where Edge was still talking to them, "My brother is talking with Evolution."

"Huh?" Randy said, peeking around the corner, and indeed seeing what Christian saw. "Is your brother friends with them?"

"Well if you'd shut up, I could find out."

Randy pressed himself against the wall as Christian inched to the side so that he was as close as he could be without actually being seen. He didn't like that scene at all and it worried him that his brother was speaking with Evolution. He motioned for Randy to be silent and then proceeded to listen in on their conversation.

"I really think you guys are the first ones to actually ask how I was," Edge said to Evolution.

"That's really terrible, and to think that Jericho was the one to do this to you."

"I don't really think it was his fault, I just landed awkwardly," Edge said.

"Oh come on," Hunter said, "You think that he didn't do this on purpose? I think that he did. He's no-good. He's always been a thorn in my side. Little rat bastard."

"Well, yeah, he can be," Edge said.

"And what's with your brother staying loyal to him, is he like a little puppy-dog around Jericho, willing to do his bidding?"

Christian scowled at that. He wasn't anyone's "puppy-dog." Chris was his friend and you were loyal to your friends, just like Chris had always been loyal to him. Hunter was obviously trying to act like an asshole just for the hell of it. Then he heard what Edge said.

"You know, I don't know why the hell my brother still hangs out with him. You think that he'd be loyal to me because I'm his brother, but he insists on being neutral. I guess that family means nothing to him. He's ungrateful, I got him where he is today."

Christian was fuming with anger, his fists clenched and his teeth grinding together. Randy noticed this and put a hand on his shoulder, tossing his head to the side trying to tell him without words that they should go. He had heard what Edge said and saw the affect it had on Christian and he wasn't sure what Christian's reaction would be to it, and he didn't want to get in a fight with Evolution before the show even started.

"Let's go man," Randy said, "Nothing more to listen to here."

"I have to go talk to Chris, I'll catch up with you later, the show's starting in about three minutes, and I know you have to get your shit together," Christian said, not hiding the anger in his voice.

"Don't do anything stupid Christian," Randy said.

"I won't. I swear, I won't," he said off of Randy's face. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Christian stalked off and Randy heard the familiar tune of the Evolution theme song. A song he was no longer welcome to use. He didn't even have a theme of his own, but the people backstage had just randomly given him one. He walked to the gorilla and saw Stephanie and her brother arguing animatedly, flailing their hands around them in grand gestures. Shane sneered at her for a minute before he put his headphones on. Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him before writing something. He walked over a little apprehensively, not having had much contact with Shane.

Stephanie spotted him and smiled widely, "Hey Randy, what did you do? Ditch my fiancé?"

"Yeah, he was getting on my nerves," Randy said. "What are you writing?"

"A guest list for the wedding," she answered, "We think we've narrowed it down to fifty-four people. We couldn't possibly cut anymore."

"I hope I'm on the list."

"You most definitely are," Stephanie said. "So what are you doing in this neck of the woods?"

"I want to go out there for something," Randy said, "Be sure to watch."

"What else am I going to do Randy?" Stephanie asked, "It's kind of my job to watch the show."

"Ok, ok, I get it, I'll go watch for my entrance, I've got a little surprise."

Stephanie nodded as he walked over to the monitor to watch the proceedings out in the ring, preparing himself for the obvious encounter that was going to ensue. Stephanie watched him for a moment before grabbing her own headphones and putting them on. She watched the small monitor that Shane was watching and listened to what Hunter was saying. She sometimes wondered if he even thought of the stuff that came out of his mouth.

Randy went out fairly soon and she laughed about the last picture that Randy showed. What she wasn't expecting was for the sledgehammer to make an appearance at least not in Randy's hands. But it was a welcome sight nonetheless. Randy was going to kick Hunter's ass, he wanted it more than anything else at the moment and going after Hunter was the only thing he had his sights set on, but that coward ran out into the crowd. Randy wasn't satisfied with that, but what could he do. He went backstage.

Soon after that, he was thrown out of the arena. He shook his head as he was escorted out and went to his car. He wasn't going to let this happen. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Stephanie's cell phone number.

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Steph, it's Randy, um, I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries here, but I was hoping that you could maybe have this lift banned. I really want to interrupt during Hunter's match later."

"Sure," she told him, "I'll just call up the security head and I'll tell him that I overruled Bischoff's decision. Just make sure you stay out of sight, Bischoff will want my head if he finds out."

"Of course," Randy said, "I'll keep to myself. Thanks Stephanie."

"You're welcome, bye."

"Bye." It really paid off to have friends in high places.

Christian paced some more and Trish was staring to get dizzy. "Christian, stop."

"I can't believe he would say that. What IS with him? I mean, first you and Stephanie, Chris, and then me. God, all he has to do is insult Trish and the trifecta is complete. And if he does insult you Trish, he won't see the light of day."

"Dude, what do you want to do about it, because obviously you want to do something."

"I don't know, this is just like last time, and I'm sick of it. I thought that he had changed, but he's still that self-centered, egotistical jerk he was before!"

"Chrissy, baby, please calm down." Trish put a hand on his arm.

"Fine, if he wants to go around behind my back, I'll go around behind his."

"And how are you going to do that?" Chris asked.

"I'll lull him into a false sense of security and then I'll dump his ass again! He insulted me!"

"It's like the world against Edge."

"Well obviously not Evolution, since he was talking with them."

"How are you going to 'lull him into a false sense of security?' I'm not sure I get that part." Trish said.

"Well, he thinks that I'm not loyal, that I should just automatically side with him, whether or not he's wrong or right, and you know what, I'll make him think that. I will make him think that I'm on his side all the time, and then, then when he least expects it, I'll drop the bombshell on him. This is like last time. He thinks he's so great while I'm so crappy and a bad brother. I didn't want to say it, I didn't want to take sides, but you were right Chris. That match was a free-for-all, every man for himself, match, and Edge didn't respect that when he started whining over getting eliminated. He was the King of the Ring, he's the Intercontinental Champion, oh, look at me, I'm Edge, I'm so great, I'm the best at everything and I'm more good-looking, and all the girls are Edgeheads while my brother is considered a Creepy Little Bastard, oh, it's all so poetic, look at my teeth, they're so pretty and shiny and I have five hundred of them!"

Trish stood up and wrapped her arms around Christian, "Hey baby, it's ok, calm down, Edge is not, nor has he ever been better than you. He won the King of the Ring, so what, he did about as much with that run as Billy Gun did. He didn't even get a scepter like Kurt did. You are just as good, and as for being uglier than him, fat chance, you are one sexy beast."

"That's my line," Chris complained good-naturedly.

"Trying to calm someone down over here," Trish said with a terse smile.

"He just gets on my nerves sometimes with this superiority complex thing that he has."

"You are just as good, if not better, you have me don't you? And who does Edge have, nobody."

"He likes to sleep around."

"Because he can't get one girl to stay with him," Trish joked, causing a smile to come to Christian's face, albeit a small one. Trish reached up with her hand and made the smile a little wider. "There's the Chrissy I love."

"I'm going to go visit Stephanie you guys, um, Christian about this false sense of security, I have a feeling that it has to do with the Highlight Reel."

Christian nodded, "It does, but you should be prepared for a beating...false sense of security."

"Great, I knew it would come at my hands. This is payback for accidentally injuring you, isn't it?"

"Nope," Christian winked, "Not at all."

Stephanie was bored. Shane had insisted on running things, so she was basically sitting there watching the show. She didn't know what it was about her family, but they always wanted to take control, even when it wasn't there's. She knew she was the same way, virtually taking over Bischoff's show except for his on-air position. But now her brother was taking over and she was bored.

She took out her day planner and looked at her list of things to do for the wedding. She and Chris had to pick out the invitations soon so they could send them out. She wanted to give people enough time to respond to the invitations and book flights to Hawaii since she knew that it wasn't going to be the most convenient thing since you couldn't just drive there. But it was her wedding and she wanted it this way. She started doodling little hearts all over the paper, and writing out, "Mrs. Jericho," all over the paper. She might as well start now, even though she would publicly and professionally go as Stephanie McMahon, for personal things, she would be Stephanie Jericho. That still sounded weird.

"And what's this we're drawing?" Chris asked as he walked up on his fiancée making little pictures on the paper.

"Nothing," she blushed, hating being caught doing silly stuff that fifth grade girls did with their crushes.

"No, let me see," he said, leaning over the paper, "Hmm...Mrs. Stephanie Jericho. Sounds pretty good."

She blushed even harder, "I was bored."

"Obviously," he said, then looked over, "What's Shane doing?"

"Taking over my job because he can."

"Not because you want him to?"

"No, just because he can."

"Oh, so the McMahon bossiness is coming through."

"Very funny. Are you ready for the Reel?"

"Yup," he told her, leaning across the small table to kiss her. "I've missed you."

"I haven't been anywhere, I've been here all evening."

"I know, but ever since you told me that I was bugging you, I've been all alone."

"I thought that you were with Randy, Christian and Trish?"

"I was, but they're not you."

Stephanie rolled her eyes playfully and leaned across the table to kiss him again. "I love you."

"I know, and it's a good thing that I love you too."

"Yeah, so do you want to hang around and keep me from being bored."

"Sure, I'd love to."

They sat there until Chris had to go out to do the Highlight Reel. He looked around the arena waiting for the commercial break to end, taking in the various signs, even one that advocated Stephanie coming back with him. He chuckled to himself and then proceeded to talk about Edge, and everything. He waited for Edge to come out and even though he knew that Edge had torn his groin, he felt this was more to get sympathy than anything else. Didn't look like the crowd was buying it, he even saw a few anti-Edge signs, those people had the right idea.

Edge tried to play the sympathy card at first, but Chris pretty much called him on it. The crowd even picked up on that as well. Edge then called them puppets, which seemed the silliest thing to say. Of course, it was the words of a desperate man, knowing that he had nowhere to go and nothing to say that would make the situation any better. Chris, knowing that he was hurt, actually tried to be nice, and kind of lulled Edge into his own sense of security. He might as well help Christian. Edge left and Chris felt himself hit in the back. He fell and let Christian beat on him, glancing up and seeing Edge looking at him strangely.

Christian took out his belt and started to hit Chris with it, and Chris winced, knowing that he would have to talk to Christian about the belt thing, that was NOT part of the plan. After the beatdown had commenced, he was helped to the back, where Stephanie was waiting, although she was looking at Christian with a dirty look.

"Chris, are you ok?"

"Yeah, it was just my back. BELTS HURT!" Chris said loudly, knowing that Christian had heard that and he gave a sheepish look to Chris before walking over to Edge.

"Hey man, I thought I'd help you out there, now that I think about it, what you were saying about Chris and even Stephanie was a little bit true."

"Yeah, you think so?" Edge said with a surprised smile.

"Yeah, I really do."

"Awesome," Edge said, raising his hand for a high five. Christian returned it enthusiastically.

"We're brothers. Brothers stick together."

"Hell yeah they do."

Or they plan their downfall. Either way, Christian was not going to take a step back and be the invisible brother again.

Not again.


	229. Raw, September 6, 2004

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone, and it's really cool that you all saw my signs. :D

I don't really care for this chapter as the show last night was either not very story-riffic or I didn't get to include everything I wanted to. I think this is more of a just there chapter more than anything else, because I have ideas for where I want it to go. I hope that doesn't lessen your reading experience.

And a question for you all: do you guys want Randy to have a love interest? I don't really care either way, I can write someone with him, or someone without him, but I just wonder if you guys want a whole new relationship dynamic to the story since we have Chris and Stephanie, the engaged couple and Christian and Trish, the committed dating couple. Maybe you want like Randy and (whoever), the newly dating couple. Just wondering if that would interest people, so let me know, and I'm open for suggestions on who Randy should be with (Stephanie and Trish are out, obviously), so let me know. :)

Enjoy. :)

* * *

Stephanie pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She and Bischoff were never going to agree on anything ever. They had already been in this meeting for two hours and they had barely agreed on anything. He wanted a cage match with Eugene and Hunter, she didn't want that, feeling that it was too brutal. He had ended up winning that argument. She had wanted Randy to face Kane, feeling that Randy could defeat him; Bischoff wanted Randy to be in a handicap match against Dave and Kane, which she wasn't about to let happen. Back and forth it went for hours on end and her head was about to explode in annoyance.

"Fine Bischoff, we can have the eight man tag match. But that means that nobody, and I mean nobody can interfere in the Hunter and Eugene match, and that's final," Stephanie said, slamming her fist down on the table.

"Fine, I can live with that, as long as it extends to Eugene as well."

"It will," she nodded, "I can be fair every once in a while."

"Good to hear you have changed since the pushover you were when you were General Manager of SmackDown."

"Bischoff, at this point, your job security is hanging on by a thread, and let's not beat around the bush, I'm the boss around here and you know it. Now maybe that makes you afraid of me, and maybe...no, that DOES make you a coward, but no need to start hurling insults in my direction."

"Wouldn't dream of it Steph. Now onto the Edge and the Intercontinental Championship. I got word today that he's going to be out with a torn groin for four to six weeks."

"That's too long for him to hold onto the title," Stephanie said. "We can't lax on the thirty-day limit. It wouldn't be fair."

"Is that what you want because of your boyfriend being the one challenging for the belt, or is this a professional decision."

"Listen up Bischoff, 1. Chris is my FIANCÉ, not my boyfriend, 2. You know as well as I do that we have time constraints on title defenses, and 3. Do NOT presume to know what goes on in my mind, because you're going to be wrong, like right now for instance, I'm thinking of the many places I can jab you with my pencil for maximum pain," Stephanie said sweetly, giving Bischoff a wry smile.

"Can't take a joke can we?" Bischoff muttered under his breath.

"I heard you," Stephanie said back, "And don't act like you don't want to strip that belt right off of Edge's waist. You like him about as much as I do, which at the moment isn't much. You probably want to put it on someone you feel is more deserving."

"Some people want it."

"And those people will earn it. Edge said he would be back in four to six weeks. Can we for certain count on it not being in four weeks?"

"I think so," Bischoff said.

"Fine then, we'll have a match between the two men that want it the most, Christian and Chris Jericho. Undoubtedly, they're going to want it, and I think that we should give it to them."

"Again, two of your friends."

"Again, Chris is my fiancé, not my friend. I'm starting to think you're in denial about this whole situation. I know that you loved the taste of McMahon you got when you kissed me, but Bischoff I'm sorry, I don't like you like that, and I'd rather jam ice picks into my eyeballs then kiss you again."

"What a nice sentiment Stephanie...but fine, you want them in a match, then they'll be in a match, but they have to show me the initiative to want the match."

"You just want the both of them to kneel at your feet, offer up a prayer, and beg for the chance to participate. I bet you get off on that kind of thing, right Eric."

"Your father was right to fire you," Bischoff sneered.

"Not as right as he will be when he eventually fires you," Stephanie said, "And with that, I think we're done here tonight, as I don't feel like we have anything further to discuss. In the event that I find anything changed, it'll be your head Bischoff."

"As you wish Stephanie, but I'll let you do the honors of telling Edge we're stripping him of his title. Don't forget to get the belt from him too."

"Yeah, and don't forget to get that massive stick out of your ass," Stephanie mumbled as got her papers in order.

Stephanie sorted her papers together and got up from the conference table she had been working on with Bischoff. She was thankful that the meeting was over, although she was going to have a headache and the show hadn't even started yet. She was going to have a pounding head by the time this night was over. Just one of the perks of the job. Now she had to go tell her former friend that she was taking his title away from him. She got to Edge's locker room and knocked politely. Edge answered a second later and his expression turned a little bit sour.

"I'm busy," Edge said, going to close the door on her.

"I'm not here because I want to be, I'm here on business, so I suggest you open the door before I report you to the higher-ups and have you suspended for unruly conduct."

"Fine," Edge said, opening his door. Stephanie saw one of the diva hopefuls sitting on the couch, her barely there skirt riding up all the way, making her look like she was just in her underwear. Lovely, she thought sarcastically. She'd like to say she knew the girl's name, and she probably should know it considering she did run the show, but she was a loss; they all looked the same to her, kind of slutty.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting something," Stephanie said with a raised eyebrow, glancing from Edge to the brunette.

"No, you weren't," Edge said dully. "So about the business you wanted to see me about."

"Yes. Well, Bischoff and I were just in a meeting about the show, and he informed me that you are going to be out for four to six weeks with your torn groin," Stephanie said, all business.

"That's right, I went to the doctor's. I fell on it wrong."

"Well, as you know, there is a 30-day limit to defending your title, and unless you have absolute guarantee from your doctor that you will not be gone for more than thirty days, then I'm afraid we're going to have to strip you of your title."

"WHAT!" Edge said, incensed by what Stephanie was saying, "You can't do that, I just won this title!"

"I'm sorry Edge, but that's the way the rules go, and we can't bend the rules for you, because then we'd have to bend it for everyone."

"You just want it off of me so you can give it to Chris."

Stephanie took a deep breath and looked Edge straight in the eye, "This has nothing to do with Chris or the title. I cleared this entire thing with Bischoff and he agreed with everything that I said, and we came to this agreement together. Whether or not Chris benefits from this is inconsequential to me as the head of this show."

"Like hell it doesn't affect you."

"Edge, I have a job to do, and I do that job well. You KNOW the rules, you have signed a contract with this company, and you've been signing contracts for years, so it is preposterous to think that you are not aware of this rule. And if for some reason you aren't aware of this rule, then you are now. We can't have a belt sitting on the shelf for so long, and if that takes the title away from you, then there's nothing I can do to stop that."

"Whatever Stephanie, take the damn title and go give it to your fiancé, I'm sure he'll love being handed the belt," Edge said bitterly.

"Don't act like I'm doing this to you Edge, because I'm not."

"Yes you are, you don't have to strip the title away from me."

"Edge!" Stephanie said, angry now. This should've been over five minutes ago, but Edge was being incredibly petulant. "It is not my fault that you got hurt, and you have to be out for an extended period of time! I do my job around here, and my job was to take this title from you. Now I'm sorry that you are upset about that, and I'm sorry that you have this notion that I'm doing something wrong, but get the hell over it! I never figured you to be one who couldn't understand a situation. We can't just let you be the champion if you can't physically defend the belt. The people want to see matches being made, they want to see title matches, and you have to accept that! Now either you get that into your head, and accept it, or not, it's your choice."

Stephanie stormed over to the table where the Intercontinental belt was sitting and grabbed it. She gave Edge one last glance, to which he gave her a withering stare. She ignored it and walked out of the room. She was the boss around here and if he refused to accept it, then it was his problem and not hers. She walked back to Bischoff's office and threw open the door, throwing the belt on his desk, startling Bischoff.

"There's your damn belt, and if you need something else tonight, do not come crowing to me about because I will just laugh in your face and ignore you, so there, understand...actually, I don't care if you don't understand, because I'm out of here."

Stephanie walked out without saying another word and slammed the door behind her. She was incredibly irritable this evening. She hated having other people yell at her like she was some incompetent fool. She was far from incompetent and she wasn't going to have anyone looking at her like she was something of lesser stature. She could have all these people's asses fired if she wanted to, and right about now, she thought of nothing better than clearing the entire damn arena of everyone who bugged her.

She walked into her office to see Christian and Chris consorting on the couch, talking in low tones. She looked at them for a brief moment before walking to her desk and starting to write down what she knew about the show this evening. Chris would occasionally look up at her to see what she was doing, but she didn't notice.

"Yeah, so that's basically what I was thinking," Christian said, "If you're game."

"I'm game," Chris said, "Nice to have you aboard."

"I'm not the lesser brother," Christian said firmly. "I will not have him look at me as anything less than an equal."

"I understand, so we're clear on tonight."

"Totally," Christian said, getting up, "I'm going to go talk to Trish about her match and she gets creeped out when Tomko hangs around her. Stephanie, thanks for the match."

Stephanie barely even spared him a look and Chris shrugged when Christian looked at him. Christian left the room and Chris stared at Stephanie for a second. She seemed to be writing rather violently, if writing could be violent that is. He wouldn't be surprised if she was tearing holes into the paper with her pen. He walked over cautiously.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hi," she said shortly. "Did you want something?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she snapped.

"Ok, now I know something is wrong," Chris said, kneeling down so he could see her face.

"I said it was nothing."

"Steph, what's wrong?" he asked, reaching out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm in a shitty mood, is that clear enough for you," Stephanie snapped again.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to talk about it! Goddammit, can't I just be in a bad mood once in a while. Is it so hard for you to just leave me alone and accept that I'm not going to be this chipper little thing every day of my life!"

"Did something happen?" Chris asked, standing up. "Did someone do something to you? Hunter?"

"NO! Ok, nothing fucking happened, it's all fine, nothing is bad, so just leave me the hell alone."

"No, we're not done here," Chris said, his voice raising. "Does this have to do with the wedding?"

"Would you get off my back!" Stephanie yelled at him. "I don't need you or your stupid hero complex annoying me right now. I have a job to do and if you'll excuse me, I think that I'll go do that."

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Everyone, everyone is my problem. Sometimes, I just want to be by myself, ALONE, and I can't get one god damn minute to myself! So just fuck off or something," Stephanie said, pushing her way past him and leaving a stupefied Chris in her wake.

She knew that she was being irrational and angry, but Bischoff and Edge, and all this work was getting to her. It wasn't that she hated her job, she loved it, but her employees got on her nerves. It wasn't hard since this company was filled with strong personalities, but when you had to be the ringleader, it got very tiring. She walked down the hallway to the gorilla, ignoring any and all requests to talk to her. She knew that it would only end up badly.

"A cage match, thanks Stephanie."

"Get the hell away from me Hunter."

"I just wanted to dedicate my match to you," he told her.

"I don't give a rat's ass about your damn match, or whatever the hell happens in it. You've already lost all of my respect, and anything Eugene does to you will be a vast improvement over your current condition."

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Oh gee, what the hell tipped you off? Isn't this how I always act around your sorry ass?"

"I was married to you for two years, I know when you're in a bad mood," Hunter smirked. "Seems like a bad one too. So what happened, someone piss you off?"

"Well, you're pissing me off right now, so there's that, maybe my mood will improve dramatically if you get your huge, ugly face out of my way."

"Is it trouble in paradise?" Hunter asked, a little bit hopeful that it was.

"It's none of your business, so get out of my way before I force your head through that wall," she said, shoving him out of her way and walking on. Just add another thing to her list of very annoying people to speak to today. She walked over to the gorilla and plopped herself down in her chair, exhausted from all the yelling and fighting she was doing this evening.

Randy sat down next to Stephanie, even though she didn't seem to notice. "Thanks for not making it a handicap match. I really appreciate it, I know you didn't have to do that for me, but thanks for fighting for me."

Stephanie didn't know why, but Randy's thankfulness seemed so genuine that she smiled for the first time in hours and looked over at him. "You're welcome. I didn't want you getting hurt before you could kick Hunter's ass."

"So it all comes back to you," Randy laughed, "Fair enough. You look kind of pissed, is everything ok?"

"No, but that's another story for another time. You'll probably want to run away in about two minutes when my bad mood rears its ugly head again."

"I've heard those can be deadly."

"Yes, they can be. Imagine the McMahon temper, and then multiply that by about a hundred and that's the McMahon bad mood."

"Scary."

"I know."

"You want me to hang around here with you to make sure you don't chop someone head off if they piss you off. I officially have nothing to do until my match. Actually, I do have an interview, but that's not til later, so I have time."

"That's sweet of you, but I won't be the best company."

"I'm cool with just chillin'."

She shrugged, "Then go for it."

"Cool, it's not everyday that I get to see how the show is run. I'll look at this as an educational experience. You never know what you can learn when you sit around here."

"Just don't hate me when I inevitably snap at someone."

"Deal," Randy said, shaking her hand. "Can I call some of the stuff for the show?"

"You don't even know what it's called," Stephanie laughed, "You just called it stuff."

"The PLANS for the show," he said, smiling charmingly at her.

"The stage directions," she said.

"That was my next guess," he said, then off her look, said, "It really was!"

"You can call the top of the show and that's it. And I'm only granting you that wish because you are the World champion and we are supposed to grant your every wish and desire."

"So if I wanted a hooker right this second, you would be obligated to go out to the street and get one for me?" he asked, with that trademark smirk.

"No Randy, you would have to get a solicitor for sex all on your own."

"Darn, I was hoping there would be a middle man."

Christian and Trish walked up to the gorilla with Tomko in tow, just standing there like a doof. Christian and Trish gave Randy and Stephanie a wave and they waved back. Christian's music hit and he was out there in no time, leaving Trish to walk over and start a quiet discussion with Randy. Chris walked into the area and looked over at Stephanie for a second before going over to the monitors silently, his back to her.

Stephanie thought back to how upset she had been with him not long ago and it was she that needed to apologize for being such a bitch to him. She got up and as quietly as possible she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head against the back of his shirt, even though it was vinyl-like and her face was now sticking to it and would probably leave a crease.

"I'm sorry," she said so only he would hear. He did nothing for a few moments, just stood there, not even moving his arms. Then he put both his hands on her hands and she smiled into his back.

"It's ok," he answered her, just as quietly. "I'm sorry that I got all heroic on you."

"No, I'm sorry that I didn't see you were just trying to help."

"But I shouldn't have tried to make you talk."

"Chris, it's not your fault."

"I know, but I didn't want you to think that you were completely wrong in this. I thought I'd throw you a little bone."

Chris turned around in her arms and kissed her deeply. She smiled against his lips, knowing that he forgave her. She knew he would, but they were prone to just be mad at each other for a while and then let it boil over. Yet, she was the one who had started the fight in the first place when all Chris wanted to do was help her. She pulled away when she heard Randy calling out that Chris's music was starting.

"Go get that match of yours."

"You got it for me didn't you?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

Chris walked out there to face off against Christian. Or so Edge was supposed to think. IN actuality, it was all part of the little game that Christian was going to play with Edge. Edge thought he was the better brother, well, Edge had never been tested in the areas of manipulation. He remembered distinctly the time during the Invasion when Christian had told Edge that their mother was in a car accident and they needed to leave, only to have him get jumped. That was being manipulative, and Christian had gotten the better of Edge then, and he would now too. And this one probably wouldn't involve a long lecture from his mom on how wrong it was to use her in such a scheme.

The match was set for this Sunday at Unforgiven and Christian knew that no matter who came out the winner, as he and Chris would definitely go balls out in the match, friend or no friend (Christian understood the concept of competition unlike his brother who seemed to think that "free-for-all" was an option rather than a stipulation), Edge was not going to come out the winner, and that would really be the prize in all of this. He did NOT want Edge to have that belt, because it seemed to make him look cocky and he was the cocky one and wouldn't have Edge stealing his thunder again.

"I hope you kick Chris's ass," Edge said, when he ran into Christian later that evening.

"You don't mind that I'm in the match?" Christian asked.

"You're my brother, why would I mind?" Edge asked. Christian bit his tongue from saying something rather crass. Edge was probably thinking about how it would be so much easier to win the title off of Christian, and how he would be better in no time. If he did win the belt on Sunday, like hell he was just going to lay on his back and let his brother pin him when he was all better. That belt was a status thing, and he was going to take the Randy route and completely ignore any and all attempts for people to ask him to give it up.

"Good, then I'll make sure that belt ends up in my hands."

"Great," Edge said, clapping him on the back, we're on the same page."

"Oh yeah, we are."

Stephanie squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable in Chris's lap. He was sitting in it right now while she sat in his lap. Randy was currently occupying the other seat behind the table while Trish had taken perch on the table.

"Trish, did you get mugged today?" Chris asked.

"What?" Trish said.

"Someone tore up your shirt," Chris said, snickering a little.

"Shut up, I was just...making it nicer."

"By looking like you were in a horror movie?" Randy asked.

Trish pushed his shoulder since he was within reach, "Come on, I don't look that bad."

"Well, at least you have both sides looking the same instead of just random slashes," Stephanie said, trying to be upbeat about it.

"Ok, I get it you guys, you don't like my shirt."

"It's a fashion choice is all," Chris shrugged.

"Coming from the man who wears glittery outfits all the time. Was it Hunter who said that you looked like you were wearing Liberace's pajamas?"

"Touché," Chris answered, "I didn't see that one coming a mile away."

"So Chris, you going for the IC title on Sunday, I remember when I had that belt," Randy said cockily, but also in a joking manner."

"I figure that any belt that Ricky Steamboat has held is a good enough belt for me. Until I marry into Stephanie's family and then I can dictate whatever the hell I want. So January 16th, you may be stripped of the title and it may be handed to me."

"Wow, you're going to work that fast?" Randy asked.

"I plan on it. Before the ink on the marriage license even dries."

"He will have that kind of power," Stephanie said.

"Wow, how does it feel Chris?" Trish asked, pretending to be in awe.

"Pretty good, there's a little exhaustion, but I really think that's just a side effect. Or maybe actually having to deal with the McMahon family is going to be the side effect. I may end up huddled in a corner, rocking back and forth and chewing on my own hair."

"We're not that bad," Stephanie said, "Most of the time. Of course, if we get in one of our infamous feuds, then yes, you will end up chewing your hair. I'll try to soften the blow though. I'll make a special belt just for you."

"Like the Smokin' Skull belt that Austin had, or the Million Dollar Belt the DiBiase had. It could be the...Y2J belt."

"Great, now he can have an even bigger ego," Trish said, rolling her eyes. "And with that, I better go find my boyfriend, make out with him for a while, then go make fun of Lita, and then have my match...I have such a hard life."

"Seems so," Chris said, "Bye."

They said their goodbyes and then Stephanie turned to Randy, "So Randy, what's a strapping young boy like you doing without a girlfriend?"

"I'm only recently reformed, I had to switch from bad girl to good girl and the memo hasn't gone out yet...besides Steph, you're already taken."

"I love it when guys hit on my fiancée when I'm around. It's really sad that it's happened more than once."

"Girls have hit on you, I get over it."

"True."

"But Randy, don't you see any prospects around here."

"Randy, I say this with only friendship in my heart for you. Run while you can, because Stephanie, my dear, loving, beautiful Stephanie is a notorious busy-body and will infiltrate herself into your life so much that you will be wishing you were back in Evolution," Chris told him.

"I do not, I'm just saying, there are girls around, if you feel left out. I know that Christian and Trish, and Chris and I, we kind of zone out in our own world and I don't want you to feel left out."

"Thanks guys, but I'll wait to see if anything, or anyone comes around."

"Suit yourself," Stephanie said with a shrug.

"Good move," Chris nodded, "Very good move."

"Just for that Chris, you have to do something really nice for my birthday," Stephanie said.

"When is your birthday Steph?"

"September 24," Chris and Stephanie said in unison.

"Cool, I'll have to buy you something. But I better go change and warm up for my match," Randy said, "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Chris and Stephanie said, again in unison, then laughed. Chris turned to Stephanie and spoke, "So baby, what was really the matter earlier?"

"Just Bischoff and Edge, and the situation. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's cool, you've done worse. I seem to recall being put through a stage for you. I think I can deal with some harsh words."

"Good, because sometimes they come a lot," she said sheepishly.

"What! You don't say! You being a bitch every once in a while is preposterous! Crazy! Are you out of your mind!"

"I'm a bitch and you are a fool, so shut up."

"I have a match coming up too, I should probably get ready for it."

"You know, if you do want to be in the World title hunt, all you have to do is ask. Seriously, I will bump anyone else and give it to you."

He kissed her and smiled a little, "I know you would, but I don't want you to. I told you a long time ago that I want to earn everything. What would people think if I started abusing the power because of the position I was in? They would think that I was just marrying you to manipulate you and use you, and I don't want people thinking that of me, or thinking that you were so dumb as to marry someone who would just use you."

"I did that with Hunter."

"No you didn't, and I don't want to use my status as your fiancé to get a title shot. I know that even though tonight you lobbied for me to get a shot at it, you did it in a fair and economical way."

"And I had to go physically take the belt away from Edge."

"Oh, now I know why you were in a bad mood."

"I don't know what's going to happen with that. He's just...I don't know what to say about it anymore, so let's discuss the wedding, shall we?"

"Ok, I am fitted for my tuxedo, so are Christian and Kurt. The decorators have been called and know what we want, your dress is being made as we speak, so is Trish's dress. The venue is open and rented out. We've narrowed down the guest list. The invitations go out next week, the chairs have been ordered and we are meeting with ministers in three weeks."

"Thank God that is going according to plan."

"Yup, definitely."

"Chris, one last question," Stephanie said.

"What question is that?"

"Why can't I set up Randy?"

Chris laughed, "Because you are too nosy." He kissed her nose and then her cheek.

"I bet I could find him someone really great."

"Maybe."


	230. Unforgiven, September 12, 2004

Christian was having a hard time dealing with Edge's ego. It seemed to get bigger and bigger every time he talked to him. Maybe it was due to the fact he was injured or something, or maybe there was something else at work here, but whatever it was, it really irritated Christian to the point where he was about to give his brother another conchairto. It was like two years ago all over again, and he didn't want to go back to then.

He was tired of being looked at as Edge's shadow, which he had been for much of his life. He was his own person, and ostensibly, he was having more success than his brother. He was on a winning path, and he had Trish by his side, what could be better than that? Not much to Christian.

"I'm telling you C, you need to get out more, I mean, I'm living it up and we're young guys, we should be having fun."

"But I have Trish," Christian pointed out, wondering how Edge could possibly forget that point.

"But she's not doing anything for you man, and besides she's friends with Chris and Stephanie and they're trying everything to turn everyone against me."

"I don't exactly think that's what they're doing," Christian answered, knowing that to be true. They barely even discussed Edge unless they were talking about business matters or something of that nature.

"But it is. I mean, they're not talking to me, and all of a sudden, Trish isn't talking to me, or Kurt, or Shane, or anyone, and now I see them hanging around with Randy, what the hell is with that?"

"They're friends with him, he helped them out," Christian shrugged. "I don't see a problem with it."

"That's your problem, you SHOULD see a problem with it. Do you forget that Randy dated Trish when you broke up?"

"I know he did, but that's in the past, and besides, Trish and I were broken up because of something stupid that I did, and I can't blame her for wanting to move on. I cheated on her after all."

"Which must mean that you don't care about her as much as you say you do."

"C'mon Edge, that's not true at all. I love Trish."

"I'm just saying, you're missing out on a lot by staying with Trish. If you came out with me tonight, I could probably get two girls who will come back to your hotel room with you."

Christian found it so hypocritical of Edge to say that Chris and Stephanie were trying to turn everyone against him when Edge was sitting right here extolling the virtues of dumping his girlfriend to have wanton sex with whatever girl happened to catch his eye at any given moment.

"I better go," Christian said, standing up, "I have to get to the arena for the show. Both my match and Trish's matches are early on in the card and so we should be going."

"Think about what I said bro, about coming out with me."

"Yeah, sure," Christian said with disinterest, glancing back at his brother once more before walking out of the room. He was starting to hate his brother again, and it made him really sad to think that. Mom was gonna be so mad.

Randy sat with Trish at a table at a restaurant next to their hotel. They were having a leisurely cup of coffee as they discussed idle things like the weather and the show tonight. It was just a friendly conversation between two friends and Trish laughed as Randy told the story of how the guys in the back hazed him by stealing all his clothes while he was in the shower.

"So what did you do?" Trish asked, never having heard the story since she was already on Raw at the time.

"I had to go BUY a t-shirt when the show was over. The vendors didn't recognize me so they wouldn't give it to me for free. I think I ended up with a Hurricane shirt or something. I was lucky they had my size or I'd probably have to wear one that ripped if I moved a muscle."

"But what about pants?"

"Well, luckily I took some boxers with me into the shower, so I could change into them and not have to walk around with just a towel on in the locker room. Some of the guys just love to pull pranks like taking a guy's towel, so I thought boxers would be a better choice. I had to drive back to the hotel in my boxers and a Hurricane shirt, and then get past the desk without looking like a fool. Thankfully they left one of my room keys, and they used the other to put my stuff in so there it was sitting on the bed when I walked into the room."

Trish giggled, "You poor thing. God, boys are so weird, none of the girls EVER did that to me, and if they did, ugh, I'd probably have slapped them or pulled their hair or something."

"Now you would just give them a massive chick kick or something," Randy supplied.

She smiled, "Yeah, I would do that." Trish looked over Randy's shoulder and saw Stacy Keibler, Victoria, and Nidia walking into the restaurant and sitting down a little ways away from them. She caught them all staring at Randy and her, and she smirked into her cup of coffee before regarding Randy with a playful look in her eyes over the rim of her coffee cup. Randy looked at her strangely as she pulled her mouth away from the mug with a smile already on her lips.

"What's the face for?" Randy asked suspiciously.

"Seems you have a fan club," Trish smirked, holding her laughter in.

"Oh great, do I have to get my hand ready for autographs?" Randy asked good-naturedly, not daring to look over his shoulder to where Trish was looking.

"No, nothing like that," Trish said, "Though it may get sore writing down phone numbers."

"Why would it….oh come on, don't be like Stephanie, she's been trying to get me to ask someone out on a date for weeks," Randy groaned.

"And has she broken you yet?"

"Not yet, but she's trying. I don't think I'm under this Stephanie spell she seems to have most people under."

"You will be, that girl is persuasive," Trish said, then looked over at the other girls for a moment. "It wouldn't hurt to just go out on a date with someone and see how it works out."

"No Trish, I've got too much right now. Besides, haven't you ever teased what you had and then pulled back right when someone wants it," Randy smirked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

He leaned in closer to her, causing her to lean in closer to him so she could hear what he was about to say, "I know I drive all the ladies wild, the trick is to keep them on their toes until I'm ready to strike."

Trish guffawed, "Oh you sweet boy."

"What?" Randy asked, holding his arms out widely, gesturing to himself, "Look at me."

Trish was still laughing, "That's so cute of you. So you DO have someone in mind that you want to ask out?"

"I might," he said, "But that's for my mind only, not yours, not Stephanie's, and that's all that I'm going to say."

"Fine, fine, but I have a show to get to, and so do you, so we should get going and you can walk me to my hotel room."

"I'd love to," he said, getting up and going over to pull out her chair like a true gentleman. Trish raised her eyes, impressed by the gesture. She caught the three girls at the other table watching, and then talking amongst themselves.

"The fan club is impressed," she whispered as they began to leave the restaurant. Incidentally, they passed by the table and she saw Randy lean down a little.

"Hello ladies," he said charmingly. "Hope you enjoy your meal."

Trish rolled her eyes as Randy jogged to catch up with her. She had heard what he said, and though it was incredibly cheesy, it was kind of sweet in a way that only Randy could make it sweet. It didn't stop her from elbowing him in the ribs, but it was kind of sweet nonetheless.

"Come on Don Juan, let's go to the arena before your head explodes."

Stephanie put her other boot on, slipping her foot inside. Chris was brushing his hair in the bathroom and she was getting dressed for the show. She was nervous for Chris, but she hadn't said anything yet. Whenever he went into a high-profile match like this, she was scared for him. Not high-profile like who he was facing since he had faced Christian a lot (too much if you asked her), but the fact that it was a ladder match. She had seen those ladders, and they were not in the least bit stable, and one wrong step could mean disaster.

"Steph, you ready?" Chris asked as he stared at her.

She stood up and nodded, taking in his shiny, blond hair and his crystal clear blue eyes. She hated to see him in these matches, and yet he had been the one to suggest it so it would be his fault if he got hurt. She wished she hadn't had Bischoff sign off on the match. She could still overturn it if she so desired. Chris noticed she was off in her own little world and walked up to her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about your match tonight," she answered. "And the show in general. You always want to make the Pay-Per-Views stand out, and I'm not sure we've done that with this one. It's so soon after SummerSlam, and you know, nothing's really had time to develop in the way of matches. I kind of feel like we threw this show together with whoever happened to be mad at whoever at the moment."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"It's fine," she shook her head. "It's not my job to actually care about the show, just that it runs smoothly."

"Well there's a perk I don't think you've thought of."

"Yeah," she smiled. "But…"

"I knew there was a but coming," he said with a wry smile. "I just knew."

"I'm worried about your match. This is like the fiftieth time I've had to see you go into a match that's a complete risk, and it scares me. Like one second you'll be here, and the next you won't. I don't want to think of a moment where I might be without you. That's like saying, Stephanie, you can't have wrestling ever again."

"So you compare me to wrestling…thanks," he said sarcastically.

"You know I love wrestling, it's been my life for my whole life, and you know, you're my life from now on, and I don't want you taking a spill off the ladder. What if you fall off the ladder?"

Chris sighed. Stephanie, for all her strong words, and strong actions, sometimes she looked like such a vulnerable little girl. She was going to be twenty-eight in a little over two weeks and sometimes, when he looked at her, he could still see that petrified girl who came into the WWF a long time ago. The one who cried a river when she found out she was married to Hunter, the one who almost got sacrificed to Undertaker, and even though that little girl still existed, it was still a shock to see her emerge every so often.

He didn't want that little girl; he wanted the Stephanie that she always was. That fearless, ball-breaking woman that never took any shit from anyone. That's what he fell in love with and seeing her like this always twisted his stomach up in knots. He didn't like feeling his stomach in knots, not over Stephanie, because she was a distraction completely unto herself and she was more important to him than wrestling, and that was not a good attitude going into a ladder match. Even if it was with a friend who would make sure to not hurt him seriously.

He ran his index finger down the bridge of her nose and then nuzzled his face against her jaw. He kissed her lightly along her jaw, causing her to moan lightly. Even after a million kisses and more than two years of his touches, they could still incite a fire inside of her. She tilted his chin up and kissed his lips softly, his arms clutching her and turning the kiss into a deep embrace.

"I love you," she whispered into his mouth.

"I love me too," he said jokingly, causing her to pull away and swipe at his face with her hand. He laughed and captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger, "I love you too, you know that."

"Yeah, but come on, I have a show to work at, and I have to be there soon or else it's all going down the drain."

"Because God forbid that you ever get any alone time with your fiancé."

"Yes sweetie, the whole world is conspiring against you. They're all trying to separate you from me in some weird cosmic way."

"Hunter may have the whole world brainwashed," Chris suggested.

"Hunter won't care about me tonight. I guarantee that if I talk to him, it'll only be for a few minutes at most. He has his sights set on Randy's belt and trust me, when he has that belt within his reach, it becomes his sole vision."

"Good, one night without him around makes me feel much better. I can concentrate on my match and not on whether my fiancée's ex-husband is trying to steal her away."

"Praise be the Lord," Stephanie said jokingly.

Christian and Trish walked into their locker room as they arrived at the door. Christian had been thinking about something, and he wanted to run it by Trish. He knew that at first she was going to be hesitant, but he was hoping she would give in without much fanfare. He gestured for her to sit and she put her bag down before sitting and looking up at him.

"What is it Christian?" Trish asked, "You've been acting strange since you saw Edge. Oh God, what did he do now?"

Christian sat down and turned to speak, "Nothing horrible, but he bugs me I guess you can say."

Trish transported herself into Christian's lap, playing with his hair, running the short hair through her fingers. "What is he saying?"

"Just stuff that bugs me."

"Like what?"

"Like I should dump you," Christian said with a sigh.

Trish's eyes widened and then she frowned. "And you're not listening to him right?"

"NO!" Christian said quickly. "I know I'm not really good at saying how much you mean to me. I mean, I know Stephanie tells you what Chris tells her, and he's so much more verbose than I am at that stuff."

Trish gave him a sweet smile, "Chrissy, you know I don't care about that. I know you love me and everything. And as you can probably tell from my past relationships, I'm not even used to getting nice things said about me."

"I just," Christian struggled for the words. "We've been through a lot, and we didn't have to be where we are today if you weren't such an incredible person who took me back and overlooked my weaknesses. I love you because of that."

She kissed him, "I love you too."

"Which is why I hate to ask you this?"

This time, Trish pulled away and looked at Christian. She didn't like how he said that last phrase and the look in his eyes concerned her. He wouldn't go through that entire speech and then just dump a break-up on her, would he? But that look was still a concern, she didn't want to break up with Christian.

"Chrissy, you aren't breaking up with me are you?"

"No, I just…for this whole Edge thing, I can't set him up if he thinks I'm teetering."

"Are you asking to take a break?"

"No, I'm asking you to fight with me."

"Fight with you?" Trish asked in confusion. "What, like just…fight with you?"

"Yeah, just fight with me, nothing big, but enough so it seems TO EDGE, that things are on the rocks. It'll make him think that he has me right where I want him, but I'll have HIM right where I want him, thinking that his life is so much better than mine, and that's when I pounce, like a cat, or a lion!"

"Chrissy, a lion is a cat."

"Oh, well then like…a rabid dog," Christian said.

"Ok, I'll fight with you, but what will we fight over? I mean, there's not many things that we actually do fight over, unless it's me walking out in skimpy lingerie."

"Well, I don't want to see you ever do that one again, so I'm going to have to pick something else."

"Well, what can fight over tonight then?" Trish said. She knew Christian wasn't asking much, and it wasn't like people hadn't seen them argue before. And this time she knew there would be a quick resolution to the problem.

"I don't know, um," he thought about and then his eyes lit up, "Tyson!"

"Tomko?"

"Yeah!"

"Why would we fight over Tyson Tomko?" Trish laughed, "I don't want him…eww, I'm not going to pretend like I want him. There's fighting and there's that, and I'm not going to pretend, yuck!"

"No, how about just who he accompanies tonight. We'll make it like we're all mad at each other or something because we both want him since he's our problem-solver."

Trish shrugged, "Sounds easy enough, let's practice what we're going to say."

Stephanie had her headphones on and was currently have a discussion with the sound technicians. It was strapped to a radio thing on her jeans. Chris was lacing up his boots, he liked to be ready early. He watched Stephanie jot down some notes on her clipboard, wondering what she was writing exactly. He walked over and tried to peer over her shoulder, but she was having none of that as she swatted him away. Luckily there was a knock on the door and Chris walked over to let Randy in.

"Hey Randy, what's up?"

"I have to stick around for my match. I'm a little nervous, but don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret, but you'll do fine."

"Hunter isn't a lightweight."

"Trust me, I know. I think out of everyone in this company, save Shawn Michaels, I know that Hunter is not to be trifled with. Didn't stop me from getting in his business all the time, or getting in on his territory as soon as he was out of the picture, but that just made it all the more fun for me. Getting under his skin definitely has its finer points."

"I'm trying to get under his skin, but I think I'm failing."

"Just being friends with us is enough to make his blood boil, and you having that belt makes him especially angry. When he came back and I was holding the belt, man, the first time I saw him, he was shooting daggers at me with his eyes. So was his wife actually, she looked like she wanted to strangle me with her bare hands."

Randy laughed and looked between the two of them, "Sometimes I still don't believe you two are together. I mean, I know that I came into the company after Stephanie had gotten kicked out, but I had been a fan long enough to see the epic battles between the two of you. I think my favorite was when you called her out on her breast implants."

"Yeah, most people seem to remember that one fondly. I was in top form that evening I think."

"Yeah, and hopefully I'll be in top form later when I have my match."

"You'll be fine kid," Chris said, patting his shoulder, "Take it from someone older and wiser."

"Older maybe, but I'm not so sure about the wiser," Stephanie said as she took her headphones off.

"Stephanie, it seems you've been brainwashing Trish."

"I have?" Stephanie asked, her eyebrows creased together, thinking about when she had last spoken to Trish.

"She's on the bandwagon trying to find me a suitable date," Randy explained.

Stephanie got up and walked over to Chris and Randy, sliding her arm through Chris's. She gestured for them to walk to the gorilla, since the show had technically started five minutes ago and she had been discussing sound aspects leaving her assistants to run the show. She took her rightful place at the gorilla, watching over her employees before putting her hand under her chin and gazing up and Randy.

"So Trish thinks you should be in the dating game too, we just want what's best for you Randy."

"What makes you think a girl is going to be what's best for me?" he asked, smiling at her in that way he had.

"I don't know, it just seems like you should have someone."

"I'm not old like you guys, I've got time."

Stephanie's jaw dropped, "You're calling ME old?"

"Oops, I guess I shouldn't have done that, huh?" Randy asked Chris. Chris shook his head as if Randy was going to get sent to the executioner. Which he probably was for calling Stephanie old. "More mature?"

"I'm only going to be twenty-eight, I'm still in my twenties," she said indignantly. "You act as if I'm thirty-five or something, and I am not that old."

"Hey!" Chris said, "I'm going to be thirty-five next year, and there is NOTHING wrong with that!"

"Not with you sweetie," Stephanie said, "Because you get better with age, you sexy beast you."

"You think I'm a sexy beast?"

"Right now, definitely," Stephanie said, her voice low.

"Well I think you are looking stunning tonight," Chris told her, giving her the once over. "Have I ever told you how sexy you look in my shirts?"

"Yeah, especially when it's what I sleep in," she said, licking her lips.

"AND….NOW I know what Christian and Trish were talking about," Randy said, looking between the two of them. "You two are ridiculously in love. Now I really don't want a girlfriend if I'm going to act half as bad as you two are."

"We're engaged, we're allowed," Stephanie said, holding up her left hand, "See the ring?"

"I see the ring and that is no excuse for wanting to make me throw up all over your expensive equipment."

"Aww poor little Randy, can't take a little heat," Stephanie said, sticking her tongue out at him. She looked past Randy and Chris who were arguing over age and saw Trish and Christian with Tomko. She was about to wave them over when they seemed to be having a discussion of some sort, a heated one at that. She was about to investigate when Batista and Flair came back from their match and walked over to where Randy and Chris were talking. Randy bristled as he saw his former friends. Chris stood there, staring Batista dead in the eye, not intimidated in the slightest, though Dave was way bigger than he was.

Stephanie was sensing all kinds of hostility in the room, and decided to not insert herself in any of it. It died down pretty quickly, with Batista and Flair walking off without a word, but a stern look of warning. And Christian had quickly scurried away after what looked like a fight with Trish. And now Randy was walking away in a huff. Chris was the only one left, but she knew that he would stick around. He walked around the table and settled himself on a huge trunk sitting against the wall, leaning his back against the aforementioned wall.

"What the hell just happened here?" Stephanie asked, turning to Chris.

He shrugged, "Don't know, lots of anger I guess."

"Did you see Trish and Christian? Were they fighting?"

"I guess," Chris said, his eyes closed.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm concentrating baby, can we talk after my match?"

"Ok," she said slowly, "Good luck."

"Thanks baby," he mumbled, still concentrating.

Stephanie went to work, telling one of her assistants that they could go work on something else while she took over active duty. All she got was a wave goodbye as Chris went out for his match. She knew that he was trying to make this as light as possible so she wouldn't worry about him in the match, not that that was going to stop her any. He had talked with Christian earlier and it had been decided mutually that they would go out and fight as if they were enemies. Christian got the concept of "every man for himself" and he was going in with that attitude.

As with any ladder match, the ladder plays and important part and this was no exception, and neither man pulled out any stops along the way. The match was filled with spots, but they weren't just fighting for that belt, they were putting on a show, and they were doing that very well. Chris tried not to use Christian's recent back injury to his advantage, but it was too easy a target not to hit and as Chris wretched Christian's back in a Walls of Jericho on the ladder. He had hurt his leg earlier, but it wasn't such a bad pain that he couldn't continue. As he worked on Christian's back, he felt that he was going to win this match, he could feel it running through his blood; he would win.

So it may have surprised some when Chris won, but he himself was not surprised. He had felt it after all. He walked backstage, a little painfully, but he had won, and that was all that mattered. He was now a 7-time Intercontinental Champion, and that was a record. He was proud to hold this belt, Ricky Steamboat had held this belt and Chris regarded him in the highest esteem. The World title felt good, that was no lie, but any gold was great gold. Except for maybe the Women's title, because if he ever found himself with that belt, he might be worried.

He got backstage and Stephanie grinned at him widely, but she was right in the middle of something and couldn't stand up to go over to him. He was about to go over to her when he was caught for an interview. An interview which Edge so conveniently interrupted claiming he would get what was his. Too bad Chris was ten times the wrestler that Edge was. Maybe he would wring out Edge's hair and then Edge would lose his footing slipping on all the grease. But Chris wasn't worried, for tonight, tonight he was a champion and he was going to celebrate like one.

He was no sooner walking away from his interview when he was almost tackled from behind. His knee buckled and he tumbled to the floor in a haze of laughter coming from Stephanie who had fallen on top of him. He managed to turn on his back and she tightened her grip on him, lavishly his face with kisses.

"You won! You won!"

"I know and I'll tell you this, landing on the belt is not fun," he said seriously.

Stephanie didn't care as she kept kissing him, "I'm so proud of you! You record-setter you. Did you know that you are like the most decorated guy in the company? I mean, honestly, all we need you to do now is win the Royal Rumble and you are set sweetie."

"I don't think you could fix that, no matter how hard you try," he joked, kissing her.

"Congratulations," she said again. "I'm so happy for you, you won!"

"Does this mean a wild all-night celebration?"

"You better believe it does," she smiled flirtily, kissing him again before getting off of him. He stood up and patted the belt on his shoulder as Stephanie pretended to fan herself. "Well I do declare Mr. Jericho, but you are even sexier with that belt over your shoulder, Mr. Intercontinental Champion."

"Hmm, if I hold this belt until January, do you think it would be appropriate if I wear it to our wedding, you know, with it around my waist?"

Stephanie's smile faded, "Don't even think about doing that."

"Oh come on, I'll look great," Chris said as Stephanie started to walk away.

"No!"

"But it'll shine so perfectly against the sunset," Chris pleaded in a kidding tone as he followed Stephanie around while she tried to get it into his head that he couldn't wear his wrestling belt to their wedding.

While this was going on, Edge was congratulating Christian on actually trying to stand up to Trish. Christian hadn't liked fighting with Trish, but it was a necessary evil in this thing with Edge. He was going to single-handedly going to destroy Edge, hopefully. And he wanted to do it mostly by himself because he wanted Edge to not lay the blame on anyone else, but to put it solely on Christian. Because he was going to be the dominant one.

Randy wasn't having a much better night than Christian was. Not when he lost the title to Hunter. He had thought he could do it. He still thought he could do it, if given the really fair chance. He hadn't gotten that fair chance as he was ganged up on. Maybe telling Christian and Chris that he didn't need any help was a bad idea. He knew that Dave and Flair would be out here, and he should've known they would play dirty. Was Hunter really that much of a manipulator that they didn't realize they were only his minions and not much more? Had he fallen under that same guise? He probably had, and now he was paying for it with the belt.

Chris had mentioned how hard losing the belt was. How it felt like they were taking your kid away from you, something you had worked so hard for was just taken from you in a moment. Now he felt that pain. Maybe it was harder on guys like Chris, who had strived for twelve or more years to win that championship, rather than him, who had far less time to get used to the idea of wanting to be a champion, but that want and need had manifested itself in him so many times that the gold of the belt has mesmerized him, had captured him under its hypnotic spell. Was this what Hunter felt like?

It must be if he was so willing to go great lengths to get to that gold belt. If he was willing to beat up handicapped people, if he was willing to turn on a friend, or turn on a wife, or run someone over with a car, all of that was for the lust of the belt. It all made sense to Randy now. All of the want and the need that Hunter felt when he didn't have the belt, Randy felt right now. He wanted that belt like he wanted nothing else. Losing it, knowing you wouldn't have it around your waist that night or the next night, it was the most horrible feeling in the world. Those thoughts cursed him as he lay in that ring, cursed him to his soul.

Hunter, on the other hand was gloating proudly. He had not seen Stephanie all night long, concentrating too hard on his belt and his need to regain it. Now that he had though, and seeing Stephanie working and alone, he saw an opportunity. He walked over to her and held the belt right under face. She rolled her eyes and looked up.

"Yes Mr. Helmsley?" she asked in a polished, professional voice.

"I'm champ again."

"I see that," she said, yawning into her hand. "Guess you couldn't keep it away from you for long could you? I hope she keeps your bed warm."

"Don't you want to be with a real champion baby, instead of the lesser champion that is Jericho?"

"I don't really care about the size of your…belts," Stephanie said, "And as far as I know, and I do know a lot Hunter, the only reason you want that belt is to make up for the fact that what you have in the size of your belt, you lack in the size of your…shall I say…inseam?"

"Like you know," Hunter said in haste, then realized how stupid that sounded.

"Unfortunately, I shared a bed with you for two years, I know exactly how…big, or should I say small your real belt is. It's like the guys who go out and buy big cars to make for the lack of…" She put her thumb and index finger close together to indicate the tiny size she was speaking about.

"I never got any complaints from you," he countered.

"Only because I was too busy falling asleep under you," Stephanie shot back with a sugary sweet smile. "I really should've brought a newspaper, I could've at least caught up on my reading."

"Don't be jealous that I'm more successful than your little fiancé Stephanie. If you want me, I'm always right here, waiting, and I want you so bad, I'll take you whenever you want me back."

"Nobody welcomes back trash Hunter," Stephanie said as she saw Randy coming backstage. "Now if you'll excuse me, I want to go help a man who doesn't cheat to win. In case you missed that, I called you a cheater Hunter, nothing but a low-down cheater."

"Like you've never cheated," he said to her.

"I might've, but then again, aren't you the amazing Triple H, aren't you supposed to be the most fearsome of all superstars in the country. And yet you need others to fight your battles for you. I should've known that instead of a dick, you were just a great, big pussy. Bye Hunter, hope that the belt is nice company in that big, empty bed of yours."

Randy saw the exchange, and Stephanie could seriously hold her own against Hunter. Now was his turn to hold his own against Hunter. Now it was his turn to be the one that really got under Hunter's skin. Chris had been right, there was a fun in getting to Hunter. But now Randy had a reason, he had a purpose.

He had a belt that was calling for him, and he wouldn't stop until he got it back.


	231. Raw, September 13, 2004

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews, I appreciate them. I hope that the story isn't too all over the place for you. I know there's a lot going on, and it's hard to keep up with everyone's stuff that's going on, so if things get really confusing, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Enjoy the chapter. :)

* * *

Randy hadn't slept a wink the night before, instead going step by step through his match, thinking about how he could've won. There were plenty of things he could've done differently, but in the end, it all came back to the fact that Hunter was using Batista and Flair, and they were there and how could he have held them all off? There weren't a lot of possibilities with that one, so he found himself stuck.

He hadn't felt like talking to anyone all day, opting to just sulk in his hotel room and think of the ways he could get back at Hunter for stealing his belt. Because that's what it was really, he had stolen it, right out from under him. He hadn't come up with anything of note yet, but he figured it was only a matter of time before he came up with the perfect stunt with which to get back at Hunter. If only his mind could focus on something other than how pretty and shiny that big gold belt really was.

Chris, on the other hand, was shining his new belt. He was just happy to have a belt at this point. It didn't matter if it wasn't THE belt of Raw, since that one seemed permanently grafted to Hunter, but it was just nice to get recognition, a recognition he felt he deserved. Instead of having the winners always on his Highlight Reel, now he was the champion. Would it be feasible to hold an interview with himself? Hell, if anyone could do it, Chris Jericho could do it.

"What have I told you time and time again?" Stephanie asked silkily, taking the belt from him and sitting his lap, her skirt riding up a bit, so much so that Chris took it upon himself to pull it down a bit, lest he get any ideas. She looked down at the belt he had been shining.

"That you want me to shave my facial hair off?"

"Well yeah, I tell you that, but this goes back to our business partnership," she said coyly, and batting her eyelashes flirtily, hoping to get him to remember. But it didn't look like he was going to.

"I didn't memorize everything you said to me Stephanie. If I had known I was going to get tested on it, I might've taken notes or something, maybe made a little scrapbook."

"Aww, a scrapbook," Stephanie sighed. "That would've been so cute."

"Oh great, the ideas I put into your head, I swear, I need to keep my gorgeous mouth shut."

She kissed him and ran her hand through his blond hair, "I can help with that."

"So what did you tell me?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

"You are a champion now, you shouldn't have to shine your own belt, get some lowly person to do that for you."

"Ahh yes, I do remember that coming out of your mouth, but doesn't it seem not as cool now because I'm not the World champion."

"The World champion doesn't even deserve to be the World champion. He's just a lying, cheating bastard who will eventually get his comeuppance. I don't know how it will happen, or when, but the guy's been amassing such bad karma that the dam is sure to break."

"Don't you think that was culminated in the quad injury."

She shook her head, "No, because he wasn't really bad before that, but when he came back until this very moment, he's been dealing a lot of 'what goes around' to different people. Eventually, 'what comes around' is going to catch up with him."

"Won't come too soon I think."

"Get this, Bischoff just called me, while you were diligently shining your belt, to tell me that we are going to have a big celebration for Hunter's win. Apparently the new champion wants it, and we have to grant it to him, since he's the big money draw."

Chris groaned, "Oh man, all I got was a freaking presentation of the belts."

"That's because you're not a jerk who likes to show--well you're not a loser like he is who feels that he needs instant gratification for being a cheater. Makes you better in my book."

"Good, so what's this celebration consist of?"

"Women, confetti, some other weird stuff that will shoot out of a cannon or something, I don't know. All I know is that I have to be the person to go out and buy this confetti. Maybe I can buy an anvil to drop on Hunter's head while we're at it."

"Yeah."

"So how's the ass?" she asked with a giggle, knowing that he had taken a rather strange bump last night. She was genuinely concerned for him, she loved him after all, but it was still a little bit funny for words. It reminded her of that Seinfeld episode where George's father fell on the Fusilli Jerry and had to go to the proctologist. Though Chris was in mild discomfort, he was ultimately fine. Or as fine as someone could be who almost took a ladder up the ass.

Chris gave her a semi-dirty look, "It's fine, no thanks to you."

She fought the urge to bust a gut with laughter. "Good to hear, good to hear…and what do you mean no thanks to me? Would you have wanted me there to break your fall?"

"No, but--" He was cut off by Stephanie's laughing. "Oh ha ha, I said but when referring to my butt. How juvenile of you Stephanie."

"Come on Ass Man, come with me to go buy confetti," Stephanie said, getting off his lap and standing up. "Unless you can't walk."

"First of all, don't ever, EVVVER compare me to Billy Gunn. Second, I can walk just fine."

"Good, so come with me."

"I thought you wanted me to look over wedding cakes," Chris said, "I thought that was my wedding chore for the day. I look at all the different styles of wedding cakes, and then this weekend we meet up with a baker your mom knows and we pick out the flavor for it."

"Oh, it is your wedding chore for the day," she said, rubbing her chin. "Ok, can you look at wedding cakes and I get confetti and then when I get back, you can tell me all of the cakes that you like, and then I'll tell you the cakes that I liked, and we're sure to at least agree on one."

"Sounds good."

"Oh and if you happen to come across Christian or Trish, ask them if everything is ok, they were fighting last night, and I just want to make sure everything is ok with them."

"Ok, so cakes and Christian and Trish, I think I've got it now."

"Good, I'll be back," she said, grabbing the car keys off the desk and leaving.

Chris picked up a book sitting next to him on the couch and opened it up. It was filled with pictures of cakes. Lots and lots of cake. He didn't know what really constituted a good cake, but as he flipped through the pages, some of these cakes were really nice. There was even one that was shaped like a castle. He wondered if Stephanie would be against having a wrestling themed cake. It would be appropriate. He laughed as he thought about a Stephanie action figure and a Chris Jericho action figure sitting on top of the cake, that would be hilarious.

Randy had just arrived at the arena, and he was already getting looks of sympathy from people. That made him feel even worse about losing last night. It was almost like he was to blame for Hunter getting the belt back. He knew, or he had heard that everyone was glad that Hunter had not had the belt for so long, and what did he do? He let his guard down if even for a moment and let Hunter snatch the belt right out from under him.

He saw Victoria and Stacy walking out ahead of him and they smiled sympathetically at him. Victoria spoke up as he was nearer to him. "Randy, I'm really sorry about your loss last night."

"Thanks," he said shortly, not wanting to sound too rude, but really just wanting to get to his dressing room. He had yet to figure out a way to get back at Hunter. He was tapped for ideas.

"If there's anything we can do, don't hesitate to ask," Stacy said, to which Victoria nodded. Randy looked at the two of them, and then looked down, really not in the mood to flirt.

"Thanks," he said again, not really knowing what else to say, "Nice to know I have friends around here."

"You do," Victoria said, patting him on the shoulder, and it was only after they left and Randy had started walking again that he realized Victoria had let her hand linger a little bit on his shoulder. Weird, he thought, but continued on. He passed Chris and Stephanie's locker room and stopped. Maybe they could help him figure out something to do to Hunter; they were experts in that field after all. He knocked on their door and heard Chris call out for him to come inside.

"Randy," Chris said with a smile, "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering what was going on in here?"

"Steph's on an errand, and I'm looking at wedding cakes!" Chris said, trying to sound enthused, but Randy could detect the boredom in Chris's voice.

"Sounds like tons of fun," Randy said with a faux-happy thumbs up.

"Oh, it's a barrel of laughs, although I'm going to try and persuade Stephanie to let me put our action figures on top of the cake."

"She's going to say no."

"Don't I know it," he said, "But it's worth the try. It's our cake after all, and you aren't even supposed to eat the top of it until like your first anniversary. Where these stupid traditions come from, I will never know, but I have no choice but to follow them."

"But you want to get married right?"

"Yeah, I want to get married," Chris nodded. "I've been alone for a long time, and now it's time to grow up and settle down."

"And look at wedding cakes."

"Yup, and look at wedding cakes."

"Cakes…" Randy said, furrowing his brow in thought. "Cakes, people usually pop out of cakes…"

"I don't think Stephanie will want someone popping out of our cake," Chris laughed. "Maybe for some type of bachelor party. Oh God, Stephanie would probably castrate me if I got a stripper at my bachelor party. Oww."

"No, I mean, I saw the schedule tonight, Hunter is going to celebrate his win."

"Was there ever any doubt? That man wants to live up everything. He probably has a celebration every time he takes a shower."

"No, what do you see at parties?"

"Balloons?"

"No, cakes."

"Oh, and there's the cake connection," Chris said. Then he took a hard look at Randy who was still thinking. "Yeah, I'm not following you here kid. You're going to have to enlighten me on the importance of cake to Hunter's celebration."

"If there's a huge cake, and it's obvious someone is going to pop out, why couldn't I pop out?"

"Because nobody wants to see you strip?" Chris suggested, then laughed at his own joke since Randy was not laughing at anyone at the moment.

"If he thinks that Dave or Flair sent it, or someone else, he wouldn't even hesitate to have it. And then….Chris, can you do me a HUGE favor?"

"What kind of favor? I don't do sexual favors." Again Chris was the only one to laugh. Damn it, he was going to have to hire an audience for himself or something who would be programmed to laugh whenever he made a joke. These great lines were going to waste.

"No, can you ask Stephanie to include a huge cake to the festivities?"

"I think I can, yeah."

"Thanks so much, now I have to find a place that can do that for me on short notice," he said, "Thanks for the idea Chris!"

Chris sat there alone. "Ok, even though I didn't think of it, I'll take the credit for anything brilliant."

Realizing he was talking to nobody, but himself, Chris decided that looking at cakes was boring. He had already chosen two that he really wanted, and he figured that would be enough for Stephanie, although knowing Stephanie, she had probably picked about eight, subcategorized and everything. Oh well, he'd talk her down. He would go on to the second part of Stephanie's request: finding out if everything was kosher between Christian and Trish.

Not knowing if they were even there yet, he wandered aimlessly through the hallways. He couldn't seem to locate them or their locker room so he was at a loss for where to look when Victoria approached him. He smiled at her briefly, thinking she was looking for someone else, but since she stopped in front of him, she must've been looking for him.

"Can I do something for you Victoria?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah you can," she smiled. "It's about Randy. You guys are friends right?"

"Yeah, we are, why?" He could see where this was going, but he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. Not that Victoria was a horse or anything, because she wasn't, ah, what the hell, it was just a saying.

"Oh, it's just some of us…around….were, um, wondering if he was seeing anyone," she explained, her voice nervous and hesitant.

"Well, as far as I know, nope, why, are you thinking about asking the young Randy out or something?" Chris teased.

"Um, no," Victoria said too quickly to sound convincing. "Just wondering, thanks for the info."

"He really likes to talk about himself," Chris said, "I think you can use that to your advantage Victoria."

"Thanks," Victoria said with a blush as she walked away quickly, almost giggling to herself. Chris laughed as he kept on walking, but then saw Kane dragging Lita along and decided that he really should intervene in that kind of situation. He walked over and Lita looked grateful for him showing up. It must be hard for her since Matt wasn't around anymore.

"Hey, everything doing alright over here?" Chris asked as he stopped in front of Kane.

"It's none of your damn business," Kane bellowed.

"When I see you pulling a pregnant woman along like that, I think it becomes my business," Chris said snottily. "I mean, come on Kane, you couldn't even find a woman who would voluntarily marry you, so Lita who was forced to marry you is the best you're going to get, and then treating her like shit, is that really the way that you want to go with this. I would be treating her like a queen if she was the only one who would put up with you for any amount of time."

"Like I said, it's none of your business, my WIFE and I have things to attend to."

"Making sure you stay out of the sunlight?" Chris said. "I know that it must be hard for you, what with the whole, "scary monster" look you have going for you. I bet you use SPF 75 right? You do know there's a certain SPF where it basically just stops doing anything. Don't go out and get a sunburn. Hey, when you do your little fire stunt thing, do you ever get burned? I'd figure you'd be scared of that, getting burned, since you were in that tragic fire? Kind of ironic now that I think about it."

Kane scowled and stormed off leaving Lita in his wake, obviously just wanting to get away from Chris. Lita turned grateful eyes to him. "Thanks for doing that, I really didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment."

"Not a problem…so…how's the baby and everything?" he asked, trying to make some chit-chat.

"Um, it's good," she said, "Thanks for asking, nobody really seems to care about me around here."

"It's cool, I figured it might be a sensitive subject of or something, so I bet that's why other people are hesitant to ask."

"I don't blame them, I'm sure I would feel like they do if I was in any other place but this one."

"Buck up, things will work out. Hopefully Kane will you know, burn himself and run away like a little baby, and then you can get an annulment and go marry the one guy you want to."

She laughed, "Thanks Chris, I better go before he gets irate. Thanks for talking to me and treating me like a normal person."

"Bye."

Chris turned around and saw Trish walking by herself. He seized the opportunity and ran up to her, sweeping her up into a bear hug. Trish squealed in surprise, hugging him back and then bashing her small fists against his chest for him to let her go. He pulled back with a grin and then it turned deadly serious, causing her eyebrow to pop up.

"Yes?" she asked, in reference to his suddenly serious look.

"You're alone."

She looked to both sides, "Why yes I am. Fancy that."

"Where's your boyfriend?"

"Don't know," she shrugged, "Around."

"Are you two doing all right?" Chris asked seriously.

"We're fine, why wouldn't we be?"

"Stephanie saw you fighting last night."

"Oh, don't mind that," Trish said, shaking her head. "You know how Christian is trying to set up Edge and all that?"

"Yeah, he's interrupting me tonight or something. I didn't listen to him when he discussed it at breakfast, I was way too tired to listen to what he had to say when I had had only one cup of coffee in my system."

Trish laughed, "Well, now I have to get in on it, we were fighting because apparently Edge thinks Christian should be working all the ladies in all the towns across the country."

"So not only is Stephanie a bad influence on me, you're a bad influence on Christian."

"Now you've got it my friend," Trish said, "I really feel like Edge is just meandering you know, he doesn't have someone so steady to be with and he feels like he's losing all his friends. There's you and Stephanie and you guys are planning your wedding, and Christian and I are together all the time, and it's threatening him because he doesn't have anyone. I'm of course speculating, but I was in medical school, and I did take a couple of courses in psychology."

"Well thank you for your diagnosis. But you have alerted me to a tip I must follow. I'm supposed to be looking for cakes for the wedding and I only looked at half, and I should probably look at them all."

"Ok, good luck, pick out a good one, and a good flavor so I can pig out."

"I'll try," he said with a parting salute. He walked back to his locker room, seeing Randy scurrying around in the process. He decided to leave that alone as Randy was probably trying to locate a human-sized cake for tonight. Maybe a strip club or something might have one. He didn't know, and knowing he could be no help to Randy, who was frantic, he went back to look at wedding cakes. Sometimes he didn't know why he just didn't whisk Stephanie away to Vegas and marry her…then he usually remembered, and it had a lot to do with a "Tunnel of Love," a white chapel, and a drive-thru.

Stephanie had gotten all the crap she needed for Hunter's celebration tonight, the bags practically weighing her down. She went down to where they had the set crew and put the stuff on the table, which they had already been briefed about and set to work setting it up. Stephanie fixed her hair and grabbed one of Chris's ponytail holders out of her pocket and put her hair into a ponytail, much more practical for work. She walked over to where the headphones were and picked hers up for the evening, clipping the radio onto her skirt.

"There's the future of this company," someone's voice said.

Stephanie turned and saw her father there and her eyes lit up. She ran over to him and threw herself into his awaiting arms, hugging him tightly. "Daddy!"

"Hello Princess," he said, pulling away to look at her. "You look ready for work."

"I am, what are you doing here Daddy?" she asked, clapping her hands like a little girl who was about to get spoiled.

"Well, I'm here because I have an announcement to make later in the show…and to see my little girl," he added with a smile.

Stephanie linked arms with her father as they walked down the corridor, creating quite the intimidating picture. "Did you see the show last night Daddy? Chris won the Intercontinental championship. He has the record now."

"Of course I saw, I am the president of the company. And I did see Chris win, I'll have to tell him my congratulations."

"You can tell him now. I have to get my paperwork out of my office, which Chris uses as his dressing room. He's looking at wedding cakes right now."

"I was just about to ask about the wedding and how it was going."

"It's going so well Daddy, the invitations should be arriving for everyone soon. So what's your announcement?"

"I can't tell you that Princess, it has to be a surprise."

"Oh Daddy," Stephanie said, disappointed. "I'm your Princess, don't I get to know?"

"No, you don't, you'll find out next week when everyone finds out."

"Darn, what's the use of being a McMahon around here if I don't get to use the power?"

"You can use your power, but I'm your father, and what I say goes, and you are not going to know."

"Fine, fine, you win Daddy, but now I'm going to be nervous for it all this week."

They walked into her office/Chris's locker room, Vince holding the door open for her, and saw Chris looking through the cakes. "Chris, look who I found."

Chris looked up and saw Vince, scrambling out of his seat and standing up to shake Vince's hand. "Vince, I didn't know you would be here tonight."

"He's making an announcement, but he won't tell me," Stephanie said petulantly, then heard voices coming from her headphone. She put it on and listened. "Oh man, the show is starting in ten minutes and I've got to go."

Stephanie rushed out of the room and down the hallway to where her desk was. She was confused to find a gaggle of women that she had to wade through to get to her desk. Then it dawned on her that these must be the women that they had requested. Maybe they were really high class hookers or something and she laughed at that as she took her seat. She spotted Hunter across the room and he oh-so-subtly (and by that, it was the most obvious thing in the world) put his arm around the nearest girl. He would've found it funny if it had ended up being Ric Flair or something, but no, just a girl.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and pretended to yawn at him as he made his way over. "You could be one of these women you know."

"Yeah, I know," she said, "But I wouldn't want to degrade myself."

"Suit yourself sweetheart. I'll have a grand ole time tonight, and you won't be able to do anything."

"No, I'm pretty sure I can cuddle up to my fiancé," she said with a smirk. Hunter's fists balled up as the room emptied out, the girls, Batista and Flair going out into the ring for the celebration. "Quite the shin-dig you're cooking up Hunter. And what's this…a cake?"

Stephanie looked behind Hunter to see a large cake being wheeled out. She didn't even want to know where that came from. Hunter looked too. "Whatever girl is in there, I'll take her too."

Stephanie chuckled, "Go ahead, it doesn't make me jealous. I think all the jealousy you CLAIM to see is really just made up in that head of yours."

Hunter would've said more, but his music was starting and he was determined to go out there and forget about Stephanie. There were plenty of women in this world who would die to sleep with him, and he would capitalize on that. If Stephanie didn't want to sleep with him, so be it, he could replace her. Then how would she feel? (Pretty satisfied because she wouldn't be thinking about Hunter).

He went out there and cut his usual spiel about being champion. A speech heard far too many times. He should've been paying attention though, instead of getting his shirt torn off by a bunch of women. If he had been paying attention, close attention, he would've realized that Flair had said Dave was the one who thought of the cake, and then gotten suspicious when Dave had said that it wasn't his idea. But no, Hunter, in his infinite stupidity, overlooked this major detail, chalking it up to Bischoff, and therein lie his folly. So it was no one's fault but Hunter's that he ended up face down in a fake cake, his legs flailing, and covered in frosting that no women would ever want to lick off him, not a sane one anyways.

Randy was quite satisfied with how that turned out. Thank God for air-holes though, because it was quite dank inside that cake. He was going to have to send a HUGE tip to that place for setting up that cake so quickly. The look of Hunter covered in frosting, that would be ingrained in his mind forever. When he got backstage, Stephanie was cracking up, and she couldn't even contain herself. Giving Randy a huge thumbs up, he walked off, satisfied for at least the moment. They were right, getting under Hunter's skin was so much fun.

Stephanie was still laughing when Hunter came backstage, covered in frosting from head to toe. It was one of the funniest sights she had ever witnessed, and it tickled her to no end. She received a dirty look from Hunter as she laughed, but she cared not.

"Hey Hunter, what flavor cake was that?" Stephanie asked. "I hope you don't eat it all, it'll go straight to your thighs."

"Shut up bitch!" he roared as he walked quickly away.

She laughed some more, and hoped the rest of the show was this entertaining.

Turned out it was, at least from the person she loved. Chris went out there, his new belt around his waist and he was ready for the show. The people were happy to see him with the belt, and he was happy too. Even happier when he knew a guest was going to be on his show that probably had no intentions of blind-siding him with an attack. After discussing his match last night, and talking about the rather unpleasant fall he took (which he KNEW Stephanie was laughing about at this very moment), he introduced Shawn to the crowd.

He knew that it would probably culminate in a match, but this was a friendly match between two competitive guys. Then Christian came out, another thing he was expecting. He wasn't expecting it to turn into a tag match, but that was Tomko's fault, to which Christian looked shocked. Fighting Chris again was not part of the plan, as he knew that Chris had taken that rather…unpleasant fall last night. Ok, so he chuckled a little bit too. It was funny, in that, "Thank God it didn't happen to me," kind of way. So now he was fighting Chris and Shawn. He would focus more on Shawn, since Chris was his friend and everything.

Eventually, Shawn won the match, which seemed appropriate because Chris and Christian were friends and they didn't really enjoy fighting one another. After the match though, cementing the fact that he hated people, Christian gave the Unprettier to Shawn. It made him look like an ass to someone who was Chris's ally, without actually having to hurt Chris. That should show Edge (who wasn't in the building, but he was watching, oh yes, he was watching), what Christian was doing. Edge would be so proud and then Christian could crush him like a bug. That warranted a deep belly laugh as Chris went to check on Shawn.

Stephanie was waiting backstage for Chris and gave a slight smile to Shawn as Chris helped him back. She sat on her desk while Chris talked to Shawn briefly. Chris walked over to her and kissed her softly while she brushed the sweaty, damp hair out of his face.

"Congratulations on your win," she told him. "You're officially on a winning streak."

"You call two wins a winning streak?"

"I do. And I've been thinking."

"Bout what?"

"About what my dad said earlier, about the announcement."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What if it's about me?"

"Stephanie," Chris said, not wanting her to get her hopes up.

"Well, I heard Daddy talking, and he said it would affect Bischoff. What else could affect Bischoff but bringing me in."

"Baby, I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I know you don't, but…what if it's about me?" she asked again. He gave her a look; it was kind of sad and sympathetic, and it was kind of admiring. It was a hard look to decipher.

"You were eavesdropping."

"I was trying to find out the truth. I'm a McMahon, it's allowed."

"You were eavesdropping. Where were you? Crouched next to a door, behind a chair maybe?"

"No," she said indignantly, giving him a pout. "None of those things."

"Listening at the door with a glass pressed up against it."

"I was not!" she said, stomping her foot down. "I don't have to take this crap from you Captain Ladder Jammed Up My Ass."

"Ouch, someone's snippy."

"I stick it where it hurts," she said, unintentionally making a very funny joke.

"Yeah, let's not talk about things sticking places…let's just talk about you the little spy. Do you have your night vision goggles and microfilm?"

"I was not spying!"

"Then what do you call it?"

"Overhearing."

"Fine, I concede. You're liable to stick something where it hurts Wonder Bitch."

"Shut up Christopher."

"No way Stephanie." Stephanie's face turned serious. Her hopeful eyes turned up to him.

"What if the announcement is about me?"


	232. Raw, September 20, 2004

A/N: Thanks for waiting everyone, I just wanted to include SmackDown stuff in this chapter, and I didn't want to spoil anyone who didn't want to be spoiled.

And a small warning: This chapter is probably just purely fluff, I don't think it advances anything, it's just kind of there as a feel good kind of chapter, so if you're looking for nitty-gritty drama, it's probably not in this chapter, but it might be in the next. ;)

Chris's hair shocked me on Monday, talk about your jaw-dropping kind of thing, and so I had to comment on that a lot in this chapter. He needs to grow that out, and Stephanie needs to grow those bangs out. Maybe they've been going to the same hairdresser…

And finally, a little bit of pimping, I've talked to a lot of people who haven't seen any, or not that many Jericho/Stephanie scenes -gasp- and so I thought I'd let those people know that if you go to my fanlisting (you can find the link on my profile), there are actually videos that I've put up on there of past Jericho/Stephanie scenes, so if you've ever wanted to see the wonderfulness that is Jericho/Stephanie, head over there to watch some great Jericho/Steph footage, and check back cause I've still got lots of stuff to add. :)

Ok, now you can read. ;)

* * *

"I think I got it too short."

"I think you look dashing."

"Dashing is a word that you use when you're trying to be nice, but you really think that they made a huge mistake. I TOLD the guy that I only wanted a trim, and he butchered me, BUTCHERED ME! I'll never be the same again, it was the source of my power."

Stephanie folded her arms and regarded him. "Well, at least we know who the woman in this relationship is now that your hair is most definitely shorter than mine."

"Funny Stephanie, very funny," Chris said, running his hands through his now shorn hair. It was so freaking short he didn't even know what to do with himself. He was crazy; no, the butcher he called a hairdresser was crazy. He missed his hair.

"Oh come on, it grows back," she said, straddling his lap, her legs on either side of his thighs. She leaned closer to him and kissed him. He didn't kiss her back for a moment, still thinking about all of his hair just lying lifelessly on the ground. It wasn't until she slapped him in the arm, that he actually got into the kiss.

"It's too short isn't it?"

"It's a little short," she admitted, wincing a bit. She loved his hair, it was so pretty, and soft, and smelled like kiwi. Granted there was still hair, he wasn't bald or anything, but it just wasn't the same.

"I knew it! I KNEW IT! Get your dad's best lawyers, I'm suing the hairdresser, SUING…see, this is what happens when I don't go to Ferdinand."

"I'm not going to let you sue a hairdresser when it'll grow back. Now, don't you worry anymore about it," she said. "You just worry about your match with Shawn later."

"Ok, but still…so short," he said, pretending to sob.

"How about you stop crying about it, and I'll make it worth your while later."

Chris's eyes lit up, "Well, we're here right now, if you want to take care of me right now, I might feel better."

Stephanie shook her head, "Not going to happen."

"Come on, it'll make me feel better."

"I have to go to work."

"But wouldn't you rather stay with me?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. Of course she would rather stay with Chris, but she also had a job to do. And that job was given to her in the trusting hands of her father, and she couldn't just blow it off, even though Chris was looking rather scrumptious in this light; the way the light glinted off his blue eyes was so enchanting, now that his hair didn't obscure it somewhat. She almost let herself get lost in those eyes. Chris smirked as he watched her zone out.

"See something you like?" he asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I was just thinking about…the wedding, and hoping everyone got their invitations."

"You're such a liar," Chris grinned. "So come on, stay here for a little while. The show isn't starting for another twenty minutes, and we have this big couch to work with…"

"I can't Chris," Stephanie said firmly.

"I need to limber up for my match, so think of it as helping me prepare," he said, trying to entice her in other ways.

"No," she said, again her voice firm and unwavering. She wasn't going to give in to Chris, she wasn't going to give in to Chris, she repeated to herself.

"It'll burn off calories," he told her. "That would be good right, you can work off the lunch we had earlier."

"Oh, and how many calories is having sex going to burn off anyways Mr. Science?"

"Um, a lot," he said, giving her an impish, cheesy grin in order to divert away from the fact that he was basically blowing smoke up her ass in that he just wanted to lay her down on this couch and ravish her.

"I'm not going to have sex with you right here, no way, uh uh, not going to happen, so you just better forget it and find some other way to 'limber' up for your match later."

"Are you saying I should go find another girl?"

Stephanie tilted her head and raised one of her eyebrows. It was not an amused look that was for sure. "If you ever found another girl behind my back, let's just say that would be the last time you saw the light of day."

"Yeah, I know, I've been trained well."

"As long as you know. And the reason I'm saying no is because I have work to do, and my father is in the building this evening. There's no way that I'm going to be having sex knowing my father is walking around this arena, and he could barge in on us, and if that happened, I would never be able to look him in the eye again, not to mention he would grab you by the balls and throw you out of here so fast, you'd get concrete burns on your ass."

"You're no fun."

"Not with my father here," she repeated. "Now if you'll excuse me Mr. Jericho, I have work that needs to be done."

"You get meaner in your old age," he said, crossing his arms as she got up off of him and went over to her briefcase. She looked at him and slammed her briefcase down.

"Excuse me, what was that?"

"I said you get MEANER in your old age. That would be meaner. Since you are turning the big 2-8 in just a few days. You're almost in your 30's."

"I would get MEANER!" she shrieked, glaring at him in the scariest way. She charged him and pinned him down to the couch, hitting his chest as he laughed and tried to grab her arms.

"See, this is exactly what I wanted," Chris said, wiggling his eyebrows in amusement.

"I'm not as old as you are," she said as she calmed down and looked down at him, still having him pinned to the couch with him lying underneath her. She leaned down and brushed her lips against his, Chris tilting his head up to catch more of her lips. She placed her hands on his shoulders, deepening the kiss before pulling away, but still staying within a breath of his lips. "You're an old man."

"That's cause for me to get mad," Chris told her, licking her bottom lip. "Calling me an old man like I'm some sort of cradle-robber."

"Are you going to punish me?" Stephanie said, her voice as smooth as silk as her gray-blue eyes bored into his.

"Do you want to be punished?"

Stephanie bit her lip a little and then pulled away, "Nope, but I think I've punished you enough. See you later sweetie."

With those words, Stephanie got up quickly and straightened her blouse as it had bunched up a little from Chris rubbing her back. She was about to turn and walk out to her desk when Chris wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her back. She smirked to herself as he laid his head against her back.

"Don't leave me," he whined, "I'll be completely lonely, and if I'm so lonely, I'm liable to go find some floozy to sleep with, and it won't be pretty Steph."

"I love you," she said simply.

"That's not fair, you can't use those words to get what you want."

"Ok, how about, I know what my dad's secret announcement is."

"Oh do you now?" Chris said, suddenly more intrigued by this announcement than about anything else. "Is it about you?"

"No, it's not," she said, with only a mild sigh accompanying that. She turned to face Chris, wrapping her arms around his neck and lacing her fingers together against the nape of his neck, playing with his hairline with her thumbs. "It's for the Pay-Per-View being held on a Tuesday, it's about how the fans are going to be participating in how the show is done, who faces whom, and what not. My dad actually got the idea from you."

"Huh? I don't remember saying anything to him that didn't relate to you or the wedding."

"When you asked the fans to help you choose the kind of match that you wanted with Christian. My dad got the idea from that…see you're already fitting nicely into the business end of things, coming up with good ideas. You'll fit right in when we run the company together."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves please," he told her. "We both know that I'm not looking to run this company and that's not what I came here to do, and that's not why I'm marrying you. I will gladly work under your ownership, and any ownership that I get because of you is purely coincidental."

"But Chris," she started. "This is what you're marrying into. You're marrying into my family and into this company, and you don't want to be a part of it."

"Let me be an announcer, or the general manager or commissioner, but I really don't think that I'll be good for the business part of the company."

"We'll see about that," Stephanie said defiantly.

"Stephanie…" Chris's tone held a warning to it, telling her without words that he didn't want to argue about this. She relented and kissed his head.

"Ok, now I really have to go to work, come visit me later."

Stephanie kissed him one last time before walking out of the room. She turned a sharp corner to where her desk was, and went to sit down for another night of hard work. Not that she really minded or anything, but she still missed going out there and being in front of a crowd. She would never admit it, she wouldn't even tell Chris, but she was lying when she said she wasn't bothered by her father's announcement not being about her. She wanted it to be about her; she wanted to replace Bischoff or something of that caliber, but it wasn't meant to be she supposed. So here she sat, like every Monday watching as people paraded out while she sat there.

"Stephanie," Trish said, walking up waving something in her hand, "Look what I got in the mail."

Stephanie laughed, "What is that?"

"A certain invitation to a certain wedding."

"Oh, so you got it, great, we were hoping they got out to everybody."

"This makes it real," Trish gushed. "I'm so happy I could cry."

"No you're not."

"Ok, I'm not, but still…um, can I ask you something though, really quick? Have you heard about Lita's condition?" Trish asked hesitantly. She knew that she had been teasing Lita a lot about the baby and Kane, and everything, but even she was not heartless enough to wish her baby dead. Her and Lita had been friends once and even though that had ended, she didn't seriously wish ill on her.

"I haven't heard anything directly," Stephanie answered seriously. She remembered a time when Hunter had fallen on her and thought that he had harmed their baby, and though she had been lying, Hunter's reaction had been all too real. So in a way, a small, insignificant way, she knew what they were going through, if only because her husband had reacted in the same way that Kane was reacting. Hunter had been ready to murder Kurt in cold blood after he had hit Hunter with a chair. For her and their supposed baby, she sighed again before returning her attention to Trish. "But they said that it's not looking good."

"That's too bad, I never wanted anything bad for her you know," Trish said softly.

"Nobody did," Stephanie said. "Nobody ever wishes for someone to have a miscarriage. I think that it just happens, and life sucks that way. You never expect the bad things to happen."

"Yeah…but yeah, I got your invitation, it's very nice and pretty," Trish said, holding it up as if Stephanie had never seen it. "So how much did your parents have to beg to get their names on here?"

"A lot," she said with a laugh. "They insisted upon it and wouldn't back down until they were. I wanted it to just say, 'Stephanie and Chris would like to invite you,' but they insisted so much that I just couldn't say no."

Stephanie took the invitation away from Trish and looked down on it:

_Vincent K. McMahon and Linda McMahon_

_Proudly invite you to the wedding of their daughter,_

_Stephanie Marie McMahon_

_To_

_Christopher Jericho_

_on the fifteenth of January,_

_in the year two thousand and five_

"Is it too cheesy?" Stephanie asked, looking up at Trish.

"No, I think it's sweet," she responded. "It's a wedding after all, aren't they supposed to be a little bit on the romantic kind of cheesy side?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said, putting the invitation down. "So how do you feel about tonight's match?"

"What do you mean?" Trish asked. "Does Christian have a match or something?"

"Oh, you mean, you don't know?" Stephanie said, biting the top of her pen nervously. She wondered how she was going to tell Trish that she would be teaming up with Molly Holly tonight. There was a history there, and the both of them knew it too. Of course Stephanie knew about it, Trish was her best friend.

"No…" Trish was suspicious now, leaning in a bit closer as if Stephanie had a secret that she was reluctant to tell.

"Well, you're um, well--"

"Spit it out Steph."

"You're teaming up with Molly tonight."

Trish's mouth tightened into a thin line. She and Molly had never been friends, and there was no chance now, especially after what had happened with Christian, what seemed like forever ago. That fear that Christian would cheat on her again had disappeared over time, but there was still that lingering hurt from when he had cheated on her before with Molly. Now she was going to have to be teaming up with her.

"I'm sorry Trish, I wish there was something I could do to break up the match, but Bischoff already has it signed."

"I understand," Trish said, though her face blanched a little. "It had to happen sometime or another, and I guess this is as good a time as any. It was always easier when there was someone else there to mediate between us, but I guess that I'll just have to face this. I mean, Christian is with me right, not with her. He wanted to be with me all along, never with her."

Stephanie patted her hand, "Yeah, just think about that."

"Ok, I better go find her now or something, and do I really have to RSVP to your wedding, because I'm in it?"

"No, you don't have to," Stephanie said, "See you later, good luck with Molly."

"Maybe I'll just bring Christian and gloat in front of her."

"See, now you're thinking positively."

Trish waved to Stephanie and she went back to her work for a while, uninterrupted by anyone. It wasn't until her perpetual nemesis Hunter came up and kneeled in front of her desk that she looked up. When she saw him, she groaned and looked right back down, going back to her work. Maybe if she ignored him, he would forget about her and then leave her alone. Wasn't that how it was supposed to work?

"Stephy, do you know what your daddy's little announcement is?"

"No."

"Oh yes you do, I can tell. Is he declaring my opponent for the night or something? Or is he bringing you back?"

"Neither."

"You can't even look at me when you talk, that's rude Stephanie?"

"I'm working, leave me alone."

Hunter reached out and tipped her chin up. She tried to jerk away from his hand, but he had such strength that it was futile to try and fight it. He gave her what he believed to be a charming smile, but it just relayed to her the kind of rat that he was. For all his claims of love for her, there was always the want; the want for her to do what he wanted, the want for him to be the head of this company and to choose exactly what he did and when he did it. That was all. She wasn't foolish enough to think that Hunter wasn't out to use her in the long run. That was just the kind of man that he was, manipulative and ever so cruel, even to the things he supposedly loved.

"Steph, come on, talk to me. I won't tell your daddy that you told me what he was going to announce, it'll be our little secret."

"Can you not see I'm working?"

"Look you bitch, I don't care what the fuck you're doing, if it concerns me and my belt, then you're going to tell me now before I really get angry," he said, his voice low and rumbling and his grip on her chin tightening.

"I don't think that's going to happen tonight Hunter."

Hunter looked to the side and saw Vince standing there, regarding him in the way a man regarded someone he was about to fire. Hunter chuckled nervously, letting go of Stephanie quickly and taking a step back from her. Hunter was not scared of anyone, but Vince literally held his job in his hands. He couldn't appeal to anybody if Vince did see fit to fire him. So it was either act properly around the boss or get your ass fired. Hunter was going to choose the former, fortunately for us, unfortunately for the vast amount of people who didn't like him.

"Vince, I was just talking to St--"

"Yes, I could see you talking to my daughter, and let me say right now how much it warms my heart that you two could stay on such good terms."

"Yeah, I mean, we've tried," Hunter said. "No hard feelings and all of that. I can learn to forgive and forget. Stephanie's moved on right?"

"She has," Vince concurred. "Though it seems that you haven't quite grasped onto that concept yet. I'm sure Stephanie would've invited you to her wedding, but she and Chris are trying to keep it small."

"Yeah, I heard all about the wedding, sounds nice," Hunter said, very insincerely.

"Good to hear then," Vince said, "I'm sure you'd love to give Stephanie your blessing right now."

Stephanie held back her smile. She couldn't wait to see if Hunter would actually do that. She knew that her father was baiting Hunter, that he was toying with him, and it was quite possibly the most satisfying sight she had ever seen. Hunter may be intimidating, but her father was the ultimate intimidator. He could make a man fall to his knees if he wanted to.

Hunter turned to Stephanie and she simply sat back in her chair. He sucked in his breath a little and mumbled, "Congratulations on your wedding to Jericho."

"Thank you Hunter," she said sweetly, giving him a victorious smile.

"Good, now Hunter, I'm thinking that you better get out of here, and if I ever see you holding my daughter like that again, you better believe I will have you stripped of that title so fast that your head will spin," Vince said, losing the pretense that he was joking around.

Hunter high-tailed it out of there so quickly that Stephanie felt a breeze. She laughed and stood up to hug and greet her father. "Thanks for that Daddy. Though you know I could've handled it myself."

"I know you could've, but I only get to protect you for a little while longer before you get married again."

"Oh Daddy, I'll always be your Princess right," Stephanie said, looking up at him innocently.

"Yes, you'll always be my Princess," Vince said proudly.

Chris was watching Stephanie from afar. Sometimes he liked to do that, to just watch her when she wasn't around him. She was so beautiful sometimes that he couldn't breathe it seemed. He sometimes didn't know how he got to be so lucky with her being with him. Granted, three years ago, he would've thought it a nightmare to end up with Stephanie McMahon, but she was his soulmate, and he hated words like that. But she was, and he was just lucky.

And that's why he hoped that she liked the birthday gift that he had gotten her. Well, it wasn't so much a thing as it was an "it." He had put much thought into what he had given her, and she was sure to like it, or so he hoped. It really wasn't anything all that special, but Stephanie didn't really care what he gave her, she had told him once that she had enough money to buy mostly anything she wanted, and whatever she gave him, as long as it was from his heart, she wouldn't care what it was.

He walked over and Stephanie saw him, and her eyes lit up. She waved him over and hugged him in hello. "Chris, you should've seen it! Daddy came up when Hunter was bugging me, and he made Hunter congratulate me on our wedding! It was great!"

"Sounds like it."

"Before I let you two go," Vince said, "Stephanie, you're coming over to headquarters tomorrow to film the segment for SmackDown right?"

"What segment for SmackDown?" Chris asked.

"Since it's SmackDown's fifth anniversary, Daddy wanted me to film something telling my favorite moment from the show," Stephanie said, "Yeah, I can film it tomorrow Daddy, is that ok with you Chris, or did you want to go back to Florida?"

"No, Connecticut is fine," he said quickly, though Stephanie took no notice. "Um, what are you going to say is your favorite moment? Something with me right?"

"No," Stephanie said casually, even as Chris's eyes narrowed. "Now before you send the angry villagers, most of the moments we had on SmackDown involved us fighting, right?"

"Yeah, but--"

"Fighting with you is not something I consider a favorite moment Chris," she said. "There are great things I remember, but those are not some of them. I don't want people to remember me fighting with you because it's just going to bring back all those old feelings that we fought to forget. So I'm not going to go out there and say that my favorite moment involved me insulting you, or getting you beat up or anything, I'd rather say I liked slapping my mother than saying something like the time I got you gored through the entire set."

"I guess I see your point," he told her. "Even if you did have to ramble on and on to get to it."

"I never ramble, every word out of my mouth is pertinent information."

"No, it's not."

"Ok Jericho, you can just--" He cut her off with a languid kiss, slow and deliberate, but sweet and tender too. She pulled away and licked her lips, savoring the taste.

"What about our kisses? Those can be your favorite moments."

"Mmm, those were some of my favorite moments," she responded, "There's only one little problem. They both happened on Pay-Per-Views."

"Oh yeah, but come on, the people won't know. You can just say whatever the hell you want and they won't even care. They'll be too busy wondering how the hell your dad let you back on the show when he's supposed to hate you."

"They don't know about us making up…that's right," she said. "Great, now there's that to explain."

"Or you can let them jump to their own conclusions," he said. "And I'm sure that everyone misses you right now."

"Nobody misses you."

"I miss you," he said with a pout. "I miss so many things about you."

"Aww, Chris," Stephanie gushed, kissing his cheek.

"Like calling you a ho, and saying that a SummerSlam for you is a quickie on a hot August night, or that you're used to being in the men's locker room, or on your back, or that you have back."

Stephanie scowled, "Out of my face Madam."

"That was a crack about the hair! That was a crack about my hair!" Chris cried, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"Oh, I guess I'm not as old as you thought I was," Stephanie said, covering her mouth to suppress a giggle.

"Sure, I know that you ordered the Rascal scooter the other day, need help getting around?"

"No, I just use yours old man," Stephanie said, sticking her chin out in defiance. "I know that you're not what you used to be. Is that why you got your hair cut so short? Was it coming in gray, and so you got it cut so it's easier to spot those gray hairs."

"This head does not have gray hairs," Chris said, flipping his hair back, though the effect was subdued now that he had no hair, at least to him it was no hair. "You on the other hand, I thought I saw some hair dye containers in the garbage the other night."

"Oh, you wish those were mine, but I believe I detected a 'Just for Men' label on them if I'm not mistaken."

"That was just over the line," Chris said with a sad face. "I can't believe you would say something like that. I'm leaving."

"Oh Chris, you big baby," Stephanie said, trying to reach out for him, but he pulled away from her. She grabbed him a little firmer and hauled him towards her, lightly kissing him. "I love you."

"Yeah, I know. So really? What are you going to say is your favorite moments were?"

"Nothing that has to do with you," she said, "So don't worry about me making you look like a fool."

"I never look like a fool," he said cockily.

"You did when you got a ladder almost shoved up your ass," she pointed out. "You kind of look like a fool with that haircut."

"I'm absolutely leaving right now," he said, turning around and leaving a laughing Stephanie behind him.

Stephanie turned away and went back to work. It was kind of hard having a boyfriend who was a wrestler because he was always stopping by and talking to her, and she would want to stop working. Sure, she could just tell him to leave, but he was Chris Jericho and he was so good-looking that it was always difficult to leave him in any way whatsoever. She loved that man.

Chris's match ended with a run-in by Christian, which wasn't unusual. Christian and his whole little plan; it was kind of cute actually. He was trying to be a big boy conniver, but he was still very little league in some people's mind. Maybe when he actually got his little revenge on Edge, he could step up to the big time.

But that time wasn't soon.

"So what did you say?" Chris asked, jogging almost jumping up and down. She just ignored him, much to his dismay. "Stephy, tell me."

"Don't whine like a baby," she told him. "You'll see it in like ten minutes."

"I can't wait that long," he said, bouncing up and down on the couch, "Tell me now before I go insane!"

"It's within the first hour of the show, and the show starts in…" She checked her watch, "Three minutes, you can't wait a little while longer to know what I said?"

"Nope," he said, grinning so childishly she expected him to have teeth missing or something to complete the innocent picture he was trying to purvey. She wasn't letting herself get excited, but she knew that Chris was excited for her to be on television again. It was something at least. She would be on a show, at least in the very basest of senses. Her face was there, and that was the best she could've hoped for at the moment.

"Quiet down, the show's starting," Stephanie said, as she grabbed the popcorn and popped a few kernels in her mouth, then turned to Chris when the opening started. "Hey, why did you want to go back home tomorrow on such short notice?"

Chris gulped, but grabbed some popcorn quickly, shoving it into his mouth and chewing obnoxiously, "Wecub vy santo."

"Ok, I'll pretend like I understood that."

He swallowed loudly, "Because I want to. I know that there's damage still down around there, but I've talked to people and the house is fine and we have electricity and everything, and I guess I want to check on it for myself."

"Ok, that's all you had to say, you didn't have to go all popcorn commando on me."

"I'm hungry! You're practically starving me here, all I've had today was a Pop-Tart, not even the good chocolate kind, and now this popcorn, I'm a growing boy, don't you think I need to eat?"

"No, I think you could stand to lose some weight," she said, patting his stomach. "Man, feel that beer belly."

"I'm not Austin," he sneered.

"Seriously, with that haircut I thought you were just working your way progressively to the fully bald look."

"Don't even joke about something so heinous as that. If I were ever to go bald…I'd be mobbed by crazy fans who would probably sacrifice me and do some sort of ritualistic dance towards the hair gods."

"I'd protect you," she said, patting his chest. She crawled into his lap and started kissing him. He tried not to get distracted, but he was a guy, and his hot fiancée was sitting on his lap, kissing him in just the right way that she knew drove him wild. She was such an expert kisser it almost made him want to make a slut joke for old times sake. But if he did, this wonderful make-out session would surely end with a vicious slap to the face. He probably would've deserved it though.

Chris laced his fingers through her silky, brown locks and pulled her tighter against him. The show was completely forgotten about as they were too wrapped up in each other. He had just entered the company when SmackDown had started, it was all still new to him, but she was there, Stephanie was always there; he had just taken far too long to notice her for what she was. Many shows had passed since then, a lot where he wasn't even on it, but there were other shows, other times, like the time she got him gored through the set, or the time that she threw a hissy-fit in that see-thru black top. He had never seen that top again, but he still knew every detail of it. His eyes had gotten drunk off that top, loath as he was to admit it at the time. The delicate lacy fabric, patterned in undeterminable shapes, covering up far too little in his mind, giving him too delicious a view of the black bra that lay underneath. He wondered if he could go on the show next week to just say that was his favorite moment; seeing Stephanie in that top, and those tiny vinyl shorts, yeah, definitely his favorite moment.

And then her lips were gone and he tired to get his muddled brain working again. She was turned towards the television, watching anxiously. He was in a daze for a moment (her kisses were like magic or something), before she looked at him and turned his face manually to face the television. They were introducing Stephanie's clip, and she was giddy, he could tell by the way her hands were clasped together. He turned to watch the television, lest he miss it.

She talked about her favorite moment being when she slapped her mother, and Chris laughed, wondering just what Linda thought of that comment. But that was in the past and all had been forgiven (she had been under the thumb, or was it nose, of Hunter at the time, and could be forgiven for all past grievances, except for maybe the hair, Chris was right in calling it a rat's nest), and the way Stephanie said that she had dropped like a sack of potatoes, well, it was a weird analogy, but it worked for Stephanie. He was doubly surprised when she brought up the love triangle. Back then, he hated her, and found the whole thing comical, two men fighting over Stephanie McMahon. It didn't make sense at the time to him, why anyone would find over that trollop.

Now it made perfect sense to him, and yes, it left him feeling a little jealous, if the way he tensed up was any indication. It was one thing to know it happened, but to look back on it, seeing the man he HATED, being all protective of his fiancée, carrying her backstage like an angel of mercy, it was sickening, and Hunter was surely going to bring this up on Raw. Chris could only imagine what he would say about it. But then Stephanie did something subtle in her clip, so almost miniscule that he didn't pick up on it, but knowing Stephanie as well as he did, and knowing every nuance that went with her, he did pick up on it, fairly quickly.

It was the way she mentioned that Hunter had truly loved her. Maybe not many people picked up on it, but he could tell she was holding back a laugh. She was about to laugh at the fact that he loved her. Chris turned to Stephanie, who was still watching the show, and laughing at Kurt kissing her (another point of contention, Chris's best man was Kurt, the very same man they had just shown kissing Stephanie, but he could overlook that, it was four years ago). He cleared his throat when it was over, and she looked at him.

"So what did you think?"

"I thought it was…interesting," he said with a smirk. "Seems you mentioned every guy who's ever kissed you except for me?"

"But Chris, didn't you see how I said Kurt was the worst kisser ever, because he's my friend, and you weren't mentioned because you were best kisser."

"I didn't pick up on that, but I did catch you making fun of your ex-husband."

Stephanie's mouth opened in an "O" of surprise. "Why whatever do you mean? Me? Making fun of Hunter? It could never happen!"

"And the little mention of him truly loving you?"

"Oh, but he did, and he does, and well, I'll be honest with you, very on the level…I don't really like him all that much But come on, did you like my moments?"

"Considering they didn't include me, I guess they were ok…at least you chose Kurt, and not something having to do with Hunter giving you a big, fat ring or kiss or something."

"Chris, sweetie, they asked for our FAVORITE moments, not for the moments that scarred you for life."

The next day, Chris was driving home, with Stephanie sitting in the passenger seat, a blindfold over her eyes. She had complained about it, wondering what the hell he was up to. "Chris, if I find out you are throwing me a surprise party, I'm going to kick your ass because I just got off a plane and I look like shit, and if our friends and family see me in such a state, I'm going to murder you and then dance on your grave."

"Stephanie, stop being so melodramatic."

"I'm not, I look like crap, and I'm in a bad mood," she said, folding her arms and wishing she could rip this blindfold off, but Chris would get mad and probably pull the car over and tie her hands or something.

"Why are you in a bad mood, it's your birthday!"

"I know what day it is, but I'm getting old and that's no fun."

"You're not getting old," he said, rolling his eyes in the comfort of knowing that she wouldn't be able to see.

"You just said the other day that I was getting old."

"I didn't mean it. Do you even know how beautiful you are, because you are. I mean, I look at you, and I think, holy hell, how the fuck did I get that girl to want to marry me. I mean, I'm the envy of men all over the country. Just like you're the envy of women all over the country."

"Just had to get a little ego-boost in there didn't you?"

"Would I be me without one?"

She gave a small smile, "No, and I probably wouldn't love you nearly as much, but I am getting old."

"Think of it this way, you'll have been married twice before your thirtieth birthday. I mean, that doesn't make you old because some people are only married once before their fortieth birthday."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"I'm not looking to make sense," he said, "I'm just trying to keep your mouth shut about why you're wearing the blindfold."

"Well there goes your plan because you told me what you were doing? So what am I going to walk into? Is it going to be like a strip club?"

"Yes, I would take you to a strip club on your birthday," he said in monotone.

"Or is it going to be like a big banquet hall and everyone will be in formal wear but me, and then you'll make me do like the funky chicken or something."

If Chris had been drinking something, he would've spit it out, "The funky chicken!"

"I don't know! This blindfold is harming my ability to think of proper insults. Can't I just take it off? I promise to be surprised when I see everyone jump out at me. I PROMISE!"

"Nope, I'm not biting," he said, as they rounded the corner to their street. "Besides we're almost there."

"Will you at least let me primp? Make sure I don't have airplane-head."

"What's airplane-head?"

"Where my hair looks like crap from the airplane. You don't have to worry about that since you got the local sheep farmer to shear you in time to grow your winter hair."

"Shut up or I'm never taking the blindfold off and I'll walk you right into the ocean."

"I think I'd figure out what you were doing, what with water being WET and all," she said sarcastically as she felt the car stop. "Oh great, let the humiliation commence. I told you weeks ago that I didn't want a big deal for my birthday, but you go ahead and make a big deal about it, and now I have to pretend like I want all these people in my house, and I'll have to be the one who ends up cleaning up and everything."

"I got you a rocking chair so you can sit on the porch and complain all day."

"We don't have a porch."

"Ok, in the driveway, and you can yell at kids if they step on our lawn."

"Good."

"Stephanie, it's your birthday, please enjoy it, you only get one of these a year, and I think you should make the best of it," Chris said, "I mean, really, is it so wrong for someone you love to want to do something nice for you."

Stephanie bit her bottom lip, hating that she had to apologize, "I'm sorry, you're right. I will be on my best behavior and I won't complain, and I'll love everything."

"Thank you, now hold on."

Chris got out of the car, and then went to Stephanie's side, opening the door for her. She blindly reached out her hands, trying to get out without assistance, but Chris quickly lent her his hand and helped her out of the car, the blindfold still securely placed around her head. He closed the door behind her with his foot and put his left hand on her back and held her right hand in his as he led her to the door, Stephanie taking clumsy, awkward steps, thinking that she would trip at any given moment.

"Step," he alerted her as they went up the step to the front door. He unlocked it and led her inside and to the back of the house. Stephanie was getting impatient by now.

"Everyone is being pretty quiet," she whispered to him.

Chris smirked and opened a door, leading Stephanie inside. He stopped her and she sighed in relief, hoping this itchy piece of cloth would finally free of her of her blind prison. Chris took a deep breath, his grin not wavering, but hoping that Stephanie would appreciate what he had done for her. Stephanie yawned and waited.

"Chris, are you going to let me see? And hey to everyone here, thought you had me fooled," she called out.

Chris stood behind her and untied her blindfold. Stephanie was all ready to act surprised and happy, but that had to take a back-seat to the shock and surprise she got instead. There was nobody there, and she felt stupid to just assume that there was going to be a party because she was blindfolded, but this…this she wasn't expecting AT ALL.

It was an office, but it was HER office, she quickly deduced from the things that were on the desk off to one side of the room. It had everything from her office in Connecticut, and Chris had an office, so it would be foolish and weird for him to have two offices. She walked in a little bit more and saw that he had added his own touches here and there, a picture of them sat on the desk, and the WWE calendar on the bulletin board was suspiciously turned to the month where his picture was, despite it not being the correct month. And the Women's title belt that Stephanie had received after her reign was mounted on the wall, much like Chris's belts were dispersed throughout the house.

She had been using Chris's office for work since her father had given her the job of running Raw. He mostly conducted music stuff in there, along with travel schedules and the like, and it had become too cramped for the two of them, so if they both had to do stuff, she was usually relegated to the dining room table, papers strewn about everywhere, and it had become bothersome, and now…this. Stephanie turned to Chris and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tighter than tight.

"Did you add onto the house!" she asked.

"Yeah, I did," he told her.

"You built me an office!" she gushed, pulling away and kissing the heck out of him.

"Well, it's not like I brought out the tool belt and built it with my own two hands. I had people come and build it."

"But…how, I mean, with all the work from the damage around here."

"Your dad tipped me off to some people in Connecticut and your father offered to have them fly down here on the private jet in order to work on it while we were on the road or in Connecticut. Christian and Trish have been checking up on it for me while we were at your house. I paid them a lot of money to have it done on time. I didn't know where we could put your office, and I figured, you deserve your own space. I have my own space in my office, and now you have your own space in yours, and they're on completely different floors so if you're ever mad at me, you can just come in here, slam the door and you can have peace and quiet."

"You've thought of everything."

"I know you didn't want anything special, and I've given you enough jewelry to last you five lifetimes, and there's stuff I'm going to give you for the wedding, and you always say to get you something practical, and this was the most practical thing I could think of," he said with a slightly embarrassed shrug.

"You built me an office," she said, the spun around to look at her desk. "You built me an office, I can't believe this!"

"Yeah, so…enjoy! And happy birthday."

"Thank you," she said with another hug. "Thank you so much."

"You also have your own phone line and fax machine, and everything, so you know, you can work from home and everything."

"You did think of everything," she said with a smile. "And thank you especially for no party."

"I do sometimes listen when you talk to me," he pointed out, but before he could make another point, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Stephanie chirped and ran out into the foyer to answer the door, a big bouquet of roses greeting her.

"Ms. McMahon?"

"That's me," Stephanie said.

"These are for you, sign here," the delivery person said. Stephanie signed off on them and took the roses from the guy. Chris walked into the foyer just as she closed the door. "And you got me flowers, thank you Chris!"

"I didn't get you any flowers," Chris told her, "And if I had, I would've gotten you lilies because they're your favorite."

"They must be from Daddy and Mom then," Stephanie said, inhaling the rich scent as she looked for a card, she saw it and plucked it out of the bouquet. "Here it is."

_Happy 28th Birthday_

_I actually don't congratulate you on your wedding_

_-Hunter_

Needless to say, that bouquet met the trash in no time at all.


	233. Raw, September 27, 2004

The roses didn't stay in the garbage too long after all.

Stephanie had picked them out, and then found the loveliest vase she could find for it. Filling it with water, she gently arranged the beautiful flowers (thorns still attached, seems that Hunter was a little careless), and set them right in the middle of the front hallway for all the world to see.

Now she was on her way to work, the flowers wrapped up nicely in her lap. She wanted to bring them to the show to show Hunter how much she appreciated the kind gesture. Oh, she appreciated that he still thought of her, and hadn't forgotten her birthday. They had only been married two years after all, and had been divorced for longer than two years, so it was easy to forget a birthday, but he hadn't, and she had to repay him for his kindness.

Chris was coming later with Trish, as Christian was coming with Edge, who for some reason had insisted he be there. Maybe he thought he would interfere or something, she didn't know, nor did she care. Whatever Edge did was Edge's own business and she didn't care what happened to him unless he was to hurt Chris again. Trish wasn't with Christian, because he was trying to put some "distance" between them, imposing upon Edge the idea that he was not on the best of terms with his girlfriend. Edge would be just gullible enough to buy it.

Before she knew it the limo driver was opening her door for her and getting her bag. After thanking him and giving him a generous tip, she walked into the arena, briefcase in one hand, flowers in the other. Now that she was the mature age of twenty-eight, she wanted to show Hunter that she had matured as well, and wouldn't hold grudges any longer. Her music didn't lie, she truly had grown up.

She went immediately to her desk, setting some of her things down. She had a meeting with Bischoff first off and she wanted to be prepared for any onslaught he decided to invoke upon her. He would prey on any kind of weakness that she showed, and she wasn't going to let him. He seemed to forget that she was running the show, and he was merely the puppet through which she worked.

"Flowers? For me Stephanie, I wasn't expecting this at all," Bischoff said, hand over heart. "I never knew you cared."

"Get over yourself Bischoff," she said, rolling her eyes. "They were for me, from someone, for my birthday."

"Oh, it was your birthday and I didn't even know it, well Happy Birthday Stephanie, how old are you?"

"None of your business," she said shortly. "Let's just get down to business so that we don't have to speak for the rest of the evening, shall we?"

"Fine, someone gets meaner in their old age," Bischoff said with a smirk.

"What do we have to discuss?"

"Taboo Tuesday and the four people that get to face Hunter."

"Great," she said with a fake smile. She didn't want to think about Hunter having that title anymore. "Who are we aiming for? Obviously Randy is a contender."

"I'm not so sure," Bischoff said. "I think we should make him earn it."

"No," she replied, "Are we going to make anyone else earn it?"

"I was thinking no," Bischoff told her, "But really, don't you think that he should earn it? He really only held the title for a short time."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything. We can't just let him slide in. Besides, I already cleared it with your father, so it's on just like I want it to be."

"You little weasel! You go through all that just to tell me that you already set it up. Just tell me next time before I get pissy and do something like make all of those stipulations an option in your match against Eugene. I would really love to see you with a shaved head, in a dress, serving Eugene," she said smartly.

Bischoff paled as she brought it up, but he refused to let her see that she had him beat. He was Eric Bischoff and he just didn't do that. "Fine, next time I'll give you the courtesy. The other guy I want in the picture is Edge."

"What the hell has Edge done to deserve a title match? The guy hasn't even been here for a while."

Stephanie knew that him proposing Edge would get on her nerves. He was a wily one and made sure he knew many of the goings-on surrounding him. Stephanie wanted to kick that smarmy smile right off his face. He couldn't be more obvious to her right then, but she held her tongue, not wanting this to turn into an all-out fight. But if she could, she would've fought him.

"Fine, bring him in, what do I care? But since you got the stipulation on Randy AND you get to put Edge as a contender even though he has done NOTHING, then I get to choose the final two contenders and that is final, and if you want to go to my father, then go right ahead because I'm sure he'll agree with me."

Bischoff knew that she had him right where she wanted him. She was going to get a lot of say in this, and she would probably put in her fiancé and her friends into this match. "Who?"

"Michaels and Benoit, I think it's only fair," she said. "And that Eric is how you make a good decision without beating around the bush. As for this meeting, it's over, and I have another person I need to go speak to."

"I'm surprised you didn't put your fiancé into the match. It would've been quite the coup."

"Chris earns his spot around here, he's not entitled to anything any more than anyone else. He works for what he has."

"And that's why the IC belt conveniently got taken away from Edge?" he asked, looking at her intently.

"There are rules we need to abide by Eric, and I didn't see you clamoring for him to keep the belt. Just because you happen to know that I have problems with Edge and you happen to want to exploit them doesn't mean anything, just so you know."

She quickly snatched the flowers and with a glare, she turned on her heel and went in search of the person that sent her the flowers. She didn't need Chris to be here for this, so she cradled the flowers in her arms nicely and went to the Evolution locker room. She knocked on the door, a silly smile plastered on her face. Dave Batista answered the door, giving her a mean look, but then, wasn't every look from him a little mean.

"What the hell do you want?"

"To speak to Hunter."

"No."

"Yes," she nodded. "Look, you can either let me see him now, or he can get mad at you for not telling him that I'm here. Your choice."

"Fine," he said gruffly, slamming the door in her face. Stephanie looked to the ceiling, taking a deep breath. That man was so scary sometimes, but she would never let him know it. She was still looking up at the ceiling when the door swung open quickly and Hunter emerged. She quickly put the smile back on her face. "Hunter!"

He looked suspicious, "What?"

"I got the flowers," she said, holding them up carefully. "They're simply beautiful."

Hunter was not expecting her to even have them, let alone thank him for them. It had been a moment of impulse for sure and he wasn't sure how she would react. He had remembered her birthday, and yes, he wanted her to know that he remembered. Chris had probably done something for her, but he couldn't top that with something, so he sent her this small gesture. Seeing she was thanking him, he let a smile come over his face.

"You're welcome, I knew you'd like them."

"I did, they were so wonderful, I put them right where everyone could see them."

"You did?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded, "I wanted everyone to see what you had done for me. I couldn't believe you remembered."

"Of course."

"Can I show you what I really thought of them?" Stephanie said, batting her eyelashes serenely.

"Absolutely," he answered, licking his lips as he gazed at her face.

He really shouldn't have been staring at her face as she took the flowers and hit him across the face with them, sending red petals flying all over the floor and the loud smack of the stems as they hit him across the face. He was stunned by the blow, and was more stunned when she did it again. She dropped the flowers at her feet and then proceeded to stomp on them and squish them with her heel.

"THAT'S what I thought of your stinking flowers. You don't congratulate me, what a fucking crock Hunter, you're just so damn jealous of Chris and me. Get a life you wacko," she said hotly, walking away and leaving a stunned and scratched up Hunter behind. He really should've had the thorns taken out.

She dusted off her hands and walked back to her station where she would try to get a little work done. She was just rounding the corner when someone grabbed her arm from behind. Thinking it was Hunter, she swung her free arm around quickly and slugged the person behind her.

"OWW!" Randy said, grabbing the side of his head.

"Oh my God, Randy, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, fingers going immediately to where she had hit him, but Randy flinched at her touch. "I thought you were Hunter."

"Why would think I was Hunter?"

"Well, I kind of just hit him with the flowers he sent me for my birthday and I thought he might be especially angry with me and could've come after me for it."

"Oh, makes sense, did you get my birthday message on your machine. I called your house in Connecticut because of the whole situation in Florida."

"Yeah I got it," she told him, "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, I didn't know if I should get you something. What do you get the girl who has everything?"

"Nothing, I'm fine with just a phone call," she said, hugging him.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"

Stephanie turned and saw a very red-faced Ric Flair approaching her. He looked especially irate about something, and neither Randy nor Stephanie knew who exactly he was directing his anger at. When he got right into Stephanie's face, even causing her to take a step back, they figured it was towards her.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"What! What! Do you know who you hit? Do you have ANY idea who you hit with those flowers!"

"Yes, I hit Hunter."

"You can't hit the champ, don't you know who he is!" Flair yelled.

"Well, yes I did, I was married to him for two years. I think it's safe to say that I know him a little bit better than you do. I did sleep with the man…unless there's something you want to tell me Ric?"

Randy snickered at that. Flair was always being a lackey to Hunter. It was sad really, this was what he had been reduced to, after a career that most men only dreamed of. Flair was almost a god among wrestling, achieving things that other men merely imagined. Being a 16-time champion, that number was almost into the stratosphere. Yet, here he was, only being Hunter's right hand man. Didn't Flair know that he was better than that? Maybe someone should tell him.

"You can't touch the champ, he IS this company!"

"No Ric, everyone is this company and don't forget it, now unless you have something really important about the show to discuss with me, you can leave."

"Fine, but never hit the champ again!"

"Whatever," Stephanie said, turning back to Randy, "Sorry about that."

"Hey, I know how it is, they're after me too…do you ever get the feeling that Flair wants out?"

"I've never looked," she shrugged. "I better get back to work though."

"Ok, good luck."

"Thanks, you too, I have it on strictest confidence that you're facing Batista tonight," she whispered. "You have to win if you want a shot at the title at Taboo Tuesday."

"Thanks for letting me know."

"You're welcome, now get outta here," she said, giving him a playful shove.

Trish sat in the car with Chris, as he drove to the arena. She was just staring out the window. She didn't like that Christian was hanging around with Edge. Edge was liable to get him to go out to a strip club or something and then cheat on her. Edge was pretty persuasive when he wanted to be. She didn't want Christian to do something stupid.

"If you want to talk, I'll listen," Chris told her. "There's nobody else here."

"I'm just worried about Christian, you don't have to worry too."

"What about Christian, is something wrong with him?"

"Is anything right with him right now?" she asked sullenly. "He just wants so badly to prove that he's better than Edge, that I'm afraid that he's going to do something incredibly stupid, and I don't want that for him."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Yeah, but he just insists that he knows what he's doing. I just don't want him to get in over his head. He really does love Edge, they're brothers, but Edge has that complex that he thinks he's better, and it makes Christian feel like nothing, and Christian is far from nothing. He's just as successful as Edge. The only thing that Edge really has on him is that King of the Ring win."

"And that's what really set them apart wasn't it. I remember how Christian reacted to that…"

"It wasn't his fault!" Trish said firmly and loudly. "Edge was the one who got all the attention and everyone was ignoring Christian, he had no choice in the matter."

"You're defending him pretty strongly. I seem to recall you had your eyes on Jeff at the time."

Trish rolled her eyes, "I don't know what I saw in him when someone as good as Christian was around me."

"Same way I couldn't see Stephanie," Chris said, "Your perspectives change and so do your tastes. Honestly, I can't picture you with Jeff. He's…Jeff, and you're not…what I pictured him with."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Very good. Besides, Christian loves you and he needs you Trish, no matter what, he needs you. I think he needs you more than Edge right now. He's choosing you over Edge you know, this is part of the reason he's doing what he's doing."

"Yeah, thanks for making me feel better about it Chris."

"Hey, I'm Chris Jericho, I can solve any and all problems. I should really tackle world peace next. I think that I can do it."

"Oh get your ego out of the clouds will you?"

Edge smirked as he crutched his way down the hallway. Christian wasn't even around Trish and hadn't seen her all day. Maybe he was finally getting through to his brother that he didn't need Trish, that he needed to hang out with him, and it would be better, they could be the best of friends, and the closest of brothers again.

Christian was not smirking, but looking around for Trish. All his brother talked about all through the car ride was how they were going out on the town tonight, and how they were going to have so much fun. If he didn't see Trish soon, he was going to explode from all the crap that Edge was feeding him. It was beyond painful to listen to.

"I'm going to head to catering," Christian said, cutting off whatever the hell Edge was saying, not that he cared or anything. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, fine, I'm gonna go see the winner of the diva thing, see if she wants to go out tonight."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Christian mumbled as he hung a hard right and headed straight for Trish's dressing room. He slipped inside, seeing Trish sitting alone on the couch, seemingly thinking to herself. She looked up and saw Christian and smiled brightly, getting up and rushing to him, enveloping him in a hug. He closed his eyes and just embraced her.

"I missed you today," Trish said. "I didn't even get to tell you my plan for later with that diva bitch."

"Catty," Christian said, "Just how I like it."

"Yeah, I'm in cahoots with Molly and Gail, can you believe that! But seems they're the only ones around here that actually hate this stupid diva thing. Besides Steph of course, but she just runs the show ya know."

"Molly and Gail?"

"Oh, it's ok Chrissy, I'm ok with it," Trish said, reassuring him, kissing the corner of the mouth. "So what kind of crap has Edge been saying? Did he say something crappy about me?"

"That you're an airhead."

Trish gasped. "Well, obviously he doesn't know me does he? I would run circles around him if we were doing an intelligence test. Who does he think he is!"

"Calm down, I told him you were really smart. And obviously Edge isn't if he's falling for everything I'm putting out there."

"You're so right. By the way, Steph loved the gift."

"Awesome, I have a match against Chris and Michaels tonight Stephanie signed on it, so Bischoff can't change it."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I'm positive. What better way to do this than to just fight against the good guys, one of whom is my friend?"

"I don't know, but you have fun in your match, and I'll fun I my little party for the new diva," Trish said with a smirk. "You'll just have to wait and see what I'm going to do to her."

"Trishy, what are you planning?"

"Chrissy, don't you trust me?"

"Not as far as I can throw you," he joked.

"You'll have to wait, just like everyone else," she giggled, kissing him again as she pushed him towards the couch.

"Hey there beautiful," Chris said, sitting down next to Stephanie later on in the show. "I saw what happened with your ex earlier. Can he get any more self-centered."

"Nope."

"I guess he didn't take too kindly to the flowers to his face."

"Would you?"

"No, but I would've liked to have seen it."

"He would've picked a fight with you," she said calmly. "I took care of him."

Chris kissed her as she listened to stage directions to the show. Luckily it was a commercial and she could kiss him back to her heart's content. She placed her hand on his shoulder as he leaned in closer, practically laying on her. She didn't care at the moment though, it's not like they didn't make out everywhere else.

"So you have a match later," she said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, I know, against Christian. And that other guy with the weird tattoos. I figure I'll let Christian do whatever and I'll just help him along, maybe make it look like he's hurting me more than he really is."

"That's nice of you. I mean, I don't expect you to lay down for him."

"Chris Jericho lays down for nobody…unless you want me to lay down and then you could have your way with me," he told her, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh yes, I want to take you right here on the table in front of everyone. It's always been a fantasy of mine to do it in public," she said softly.

"Really!"

"NO! Well…actually, I've kind of always wanted to do it in the ring. I think that would be all kinds of sexy," she said seductively, kissing him ever so gently.

"Stephanie, you're going to get me all worked up, and then I'm going to have to break the rule about no sex at the arena, and do you really want that?"

"Hmm…I kind of want you right now."

"Steph," he whined. "Don't make me all horny and then you turn around and go right back to work. You know what that does to me!"

"It makes you very frustrated and then you walk right into my hands," Stephanie said, smirking at him playfully. "And I have to admit that it would be very arousing if you were to beg right now."

"Chris Jericho does not beg."

"Then Stephanie McMahon does not put out."

"You are vicious."

"I know," she responded. "You don't get anywhere being the nice girl. You have to be the bitch every once in a while. And darling, I think this is the perfect time for me to be a bitch."

"I'm getting ready for my math later, thanks for nothing," he frowned.

"Have fun with your hand," she said, waving at him.

"Not funny Stephanie, you'll just have to help me out later."

"We'll see."

Later on though, they were watching Randy's match with Batista, Chris in his locker room, Stephanie at the gorilla. Batista had most of the upper hand, as was custom in any of his matches. He was a big guy and he commanded attention whenever he was in the ring. Randy was holding his own though, as he had not been pinned. He knew what this match was for, and he knew that he had to win. He had tasted that first World title win, and he wanted more. He was like a glutton now, wanting it, and needing it like he needed air to breathe.

When Hunter came down, he wasn't surprised. It was a no disqualification match and Hunter did not want him to be able to compete against him. It was kind of sad that Hunter had to resort to this, but it was well-documented that Hunter would do anything to keep his title, even the stupid, lowly things like interfering in a match. Randy was now laid out in the ring, and Hunter had a chair. He heard a cheering and then saw Flair's feet in front of him.

His vision was a little blurry but he saw Flair snatch the chair out of Hunter's hands. For a moment he thought that Flair had come to his senses and gotten out of Hunter's grasp. He thought he would finally get Evolution to split up, and maybe with Flair he could get Batista. And then Hunter would have no one, and if he had no one, that would be the most ideal of situations, and he actually believed it, getting up to go to Flair.

Except he got a kick to the crotch instead, and then a chair to his already tired body. He should've known better, but the beating he had sustained obviously skewed his thinking processes. As the beating commenced, and Hunter yelled at him, he tuned the world out, going into an almost catatonic state. He heard Hunter yelling about the title, mentioning Stephanie in there every so often, and then it was gone, and there no more noise and he was dragging himself up and out of the ring.

Hunter stormed backstage and he still had the chair in his hand when he saw Stephanie taking off her headset as the show was over. Hunter walked over to her as she stood up and she glared at him. He just smiled calmly at her.

"Go away," she said, thinking it would be that easy, but it never was.

Hunter, in his rage, did a stupid, stupid thing as he threw away the chair and pinned Stephanie to the wall with one of his hands holding both her wrists above her head and the other one at his waist, his face centimeters away from hers. There wasn't anyone around as most everyone had gone home after their segments. Chris was here, but he might still be in the shower or something.

"Don't you ever hit me again," he growled.

"Where's all this anger coming from Hunter?" Stephanie said, keeping her calm. Hunter would never hurt her. He may be a bastard, but he would never hurt her.

He didn't know what to say, being so angry. Randy was still dragging himself backstage when he saw what Hunter was doing to Stephanie and with the last ounce of strength he had, he lunged at Hunter, tackling him to the ground, punching him over and over again, not caring anymore, not seeing anything but red. Whether it was blood or not, he couldn't tell.

"Don't you touch her!" Randy screamed, surprising even himself. "Leave me the hell alone you asshole, just get the hell out of here, nobody even likes you! You're such a goddamn bastard you son of a bitch, you can't even win a match without doing something that's considered cheating you fucking bastard!" Randy said, hitting him and hitting him, not caring that he was probably actually hurting him.

Randy and Flair were trying to pull Randy off of Hunter, who could only try to protect himself from the blows. But Randy had suddenly developed that condition where you suddenly gain super-human strength and knocked both Dave and Flair in the jaw, which took them out of commission. Then he felt two strong arms pulling him away and saw it was Chris. Randy finally calmed down enough to let Chris pull him back, his breath coming in angry pants as he was spent. He almost collapsed in exhaustion had it not been for Chris holding him up.

Stephanie looked startled as she took in the little spots of blood covering Randy's face from where he had hit Hunter, and his knuckles had Hunter's blood all over them. Dave and Flair were tending to the almost unconscious Hunter as Chris took Randy over to a corner and held him up as he tried to breathe normally. Randy looked down at his hands covered in blood. He looked like Hunter did after he pulverized Regal.

"What the hell happened here?" Chris asked, looking around confused as he had only walked in on the scene when Randy was punching Hunter.

"I couldn't take it anymore," Randy said, almost lunging at Hunter again. "I couldn't take him anymore."

"Randy, you have to control yourself," Stephanie said softly. "You can't let him get to you. It's what he wants."

"I'm sorry Steph, but I can't."

"You almost killed him."

"Yeah, and the scary thing…I'd do it again if I had the chance."


	234. Raw, October 4, 2004

Sometimes in life there are people who never seemed to leave it…despite the fact that you want them gone and never to come back again. But they keep showing up, maybe by coincidence, maybe by design, maybe they are supposed to be there, but you don't want them to be. But your paths keep crossing, and your lives keep intermingling, and you are powerless to stop it, you just have to simply call it what it is…life.

And that person for Chris Jericho was unsurprisingly, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Maybe it was his own fault. Maybe he shouldn't have ever gotten involved with Hunter, never provoked him. It would've saved him a lot of trouble, and he'd probably be holding onto a lot more blood, and have fewer scars. And then maybe he would be able to avoid Hunter, and not be bothered by any of his crap day in and day out.

He wasn't that lucky.

Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that Chris was engaged to Stephanie. That probably was the gist of it, though it didn't explain Hunter's hatred for him before he got with Stephanie, ok, so maybe it did, since before he was with her, he loved to torment her. Hunter didn't like that very much, and that was probably why he saw fit to hate him.

And so began his problems tonight.

After Randy had so unceremoniously kicked Hunter's ass last week, he could feel Hunter's presence around, like he was just plotting his demise or something. Hunter probably was too. He was the kind of guy who knew what he was going to do long before he did it. Chris guessed that Hunter had been a Boy Scout when he was younger, because he subscribed religiously to the "be prepared" theory.

But there was this air about, and he could feel tonight could be volatile. Earlier, Randy had found out that he was banned from the arena for "safety reasons." It was probably Bischoff up to his old antics, doing favors for people that he found favorable, and Hunter was one of the people he favored. His lips were permanently stitched to Hunter's ass, and Chris shouldn't have expected anything less.

Stephanie had the night off, just because she had been working so hard, and her father thought she deserved a break. She was a little bit nervous about the show going off without a hitch without her. The McMahon theory was that if they weren't in charge, than things were sure to go downhill. Stephanie used SmackDown as her own person example of this theory. She was on the phone with Randy at the moment, while he shined his belt, and thought about Hunter.

"Randy, if you want to come, I can get you a pass and override Bischoff's orders, if that's what you want. I don't think you'll be able to stay long, because Bischoff is probably going to have security on you really quick, but still, you can come."

"Thanks Steph," Randy said, "I won't stay there long, just long enough to get a little bit of revenge for last week, and this week for kicking me out."

"Hunter had you kicked out I'm sure," she said, "I'll have a talk with him."

"You'll do no such thing," Chris interjected.

Stephanie waved him off, "I'll take care of it Randy, you just get here if you can, and we'll work out the details at a later date. You'll probably have a match for Taboo Tuesday announced as well, I'm sure it'll probably be against Flair or Batista."

"Either one is fine I'd love to get my hands around either one of their necks."

She laughed, "I'll see what I can do. Bye."

"Bye Steph."

With that she hung up the phone and looked over at Chris sitting next to her. He had a skeptical look on his face and she shrugged at him, signaling that she didn't know what he was looking at her like that for. He shook his head a little bit, mostly in disappointment, that much she could tell, but as for the reason, she had no clue.

"Stop looking at me like that," she told him.

"You said you weren't going to do any work tonight," he told her. "It's your night off, you should be partying, boozing up, stripping me of my clothes and taking advantage of me."

"I'm not going to strip you of your clothes. And I would never take advantage of you, I would always make sure that you consented to anything I wanted to do to you."

"You would never have to ask because I give you permission to do whatever you want to me," he said, raising his eyebrows in excitement.

"Oh, well in that case, get on your back and let's see what you're made of," she told him, sounding very serious. Serious enough that he didn't know whether or not to get on the couch or what. But when she started laughing, he scowled at her and ran a hand through his hair, though it lacked the lusciousness it used to.

"Don't tease. I won't put out tonight if you do."

"Aww damn," she said, lowering her voice so it sounded like a guy. "And here I was hoping to score tonight. I need to get laid."

"I hope that's not an impression of me," Chris pouted, crossing his arms over themselves and tucked his chin against his chest.

"No, my impression of you would be more like, 'I need to get laid right this second and I can't wait until tonight so just tear your clothes off and let's get to it,' that's you."

"Yeah, that's me, I'm so sure," he said back, sounding like a little kid. She leaned over to kiss him, but he pulled back at the last second, not wanting her kiss at all. She rolled her eyes and leaned in a little closer. He moved away again and she almost ended up kissing the couch cushions.

"So I get no kiss?"

"Sorry Stephy, seems like I CAN wait to score, unlike your stupid little impression of me."

She pulled back, "You're not honestly mad are you?"

"That's something you'll have to figure out by yourself now isn't it?" Chris said, standing up. "If you'll excuse me Miss McMahon, I have other people's company that I would rather be in than yours."

"Chris, come on, you're not really mad are you?" Stephanie said, kneeling on the couch to look at him. Chris went to the door and grabbed the knob before turning back to Stephanie briefly.

"Why should I tell you?" he answered snottily.

Stephanie got up and went over to him, hanging onto his arm. "Because you're my fiancé and I love you very much."

"Yeah, but I'm apparently only in it for the sex."

"I never said that!"

"You implied it though, I'll see you later."

"Chris…please don't be mad, I didn't mean to."

"Whatever Stephanie," Chris said, shaking her off and walking out the door. Stephanie looked at the closed door for a moment before cursing loudly. She grabbed the nearest thing in the room, a crystal trinket on a side table and hurled it to the wall. Her and her big mouth. She didn't realize such an innocent comment could make Chris so mad.

She needed a breath of fresh air, and instead of cleaning up the broken glass on the floor, she left it for some poor janitor to clean up. She stalked out of the room and down the hall, sparing nary a nice look for anyone, even people she considered more than an acquaintance.  
She was mad at herself for saying something stupid, although unintentionally and she was upset at Chris for being such a baby about it.

"Stephanie, can I talk to you?"

Stephanie looked up to see Hunter. She didn't feel like seeing him right now, since it would probably only make her anger level rise, but he looked so almost…earnest in his request that she nodded, giving in to him. Hopefully he wasn't going to berate her for letting Randy beat him up, or try to get revenge on her by luring her into a false sense of security. She walked into his locker room and took a seat.

"Hunter, if this is going to end with me yelling at you, can you just warn me right now so that I can save myself a lot of trouble and just leave right now," Stephanie told him up front.

He sat next to her and licked his lips. "Actually, for once, no, I don't want it to involve you yelling or anything."

"Look, about last week--"

"I'm sorry," he quickly said, causing her head to snap up to look at him in amazement. He had just done something she never thought he would do, and that was apologize.

"For what?" she asked, just to make sure he wasn't going to say that he was sorry for her being with Chris, or something equally embarrassing to himself.

"For acting like I did. You don't deserve someone shoving your or trying to intimidate you or anything, and I'm sorry that I did, and I wanted to apologize for it…sincerely, and I'm being totally sincere her for once, so um, there, and don't expect that to happen again because I don't apologize to anyone, so you can forget about me repeating it. I only say things once."

"Well, I know that's not true," she joked, and he actually laughed.

"Ok, so I repeat myself when it counts then."

"That's better."

"And to apologize, I got you something."

Stephanie shook her head. "Hunter, I can't accept anything from you, no matter how nice and honest you are being. I just can't. We're broken up, we've been broken up for a long time, and I wouldn't go back."

"Stephanie, just let me give it to you, I promise you'll like it."

"I'm engaged Hunter," she told him.

"I was too scared to want you back," he said, his eyes turning to narrow slits as he thought about it. "I don't get afraid of a lot of things, but I was afraid of you. It sounds silly and it really is, but I was afraid to say something. You hated me."

"I did hate you, I still do for some reasons. You were never a good husband. You were barely tolerable most of the time. I was really only happy with you about a third of the time that we were married and that's really sad Hunter."

"But you were happy? At least a little?"

"Sometimes, yeah, I guess you could say I was happy."

"So I wasn't a complete failure?"

"Not complete," she told him. "We just weren't meant to be together, you know."

"We could've been great."

"There are no such things as could have's. If you could have, then you would have."

He turned around on her and pulled something out of his bag. He turned to her and presented her with a simple black box with a pretty pink ribbon tied on the top of it. She looked at him suspiciously and he thrust it out a little, gesturing for her to take it. She was hesitant though, for obvious reasons.

"I can't Hunter….Chris…"

"What? Does he control your every move now?" Hunter asked. "Because if he is, then he's got to be worse than me, right?"

"He doesn't control me. If he controlled me, do you think that I would be sitting here with you now? No, he would've banned me from seeing you a long time ago. Not that I shouldn't ban myself from seeing you, but I'm a very forgiving person," she said, then they both cracked up. "Ok, so I'm a glutton for punishment."

"Take the gift Steph, think of it as a belated birthday gift if you have to. I don't think you liked the flowers," he said, rubbing his cheek.

"I loved them until I found out you had sent them."

"Well, then you at least liked them for a second, take it, I swear, it doesn't bite."

Knowing that he wouldn't let up any time soon, and he wouldn't let her leave until he got to give it to her, she took the present, but stared at it. He pushed it towards her and she looked at it with trepidation. She tentatively pulled on the ribbon, loosening it easily and discarding it to the table to her right. She looked up at him before lifting the top off the box. She gasped and looked up at him, the tears springing in her eyes immediately.

"Oh Hunter…" she whispered, her voice trailing off as she stared at the gift. "You shouldn't have."

"You like it?" he asked hopefully.

"I can't believe that you remembered about this," she told him. "How did you remember?"

"I still remember some of the stuff that you told me, I'm not stupid Stephanie. I was walking with the boys one day around New Orleans and it caught my eye, and I remembered how you pointed out the brooch that your grandmother wore from some old pictures and it looked like it and yeah…so there you go."

"I can't believe that you remembered the brooch. I don't know where it ended up, but this looks exactly like it. She used to wear it on all our special occasions and I remember that she would let me wear it whenever it was my birthday and it made me feel like such a grown-up that I could wear such a pretty brooch. Hunter, oh my God," Stephanie said, and before realizing what she was doing, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, which he returned eagerly, it being the first time she was willingly in his arms.

"You're welcome."

"This is so special, thank you," she said, a few tears escaping her eyes, which she surreptitiously wiped away, before pulling back to smile at him. "I may have doubted you in the past, but thank you so much for this, you have no idea what it means to me."

"I'm not a jerk all the time," he shrugged. "I just wanted to remind you of that."

Stephanie leaned in and kissed his cheek, her lips lingering a little too long on his skin, which Hunter seized the opportunity to. He kind of nudged his face towards hers and then touched his lips to hers, softly at first, not wanting to scare her. He kissed her fully on the lips and she was in such a daze over his gift, she didn't pull away, but she didn't kiss him back either. When she became clear of what had happened, she pulled away with a gasp.

"Oh God, you kissed me!" she said in exasperation.

"You didn't stop me," he pointed out.

"I was overwhelmed by your gift and you kissed me," she told him, which was exactly the truth. "You took advantage of me."

"Stephanie, I did not, you kissed my cheek first," he said, which was also the truth, unfortunately.

"Nothing happened!" she screeched, standing up. "Nothing happened, and I didn't want to kiss you, and you kissed me! You took advantage of the fact that I relished in your gift and you kissed me because of that!"

"Stephanie, I don't think that I did anything you didn't want me to do."

Stephanie shook her head furiously, rushing out the room, trying to catch back her lost breath. She didn't know what to do and she looked from side to side. She chose one way to go and went with it. She still had the brooch in her hand, probably not even realizing it as she spotted Chris down one of the hallways speaking to Benoit. She was about to turn the other way when he spotted her and waved her over. She made no move to go over, and he said his goodbyes to Benoit before walking over to Stephanie.

"Hey baby, I'm sorry about earlier, I know you were joking and I'm sorry I was acting like a jerk, I'm not mad at you or--hey, what's that?" he asked, looking down at her hand, where the box was. She was too stunned to do anything as he grabbed the box from her. He looked at it for a second and then looked up at her quizzically. "Where did you get this?"

"It was…a gift," she answered.

"Cool, from who?"

"Someone," she answered. That was a stupid thing to say because a vague answer is just a killer when someone is questioning you. Chris looked suspicious now and it was her own doing.

"Who someone?"

"Nobody, don't worry about it."

Chris studied her carefully. "Why is your lipstick smeared?"

She reached up to touch her lips, as if that could somehow hide the fact that it was smeared. She looked stricken, like a deer in headlights when Chris asked that. She didn't have an answer, a lie anyways. The truth would do no good to her right now. It wouldn't work, Chris would flip, he would kill Hunter, and then he'd kill her, and then he'd go to jail and she didn't want him to go to jail.

"I must've been in a hurry and just let myself forget to touch up," Stephanie said weakly, biting her lip and knowing that sounded even worse than her "someone" faux pas.

"Stephanie, were you," he gulped, "were you kissing someone?"

She didn't answer fast enough, but she didn't answer slow enough either. She took too long to answer, and he knew, he could tell in her eyes that she was lying, no matter what she was going to say. He started nodding in a continuous motion for no reason whatsoever, like he was a bobblehead doll that someone had just pushed. He didn't know what to say, if his voice worked that is.

"Steph?" he asked again, hoping for an answer this time, a real one.

"I didn't want it," she answered.

"You kissed someone."

"Someone kissed me and I didn't…stop it early enough," she said, "I didn't really want it so I just…Hunter, I didn't want it to happen."

"Did you just call me Hunter?" Chris said with disgust.

"No…Hunter…he was the one."

"NO!" he said, his breath starting to pick up pace. His face contorted into one of sheer horror. He stepped back away from her and took her in. She looked guilty. She looked fucking guilty, and he didn't know what to say.

"I didn't want it, he gave me this beautiful gift and I hugged him and then I kissed his cheek in thanks and thanks only, and he kissed me. I was too stunned to do anything, Chris, I'm sorry. It was the gift he gave me. It was a brooch that looked exactly like the one my grandma used to wear and he remembered, and that's no excuse, but I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Chris's eyes were filled with tears of anger and betrayal and he shook his head, trying to keep those tears from falling. He looked so hurt that her heart broke. He looked like the walls had come crumbling down around him and he was stuck looking at the ruins. She tried to reach for him, but he pulled back like he was being burned, and then turned on his heel and ran away from her. She didn't even get a chance to reach out to him, because he was so damn fast.

Chris ran back to his locker room, and he sat there, his head in his hands. His heart hurt, if that was possible. He didn't care if it was possible, because it was happening, his heart was literally hurting. Maybe it was the pounding that it was doing at the moment, but it was something. He was hurt, ok, hurt didn't even begin to describe it. There was hurt, and then there was this, and this? It sucked. This was the whole spiel about bumping paths with Hunter. They were bumping again.

He turned on the television, trying to see what was on tap for the night. He didn't have anything planned, and when the first thing he saw on his screen was Hunter, he knew that he had to have one objective that evening, and that was to get as much of Hunter as he could. Flair was spouting off shit about Randy, and Hunter was just standing there like the smug bastard that he was. When Hunter started talking about how Taboo Tuesday was a farce, he saw an opening and walked determinedly down to the gorilla and up to the ramp.

His hurt turned to anger as he saw the smug face on Hunter. It was like he knew that Stephanie had told him. Maybe he did know, maybe Stephanie had gone running into his arms when he had run away. Regardless of how he knew, he knew and Chris could tell. There was none of the usual anger that Hunter had for Chris over Stephanie, now it was just an arrogant air. But Chris had to play this cool. He had to play this like he didn't know that Hunter knew what was going on, he couldn't let Hunter get that one up on him. So he had to speak like he didn't know, and only about the show, but there would be an underlying reason for his words, and Hunter would know.

Now Chris could've been talking about Taboo Tuesday here, it made absolute sense. But why would Chris care? The fans didn't seem to pick up that, but why would he, Chris Jericho, who was not in the running for a match with Hunter, care what happened? Sure, it was partly because the people knew that he hated Hunter, and had for a long time, but when he said that Hunter was uncomfortable with the concept of Taboo Tuesday, he unequivocally meant that Hunter was uncomfortable with the engagement to Stephanie. Hunter was jealous, and it showed in all his actions, especially this last, cowardly one.

He continued speaking, hoping that Hunter caught the double meaning, though the fans probably didn't. But just in case, people were thinking he was off his rocker, he spoke about the actual show, which incidentally stemmed from an idea that he had. But Hunter was probably angry and jealous about that too. Now that he wasn't in Vince's pocket as his son-in-law, Hunter was probably mad with jealousy that he couldn't be the one to go directly to the boss and suggest things, or get credit for them. Just another thing in the long list of things Chris was good at, and things Hunter was not good at.

He did a little poll where he asked if Hunter was the best today. He was met with boos. And he hoped to God that Hunter got the freaking message that he wasn't wanted here, and that nobody liked him. Most of all Chris. There were arguments for Shawn Michaels hating him more, but honestly, him and Hunter had never been friends like Shawn and Hunter had been, and so this hatred, it had been brewing for years. It was always just below the surface. Chris was generally a nice guy, crass, egotistical, but beneath it all, he was a nice guy, but Hunter set something off in him that he didn't quite know how to explain other than a blinding anger that surpassed any other feeling of anger he had ever experienced in his life. But glad to know that the fans agreed.

Then he asked them if he was the greatest wrestler of all time. Again, the crowd booed, even louder than the last time. Hunter still looked at him with the resigned anger, and smugness. He wasn't going to let it affect him, at least not on the surface, and Chris was going to play the game the way Hunter wanted to play it. If he wanted to be cool about Stephanie, than so would Chris. It may kill him inside, it may make him see red, but he would play it cool or die trying.

Chris asked them if they thought that Hunter was a horse's ass, and this time he was met with thunderous cheers, as he expected. The fans and him were once again in agreement. Except they couldn't possibly know why Chris was so angry with Hunter, they couldn't presume to know. No, this hatred was too personal for the fan to comprehend.

Chris said his piece, walking closer to the ring so Hunter could see the whites of his eyes. Chris was undaunted by Hunter, and Hunter's constant threats of stealing away Stephanie. Chris had Stephanie, Chris loved her like Hunter could never love her, and if Hunter wanted to face-off in some silly fight for her, well, Hunter better be damn prepared for it to happen.

He might as well get a little bit of gloating in there as well as he mentioned whose idea the whole interactive thing had been. He was the best, Hunter was the worst, and Hunter was going to know it. Chris could play the game, he had played the game many times before, and even though it had seemed like he lost, time and time, and time again, without a single win, Chris won the battles that mattered. He won Stephanie, and he had won over the McMahon family and even though that wasn't his intention, if it made Hunter deathly jealous, so be it, he'd flaunt it like he was a peacock with bright feathers attached to his tail.

And this is where he called that stupid, big-nosed bastard out. He neglected to say Stephanie in who else would be watching, but right now, he was kind of pissed at her for not doing anything during the kiss, but he'd probably let her stew for a few days before forgiving her, if she wanted to be forgiven. But right now, he was too focused in on the way that Hunter was looking at him. Like he wanted to tear him limb from limb. Another thing him and Chris had in common because that was the thought running through Chris's mind as well.

Flair went and had to defend his sugar daddy, like the lackey that he was. He called out Chris, like Chris was just going to go in there and be double-teamed. Hunter was obviously preparing, getting undressed as Flair spoke. Chris wasn't going in unprepared and he went backstage to grab a chair. He caught sight of Stephanie standing there, looking at him intently. He sent her a glance, emotionless and impassive, but a glance nonetheless. Grabbing the chair, he walked back out and started to go down to the ring. In his blind anger, he forgot to account for Dave, and only noticed too late that he was going to get smacked in the back. He was thrown into the ring and triple-teamed until he saw Benoit hitting someone, and then to his surprise, Edge came to help.

When they were done with that, they went backstage and Chris looked at Edge questioningly, wondering if he had come to his senses. Edge hadn't forgotten though. "I'm not trying to get on your good side Jericho, that was for purely selfish reasons and nothing more. We're not friends, so don't go presuming that I did that for friendship."

"Whatever," Chris said, having bigger fish to fry. Stephanie walked over slowly to him, taking each step in quiet deliberation, wondering if she should even approach him when he was so irate.

"Bischoff just told me something about a match with you and Hunter later," Stephanie told him quietly.

"Great, I'd love to get my hands on that bastard."

"I'm really sorry Chris," she repeated from their earlier conversation.

"Whatever Stephanie, I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now."

"Chris, please don't be mad at me, I couldn't stand it. Look at me, I'm sullen, I'm moody, and I'm sad, and I need you to cheer me up."

"When I'M the one who's hurt?" Chris said, shaking his head. "Selfish to the end, aren't we Stephanie?"

"That's not fair," Stephanie countered. "It's not like I invited it or something!"

"But you did nothing to stop it, I guess you are those names that I used to call you," he said, just trying to make her as hurt as he was.

"That was uncalled for," she responded, "Completely and totally uncalled for!"

"Is it? When you go around kissing other men while you're engaged," he hissed, leaning his head in close to hers.

"I didn't want it!" she hissed back. "If you think I would want those slimy lips on mine, maybe you need to get some therapy because you're obviously delusional."

"Well, how am I supposed to know what you're doing? One minute you're hitting him with flowers, and the next your accepting gifts from him and gushing about them because it resembles something from your past."

"Something that my grandmother always wore," she pointed out angrily. "It reminded me of her!"

"So go let him remind you of your marriage, I'm thinking that you probably want that right now!"

"I DON'T WANT THAT!" Stephanie yelled, stomping her foot in tantrum. Some people turned to look at them, but then pretended they didn't see them since this was kind of embarrassing.

"I don't know what you want. But whatever you decide, leave me the hell out of it."

Chris walked off, Stephanie too angry at him to go and apologize. He was being way too mean now and she didn't want to deal with him when his temper, and hers for that matter, were in full force. They were liable to bite each other's heads off in a weird double murder. She would just let him work this out and come back to her. He always did come back to her.

"Trouble in paradise?" Edge asked with a smirk.

"Oh get a life," Stephanie spat, stomping off.

Chris locked himself in his locker room, refusing to see anyone until his match. He didn't want to hear it from anyone. He was going to decide how he dealt with this. He didn't want Trish's advice, or Christian's, or Randy's. His cell phone rang and he saw it was Kurt and answered it with a smile, thinking he could get away from the Stephanie subject for a little while.

"Kurt, hey, what's up man?"

"Why don't you just talk to Stephanie?"

"Damn it! Kurt, when did she get inside your brain?"

"She called me like twenty minutes ago, and she told me what happened, and dude, have you listened to her?"

"Is it wrong to be angry?" Chris asked.

"No, but not at the expense of hurting her."

"Hurting HER! Oh give me a break. She's the one who hurt me, or is that something you guys have forgotten to take into account. She kissed another guy. We're getting married in four months and she's off kissing her ex-husband! Not even some guy she just met and got drunk and then kissed. She kissed her ex-husband, a man she used to LOVE!"

"Ok, I get it. And you do have the right to be angry, but don't let it blind you to what really happened."

"I wasn't there, she could've been making out with him for all I know."

"Ok, now you give ME a break! Stephanie just randomly making out with Hunter after hating him for YEARS. And being with you for YEARS. Yeah, that's typical Stephanie behavior right there. She's just the type of girl who is going to go off and kiss her ex-husband on a whim."

"She ruined Hunter, now she's probably going to ruin me, and then she'll move on and get married to someone else, and then I'll be the one fighting with this guy for her. And so will Hunter, and then it'll be this weird love square or something, and I'll be the smarmy bastard like Hunter."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I've got long luscious locks of hair down to my waist. Give it up Chris. I'm speaking as the best man of your wedding, which is like the most important job of all. And if I don't get to be best man and deliver the kick-ass toast that I'm going to prepare, I'm going to torture you by making you watch all of my wrestling matches, and retell you the story of how I won the gold medal with a broken freaking neck."

"God, I'm going Kurt, I have a match."

"Talk to her!" Kurt yelled right before he was hung up on.

Chris went out to get ready for his match, and was neglected to be told of the fact that he was going to be in a lumberjack match. Christian told him quickly before they went out there that they were all choices to go for the Intercontinental Championship, which Chris groaned at. Could the night get any worse? Well, at least he would get to wreak a little havoc on Hunter before the night was over.

Chris went after Hunter as soon as Hunter was off the turnbuckle and wasted no time in trying to gain the upper-hand. He wanted to concentrate solely on beating Hunter, but he could feel lots of pairs of eyes staring at him, just waiting for him to fall out of that ring. It was hard to concentrate on Hunter, while simultaneously trying to concentrate on not getting the stuffing beat out of him by a bunch of different people. The first time he was thrown out, it was a melee, with a crowd of guys just trying to beat on him. And Chris was trying valiantly to beat them off, but it was hard trying to fend back the advancing beasts.

Chris focused more on beating up Hunter, making it perfectly clear that he would not be taking Stephanie from him any time soon. It felt good actually, to get his hands on Hunter. It had been a long time since they had fought one-on-one like this, though the two of them had had some epic fights, ranging from Last Man Standing to Hell in a Cell, two of the most brutal matches in the company today. Those times had felt good too, despite the losses, but this one was for his sanity. Hunter was driving him insane with his incessant pursuit of Stephanie, and he was trying to end it tonight.

The exchanges between the two of them during the match consisted of a lot of cursing and "Stephanie" came up more times than not. The guys on the outside of the ring could feel the hatred permeating off the two men, and anyone who was in the know, Christian especially, knew that Chris was taking this on a personal level, and not professionally at all. He tried to make it kind of easy on Chris, but he still had his job to do. Chris's one mistake in the match, was baseball-sliding Rhyno in the face. If not for that, he would've won the match. As it ended though, the gore had side-lined him once again, like the time Stephanie ordered one on him through the SmackDown set. This one, thankfully, hurt a million times left. But that didn't stop Evolution from ganging up on him after the match, with nobody coming to his defense.

But then Randy was there, and he aided his friend, and Chris slipped out of the ring, letting Randy take care of this, knowing the youngster didn't want his help. He went backstage, clutching his stomach, and again, there was Stephanie. He shrugged her off and went to sit down. Randy and Christian showed up next, Randy apologizing to Christian for getting carried away and giving him the RKO. Christian laughed it off and said that next time, Randy would get an Unprettier for his troubles. They waved goodbye to Stephanie and Chris before walking down the hallway, deep in conversation, now that Edge had left and Christian didn't have to put on his ruse.

"Can I still get a ride to the hotel with you?" Stephanie asked. "Or should I arrange my own transportation?" It was just the right amount of snarky, that he had to smirk about it.

"I'll drive you."

"Fine, and then I'll get my own room, wouldn't want to besmirch your image, since I'm such a hussy and a whore that I can't sully your good name."

"Shut up Stephanie," he told her, standing up and wincing.

"Fine, whatever, be mad, I don't care!" she yelled, starting to walk off. But then she turned around. "You know, if you're not careful Chris Jericho, you will lose me, and then what are you going to do huh? Huh?"

"Be out a lot of money?" he suggested. She wasn't pleased with his answer and scowled even further.

"Maybe I'll find lodging with Hunter, I'm sure he'll take me in."

"Go for it, nobody's stopping you."

"I cannot stand your face right now!" she yelled and walked away.

"Feeling's mutual Princess!"

* * *

**A/N: This concludes the first part of Hugs and Kisses that was deleted. The story is far from over, and if you look at my profile, click on "Hugs and Kisses" for the rest of the story, which is still in progress and is updated every Monday, and for most PPV's. Thank you for reading this first part, and I hope you enjoyed it, and congratulations for making it through these 234 chapters. :)**


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